Lauren In Alaska: CYAK Young Adult Retreat

Every year, CYAK holds two young adult retreats - one in September, and one in February. Our February retreat was last weekend, and I have to say that it was hands down my favorite of the four I've been to since I've been working with CYAK. For those of you who don't know, students who come to this retreat are either involved with CYAK's Arigaa ministries in Anchorage and Fairbanks, or are students at two of CYAK's partner ministry schools, Alaska Christian College and Amundsen Educational Center. Every retreat we have great speakers, awesome worship, play lots of fun games, laugh a lot, ride snow machines, and just spent time in community together. As our Arigaa students would say, its Arigaasome!

This year, we had a speaker team of Curtis and Kristi Ivanoff, who talked about finding our identity in Christ, the joy of our journey with the Lord, and how to understand our part in God's vision for the world. Their messages were encouraging to both the students as well as the staff. I know for me personally it was so refreshing to be reminded that we all play a role in God's vision for the world - a unique role - and we don't have to have it all figured out. We are called to seek after the Lord, and He will guide our path. A reassuring message for someone like me who is trying to figure out what my next step is in life! Needless to say, it was such a blessing to have them there.

We also had lots of fresh snow, which made snow machining, skiing, skeet shooting, and just hanging out outside all the more fun. It's at retreats like this that I think, "Is this really my job?!" I am one blessed girl. Enjoy some of the pictures from the retreat! You can see more pictures from the weekend on the CYAK website here: http://www.cyak.org/young-adult-retreat---feb-2012.html