Then we counted off into 9 groups and we went to circle with everyone from that number. We went in a circle and told each one of them and tell them about our life's. Of course knowing me i said "Hey I'm Liv, i go to cave spring high school and OLN and i play harp, guitar and snowboard. right as i said the word guitar i see this guy named Joe pop out of his chair and say "YOU PLAY GUITAR??????" " yesss" i answered shyly. Right as i answered he was running to go get a guitar to hear me play. I wasn't expecting this at all. Soon enough i was up in the middle of 78 people, playing songs with them. It was the first 15 MINUTES! I was definitely starting to like this place a lot. I was thrilled to see what else the weekend held for me and for my two best friends. We join back into 78 people and we went over the rules. They started to call out group numbers, and of course Sarah, Tess or me were together. I watched as both left and i was the last group table number 9! Which was probably the best table you could ever imagine. We soon became close friends. It felt like i had known them for a long time. This group was consumed of Ashley Jozwicki (SQUEAKER), Joe Mcdaniel (MCDIDDY), J.C. Hesson (BULL), Ben Cardenas (BIRD), Alex, Megan, Big Scott,Mary, and of course me Liv (PICKLE). We were already starting to love one of another. We all headed to the dorms and we spilt into two talking abotut he struggles in our life's. I was with J.C. and it felt like we were already brother and sister. We just let out what was bugging us like we had known each other forever. I could say that that was truly amazing. It was really amazing how this was turning out so far.
We walk back up to the main meeting room and we went over some More general rules. Soon enough we walked back to the cabins, showered, and headed to bed. It was already 2:30 and we had to get up at 6. Oh boy i thought. I put my name tag on the side of my bed and tucked myself in. Prior to this, the leaders warned us of people taking our nametags. I thought "who would want to take my name tag?" So i just ingored it like i do everything else and turned the lights off.
Then we woke up to music as loud as a dance party and we wondered what it was. I opened the door and i found Joe with an amp blasting Ozzy Osbourne through his electric guitar. I knew they warned us that the wake up crew would come but i wasnt expecting this at all. Non of us were. We got ready, brushed our teeeth, and headed out to the lake for some songs before breakfast. It was so pretty walking down the huge hill and seeing the sunshine glistening on the water. I just wanted to stare at it all day. Shortly after that, we went into the main hall and of course me and sarah still didn't have our name tags. So when they called our names, we had to get in front of everyone and do something embrassing. Oh jeeze i thought. "Im a little teapot short and.." Thats what we had to do. A dance to im a little tea pot. Oh i was laughing so hard i couldnt even do it.
After breakfast we had a few meaningful talks and dicussions. Then we made our poster and our table was called the "Ko-Winky-Dinkz" which had us as teletubeys on them. Dont ask how we came up with that i dont even know. But we were proud of it. After that we breaked for lunch, and hopped back into 2 more lessons. The 4th lesson was the best one yet. They gave us these bags of letters which had letters hand written to all of u s from the leaders and priests. Then one from our mom/dad. We spilt , leading myself to the top bunk of my cabin. I opened the one from my mom first. There were a miillion pages from her. I knew i was going to cry. As soon as i got to the second page, the water works started to turn and everyone was looking at me. I didn't realize how important my mom was to me and all the times when she has picked me up on my feet when i have been knocked down. I was so emotional; i wanted to give my mom the biggest hug after reading it. It made me be thankful that i have as wonderful as her. She is so willing and would do anything from me.
As soon as i finished all the letters, all three of us walked down to the lake and watched half on the sunset before we had to go back in. I was still in amazement from what all the things i read.We walked back in, and we had dinner, pasta and bread, and continued with our lessons. Then we all lit candles, while the guitarists played, over to the chruch where we would have our first mass. I was walking and playing "The santuary". When we got there it was completely quiet, with only the fire crackling. We had a few readings and then Father Randy gave us a talk.
Soon after, Anna Smith and Brandon did a skit that stuck in my mind so perfectly. Anna was hanging out with Jesus and she didnt know whicch she wanted to do. Go to a party, or talk with Jesus. We don't know how great our lord is. Then you see Anna hammer into his hands. Then as she looked back she started to cry. We put friends and parties before the Lord and thats our biggest mistake in our lifes. We have to have some space for the lord and he should always come first in our lifes before other things. Because if we put all of our life into parties and friends, were going to fall short everytime.
