Life has been restful these past days. I’m getting all
settled in here in Ballybofey which is where I’ll be spending the rest of my
time until I leave Ireland. I’ll be
staying with Kristen and Morgan at their flat...which actually happens to be in
Stranorlor...just across the bridge from Ballybofey. It’s lovely here and close
to everything! The parish church happens to be across the street which is a
huge plus in my books! Basically I’ve been spending my days at the NET office
helping out wherever I can and also the staff had a few days off which
consisted of a lot of just hanging out. The NET office reminds me of being back
at the office in Canada because it’s just as cold hahaha, and I drink lots of
hot water all day long. Just like old times. J
An interesting thing that I have gotten up to is that
myself, Morgan, Kristen and Kevin went to help out one of the NET teams with
two of their retreats. They were there first two retreats and they were with
about 100 girls . They are the team that does the Adventure retreats and since
they are a local team they only have 5 people on the team. One hundred girls
would be a little bit much for them to manage, especially on their first
retreats so we went out to help...and Kristen and Kevin to observe as well, as
they are the supes for the team.
Anyhow, so basically on these retreats for one half of the
day they do your basic NET retreat kind of stuff but then for the other half of
the day they go out into a bog and do team building activities. Most of the
activities are pretty run of the mill kind of outdoor team building
things...you know working with ropes or puzzles or carrying people etc
etc. It does happen to be a little muddy
because its out in the forest and it has been raining a lot. For the last
activity the girls have to travel across bog. They have one rope that goes
across and then one overhead to hold on too as you cross. It wouldn’t be too
tricky except there are two or three people on at once and people often shake
either the top or bottom rope to try to fling the others in the water and they
just push them in when they cross in the middle..ahahah. Surrounding the water
part of the bog is pretty much a huge mud pit. The kind of mud pit that you
sink into up to your waste and have to have other people dig you out. It is
pretty hilarious to see teenage girls have to walk through the mud and get
covered in it from head to toe. Two girls in my small group actually lost their
shoes in the muddy part of the bog......never to be seen again. One of them
found another random shoe in the mud so she just claimed it as her own for the
rest of the activities hahaha.
At first the girls are sort of timid but then they get right
into it. I’m sure most of them have never been so muddy in their whole life. I
think the only time I’ve been more muddy is the time we went mud sliding by
causeway and at least when I did that I was wearing a bathing suit and I wasn’t
fully clothed. The first day I had a super great small group and they worked
together very well on all the challenges and didn’t even mind getting muddy.
They also had great questions in regular small group. Props to them. They were
in sharp contrast to my small group the second day who couldn’t work together
at all and two of them ended up crying during a bog part....tear! It just shows
how much difference having a couple strong leaders in the group makes. The
second group was still sweet though, and I felt supe bad when one of them
started having a panic attack about touching the mud.
After you get out of the bog all the girls obviously have to
shower....but before they let you near the outdoor shower buildings most of the
girls have to get hosed off because they are sooooooo caked in mud. I must say
this is a less then pleasant experience. By the time you walk back from the bog
you are already pretty cold....because it is October! Then you stand in a line
and one by one one of the adventure staff sprays you down with water from a
freezing cold garden hose. BRRRRRRRRR!!!!
It is sort of amusing to watch him spray the girls and spray their
faces...until it’s your turn!!
Anyhow these two days were great experiences! It’s been a
long time since I’ve been able to be back on retreat like a netter. Retreat
ministry is such a great life! So
basically I had two really wonderful days. It was a great change of pace. I did
remember how exhausting it is though....but the Lord provides. It’s so worth
it, especially when it comes to prayer ministry time and you get to pray with
your small group! Wham! The one draw
back is trying to get groups of 50 girls to shower in a timely fashion!
IMPOSSIBLE! I know that everything is possible with God....but I think some
drastic miracle working would need to happen to accomplish this!
All in all my two first Adventure Retreats where a
success....none of small group got lost in the bog and everyone survived.
HURAH!
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