|| retreat #1 ||

 we had our first retreat this weekend. I, Jordyn Standage, got put in the social group which is why I have created this blog, (through out this blog post i have quotes from people on what their favorite part of the retreat was).

 we all met at 3 at a church up Parley's Canyon. we all got in different cars and started bonding instantly. i think we were all excited to meet everyone and get to know new people. we headed over to chad's work and after we were done unloading we played some games.

 "OH GEEE MEETING YOU like besides that i loved sitting around new people, playing blob and ninjaaaa" -ruby 

"blob and new lenses:)" -beth

 we played bingo with everyone's faces, it was funny to hear the leaders call your name and everyone goes, "Whose that?" cause not everyone knew each other i don't think we would have had that problem if we played it at the end of the whole retreat! we all came in and found a place to sleep then came down stairs to decide what operation we would be. it came down to operation dream (sapna) and operation peace (shaanti) and if you didn't notice already shaanti won, by one vote. we are now known as operation shaanti, or family shaanti.

"getting to meet new people!!" -Emma

 after that we went inside for some dinner, which was delicious (thanks parents) after dinner we settled down and had a seminar on integrity, i personally learned a lot, it kind of made me think about what it really means and if i actually keep my word or not. and now i think we are all going to do our best at keeping our word to everyone. "do or do not...there is no try" -Yoda

"oh, toast, where do i begin? i loved every minute. I guess my favorite part was just getting to know everybody and their quirks and talents and sense of humor and personality. Being around everyone was such a breath of fresh air. i loved the sense of unity i felt by the end. it got me super excited. I also loved the workshops by Jeff. he was so...Jolly. So, yeah." -emily pace

 then we made our new life lenses. we all chose 3 words we want to work on, mine were genuine, unstoppable, belonging. there were many other options brooke had happy and fun, andrew had zesty, tanner also had genuine, we had a variety of words, we wrote them on glasses and went around the room and met everyone not as Blake or Jacob or Jordan but as happy, zesty, genuine or whatever our words were. it was cool to see the different words we all chose to work on! we all need to work on looking through these life lenses instead of the bad ones we usually do. we all are amazing and need to realize how great we all are. 

 "my favorite part was seeing the unity that we're creating as an expedition group. age is not a factor. and seeing ourselves through new life lenses, and the power that each of us possesses. We're a team, and each member of the team is valued. What a great weekend." -Tim

 "i really enjoyed the life lenses! and just getting to know all the people in our group" -brigham

 "mmmmm....ahhhhhhhhh this is hard!! i love the new lenses part though! and lunch! -brooke

 "probably the looking through new lenses thing!" - steven 

 "my favorite part was seeing everyone introduce themselves as who they want to be and who they really are!!" -chad

 "i would have to go with the glasses activity i guess or blob even though i sucked at that game." -chandler

 as you can tell there were many fans of the new life lenses activity. there was a quick break then we all got lined up and the leaders put letter and colors on our backs we had to first find out what we were then what color. then we had to get with the kids of our color and spell a word. 

the social group, we have Jordan, Chandler, Atalee, Emily Pace, Sohpie, myself and Daniel as our leader.

the design group, is made up of Tanner, Emma, Andrew, Kaleb, Linsey and Aubrey with Tim as their leader.

the dance group has steven, ruby, bingham, ashleigh, andrea, emily clark, jacob, with natalie and katie as leaders.

the music group has brooke, beth, blake, kayley, samantha, austin and ellie with tracey as their leader.

all of these groups are going to bring so much to the group as a whole and i can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! 

then we headed to bed, but of course we couldn't fall asleep very fast because Chandler wanted to be heard downstairs so we stayed up till he finally went to bed ;) 

 "hmm, the most memorable part of the retreat, i would say was when me and Jordan Nash threw sour patch kids across the room and caught them in our mouths, the water fight at lunch, chandler talking super loud while everyone was trying to fall asleep, having daniel tell all the guys about his high school rebel life, waking up in the middle of the night and looking at Jordan Nash's fave with the moonlight on him making him look like an angel, how ridiculous and awesome we all looked with our new lenses on and introducing ourselves, and meeting so many kids!" -kaleb 

 we woke up saturday morning to a delicious breakfast full of yogurt on sweatshirts and fizzy grapes that ended with getting everyones numbers. after that we had more seminars, we had one on fundraising (super helpful), individual events (don't you all agree nick is hilarious?), and a few more that have all proved to be useful. then we had one on elevator speeches, this is one was funny because after we all got in our groups to create one we got in new groups to share what we came up with. and personally in my group ruby went first and when we said no the first time she responded with "well i hope you find a heart.." word to the wise take after ruby, this line will get you TONS of money!! 

 "getting to know everyone was really fun! :)" -Tanner

 lunch came next...lunch was interesting, we saw our first sunlight of the day and i think it got to us because for some reason everyone wanted to throw grapes on each other which turned into water and we had a pretty good water fight if i say so myself. lunch brought out the crazy in all of us which was good because it shows everyone's personalities! 

 "i love the grape/water fight during lunch and when chad got choked up during his elevator speech! but, i love it all #shaanti" -emily clark

 "my favorite part was watching everyone get to know each other and become friends during the free times" -dan babe payne

 we went back inside for some more seminars that taught us more about the organization. it was cool to hear returning leaders stories about india. chad was asked to give a quick elevator speech but he couldn't even start he was getting all choked up, it made me get a little teary eyed and lets be real we all would have pulled out our wallets for what he shared.

 "i would say the most memorable part for me was listening to stories about india. like the kids and the situations they live in." -audrey

 "i'd say learning more about the organization. i really liked all of those little lessons the leaders gave." -atalee

 after many seminars, countless group laughs, sleeping over at chad's work, throwing and spilling food we found the end of the retreat. we ended it by getting t shirts, taking pictures and singing one day. it was really cool even though it was pretty bad for the first time but that's expected. we have an amazing group of youth and leaders going with us on operation shaanti and i think everyone realizes that. 

 "getting to know everyone in our group. :)" -Jacob Van Skyhawk

 "i honestly just loved how fast everyone came together and bonded and it just made me so excited to spend the next year with you guys" - samantha

 "my favorite thing about the retreat was.. probably just how much we all bonded! and just how we all felt comfortable making it so there wasn't one awkward moment!" -sophie

 "i'd say getting to know everyone was my favorite part" -andrew

 me: "austin what was your favorite part of the retreat?"

austin: "thats easy to say probably just getting to know everyone was the funnest part"

 "oooh, that's hard. But i think it was the whole thing for me in general... When i got there and started talking to everyone i realized that i made a good choice and i was really going to enjoy everything this next year brings. :)" -jordan nash

 "i would have to say that my favorite part was calling Daniel by his nickname Dan-babe" -blake

 i'm sorry this post was super long but i had a lot of info to share and i wanted to make sure if anyone came back to read this they wouldn't miss a thing. i hope you all enjoyed.

xoxo jordyn standage