Why God? High School RE Retreat

Benjamin Thapa - Grade 11

The 2010 retreat was one of the best retreats in Woodstock history. There were 14 people from Hawaii to take over the retreat. They came from a church called "New Hope Diamond Head" in Hawaii. It was the third year that they have come to Woodstock for the retreat. The theme for the retreat was "Why God?" Last year there were only about 26 students and this time there were more than 50 students in the retreat. This made the Hawaiians really amazed and they were happy.

I was really delighted to go to the retreat because I also went to last semester's retreat and it was fun. When I heard about the Hawaiians attending, I was really excited. Before going to the retreat we met each other and had some talks. They were very open and friendly with everybody.

Being a Christian, I learnt to be closer to God and also learnt more about who He is, what He did, and where He is. We also asked lots of questions and the Hawaiians were able to answer our questions to make it easy for us to learn about God.

One of the nights at the retreat was especially painful. We were all full of tears because the worship touched our heart and we felt like we were touched by God. We all prayed for each other and thanked God for giving his life to us, for now we can make out who our true saviour is.

This was a lifetime experience for me to learn about God, and I feel that this retreat will be in my mind for my whole life. My experiences over this weekend will have an effect on my daily routine. I am really going to miss the Hawaiians. It was a great pleasure to have the them here in Woodstock and I look forward to see them coming back next year and take over the retreat again.

The Chaplaincy Council would like to thank the team from Hawaii for their commitment to Woodstock and their support of the Firs Orphanage. We also thank the Woodstock staff who attended and participated in the retreat.