2010 GGC Winter Retreat

From 28th of December to the 31st of December 2010, GGC Youth Group and EM went on an annual winter retreat. The retreat was held at Tahquitz Pines, Idyllwild Ca. Although not everyone from the Youth group and EM was able to attend, retreat mood was vibrant from the get-go with over 30 people in attendance.

On the day of the arrival, there seem to be some disappointments from the younger attendees because of absence of snow. Nonetheless, the first day began with unpacking, orientation, distribution of the rooms ensued by delicious dinner prepared by the staff. Once the worship began, there were some technical difficulties regarding the sound system, hence the worship was shortened. However, with engaging message and fervent prayer time, the attendees went to sleep with satisfaction.

The second day began with much snow; it snowed much during the first night that the ground was covered with whiteness of snow on the morning of second day. The attendees were happy and the breakfast was delicious. The morning of second day entailed workshop given by pastor Julian, who taught about purpose of Christian life, which was ensued by reflection time and a prayer time. During the workshop snow stopped and rain began to pour. This was bad because rain freezes the snow. By lunch time, the ground was frozen with ice, which was somewhat slippery. Afternoon entailed another workshop prepared by teacher Jay Kee, who taught about Christian priority. This was ensued by another reflection time and a prayer session. There was plenty of free time and a resting time after the workshop, which satisfied the young Jr. High students who wanted to play games. The second worship session, after the dinner, was awesome. Worship team was great (after adjusting & fixing the sound system) and the message was even better. Prayer time gave us an ample time to reflect on our faith as well as our day.

The third day began with amazing breakfast once again followed by Quite Time as usual. After the Quite Time, there was a group game time where the attendees learned silly dance moves from Jay Kee and they also engaged themselves in rock, paper and scissor game where people can get tagged by others who win the rock, paper, scissor game. The game was fun!!! The afternoon program ensued with Workshop given by teacher Chris Kim, who taught about biblical humility. The application of this workshop was very good because it gave the listeners time to engage in understanding the biblical characters' humility (different passages were given to different groups to understand humility demonstrated). In the afternoon, during the free time, some of the parents dropped by and brought snacks for us. The third worship was even better than the second night. The worship team was superb and the message was also very engaging. The ensuing Prayer time gave the attendees ample time to pray for themselves.

Overall, this winter retreat was very good for couple of reasons; first, it was good because the retreat entailed good mixture of young to old people of the whole of Galilee Grace Church, second, it was good because the worship team actually behaved and sounded like a true worship team, third, it was good because everyone seem to be engaged in the retreat without much difficulty. All in all, everything was just fantastic! We all hope to have this kind of retreat again! Signing off, Patrick!!!