Looking ahead to Winter Retreat

It has been a very long time since I blogged! But, please don't think that this has been because I have not been interested or engaged in youth activities! Actually, quite the opposite. I have been so active in doing youth work that I have not taken much time to actually write about my activities. Still, I think it is important to occasionally write a little something to make sure that I am communicating with everyone (tweens, teens, parents, youth leaders, grandparents, etc....) interested in youth events and happenings.

What have I been up too? Well, since my last blog, which was way, way back in July just after Convention 2011, I organized a group of six teens to drive out to Almont from the East (Celia, Celie, Holly, Liz, Lucas, Nina) and watched two more Survivors join the ever expanding group. I visited with the Flames at Fryeburg Assembly and met a new teen named Avery!


I helped launch a new youth group in Lansing at a kickoff Almont sleepover in late September (baby spirit, black licorice and nuts!). It was fun to spend time with Bekka, Kalib and Alex. The brownies were delicious too!

In late October I helped lead a tween retreat in LaPorte at Manna House with 13 kids aged 10 - 13! The topic was "Discovering the Beauty Within". We searched for buried treasure in the beach sand, broke open geodes and talked about what it means to be beautiful on the inside and how to find your inner beauty. It was a great theme and I liked it so much that I suggested it to the youth group back here in Fryeburg, Maine. It was selected as our annual youth group theme. We had to cancel our November retreat in Cape Cod. It would have been a fun retreat at a great location, but it was difficult for a lot teens to find time away from school and other activities. We'll go back to hosting a Duxbury, MA retreat over Columbus Day in early October 2012. Hopefully that will work better for most teens.

Now I look forward to Winter Retreat at Almont retreat center. Plans are being made for a great retreat on the topic of Music! We've got talented musicians and music lovers coming to lead wonderful discussions and workshops about music and spirituality. I'm really excited about this retreat and I hope all of you can join us. Please let me know if you are coming and don't forget to register. See you in December!