To start off the YM retreat, we had a BBQ which began after evening mass, on the 28th Dec. People were eating and chatting away. It was a good opportunity to mingle with the other youth groups in church. Each group presented a short slide-show and after which, Clement lead us in an ending prayer.
We started clearing the place up and for those who were not staying on for the retreat, left for home. The rest of us headed down to the retreat house where we started cleaning up the place, and after a quick shower, we were briefed on the rules of the camp.
We were up by 8am the next morning and went down to the meals room to have our breakfast. By 9am, our retreat facilitators, Edwina, Petrine and Claire had arrived. We went in, in twos and started the walk of the Canticle of Creation in the conference room. There, we witnessed the the beginning of creation to life in the present- all written down in words, with soft music playing in the background. In pairs, we then reflected for a short while about our thoughts and feelings while walking through the Cosmic Path. Following which, one person from the pair will share what was discussed with the rest.
For the next activity, each of us were given a string, with both ends of the string coloured. The objective of the activity was to find the person who has the other same-coloured end of the string and connect it. We ended up in a circle and tasked to share something about ourselves to the people sitting directly beside us. I guess it goes to show that each of us are vital to the YM and that things would not come full circle if there was just one missing. After the short exchange, we were asked by Edwina to share about how we experienced the person whom we had a short exchange with. There were many positive replies about the different people.
After lunch, we each decorated a piece of paper of different sizes, and pieced all of them together. It was somewhat like a jigsaw and we later stood on the part of the paper which we had decorated our names, and each of us affirmed each other by saying thanks. Dinner came, and after which, we washed each other's feet as an act of reconciliation or as a re-affirmation of friendship.
At 8.30am on 30th Dec, we had morning prayer in the form of yoga. After the morning prayer then came our breakfast. For our morning session, we reflected on our feelings from the past, the older members reflected on the problems faced in starting a new youth group, to the newer members reflecting on their feelings when they joined YC. Then we thought about what the youth group would be like in 5 years time. Some of us wanted the future YC to go into teaching the primary level, others wanted more intake of YC members to lessen the workload, some wanted YC to be more technology-advanced and Roy and Jac wanted to start a franchise of 'bunny, rugrats, etc' goods. All of us had a goal to aim for and achieve.
At 2pm, Fr Luke came over to the conference room to give us a private mass. He reminded us to be more Christ-centered (and disclosed that he was not soccer-savvy). And of course, we had the clearing up to do. The clearing up was done rather quickly and after taking a few last minute photos, we broke camp at around 5pm.
All these activities goes to show the importance of each individual's importance to the YM and that all of us matter as we make up a segment that is eventually a part of another bigger segment, and we thank the Lord for this beautiful lesson.
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