Hawar

Last weekend I was able to attend the youth group overnight retreat on the island of Hawar. I've been working with the youth group since August, and the weekend retreat is always one of the most anticipated events. This year about 31 of us met after church to head out to the island. Of course, we were planning to leave around 12:30 and didn't end up leaving until 1, but unfortunately, I'm getting used to accuracy of "Middle East time." :) After all donning our new youth t-shirts, we piled into the vans for the 40 minute drive south to the jetty where we would be departing. In my opinion, we were about to start one of the most exciting parts of the trip: the boat ride to the island! We split the group into two speed boats and headed out into the open sea. At one point we couldn't see land anywhere around us. On the hour ride to the island of Hawar, we even saw some dolphins! After arriving on the island, we headed to our apartments to unpack. The island is kind of funny because on one end is a resort. There is a pretty nice hotel, two outdoor pools, a water slide, a pretty nice beach, and a four wheeler race track. Of course there are the typical palm trees you would expect at an island resort, but the rest of the area is brown; the island is still a desert. And outside the fence of the resort is nothing but uninhabited desert land, used as a base by the Bahrain Defence Force. Not exactly what you would imagine when you go to a retreat on an island in the Gulf! Nonetheless, that didn't stop us from having fun. Some of the highlights were the two big water slides, the poolside dinner buffet, and a praise and worship session on the beach. New relationships were build, old relationships were strengthened, and a good time was had by all.