The top ten memories of the Fall Retreat as told by the people who have been there. In another sense, these may be the top ten reasons why you should attend the fall retreat Oct. 3-4 at Cedar Crest Camp in Mexico, MO.
No. 9: Housing - Cabins, tents, cars or under the stars, there are plenty of housing memories and options at the fall retreat:
“The ‘official’ housing consists of unheated cabins with bunk beds. However, many people choose to find more creative housing options. Girls who tend to be anti-cold choose to sleep on the floor in the basement of the dining hall (which is heated). There are also rooms in the basement for married couples and families. If you like to rough it, you can sleep out under the stars. If you have a tent, you can pitch a tent. Some people, for whatever reason, choose to sleep in their cars.
“I think I’ve made use of pretty much every housing option over the years. I like to mix things up and try something different. Sometimes I plan ahead, but a lot of times it’s more of a spur of the moment sort of decision depending on the weather, what my friends are doing and how much sleep I think I need.
- Stevi Ferguson (6 retreats)
“It’s pretty bare-bones, I don’t think I can make an attractive advertisement for it. Out of the eight or so fall retreats I attended, I did most of them by sleeping in my car. It was nice because it was private, quiet, and I would just recline my car, drape a blanket over me and crash. The disadvantage, of course, is that it’s very hard to wake up early for breakfast. I guess I’d recommend people bringing a sleeping bag, pillow, a light snack, a flashlight and a notebook.
“My favorite memory though was a fall retreat, I think it was the fall of ‘97 (possible ‘98), when we stayed at a camp in northwest Missouri. There wasn’t enough room for everybody because this was the era where we met with a few other campus ministries from other schools. The Missouri guys were gentlemen and let everyone else stay in cabins while we stayed in the old chapel. And when I say old, I mean it looked like it had been shelled in World War II. There were holes in the roof, cobwebs everywhere, and worst of all – wasp nests everywhere on the ceiling. Hundreds of the things buzzed around us as we put thin one-inch mats on the floor with our stuff. None of us could sleep that night, partly because it rained that night and the floor was covered with rainwater, and part of it was the the threat that we’d be stung to death by angry wasps. In the middle of the night, I stacked up about 10 mattresses on top of each other to make an elevated bed…but all of a sudden people jumped out of bed and gangtackled me, causing my bed to fall into shambles.”
- Ryan Smith (8 retreats)