Back to School (Retreat)

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend--I know I did :) I just got home from the Back to School Retreat. I was dying to get on the computer right away to check my email and blogs to see how my wonderful Hib-Town buddies are doing :)

Anywho, Friday morning we left for Brainerd which is about 4 hours away from here (excluding all the stops on the way). On the way there we stopped at an outlet mall in Albertville. Pastor Corey is very similar yet very different to Pastor Aaron in a lot of ways. For example: I don't think PA would stop at an outlet mall for an hour and a half just to shop for the heck of it :P I also noticed some other similarities and differences between the two of them throughout this weekend. Corey has a rule where every minute your late back to the van you have to give a dollar for Speed the Light. I thought that was an excellent idea! I never thought I'd have to actually pitch in though...haha. So I went shopping with two girls named Darcy and Hailey. Little did I know that they are kind of the "rebels" (not in a bad way...maybe a better word would be brave hearts) of the youth group. So we were in Aeropostale and Darcy's alarm went off to go back to the van. She was still waiting in line to pay for her clothes. Time went on. Eventually it was 2 o'clock. OH NO! We were a million (lot literally) miles from the van, so, about 4 minutes later (which, remember, already we owed $4) we booked it to the van. We came to a dead-end, so, we had to turn around and we ended up getting to the van at 2:09. Corey was kind of upset with the girls that they made the "new girl" owe money her very first time, but, rules are rules! (Yesterday Corey gave me my $9 back because he felt bad...but don't let the other girls know that:P)
Anyway, we arrived at Camp Jim. 2 other youth groups were there besides us. Coldspring (Pastor Kirby's youth group) and of course, Brainerd's youth group. Hey girls...guess who came with Kirby's youth group?!!?! I'll give you a hint. It starts with a "K" and ends with a "YLE" (chuckle) I thought of all of you the instant I saw him. Anyway, he was not the highlight of the weekend.
The speaker was Mike Donahue. He is from Nebraska. HE WAS AN EXCELLENT SPEAKER!!! I guess he spoke at camp a few years ago, but, I do not remember that. Last night's service was the best sermon I have ever heard (no offense to any Pastors that may be reading this). He spoke about how we don't need to be traditional about leading people to Christ. For example, handing out tracts, etc. Although, that's okay to do. He says there's so many people out there that just need to be shown God's love and to know that people care for them, etc.
The whole weekend was a blast. I got put in a cabin with a bunch of crazy (nothing different from Hibbing :P) Sr. High girls. We stayed up late in the night laughing and we had a blast. I got to know Darcy really well and also I met a few other people who are going to Riverland college also :) Hailey has 2 classes with me! So at least I will know people there. I am so excited. Their youth group is extremely nice and accepting. They are all really close to each other, so, I appreciate them taking the time to let a newcomer invade.

Tomorrow is my first day of college! AHHHH!!! It's going to be wonderful not having to start class until 10 on M, W, & F, and 9:30 on T & Th :) YAHOO! I will update you guys tomorrow to tell you how first day of college was. I'm really anxious--kind of nervous in a way, but, that's a natural feeling I guess.

Let me know if anything exciting went on this weekend for anyone. Congrats to Jill an Aaron Reini!!!!!

I love you all!

(stay tuned for pictures coming soon to a blog near you!)