We got tye-dyed t-shirts at the retreat. These were done professionally, so all the colors were bright and the shirts looked good. I got a basic blue one. We had a very colorful worship service Sunday morning when everyone wore their shirts. We had blues, yellows, oranges and rainbows. It reminded me of this quote:

“…they see past your color, they see your soul… once you see someone’s soul, it’s like a rainbow, you see different colors.”
-Teck, Real World Hawaii

Yeah it’s a lame quote from a lame TV show. But somehow those shirts mimicked how we are….we are all different in our own special way. I’ll have to post a group picture to show you the bright colors of the t-shirts that I’m talking about.
I must say ever since Phil took over the youth ministry at church, the quality of the retreat and camp shirts has improved greatly. These tye-dyed shirts are probably the best I’ve seen. Definitely stands out in the crowd.

Back to the land of the living. I would have liked the retreat to last longer considering the world I have to return to.
The showers were out on the boys’ bathhouse, so all 35+ of the guys had to share a lone shower in one of the boy’s cabin. God blessed me with a warm shower each day in that particular shower. Some of the boys gave up in waiting in line for the shower and didn’t have one all weekend. Is it my job as a counselor to make sure the kids get at least one shower? Not necessarily. I usually try to mention it in passing, but I don’t loose sleep over it.
We did have alot of boys who liked to play with fire. They had a few little fires going outside. Initually they were keeping it safe….building rocks around the the fire as an enclosure. At first I tried to stay by and make sure they weren’t buring down the camp. But then one of them got out the WD-40 and started a flamethrower. So I had to step in and make the world safe again by putting out the fires.
The food at the retreat was good. Almost too good. We had hamburgers, barbeque chicken, and spaghetti during the weekend. My only recommendation is that they should have had sandwiches as an option just in case some picky eaters didn’t care for the menu of choice. The barbeque chicken was good, although I could have filled up more on a couple of sandwiches that night.

Tired from the retreat. We got back at around 2:30PM this afternoon. I had to take the Portland kids back, so I ended up staying for church at Corinth. Since my Beetle didn’t have room for everyone’s luggage, I borrowed the church van to take them back. I was slightly worried that they might be one van short should there be any activities being done after church at MJ tonight. I tried calling Phil, our youth minister’s phone several times, but got no answer. In any case I’m not worried about it. The worst thing that could have happened is some people might have been inconvenienced had might have had to drive their cars somewhere. I doubt as though the van was being used. Sometimes it’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permssion.
The kids from Portland seemed to have a good time. I’m not sure how well they meshed with the other MJ and Lebanon Road people. Although some of the kids seemed to be friendly toward them. The capture the flag game Friday night was a good ice-breaker for everyone.
We did play that string game Saturday night. Everyone sits around in a circle and passes a string from one end to another. While doing so, they say a good reason why they are passing their string to this person. It was meant to be a bonding experience. What it turned out was that no one could hear what other people were saying. Much of it was predictable. Best friends passed it to each other, while lesser knowns were left to fend for themselves until the very end when someone felt sorry for them and sent them the string. It’s better to play in a smaller group….and with less predictable outcomes.
I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t know the high schoolers all that well. I was never really good friends with them. It’s also hard to determine if the attitude they show is sometimes just for show or if they really feel that way. The way that I feel as though I am making a difference is getting to know these middle-schoolers. They are a good group of kids. I have forgotten what is like to have fun without having the worries of work and everyday stress to bring you down. These kids taught me that, without even knowing they were teaching me. It is amazing how it makes me feel to know that there are people out there who think I’m good at what I do – which is a complement I would never be able to tell myself.
I am trying to put together a computer slideshow of the 300+ digital pictures I took. I can put background music to it. I was thinking about using “Why Can’t We Be Friends.” However there is a lyric in the song that says “I remember when you drank my wine.” So I think I will have to edit out that part before anyone at church is offended by it. Otherwise it works really well in the slideshow.
I don’t have much to look forward to during the coming months. These retreats that I went on were the highlight of the fall. Otherwise there isn’t much to do, except back to the grind of trying to find a job.