South Eastern Winter Regional

Saturday December 18, 2004

The 2004 southeast winter retreat was held on Saturday December 18, 2004 at Mar Gregorios Syrian Orthodox Church Tampa, Florida. St. Mary’s Syrian Orthodox Church from Atlanta, GA and St. Mary’s Church from Lilburn, GA were able to make it to Tampa for this event.  Even though Augusta St. Mary's church was unable to attend due to prior commitments, the turnout for the meeting was a great success and it proved to be very enjoyable event for the youth.

The retreat began in the morning with breakfast and registration. The programs opened with 2 different icebreakers proving to be very challenging and competitive. Beautiful praise and worship songs were organized and led by Joel Joseph and the youth of St. Mary’s Syrian Orthodox Church Lilburn, GA. Biju Abraham from Tampa, FL was the selected speaker and he delivered an intriguing message about our theme of giving thanks and doing everything for God.

Group discussions, conducted by Father Bijo Mathew, were filled with topics and feedback from the youth which turned out great . The group was then able to relax with a full blown competitive game of pictionary. There was also a very challenging bible trivia to sharpen the bible knowledge of the youth. Afterwards the group finished up with another praise and worship session followed by future MGSOSA events such as charity events and evaluations of the retreat.

The day closed with evening prayer by Rev. Fr. George Abraham and Rev. Fr. Bijo Mathew. The group had dinner and a chance to socialize and enjoy the rest of the night with a movie and a bountiful amount of Chinese food.

-Aby George