Emmanuel Badaniatz Retreat, a Blessed Opportunity
On Saturday, 14 March, at 3pm, the leaders and youth had gathered in Emmanuel Church playground for their annual 2-day retreat. You could feel the excitement on their faces, many of whom were eagerly waiting for this day to arrive.
After taking care of the technical details, the leaders and the youth filled the 2 buses that were waiting to take us to Dhour el-Shweir, a beautiful place up in the mountains.
It was a rainy day, a fact we knew a day before. We thanked God and our chauffeurs for getting us to Dhour el-Shweir in safety.
We started the session with declaring the proper manners to be kept within the camp, then with reviewing the topics that we had discussed within the small groups from October till March. Then we had games and worship time. During the 2-day retreat, we chatted, socialized, played games, prayed, had quiet time with God, discussed in small groups and worshiped God.
The guest speaker was Mrs. Nancy Sagherian. She spoke to the youth about accepting Christ, by telling stories from the lives of the teens, and explained how the word abashkharoutyoun has started to have a different for many.
During the night, we played games that many enjoyed and also enjoyed the food and the internal heating system that kept us warm.
Sunday 2pm. We had our lunch and now it was time to leave Dhour el-Shweir and get back to our community and families and apply our decisions and encouraging each other to be faithful and trust in God.
This will be a retreat to remember indeed.
The leaders are:
Mr. Manoug Ibitian, chairman
Mrs. Jimmy Kozman-Ohanian, secretary
Mr. Hagop Gojigian, treasurer
Ms. Maria Jertidian, leader
Mr. Mike Hagopian, leader
Mr. Jano Baghboudarian, leader
Mr. Raffi Chilingirian, leader
Mr. Jiro Ghazarian, leader
On Saturday, 14 March, at 3pm, the leaders and youth had gathered in Emmanuel Church playground for their annual 2-day retreat. You could feel the excitement on their faces, many of whom were eagerly waiting for this day to arrive.
After taking care of the technical details, the leaders and the youth filled the 2 buses that were waiting to take us to Dhour el-Shweir, a beautiful place up in the mountains.
It was a rainy day, a fact we knew a day before. We thanked God and our chauffeurs for getting us to Dhour el-Shweir in safety.
We started the session with declaring the proper manners to be kept within the camp, then with reviewing the topics that we had discussed within the small groups from October till March. Then we had games and worship time. During the 2-day retreat, we chatted, socialized, played games, prayed, had quiet time with God, discussed in small groups and worshiped God.
The guest speaker was Mrs. Nancy Sagherian. She spoke to the youth about accepting Christ, by telling stories from the lives of the teens, and explained how the word abashkharoutyoun has started to have a different for many.
During the night, we played games that many enjoyed and also enjoyed the food and the internal heating system that kept us warm.
Sunday 2pm. We had our lunch and now it was time to leave Dhour el-Shweir and get back to our community and families and apply our decisions and encouraging each other to be faithful and trust in God.
This will be a retreat to remember indeed.
The leaders are:
Mr. Manoug Ibitian, chairman
Mrs. Jimmy Kozman-Ohanian, secretary
Mr. Hagop Gojigian, treasurer
Ms. Maria Jertidian, leader
Mr. Mike Hagopian, leader
Mr. Jano Baghboudarian, leader
Mr. Raffi Chilingirian, leader
Mr. Jiro Ghazarian, leader