01.27.2006

3:00, Life Network. Anyone who was at the January 23 meeting knew exactly when and where to be for the winter team building retreat. But most of us still managed to be late. It was 3:45 before eleven kids and five 'adults' (by the end of weekend we questioned that) got on the road. Our destination: AmeriSuites hotel in Denver, where we were joined by three other members of the team. We got in at about 5:00 and headed across the street to Chick-fil-A (pretty exciting if you ask me!). After dinner we had our first session. Mark and Andy led the discussion, which was about submitting. They used the movie To End All Wars to illustrate their point... really illustrate it. We discussed the clips for an hour. Then we went to Dave & Buster's, which was way fun. Most of us liked the games where you try to knock coins off the edge best. Molly and Becky were addicted, so something to discuss at the next meeting is whether these games can be considered 'high-risk behavior' or not. But certainly the most... disturbing thing that came out of the evening was the Air-Zooka, which haunted us for the rest of the weekend.

01.28.2006

We were downstairs at 7:30 the next morning... at least most of us. Certain members of the team (Serenity and Sarah, you know who you are) were late. Mark's next session was about serving, and he had another great illustration. We went to the Food Bank of the Rockies and served in several different capacities. The girls packed food boxes (or boxen, on weekends and holidays) on an assembly line; the guys threw empty boxes at each other. Okay, that's a lie. They broke boxes down and kept the assembly line supplied. It was a great team-building experience. We had a system, but we had to be flexible and help other people if they fell behind. After lunch at the 16th Street Chipotle (the Tabasco-and-Coke-special was... interesting; just ask Sarah), we went to the Denver Zoo. But we weren't there to sight-see. We were on a hunt, a Human Scavenger Hunt, to be exact (we aren't headhunters, don't worry). We split into pairs, got lists from the leaders and looked. The hardest things to find were foreign tourists, uniquely talented people and kids willing to imitate apes. Gratulacje (congratulations in Polish) to Vezey and Tyler, winners of the Hunt. Back at the hotel, we had our third session led by Molly and Amy. They talked about encouragement, both in the group and out. There wasn't an illustration for this session, but the next event was amazing. After pizza, Mark threw a hockey puck into the 'lava pit' (don't ask), and we figured out that we were on our way to the Avs game. Most of us had never been to a professional hockey game before. By the end of the game, we were wired. Three fights on the ice, a fight in the stands (no TE members involved), Clark dancing and scaring people (scaring us too), an overtime... It was crazy. We couldn't have gotten a better game if we'd special-ordered it. And, to top it off, they flashed 'Welcome Team Engage' on the screen so we had an excuse to scream. Then we came back to the hotel for a welcome, but way too short night. Some of us stayed up to write notes for the blessing bags. We guessed that there wouldn't be a lot of time tomorrow. We were right.

01.29.2006

Not many of us were downstairs by 7:30 the next morning. Actually, most of us thought we were dead at 7:30. But we got our bags downstairs by 8:00. The fourth and final session started at 8:30, led by Dr. Diane Foley (the EFL director, a very important person). It was about accepting people, whether they are in TE, considering joining TE or just people we meet in schools or life. Then we went to the Mizel Museum, a Jewish museum dedicated to remembering World War II. The museum had a special exhibit about the Righteous Rescuers, Gentiles who helped Jews during the war, with photos and stories on the walls. After listening to a talk about the rescuers, we each picked a person and did a little research about their lives, contributions, and amazing courage. After the museum we went to Quizno's for lunch. We clogged up the whole store with the line. Then we came back to the hotel for the last time. We loaded up our stuff (there was a ton), took a great picture (see above) and loaded ourselves into the vans. Some people slept, some opened their blessing bags, some talked with their residual energy. We said goodbye at the doors of Life Network. But we're closer than we were before. We discussed and saw real life applications for submission, servanthood, encouragement and acceptance. We had crazy times (more than I can list) and stressful times (not quite as many but a fair share). We got to know each other better (which may or may not be a good thing). And last but not least, we had an amazing time.

-Annie Clark