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Reflections on Passionist Family Youth Retreat

Rissington, Napier - 24-26 September 2006

Hello! My name is Helen Taylor and I am one of the four from Wellington who attended the Passionists Family Youth Retreat in Rissington, Napier on the 24th - 27th September. There were 33 people in total, twenty two girls and eleven guys. Two leaders were flown over from Australia, Emily and Agnes.
Emily and Agnes along with the team who organised the Retreat were truly amazing and I thank them a lot for their effort.

For me, the retreat was a life changing experience. I made some of the most amazing friends (who I cannot wait to see again), I spent time lazing around in the sun (not a lot of sun at that time of the year in Wellington!), I ate good food, I stayed up late at night playing games, but most importantly I began to really think about my life and really take what it means to be a catholic seriously.

Agnes had a way of talking that intrigued us all and we listened carefully to everything she said, while Emily cracked jokes and made us all laugh and feel welcome. Norma kept us all involved (like at dinner when we had the singing competitions), Paul (a.k.a Paul-patch) kept us in line and made us laugh, the cooking team made us great food and took really good care of us and the Australian Priest helped us understand the meaning of mass as well as teaching us a cool sign language way of saying “God loves me, God loves you, God loves everyone.”

Swimming in the river and playing sports, telling jokes, sharing our life stories, listening to others and caring for them, making daisy chains, meeting new people, enjoying the camp facilities, having a good time and having a laugh. The camp totally rocked and I’m sure if you asked everyone who went they would say the same!

Thank you all who made it possible for the retreat to happen! I hope there is one next year.

The christian youth retreat was the best time of my life! We all got to meet loads of new people, make new friendships and find out what we want from our lives and our pilgrimages. We formed friendships and bonds with people that were so amazingly strong considering that we only spent time with each other for 4 days.
We had sessions, where we learned about what we wanted from life, things from our past that have lead us up to who we are today, and how we see ourselves and the people around us. We had a lot of free time, where we swam in the river, played rugby and soccer or just lounged around talking. On the last night a group of us all slept in the hall and that basically ended our fantastic expierience, we got to know each other REALLY well.
Even now we all keep in touch, emailing, txting or talking on msn. We are going to catch up at parachute and hopefully we wont loose touch with each other!
Thanks to everyone who made this retreat possible! It was such an amazing expierience and if anything like this ever comes along again i am DEFINATLY doing it!
Alex Smith, 14

When I recieved a letter about this retreat, I had already heard a bit
about it from my friend Alex. She had already been sent a letter about it and we decided we should go and try it. We arrived at the camp together, not
quite knowing what to expect, but after a couple of hours we had already met
some really awesome new people. Agnes and Emily, who basically ran the
sessions, were really cool and I learnt lots from them. Everyone there seemed toreally enjoy themselves, and I didn't want to leave all my new friends. We
are all still keeping in touch and it was great to meet people who were all quite similar to me, but also very different. I had an awesome time and I would do it again any day! Thanks to everyone involved, they all helped
make it one of the best experiences ever.

Natalie

YOUTH RETREAT

Well what can I say except that the retreat was, for me, a tremendous success and an awesome experience. The  remote location was perfect, I really felt like I’d gotten away from the world. Our leaders, Emily and Agnes, fitted right in and communicated their ideas to us in a fun, easy to follow way. Most importantly I feel their talks on our pilgrimages through life were exceedingly relevant especially at this time in my life when I must begin to consider my future and God’s plan for me. A big thanks to everyone who made this possible for us all. I would love to attend another retreat like this.
Jessie Smith.

 From Jessie’s Mother
Although as a parent I didn’t actually attend the retreat I felt this was a wonderful opportunity for Jessie and all young adults.  So often our younger members of the church/community are neglected and then we wonder why so many drift away from their faith. 
I applaud Norma, Shane and all those who contributed in any way to such a wonderful experience for our kids.  Many thanks to Emily and Agnes for leading the retreat it was great to have someone that young people could relate to.
I challenge other parishes/family groups to consider organizing a youth retreat judging by the enthusiasm of those I know that went it would be a wonderful investment in the future of our church.
Many thanks
Miriam Smith

Hi!
I want to Thankyou so so so so so much for the most INCREDIBLE experience of my life yet!
Meeting so many new people was so brilliant, and only after 3 days we were all best friends!
I couldn't believe how sad it was to say goodbye..And the whole time, I kept thinking, some of these people I will never see again. I've been talking on the phone to my friends here in Wellington, telling them every detail of what we did, and all the emotions and everything, talking about all the great people that I miss even now, a day after! Made me cry so much, and as they heard me talking about everything, and crying, they started crying with me, they all thought it sounds so brilliantly fantastic!
And I KNOW that it was!
I will forever remember that camp, and the people there, I just wish we all had longer together. Carrina and Tori were saying that you might organise another camp for us all, us all in Wellington would come without any doubt at all!
I want to thank you so much for giving me the chance to meet everybody and have such a special bond with them, especially Daniel and Penny, life long friends!
So email me back anything you want, I thankyou again, and everybody else who made it possible!
 Being there, I found truely, God, and who I was.
 Love you all,
Thank you!!
 Clare Taylor