SUMYT Retreat: Growing up, Moving on, Giving Love

My Last SUMYT Retreat:
Growing up, Moving on, Giving Love
By Abby Fredericksen

Being a senior within the Seattle United Methodist Youth Team (SUMYT) is always a really emotional experience because it’s one’s last time being there as a youth.

This idea always really hits home at the end of the dance on Saturday night. Let me paint a picture for you: It’s dark, you’re sweaty and blissful from dancing, and the final song comes on. Everyone circles up with seniors in their own circle in the middle. The outer circle is quiet and meditative, while the senior circle is laughing and giggling making jokes with each other about where they’ll be going to college, how they’ll keep in touch, etc. But when the final note of the song hits, the entire outer circle squeezes in around the seniors in a giant group hug. Every year this seems to be the SUMYT retreat’s send off. Every year there are oodles of tears, both from underclassmen and from the seniors because after this moment, all that’s left is sleeping, breakfast, and closing rally. Our final SUMYT over.

However, at our final SUMYT everyone banded together to blow past the team’s goal of $300 for the retreat store, actually raising $673 for the American Cancer Society. That’s the most successful store SUMYT has had in a LONG time.

At our final SUMYT, eight small groups banded together to battle it out in our second annual Amazing Race, which was way more successful and challenging than last year’s. At our final SUMYT, we hit the capacity of our venue for the first time in over 10 years bringing 115 people together in faith and fellowship. It is here where we learned the true meaning of God’s intention for us through our speaker Jim Head-Corliss. We learned through morning devotionals that if we let God find and hold onto all of our pieces, we will be able to live fuller, happier, more productive lives. Through rallies we learned that even though our society will work against us with its hate and greed, letting Jesus sit on the throne of our lives is one of the best choices we’ll make – because it will fill our cups to the brim with love and compassion. We learned that we ultimately have the choice between throwing rocks in our relationships and giving love. So fully that when given the choice in the final rally, everyone threw their rocks on the floor and held onto their paper hearts.

On the whole, SUMYT blew past all of our expectations for God’s messages, for the fundraiser, for the amount of enjoyment, everything. And I can’t imagine a better SUMYT to be the last one I attend as a youth.