About a hundred women from across the Westman Region joined together at Turtle Mountain Bible Camp this past weekend for fun and fellowship and to listen to a Brandon-ite, Iona Snair, share her story. Snair who moved to Abbotsford, BC is fully immersed in a youth teaching ministry. But she is also a full-time mom and loving daughter, who is now taking care of her aging parents. Rob and Iona Snair developed and direct the Life Teams program in Abbotsford. The couple is part of Youth Unlimited, which is also known as Youth for Christ around Canada. They have been running the Life Teams ministry training school for the past 25 years. Finding Joy When Life Takes Unexpected Turns Iona shared with the group how life doesn't always go as planned. In fact, more often than not it goes sideways. So, in speaking on the theme, 'Joy in the Journey' Snair shared on how we find joy when happiness seems to be out of our reach in certain seasons of our life. Snair helped her audience understand that 'happiness' and 'joy' were not the same thing, and even though one can feel unhappy about their circumstances, they can still have God-given joy deep down in their heart, despite what's going on around them. But that takes relationship with our loving Father in Heaven, his Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit's help. Iona shared that in order to make room for joy in our hearts we need to experience seasons of lamenting, and with that to be honest and open with our Heavenly Father in earnest prayer. However, we also need to concentrate on having gratitude. We need to recognize that in order to have the fruits of the Spirit, Love Joy Peace Patience Goodness Kindness Gentleness Faithfulness and Self Control, we need to be connected to the life-sustaining power from God Himself so these fruits can grow within us. “Being together with women of such a wide age span was just a delight,” shares guest speaker, Iona Snair. “There was everything from a 20-year-old to a 90-something-year-old, and they all blended together and built into each other's lives for a weekend. And in a world where we concentrate so much on our differences, it was beautiful to see these women all focusing on what they had in common!” A Peaceful Setting for Powerful Stories and Song Brandon resident, Michelle Pettinger, had been wanting to bring women together for a retreat where they could be lifted in their faith-walk for a number of years. The first 'Fill my Cup' women's retreat was 2 years ago, but took a couple of years in the planning as it was the start of a new ministry. Turtle Mountain Bible Camp was the decide upon, the 2023 September date was set, and the planning began. Knowing it took a lot of work, the organizing committee decided to host the event every other year. “The setting that we had this retreat at definitely reflected the word ‘retreat’,” shares committee chair, Michelle Pettinger. “Everybody was so enraptured in this setting with the beauty of the fall, the lake, the sunset. God blessed the weekend with the beautiful weather. And it was so touching to have so many women come up to me who have never been to anything like this before, saying, ‘This is exactly what I needed right now in my life!’” Pettinger says the theme for the weekend ‘Joy in the Journey’ was a deeply felt theme, with Iona Snare, sharing parts of her life that have been difficult over the past year. “Iona was absolutely amazing! She hit the ball out of the park and touched so many lives,” says Pettinger. “And also, our worship leader and singer, Lindsay, was just amazing. I had friends come that maybe didn't know any of the songs, but they were so touched by just listening to the almost acapella singing around us.” A Weekend of Connection and Joy “We're just so thankful that all the goals that we had for this weekend were met and just the people were leaving with a smile on their face that they just were going away relaxed and feeling like they really made a connection with other people,” says committee member and MC for the weekend, Betty Anne McDonald. “One thing that was really interesting is as I got closer to the retreat and I was mentioning that I was planning this retreat to people who actually weren't coming, it seemed like every woman that I mentioned it to said, ‘Oh, I wish I knew there was a retreat! I'd love to go to something like that!’” “So, I can just see that there is a real need for retreats for women,” continues McDonald. “And it was exciting that people were literally phoning us even on the day before, wanting to come and take somebody's place if there was a cancellation. So that was really exciting.” Lindsay Metruk from Brandon led the room full of women in worship through her beautiful voice and keyboard playing. "Being a teacher myself, I know Lindsay is a biology teacher, and September is like the busiest month for teachers,” adds McDonald. “And she also has two teenagers, but she came and gave her time, and just so willingly and joyfully, and just was an awesome leader, and we really appreciated her gentle spirit. Her commentary was so appropriate and she really knew how to stitch things together.” A Year of Prayerful Planning Comes to Life “Michelle invited Iona to speak about 10 months ago and so, we've been working for the better part of a year and praying that God would help us to create a space where women could relax and feel renewed and refreshed and inspired,” explains committee member Shelley Penner. "And I got a lot of comments that that happened. And so that's just an answer to prayer! And we're just very thankful that we could provide this for the ladies. We know everybody's lives are busy. You know, we heard about the different challenges ladies face in their lives, and so we just wanted them to be able to take a breath for a minute and just get re-energized,” adds Penner. Extra hands and thoughtful giftings included three girls from the McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church in Brandon, Steffie and Shawnie, and Priscilla, who helped design the posters and bookmarks. As well, John Nesbitt from Edward Jones donated 100 pens to be added to the gift bag that each woman received upon registering Saturday morning. Fellow committee member, Mary Anne Elston, noted how well prepared and delicious the meals were throughout the 2-day retreat. "The servers greeted us with a smile as we went through the lineups, and it was very organized. We had just so appreciated and got lots of compliments on that part of the retreat. And we were just very grateful for their input.” Fall Beauty and Fellowship at Turtle Mountain Bible Camp The beauty of Turtle Mountain Bible Camp did not go unnoticed. Saturday morning started with a drizzle but by afternoon the clouds parted, and the sun shone down on the campus, the horses and the lake. The activities that were planned for Saturday afternoon could continue and many simply sat on the front deck and enjoyed the fellowship in the beautiful fall season setting while chatting with new and renewed friendships. “I was just overwhelmed by what an awesome place Turtle Mountain Bible Camp is and what a fantastic ministry they have,” says Mary Anne McDonald. “And I know that's more for children, but this weekend it was for women, and it was just fantastic! So, it just gave me even more of an appreciation and respect for Turtle Mountain Bible Camp.” "It was a beautiful weekend,” adds Pettinger.