FYI - please read the important update about our 2014 Retreat Weekend at the bottom of this post!
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The time has come! I can put it off no longer!
This report needs to be written! ! !
Why has it taken me so long to do this, you ask?
Simple!
Needed some time away from the computer or at least some time away from actually using my brain for serious work. :-) But I think I'm ready now.
So here goes! ! ! !
Our retreat weekend was amazing!
Guess I could stop right here and go bake some "
Pfeffernuesse" (
Peppernuts - Christmas cookies) but I know that you want to know a bit more, right? :-)
Amy Dueckman -
Canadian Mennonite BC Correspondent did a great job with her report in the November 11, 2013 Issue. (Volume 17, Number 22, Page 21-22) so I will do more photo report!
I must warn you though, I did take a lot of pictures and can't possible post them all but here are the ones that will give you a good glimpse into our weekend.
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For me the weekend started on Thursday afternoon when I went to the airport to pick up
Liz Koop,
Mennonite Women Canada President. We were all so thrilled that she would be spending the weekend with us and get to know our BC women a bit better.
It was a wonderfully clear and sunny afternoon and Liz was able to see Mount Baker at its best on our way to Camp Squeah to unload my packed car and then turn around and go back to Hope and enjoy a nice dinner at
Joe's Restaurant & Lounge.
After a most delicious dinner we went back to Camp and started our prep work for the weekend.
Preparing all the
goody bags for our ladies.
Cheryl Dyck & Liz Koop
On Friday morning we had time to enjoy nature and the nice sunshine due to a school group still being onsite, but in the afternoon we had to scramble to get everything ready.
Our theme and resource was Mennonite Women Canada 2012 Bible Study Guide
"Let Justice Roll Down" by Rebecca Seiling who was also our guest speaker for the weekend.
As our decor we tried to show a river on the stage symbolizing water flowing and a white dove on each table symbolizing peace.
House of James book store was set up and the information table for Mennonite Women Canada and MCBC Women's Ministry.
Then, when the women started to arrive so did the Silent Auction items and 2 of our Committee members were busy accepting the items and organizing them. The Silent Auction is held in order to raise monies for our Retreat Bursary Fund that assists women to take part in this event.
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| We received over 100 items for the Silent Auction! |
We also set up the table with all our pretty baskets, 5 in total! This is something we tried for the first time last year and it was a huge success and a lot of fun and the women asked to have it again this year. The retreat participants are encouraged to buy tickets that are then entered in to a container of their choice, (1 for each basket) and are later raffled off. These funds go to Mennonite Women Canada's Spiritual Growth Assistance Fund that assists with costs of academic and applied study. (Applicants will be considered for funding study at the Master’s level in church related ministries (such as seminary, theology, peace and conflict resolution). All members of a congregation belonging to Mennonite Church Canada are eligible to apply.)
Later, after our evening snack, we started our weekend craft, a small "Faux Quilt" of a Peace Dove to go with our weekend theme. This activity was planned by our committee member Cheryl Dyck.
Hard at work on your left!
This was an optional activity.
23 women had signed up for it.
The front was the same for everyone but the back was a fabric of their choice that they each brought from home.
On Saturday we started of with a mini breakfast and then went straight to our first session with Rebecca -
"Peace with God: Manna in the Wilderness" - she spoke of God's daily provision, the assurance that people are fed today and will be fed tomorrow. "How do you collect manna every day, the evidence God is with you and that God is providing?" she asked and concluded her talk by having each woman come forward and partake on bread dipped in Ontario maple syrup, it was a manner of Communion. (
Parts of this paragraph have been paraphrase from Amy Dueckman's CM interview.)
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Dipping her bread is Lydia Bergen
& waiting in line is Helen Dyck. |
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This picture is a bit unclear due to
the brightness of our beautiful &
sunny background! :-) |
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Lining up to receive the
bread & syrup! |
Spending some quality time with our Worship Team. We love these women and appreciate the time they spend in choosing all the appropriate and fitting songs.
