The 2019 C.A.N Sisters' Girls' Retreat

On August 6th at 8:30am, six teenage girls gathered at my house and loaded into our church van. I had been planning and praying over this retreat all year and it was finally here. Approximately two hours later we arrived in CampSherman at our campsite and then went to the CampSherman store. After spending some time shopping we went on a short hike along the Metolius River.

That evening after dinner, we had our first worship service and sermon. I taught on the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. The first night was about God’s promises he makes to us.

The next day I came down with a cold. I had woken up with a sore throat, but I thought it was just allergies. After breakfast we went to Sisters and spent most of the day window shopping. By the time I was getting really for the second worship service and sermon I was starting to lose my voice. At that point I was realizing that the cold was Satan trying to stop me from sharing the gospel with the girls at my retreat. Right before I started preaching my voice was very horse and soft, but when I started God cleared my voice so I could speak clearly and loud enough for the girls to hear me. I taught about how even though life doesn’t always go the way we hoped and bad things happen, God is with us. He is in control and he will take care of us. After the sermon my voice started to go away again, but I felt a lot better the next morning.

On the third day we rode horses all day. That evening worship went well, but the sermon was too long because I took a detour from my notes and shared the whole entire gospel in detail, which was too much information to fit into one sermon. It ended up being over an hour long. However, we had a really good discussion afterwards and I got to hear all about how God was moving in each girl’s heart.

The last day I taught about forgiving others and emotional healing. I then gave them some time to journal and then I gave them each a devotional and told them how to spend time with God on their own. After the sermon we packed up and headed home.

Over all, at the retreat each girl had fun, made new friends, and, most of all, experienced God in a powerful way. First I want to thank my Aunt Laurie for letting us camp on her property, spending a whole day teaching each girl how to ride a horse, and giving them each a free devotional. I also want to want to thank my pastor for letting us us the church van, my mom for driving, cooking, and giving up one week to pour into these girl’s lives, and everyone else who prayed over this retreat. I couldn’t have done it without you.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about The C.A.N Sisters’ Ministry, leave a comment below, check out our website, or email us at cansistersministry@gmail.com.