Retreat Video

Reflections and Prayers Video

Overview of Retreat

What a wonderful time! March 9-11, 2018 at YMCA Cedar Glen. It was a marvelous time of spiritual renewal and deepening community.

The theme was “The ‘Me’ I Am Today BECOMING The ‘Me’ I Will Be Tomorrow”. To get a good insight into what we learned and reflected on, watch the “Reflections and Prayers” video above!

We thank God for God’s amazing presence at the retreat. Let’s hear in the words of our own Hi-C on their reflections of the retreat!

Reflections from Hi-C Students

Jocelyn Chung

Every single retreat is different and special in its own way and this one was no exception. As one member of our hi-c said, having newcomers at our retreats is what makes each one so unique and so I would like to thank every new addition of our little family for having the courage and the open-mindedness to trust us with your weekend. I hope you all had as much of a meaningful time as those who have been here for years, and I hope to spend many more years with you all in the future! At this retreat we learned more about ourselves, and who we want to be more than we ever would have otherwise, and I personally am truly grateful for the opportunity to do so. I believe that our hi-c  as a whole becomes stronger when individual members are willing to make themselves vulnerable in front of each other, which is exactly what happened. This will be my last year as an exec, and therefore my last year as a hi-c member, and I am nothing but proud of how we’ve grown as a community and how we will continue to grow further even years from now. Thank you all for the privilege of getting to know each of you individually, and I hope you will continue to do the same with each other. I am eternally blessed by this community and every aspect of my life is affected by them in the best way possible. I love you all so much, thank you for yet another amazing retreat.

Taebin Kim

I was really excited about this retreat because I really felt that Hi-c was strongly connected and I wanted to see if we can do more. And I think it did happen as some of us begin to share their personal stories to each other. Also through this retreat, hi-c as group got stronger, but also individuals got stronger as well. It was really meaningful time to stay away from school and busy days and to think of God and who we really are with really strong messages with huge impact. Personally, it was good to organize my thoughts and I believe it was so to everyone. Especially, new members made it really unique and special and I am sure they had meaningful time to get closer. And I really appreciate everyone to make it happen. Also the group leaders did great job leading the group activities. I just am thankful to everyone who came to this retreat!!

Kaitlin Lee

There was a moment during the retreat when Simon referred back to taking a picture of Hi-C at the facility’s dining hall and saying how happy and carefree everyone was, and how he wanted to pause that second and enjoy it for a while. I, along with probably the whole Hi-C, wish we could capture every single moment and emotion we felt during this past retreat and keep them all in bottles that we can refer to in the future. This retreat was so sudden, in the middle of our school semesters, and yet all my worries and stress came to my mind only twice during the whole retreat. The first time was writing them down on papers at the beginning of the day, and the last time was at the end of the day, through healing and reflection during Simon’s sermon. I really thank the opportunity to have this time where we can just look to each other without anything weighing us down, and to be able to experience all these moments spent with Hi-C through happiness and love. With everyone opening themselves up, being vulnerable and reaching out to others, we all spent such precious time together and this was one of the many retreats that I hold close to my heart. I’m so thankful for every single member, both old and new, in our Hi-C and for our pastors and volunteers/counsellors. I hope that everyone experienced post-retreat depression as much as I did.

Sarah Choe

I’m so thankful for the opportunities I get at retreats. We are able to grow as a community, learn about ourselves, be vulnerable, take a break from school, and open our hearts and minds to God. I think everyone in Hi-C felt as though they were able to experience at least one of these things. I love seeing our Hi-C spend time together simply enjoying each other’s presence and being able to develop important relationships. I’m always so impressed with how kind, encouraging, and thoughtful they can be. As an exec, it is easy to worry about logistics and small, insignificant things but the Hi-C never fails to come through and make any situation into a blessing. It is the Hi-C that should be credited with welcoming our newcomers and making so many wonderful memories. It’s been so rewarding being able to be part of this unique group and I am so happy for all of them and their accomplishments as a whole and as individuals. I hope that they can keep everything they learned at this retreat with them as school starts again. Safety and health to all!

Joel Kim

The retreat taught me a lot of things, it taught me how precious a friend can be and how fast you can lose them. And the thought of who I will be if my friends that I have right now, never met me and how that will effect me.

Matthew Lee

reflekshin:

I think the March break retreat was good. It went by fast, but had a lot of fun, memorable moments. I enjoyed hearing Simon’s message and also pastor Dave’s stuff. I think there wasn’t enough free time for us, which I feel is one of the key times for us to bond, because we get to play random stupid games with each other and have a blast xd! Being a group leader was interesting, I’m not sure how I feel about it. Overall, muy bueno retreato.