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Our Worship Team Members are:
l-r: Carla Hordyk, Cheryl Heinrichs,
Dorothy Friesen & Elly Federau. |
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| Enjoying our singing time! |
Left: Enjoying the nice sunny
afternoon with some friends.
Right: Former BC Women in Mission Presidents -
Veronica Thiessen & Marie Rehsler.
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Cousins reconnecting while working on a puzzle!
In the pink is Liz Koop; blue is Mary Goertzen and yellow is Marian Martens. |
In our afternoon session "Peace with Others: Journeying Together" we heard Rebecca telling us of her own rewarding experiences with people from other cultures and countries. Offering hospitality means people can offer comfort, forgiveness and the gift of presence to others. This session was followed by some more free time for hiking, napping or...
...something for the more active women in the group, like 45 minutes of "Rockercize 101" in the Edelweiss Hall with Gloria Laurence. Let me tell you.... this bunch had some fun! :-)
....and "Yoga 101" with Laura Loewen in the Main Lodge 2nd floor was also a much appreciated workshop!
After all the fun and exercise there was still some time to relax and get pretty for our annual group photo.
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| Getting organized takes some skill! |
The weekend food was tasty and beautifully displayed. We love that we can work with the Squeah kitchen to come up with fun dishes and desserts such as our "Pigs in Mud" cake!
The ladies absolutely loved this chocolate cake!
Once dinner was done all the baskets were raffled off, the Silent
Auction items were handed out to the winning bidders and then it was time to have our puzzle competition. This was a truly interactive competition because each woman received a bag of puzzle pieces in many different sizes belonging to about a dozen different puzzles. They had to scoot from table to table trying to make their pieces fit.
It was hilarious to observe how intent this activity became! :-)
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This little ducky went home to live
with Chef Tony! :-)
He was the winning bidder! |
When peace and quiet was once again restored,
small groups settled down to some table games
and others went to finish their weekend craft. :-)
Felt the need to post two of our group photos because one has the building in the background but the other second one is a better close up of the ladies.
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| 2013 Group Photo - 81 women! |
And to finish this pictorial report --- a group shot of our Retreat Planning Committee with our special guests from Ontario. Thank you so very much for accepting our invitation to come and spend a weekend with our BC Women.
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Left - Right:
Gloria Laurence, Rita Siebert, Cheryl Dyck,
Rebecca Seiling - our guest speaker,
Liz Koop - MW Canada Pres. and me, Waltrude Gortzen |
These last 3 pictures are the only pictures in this post that I didn't take myself
but they were taken with my camera!
The weekend ended with the third session on Sunday morning "Peace with Myself: The Road to Personal Peace" - Rebecca said "I like to think of my life as a puzzle (where) the pieces are fitting together" and asked the group "What is the next piece of your puzzle? in what area of life is God calling you?" She concluded by distributing a piece of a jigsaw puzzle to each woman, asking us to write a word or phrase on it by which to live by to the coming year.
It was a wonderful weekend and we all went home having been blessed by what we heard from Rebecca, having enjoyed each others company and looking forward to our next retreat!
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Lake of the Woods - a quick stop om my way home to just sit for a moment and reflect
on God's bountiful blessings we had just experienced and a few quick pictures! |
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Retreat Weekend October 17 - 19, 2014
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we need to inform you that Heidi Cave will NOT be able to be our retreat speaker in 2014 as advertised below.
Hope to see you all at next year's retreat
October 17 - 19, 2014
Our guest speaker will be
Heidi Kroeker Cave
Wife, Mother
and Author of the newly released book
"Fancy Feet"
Tentative theme...
"Courageous Women - Creative Christians"
Instead... we have some NEW plans underway already ! ! !
It will be a Christmas Retreat.
Stay tuned here or on our Facebook page
for more information as it becomes available.
