Okay...this happened like almost a month ago, but I haven't gotten around to finishing the post until now haha!
Last weekend was packed full of RA stuff!
Friday night was Mr. Heritage. I went last year as well, but it seemed like there were way more people there this year. It was great!
I then came back and roved. It was a pretty chill night. But, the next morning we had to be up and ready by 9 to go to RA retreat up at Spring Haven. It was absolutely beautiful up there with all the snow. Definitely something you see on a postcard. We started out playing some get to know you games and then had a little intro talk. Julie Franklin spoke about how important we are and the difference we can make. She shared three stories, one of which was about her mission, the next about some crazy freshman boys, and the last was about this quote from Man of La Mancha...
"I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I've held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning "Why?" I don't think they were wondering why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be."
I wish I would have had paper with me so I could have taken notes, but it was fantastic. We need to live each day of the fullest and see what we can do to make the world a little better, even if we just affect one person. I think we have more influence than we may think we do.
We then broke off into groups and listened to more talks. One of which was call The Vision. The speaker spoke about the origin of the handkerchief in Louisiana, where he's from, and then used it to talk about how different people use their gifts.
Some people don't know that they have a gift.
Some know what their gift is, but they don't use it
Some use their gift to rob others (put the handkerchief around his neck and mouth like a robber)
Some use their gift to see what they can take from others
Some use their gift to serve (put the handkerchief on his arm like a waiter)
He said that most of us RAs are the type that use our gift to serve and that sometimes we often get so caught up in doing things for others, that we forget to do things for ourselves. He then had us think of one gift that we can give to the RAs that we work with. And then we had to write down a gift that we were going to give to ourselves that week. The vision is that we matter. We are just as important as anyone else.
He told us about an object lesson that he did with his kids. His little boy needed help getting up on a table. So one of his daughters got down on all fours and let him climb on top of her to get up. He then had a different daughter come in and help. She got on top of the table and then lifted her little brother up. His point was that you can let people step on you and bring you down or you can reach down and help them up. I immediately thought of the Greg Olsen painting where the Savior is reach down and helping bring people up. The caption says "lead me to the rock that is higher than I"
We got Costa Vida for lunch, there was a hot chocolate bar, and it was so fun to chat with friends and learn a lot! Busy weekend to be an RA, but definitely worth it!
Last weekend was packed full of RA stuff!
Friday night was Mr. Heritage. I went last year as well, but it seemed like there were way more people there this year. It was great!
I then came back and roved. It was a pretty chill night. But, the next morning we had to be up and ready by 9 to go to RA retreat up at Spring Haven. It was absolutely beautiful up there with all the snow. Definitely something you see on a postcard. We started out playing some get to know you games and then had a little intro talk. Julie Franklin spoke about how important we are and the difference we can make. She shared three stories, one of which was about her mission, the next about some crazy freshman boys, and the last was about this quote from Man of La Mancha...
"I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I've held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning "Why?" I don't think they were wondering why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be."
I wish I would have had paper with me so I could have taken notes, but it was fantastic. We need to live each day of the fullest and see what we can do to make the world a little better, even if we just affect one person. I think we have more influence than we may think we do.
We then broke off into groups and listened to more talks. One of which was call The Vision. The speaker spoke about the origin of the handkerchief in Louisiana, where he's from, and then used it to talk about how different people use their gifts.
Some people don't know that they have a gift.
Some know what their gift is, but they don't use it
Some use their gift to rob others (put the handkerchief around his neck and mouth like a robber)
Some use their gift to see what they can take from others
Some use their gift to serve (put the handkerchief on his arm like a waiter)
He said that most of us RAs are the type that use our gift to serve and that sometimes we often get so caught up in doing things for others, that we forget to do things for ourselves. He then had us think of one gift that we can give to the RAs that we work with. And then we had to write down a gift that we were going to give to ourselves that week. The vision is that we matter. We are just as important as anyone else.
He told us about an object lesson that he did with his kids. His little boy needed help getting up on a table. So one of his daughters got down on all fours and let him climb on top of her to get up. He then had a different daughter come in and help. She got on top of the table and then lifted her little brother up. His point was that you can let people step on you and bring you down or you can reach down and help them up. I immediately thought of the Greg Olsen painting where the Savior is reach down and helping bring people up. The caption says "lead me to the rock that is higher than I"
We got Costa Vida for lunch, there was a hot chocolate bar, and it was so fun to chat with friends and learn a lot! Busy weekend to be an RA, but definitely worth it!
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