Chesapeake, Potomac Co-Host Young Adult Retreat

More than 40 young adults from the Chesapeake, Potomac, New Jersey and Allegheny East conferences recently converged at the Mt. Aetna Camp and Retreat Center in Hagerstown, Md., for the “iThirst” Spiritual Retreat.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard/ Photographs by Ross Patterson

Potomac and Chesapeake conferences co-hosted the weekend, where Sonia Perez, youth pastor of Potomac’s Beltsville (Md.) church, facilitated activities focusing on the story of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52. She urged attendees to meditate on the passage and observe 10-12 hour periods of silence each day and participate in nearly four hours of faith-building exercises blindfolded.

“Often growing up, you have a distorted view of God, and like Bartimaeus, some of us have things that keep us from seeing Him clearly,” says Perez (pictured, forefront). “I wanted people to have the chance to be ‘blind’ … [Then] you aren’t relying on yourself. You have to take the moment and go away from your busyness and look at things another way.”