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"LD Re-treat with… Strangers?" by Yi Wen Cheok

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Back pains, ankle sprains, bug bites, and late nights. These were the aftermath of our LD retreat that we were all so eager about, but it was all worth it.

When we first got together, no one really knew what to expect because we all came from different friend groups. Most of them were just hi-bye friends to me, but we have one thing in common: to lead Dalat closer to Jesus.

Everyone on LD is a senior. There are nine of us and we can’t split into even groups, so we made Kathy split the groups. Our group was the biggest: me, Kathy Jones, Naomi O’quin, Noah Dobson, and Nathan Evans. We were called…Dinococo! Inspired by Dinoco from Cars and Coco by the Milo Dinosaur drink, it was a mix of what we liked. The other team was Olive Berends, Naomi Neiger, Mia Yuan and Jay Chong. They were called…Soy Sauce! Inspired by being the salt of the world.

The first stop of our bonding was go-karting. We arrived at 1:50, and we each raced two ten-minute rounds. In our groups, we secretly discussed our game plan and made the racing orders; I was third. The group with the fastest lap time would receive points, and the group with the most points at the end of the day wins!

Cortisol rising, sweat dripping, we were all on the edge of our seats to see who would win. Both teams were 2-2 and it was up to Nathan to bring back the winning point for Dinococo. One problem, he was against Mr. Arnold. In the first seven minutes, Nathan was trailing behind Mr. Arnold and when all hope was lost, Nathan cut him off and Dinococo wins!

Tired and hungry, we went to Tesco (Lotus) to have dinner and began the ascent towards our stay at the Hickory on Penang Hill, where another activity awaits.

This activity definitely required teamwork; we had to pose in a way that we needed to sit on top of each other. Totally not dangerous, the fact that we were on the balcony of Penang Hill (exaggeration). By the end of the activity, everyone was bruised from head to toe. Mia had back pain supporting others, Olive landed wrong and hurt her ankle. To put it, it was a trauma bonding experience.

By 7:50pm, we all sat down to have a Bible study and worship. Worship at night with all the bugs swarming around us was horrifying; each time we opened our mouths it was a risk that a bug would fly in, but that didn’t stop us from pouring out our hearts in worship.

There's something so beautiful about the timing of God; the people that I barely knew at the beginning of class, are now friends I can’t imagine without. Jay Chong said, “Our LD group is very unified and energetic, I’m excited to see how God is gonna work!” All memories made on this re-treat are priceless.

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