(Positive) Thoughts on Sonai Retreat
Monday, November 19, 2007
I’m realizing from feedback I’m getting that my last post is kinda depressing. I tend to be that way – pessimistic and dramatic. So, I’m going to force myself to think of the good things from retreat. (It’s a discipline with me. I think I was raised to be highly critical of myself and everything around me. Good for a law career, bad for life.)
People genuinely laughed and had fun with each other. This is important, because church and the Christian life should be fun. The best part was during Battle of the Sexes when the guys had to identify five women’s purses being displayed on the TV screen. I took a video of them trying to do it –
Sonai Guys Identifying Women’s Purses from Chanlee Sutoyo on Vimeo.
We also had a game where each team selected a representative to jump rope and everyone tried distracting them.
Jump Rope Game from Chanlee Sutoyo on Vimeo.
We got to see a side of each other that would not have been visible without the retreat setting. Some people showed themselves to be amazing servants, cooking lots of food, working hard to make the games challenging and fun, and creating stimulating discussions. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it, since the last Sonai retreat was 3 years ago. The different setting helped me get to know people in other ways during activities we don’t normally do together, such as playing board/card games, brainstorming quiz questions in a team, throwing eggs at each other, and going on a photo scavenger hunt. I learned so much about my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that it has opened up many avenues of future interactions and conversations. I’m very excited.
We apparently work well as a team. Planning the retreat was a whole-group effort, and everyone committed to their roles and executed them faithfully. I think we would awesome on a short term mission, community project, or some kind of group service.
Thank God for all of you. =)