It has been the darkest winter on record, but this weekend was a chance for students and staff from BFA to get out of the cloudy valley of Kandern and into the gleaming white peaks of the Swiss Alps.
On Friday, some students went early to take advantage of the skiing opportunity. I slept in and went for a morning run! In the afternoon, the rest of the high school piled into 4 buses and wound our way down to Lenk, Switzerland.
That evening, we had our first session. First was a fun challenge: each small group had to create a hat out of spaghetti, marshmallows, toilet paper tubes, and paper. Then the band TMFE led us in worship.
Our speaker for the weekend was Dave Williams. He gave messages Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. He has an incredibly powerful testimony. He was adopted, abused, starved, ran away, robbed grocery stores, found Jesus, went to jail, saved lots of people, was diagnosed with one form of cancer and cured, and has been diagnosed with another terminal form of cancer. His overall message was that we need to fight for our relationship with God regardless of the circumstances, that we need to remove the masks that we wear, and that God orchestrates the circumstances of our lives in order to fulfill the call he gives us.
After each of Dave’s sessions we had small group time. Emily and I were able to have really open, vulnerable discussions with our girls. They are honest with their struggles. The messages gave them many ideas and thoughts to ponder. None of them said they felt challenged to do something new and big, but to make little changes and persevere in their walk with God.
Saturday morning, we had guys and girls breakout sessions. The girls’ session was one of the most open and honest and helpful discussions of womanhood, purity, modesty, and sexuality. One of our former dorm moms shared her story of learning to find her identity in Christ, rather than finding security in relationships and beauty. Then a panel of women answered every sort of question from the girls. Nothing was off-limits.
After Sunday’s session, communion, lunch, and a group picture, we headed home. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic and got back an hour later than expected. One bus was stuck in ice back at the retreat center, so they returned home even later!
