Life Application & Adventure in the Mountains!

SON Life & Adventure Teen Retreats pack a whole lot of fun and impactful life applications of biblical truth into each and every day. It is delightfully exhausting!

The international leadership team members (Slovaks, Germans, Estonians, Ukrainians, and Americans) meet every morning at 8:00 am, for devotions, planning, and prayer. The day usually winds down around 23:00 (11:00pm – though campfire night always goes later!), with everyone in their rooms and lights out.

Opening worship and theme presentation, after breakfast, sets the tone for small groups discussions during the day. Kinetic learning is key, through music, video, skits, games, and many opportunities for relationship building and informal conversations during exciting outdoor activities!

Every member of the international leadership team is given the opportunity to co-lead a large group session, share their testimony, object lessons, and lead games. Year after year, student surveys reveal that hearing the testimonies is the most impactful take-away from the retreats. This is where the more abstract ideas of God become more concrete for students, as testimonies speak to the exchange God gives us for a former life of struggles and hopelessness to a new life in Christ.

Mountain Excursion!

On Tuesday afternoon, we all loaded into a bus and vans for a short drive to a nearby mountain retreat. Some chose to learn about search and rescue techniques, and climb a rock wall, while about half chose to go on a short hike to a mountain view. However, the weather had a different plan, as a powerful thunderstorm quickly rolled in. The rock wall climbers were able to seek shelter during the fast moving storm, while the hikers got absolutely drenched! No harm done, as it was warm and actually made for a fun memory in a still beautiful setting!

Tuesday Evening Worship

The retreat theme of Exchange continued Tuesday evening, as we learned about exchanging temporary, worldly Comfort for Purpose in following Jesus.

Wednesday – Water Day!

Wednesday morning, we learned about Exchanging Loneliness for Friendship and what makes for genuine relationship and serving each other. A fun learning game started with just two people working together to stand up and escalated into entire international small groups working together to stand up, as a community! A fun and impactful activity, followed by a memorable skit on serving and a powerful testimony from team member, Elijah.

Afterward small groups gathered to discuss what they learned and to unpack how what we learn in Scripture applies directly to our everyday lives.

After lunch, we enjoyed water day! Water football, water volleyball, water squirters, games, music, dancing, and ice cream made for a memorable day of fun in the sun.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. There will be more photos to come and many stories to follow. Stay tuned!

Here’s how you can stay involved and what you can do!

Pray Continuously: Set aside time each day to pray for the mission trip. Pray for the team’s stamina and health. Pray for the people we are serving, all of our international ministry partners, and for the work God is doing in, around, and through us in Slovakia. Pray especially for the teens and their families, who are joining us. We hope many will be positively impacted by the retreat. Pray for people to grow in curiosity toward Jesus and His Good News.

Stay Updated: Follow along on our ministry blog for more updates and inspiring stories from the camp. Your comments and encouragements are greatly appreciated and help us feel connected to our church family back home.

Get Involved: to learn more about the Spiritual Orphans Network, navigate to: https://sonetwork.org/learn/connect/ and fill out the form to request more information.