TUC Annual Family Retreat
Retrea! Retreat! That is what we all need when things are simply too crazy to handle. Man! up until now, I have been swimming in madness; the assignments and coursework to be done, the semester, wrapping up of various offices and work, etc. The siren is blasting… “RED ALERT! This bunny is going to blow!” (Frantic cackle!)
Anyways, I managed to get a real break last weekend at Tokyo Union Church’s Annual Family Retreat. Pastor Craig and Suresh (Elder) thought that it would be a good idea an opportunity for BoiNu and I to meet the church memebers on a closer level. The church is so big and we are more often than not so busy on Sundays with whatever we are busy with that we hardly have time to meet and know people in the church. Thus, the invitation of the 2 intern students to the retreat that was held at the YMCA Convention Center, Tozanso (name of the resort), Gotemba (name of the town), Shizuoka-Prefecture.
It was simply great. Well, the time took to travel there by trains from Tokyo Station took us close to 3 hours, but it was ok. The only thing Gotemba is famous for (after asking the locals) is Mt. Fuji. The environment was great though, good scenery surronded my mountains and all. BoiNu and I arrived at the place around 7 in the evening, had dinner at a restaurant near the station and made it there by cab. There was no plans for the night, so, I just took the opportunity to rest from the journey and got to know BoiNu better in a relax setting. Haha! Roomies for the weekend!
Well, I caught up with most of my rest and sleep that Friday night. In fact, I totally forgot to set the alarm (which I normally don’t on Saturdays) that I was waken by the sounds of cheerful “retreaters” around 8, breakfast! I broke my personal record at preparing myself for the whole day in 15 minutes (cool, eh?). BoiNu and I went down for breakfast, met some people and both pastors. After that we had a singing session before a short talk by Pastor Bruce. BoiNu and I were asked to help out with the children and we did, almost for the whole day. During the 2nd talk that was led by Pastor Craig, BoiNu and I helped Joy out with the activities for kids. We made name tags, went out for a scavenger hunt for berries, leaves, etc. and used our find to decorate a frame! Yay! Artwork! Just like the good old times. We even had a game of Dodgeball till lunch. After lunch we had a quick photo session and then off to our free time. After various activities, we had dinner and I decided to stay for the talk that evening with the adults while the kids were off somewhere. After that, we had a session of games.
Highlights of Saturday… we had many kid casualties. Kaye, a 7 year old (maybe) had her tooth knocked out by an apple tossed by a rough kid when we were lightly tossing an apple to intorduce ourselves. the next casuality, a minor one was when a bigger kid threw the ball at the face of a five year old, Lynne (Kaye’s sister) during the kids’ Dodgeball in the morning. She cried a little… The next casualty was that a boy got hit by the ball at a game of soft ball. He had to be sent to the hospital as the swelling didn’t go down. Ok, enough of the sad stuff… I had a great time with the kids. Playing with the little ones was tonnes of fun. In the afternoon, during the freetime, I joined the kids at making a whistle out of Japanese Nutmeg. We went to hunt for nuts and then made the whistle on the spot and when we were done, blowing it like mad creating a nuisance for all. Later, we had a game of “pinata” for the kids. I took a swing at it too, when the kids couldn’t get it to open. I broke something, I broke the bat! Haha! Finally, we got the adults to help and the pinata broke open to shower the kids with candy and all. We later went out for a game of Adult/Family Dodgeball.
What I enjoyed most at the retreat was getting to meet new people. I talked to a few and had tonnes of fun playing games after a discussion/bible study session in the evening. I had a blast playing “Taboo” with the adults and did pretty well. Our team won. We later moved on to a card game of “president” (something like “cho dai di”). This was when i get to know a few memebers on a more fun and personal level. All in all, it was tonnes of fun!
Though we had lousy weather on Saturday, just muggy and loads of mist restricting the view of Mt. Fuji, we were blessed by great weather on Sunday (and the entire week!). BoiNu was so excited to see Mt. Fuji that she went almost crazy with excitement. The view was splendid! We managed to see Mt. Fuji in its full glory on Sunday. Due to the great weather, we even got an opportunity to see its many faces of being snow capped at the earlier part of the day and as the snow melts after noon.
Sunday’s schedule was pretty light, just breakfast and the service held at the meeting hall. We even had communion there. We took the same way home and arrived around 6 on campus. I had a great time. I will try to upload the pictures soon. Retreat… what I really needed from the craziness of TCU and getting to know people of TUC better. Yup! Bunny being able to get back to work now… I guess it is true, you have to get rest when you need it. It helps A LOT!
