Retreats bring mission trip teams closer together

Jack Hobgood

For this year’s mission trip teams, the mission trip retreats, a weekend of team bonding ahead of the actual mission trip, will take place the last weekend of January (Saturday, Jan. 28 and Sunday, Jan. 29) at various locations.

The purpose of the mission trip retreats is to give the mission trip teams an opportunity to bond with each other and get to know each other better as they prepare for their trip. It also gives the teams an opportunity to get a better understanding of their project and what they will be doing on their trip.

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The Red Cross is coming to Yancey Gym on January 27 to draw blood for those in need.

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Features

Students may volunteer this semester with Books for Africa.

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Sports

Wesleyan’s winter sports teams are midway through their seasons.

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As a way of bonding with each other and creating unity amongst the teams, each person on a trip will share their faith journey with the others on their trip. In doing this, those on mission trips will be able to better understand the people that they will be spending a week’s worth of time with and be able to connect with them through shared experiences and struggles that they have faced. The conversations that come as a result of sharing each other’s faith journey is, perhaps, even more special than the sharing of one’s faith journey itself.

Another special aspect of the retreat is what takes place on the Sunday morning of the retreat. Following breakfast on Sunday morning, each team will return to Wesleyan where they will have a morning of worship and prayer in Austin Chapel with their mission trip team. For Director of Christian Life Greg Lisson, he is anxious for this and very excited because he believes that it serves as a reminder that “there’s our team, but there’s also all of the other teams.”

(cont’d on pg. 4)