We then got into prayer circles as we waited to go into Reconcilation. "Reconocilation" i repeated in my mind. I know i did it with communion but i was questioning what to do, what to say, and how to act. I was starting to shake thinking where i was going to cry or say the wrong thing. As i waited in line, i read over the card where i wrote down all the sins i wanted to be taken away. I follow one of the leaders to the screen where i would be talk ing to the priest. When i saw the leader wave me in i walked through the screen and sat down in a chair across from him. I told him the sins i had commited, looking down at the card folded in my hands. I was getting choked up and he understood what i was feeling. He told me a couple of prayers to make things better, and trust me its made everything better. I got up out the chair and started walking towards the fire. Before i threw in my card i looked down at the card, closed my hands, and thew it in. I watch it be consumed in the flames and burn up till it was all ash. Walking away, i went over to the candles, all 78, that were in the shape of a cross. I grabbed the lighter and lit one. At the momment where the lighter hit the candle i felt a spark in my heart. A spark that was his love working through me. It was burning up my inside and mind all about the lord. I loved this, it felt like i had no doubts, no troubles, just me and god speaking and his love was making this happen.After washing my hands in holy water, i went to join a prayer group, praying about all the hurt in the world. After hearing around the circle about all the hurt in theyre life's, it made me realize how much fortunate i am to others. I thought about how i had a healthy family, a roof under my head, and food/water. Some people don't eat for a week. Some people have family issues that can't be fixed. It made me realize how lucky i was compared to other people around me. I thank the lord where i stand right now, but i pray to take away all the hurt in peoples life's. I pray that people who are lost will find the light of Christ and discover his love. I hate seeing people hurt but there will always be a reason for everything that happens in our lifes.
After about 4 hours of this, the leaders called us up and put cross necklaces around us. We went by our tables, so there went 1,2,3,4,5, until it was our turn to go up. This crossed symbolized how we need to be true to our to the Lord and also ourselves.When i hear" table 9" i jumped and got up making my way towards the leaders. When Mary put the necklace over my head, it fell perfectly around my neck. Suddenly, everything seemed different. I looked down at the necklace and it made me think that even though it doesn't feel like Christ is with me, he always is like this necklace will be. It will hang perfectly around my neck close to my heart. I loved this necklace. It just made me think about how it symbolizes that the lord is going to be with you every step of the way no matter what the cause is. And if hes not hes carrying you to get to your next step. He picks you up when you are down and its amazing how he performs miracles. I felt the tears coming but i held them back.
Then we said a few prayers, and then got back on our feet to sing about our Mighty Lord. I could feel he was right beside all of us and it was just amazing to see that. I could hear his voice singing with us and it was abosolutely incredible.After all of the songs, we headed back to the main metting room and they told us that we were going to make up skits about discovery. Let me tell you, it was one of the funniest things i have ever watched. People made fun of our table but i gotta say they did it beautifully (:
After doing skits till 2:30, we decided to go back, take showers and get some sleep. YES SLEEP screamed in my mind. Not to shortly, we would be waking up again. It blew my mind that at this time tomorro we would be in our beds sleeping at home. This weekend went by to fast and i was going to miss this place and the people a ton.
At 7 o'clock sharp i felt Alex poking me to get up. Even though i didn't get any sleep before i was excited to see what today brought us. I got up and adem and headed towards the meeting area while we waited for breakfast. I didn't realize how starving i was. After eating, we had a few more lessons and they were meaningful as usual. then we went outside to be with our group for the last itme. We wrote on note cards about what gifts we saw in each and everyone one of them including ourselves. We read them out loud with one hand blessing them. Every person, or living thing is a gift to the world. IT was so cool hearing everyone heard say nice things about me that i will never forget. I was so blessed to have them in my lifes and to be encouraging me through out the days. We got all the 9 cards people wrote about us and we stapled them to a ribbon. It was cool because whever i look at it now before i go to bed, i will always have that love deep down in my heart. I love them so much and they will never leave my mind. With the sun shining on our skin we just laughed and had a great time together for the last time. After this and lunch we went to go get dressed for the mass and have our 2nd tiny mass. Next we grabbed a guy and walked in with them. i picked BIRD cause you know, he was the funniest kid ever. Throughtout the mass i played some songs with the music group and listened hard to the mass. I thought to myself how much i was missing out on mass and how i would zone out for most of it. I thought about my parents and how they have been such a inspiration to continue the ways of the lord. After we got the pretty fish pins and got regonized they put together a slide show of all the pictures and memmories we had. Bird and i were cracking up the whole time because they showed all of these embrassing pictures of us. It was great, but funny at the same time! Then the momment i didn't want to come, saying goodbyes. I loved everyone here it was just like a huge family. But i knew it was going to end eventually. I said goodbye to all of my friends that i had made which was hard cause through out the weekend i found out somehting special about them that no one else ever knew. I'm so glad i went to Discovery because you can discover things about people, God, and us that we never knew was there. I discovered more about our lord and how amazing and tremendous he is. Hes our lord, creator, hes emanunal, hes the alpha, omega, the truth and the life. He's the only way of life. When you dont see a set of footprints beside you thats when the lord was carrying through all the tough times. He taught me soo much this weekend i could never thank him enough. I will always bow down on my knees to him before anyone else. Hes the only answer to life. If you ever have an oppurtnity to go to this retreat i recommend going. You might think its stupid to go at first but it diffianately changed my life.
So Guys, will you let the Lord reign in you?
~What Faith Can Do~ by K
