SEED ... My experience

SEED retreat
August 26-28, 2011
Stream Side Camp - Poccono, PA, USA

“Be strong & courageous. Do not be terrified or discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” -Josh 1:9

SEED was an AMAZING experience! No doubt!
Oh, and sorry if my English isn’t perfect, I talk 90% of my time in French so... :)
Highlight texts are quotes I found on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/LovLikeJesus)

[1 month before SEED]

Nam & Nhu Liên : Hey Nhât, are you interested in a S.E.E.D. retreat?
Me : Sure! Why not? But what’s that?
Nam & Nhu Liên : It’s a retreat for kids in Pennsylvania, US. You’ll be with Cô Quyen. They were asking people to go help them and learn from that retreat.
Me : Bring it on, I’ll come for sure! :D
In my head, I really love kids and young people, so I didn’t hesitate at all! Also, it’s a good opportunity to learn and discover God in a different way!

A few days before the retreat, I was REALLY excited! ^^


[A few days before the retreat]

Mom & Dad : I’m so sorry, Cô Quyen can’t go to the retreat with you...
Me : It’s ok then...I can go by myself!
I got a bit nervous because it was the first time I took an airplane by myself. But, the worst problem is coming...
Me on Facebook : Philadelphia (USA), here I come!!! :D
One of my friend : There’s a huge hurricane coming :O
Huh uh...it just took seconds for me to start the panic and get really scared. My heart just beated as fast as a car. Why is there a hurricane that weekend?? T_T I don’t want to perish... Man, I don’t want to go anymore! Seriously...
Me : MOM! DAD! BAD news! There’s gonna be a HUGE hurricane coming up to where I’m gonna stay this weekend!
My parents didn’t panic at all. They were smiling.

Mom & Dad : You know what? You do this for God. There’s no reason to panic. God’s gonna protect you during your retreat! There’s nothing stronger than Him.

 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” - Proverbs 16.3

Then I started to re-think about what my parents told me, even if I didn’t sleep well... I was really hesitating to come there. But well, if God asked me to do it, I will.

“But even when I am afraid, I keep on trusting you.” - Psalm 56:3

[Friday]

Wow! There’s a lot of kids and teens! We’ll have a lot of fun, though! :)

Everyone looks nice and friendly! Above all, I didn’t see anyone worrying about the hurricane, except me. Every time someone I heard the word “hurricane”, I started to panic. I had ideas of destruction, storm, explosion, etc... sticking in my head. :(

“You can tell the size of your God by looking at the size of your worry list. The longer your list, the smaller your God.”

So, I stopped thinking about it and decided to enjoy the rest of the camp. :S

Nam Phuong gave me the teen group, so I can help her and her brother-in-law to work with the teenagers. At the beginning, it wasn’t warm yet. But, I discovered a lot of treasure inside of them. All of them. It’s just not easy to live the program when it’s made for kids... Anyways, they are awesome! :)

Bonfire. During this joyfully moment of singing and praying, leaders asked us why are we here.

(idea of hurricane again...)

Me : I’m here because... I love kids and younglings. I want to spread the love of God, like a farmer who spread seeds. My parents didn’t ask me to come, God called me to come here. And I just do what He wants me to do.

“Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.“ - Leo Buscaglia

During the worship, kids were singing loud with a genuine happiness, which made me feel a lot better.

 “In this life we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa

[Saturday]

Wake up!

Leaders were presenting a talk about a faith armor, a God armor.
It was fun though, a lot of beautiful artworks, coming from the young people. Nice, no more Irene in my head... for the moment... 

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” - 1Cor 16:13

“I pray to you, my protector.” - Psalm 57:2

“I put on the Full Armor of God.” - Eph 6:10

And then, there was this talk about the story of David and Goliath.

And again, I’m still worrying about the storm, because it will start tomorrow, and God knows how big damages it will cause. They asked us what is our Goliath, what’s our obstacle in our daily life? At that moment, I was thinking about 1 thing : the hurricane. Yes, that’s my Goliath, and I need to keep my faith stronger in order to defeat it.

During the mass, I sang the songs with all my heart. I was praying for us, for my parents, for people of the retreat. I remembered a quote I found on Twitter.

“God only gives three answers to prayer:
1. 'Yes!'
2. 'Not yet.'
3. 'I have something better in mind.”

The answer of my prayer was finally “Yes!”.

“If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for.”  - Mat 21:22

Right after the mass, something just change. Really. I don’t fear anymore. No more. Nothing could scare me, even the hurricane. I’m dead serious. I don’t know what happened, but I just know that God gave me courage that time.
It was THAT moment where I’ve learn the most during the retreat. To not fear. I am doing this for God. God would never let us be alone, never.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” - Nelson Mandela

“I would rather walk with God in the dark than go alone in the light.” - Mary Gardiner Brainard

[Sunday]

I woke up. Everything looked good! There’s a little rain and some winds passing by, but nothing dangerous at all. Smile! :)

We went to mass. The priest was very happy to see us there! I think we (SEED retreat people) took about half of the church itself. Hahaha!

The t-shirt signature was the magic moment. This is when people start gathering names and e-mails from each others. I wrote down my Facebook name on every t-shirt, so everyone could reach me easier! :) It was also a sad moment, when everyone need to quit and go back home.

My sister just texted me some hours before : “Where are you? Are you ok? We’re worrying about you here!”

Mom, on the phone : Nhât, hope you’re alright! Your airplane is cancel!
Me : Really? It’s good then. Better to stay here 1 night and go back late than having an airplane crash. Oh, and mom... God protected me! :)
Mom, on the phone : (smiling)
Me : Cô Tuyen, my airplaine is cancelled.
Cô Tuyen : Don’t worry, I’m gonna take care of you! :)

“ Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” - Mother Teresa

I was smiling. The worst just passed by.

“Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. “ - John 15:12

[Monday]

I went back home safely, thanks for the family of Cô Tuyen who took care of me! :)

“ Be a blessing to someone today. ”  - Prov 11:25

I really miss everyone from SEED retreat, so I decided to start a new Facebook group for S.E.E.D. people. Surprise! Kids really loved the retreat! I was so happy for them! This was a good opportunity to keep in touch with each other and share the love of God, while keeping our “seed” inside our heart for the next retreats.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/238328312878335/

After all these amazing moments, I would like to thank you all for this grateful experience! I hope to see ALL of you next year, with a lot of new faces too! :D
God bless you all!

“ I pray that the Lord, who gives peace, will always bless you with peace. May the Lord be with all of you too. ” - Thess 3:16

Lê Minh Nhât, apprentice leader
Dong Hanh Canada

PS: Thanks a lot to Liz Nguyen to correct my text! :)