Every year we take time as a staff to stop what we are doing and just have fun together. Youth With A Mission values working in teams, we are not just a group of people who happen to work in the same building. We want to have a sense of family and to nurture this we need fun times together.

Last year was the first time we stayed at the base, we decided to do the same thing again this year. The retreat started on Monday evening with dinner and devotions. We had different staff lead devotion time each day, we can always learn from each other.

Senya leading devotions

Lance took some time to share the different goals we came up with during our Leadership year planning meetings that were in March. We came up with some 1 year goals, 5 year goals and 10 year goals. It was important that the goals be shared and that everyone understood where we want the base to go.

Lance sharing on goals

We also planned a little scavenger hunt that took teams ALL over the building. We strategically made sure that no two clues were on the same floor at a time so everyone got their workout! And because that wasn’t challenging enough, all teams had to be linked together.

Traffic jam in the stairwell

We made use of Lance’s corn-hole game he made for Marriage Week and had a corn-hole tournament in the evening. We drew names for the competitors, there was a kids bracket and an adult bracket, first to 11 won. It was really close for some pairs but there has to be a winner!

Let the games begin!

Our winners just happen to be father, daughter. Conspiracy?

Wednesday, after devotions, we had some hangout time and after lunch we had an outing to see some castle ruins. Just some time to get out of the city and be in nature. It was good to get some fresh air! Wednesday ended with pizza and a movie in the evening.

Taking in God’s creation together

Thursday we just had devotions and clean up before we ate lunch and parted. It was a great time where everyone got to spend more informal time together and have good conversations over food. Looking forward to seeing what next year will bring!

All together

We are just missing four kids in this picture.