My Weekend Away

Hello Everyone!

The weekend just gone was probably one of the best I've had in a long while, it was full of great food, lots of laughs, emotions running high and spending some time with some amazing friends- and making closer relationships. 
I didn't go far, only to Emsworth (15-20mins drive from me), from Friday to Monday. It was a church youth event called 'Winterfest' where every February half term a huge group of young people get together to have a fun weekend doing activities, playing games and for the main reason of praising and worshipping God. This was my 5th year attending and I feel that through the years they have just got better and better, this time there was 120 young people from year 6 up to university attendees and graduates, which is the biggest one yet. 

On the Friday when we arrived we had to go set up our beds in the rooms we shared with our cell groups. Once set up we had a meeting- which involved a worship music part and then a talk about a specific topic.
All of the days follow this pattern with Saturday, we all got on two coaches (boys on one, girls on the other) and went to Guildford Spectrum leisure centre where we went swimming/diving and bowling. We were there most of the day, and when we got back we chilled out for 2 hours, waiting for dinner to be ready. Once again the evening ended with a music worship event and a talk. This meeting was followed by a ministry event which is where everyone got into their cell groups and had a prayer circle, a time to pray for anything on your mind. 
Sunday was met with waking up super early for breakfast, followed by normal church services. However, this Sunday was a baptism with 7 young people getting baptised in front of hundreds of onlookers. How amazing! Later we had some active games which consisted of; hockey, dodgeball, bin basketball, human inflatable fusball and inflatable jousting. My team lost every game we played, and unsurprisingly we lost the whole event. :/ Winterfest ended it's last night on a high, with a talk which included a rather successful science experiment (mentos in a coke bottle), which was a great way to show how we sought for God in our lives and how he works in ours. Also there was a stage diving competition, which shows how unconventional church really can be...

...Excuse the bad quality, I took a video from one someone else took.
Monday morning was just a huge packing down and tidying session, to put everything back into order. With hundreds of people taking part in the cleaning it didn't take long at all.

I felt like Winterfest 2014 was so good, and during the weekend I became a much more confident person and made some closer friendships who will all be with me for life. :D When it ended and Monday morning came around, I just know that I now can not wait for Summer Camp in July which is very much the same event- but much longer! :D 
How has your half term gone so far? Even if you don't get half terms like some (most) people, how was your weekend? :D