Retreat, Church, Family

I know have Freaking internet!!!! I've been wanting to write this blog since Sunday evening but was unable to because I did not have any internet at all; none, zip zero, couldn't even borrow it but now we do and it's awesome. No more half hoping for internet today.
The retreat was this past weekend which was awesome. This retreat and the retreat at Camp Rudolph last year are, by far, my favorite retreats. It was weird seeing the change from being a new person last year at the retreat, not knowing anyone and then being a leader at this year's retreat making sure that everyone felt known. I try to make sure that people feel that they belong because feeling new or feeling like you don't belong can feel a bit daunting and down. But man, it was a great retreat with tons of awesome times from eating with different people during meal times, to Frisbee, to volleyball, to the Saturday night worship, and bonfire...etc. It has been a real long time I've had something like that and it was good to be in that atmosphere again since I never go to Crash now due to work. The most memorable of happenings was Saturday night where we had a great time for reflection and worship with Katie and Jason singing worship songs with the C-team, Shane, Dawn, Jeremy(the intern), and Jeremy(friend of Shane's and Dawn's from Church) were in the back of the building where people could come back there and talk to them and pray with them which I thought was an awesome idea and loved it. So people dispensed to where they felt called and I was sitting in the row just thinking about stuff and saw my good friend Curby sitting in a row by herself thinking as well.
I had invited Curby to go on the retreat and eventually "convinced" her but I think it was more of the Holy Spirit leading her, anyways, she's not a Christian and came to the retreat. What was even more amazing to me was that she was in my small group for the weekend which was just God written all over it. So she's sitting there that Saturday night and me, being compelled or lead by the Holy Spirit went beside her to pray for her. I've never done that with any of my non Christian friends and it was just really really amazing and spirit filled. So intense in fact I almost cried when I began to pray for her but i was like, " pull it together, she needs you to be strong...." but anyways, that was really intense and cool that I was apart of that, that God let me be apart of that. So the prayer ended and she was crying and I gave her a hug and made her laugh alittle, you know it's good to laugh after such intense spiritual moments ;) After that I went to the back to talk to Shane, again feeling compelled to. That was really cool; we talked about what just happened with me and Curby, how awesome that is, and how the Holy Spirit was definitely in that room tonight and when I was talking about this I look over and I see tears in his eyes (sorry Shane if this embarrasses you but it was such an awesome moment for me to be in and I just wanted to share it :) which caused me to just let go and tears came streaming down and there we were, two adults joyfully crying about God and His work. It was one of the most memorable moments in my life so far, and when I look back at it I just can't get over how awesome God is and how He works, constantly working, constantly moving, constantly loving. Just being apart of God's work is just incredible and unbelievable even if it's such intense spirit filled nights such as that one or just being involved in church or missions or being a friend to someone that needs a friend; it's awesome and we both agreed that night that we want to spend the rest of our lives doing that.
Anyways, it was freaking AWESOME! Just like last year's retreat, but both were completely different awesomeness and growth; kind of weird looking back on that. In other news, Katie and I are really trying to be involved in the church we have been going to, Liberty Baptist Church. We went to their huge festival or carnival on Sunday which was awesome that they had it and the idea is great but since we were new to the church and didn't really know anyone except like one person we felt like we were on the outside. Katie put it nicely, "It's like one big family reunion" with me adding, "But we're not in the family" So it was kind of a let down but it's a good thing to feel new again that way we can try and make sure that no one feels unwelcome or what not. But this one church member, while we were touring Kidville which is basically the children's Sunday school wing of the church that looks like Dr. Suess amusement park, a lady over heard me kidding about teaching Sunday school and one thing lead to another and she hooked us up with the coordinator of the whole thing or something and now we just finished our applications to be involved in the church. Interesting, how God works. Hopefully this time next year we won't feel as new like at Camp Rudolph how I was new last year and a year later made sure that people were known this year. The lady at the church, I think her name is Sarah Mullins or something, but she was very interested in us and interested in us helping which felt really cool, very nice lady hopefully see her again or something. But man, very great weekend overall, being in the top 10 of weekends in my life by far.
I never really took this phrase seriously but I'm really excited to how God is going to use me, Katie, Curby, and Intervarsity overall. That's a nice thought to have.