Last Trip Home: Grade 12 Retreat Reflections
It was 6 AM—outside the still-quiet halls of MGCNLCA, while most students were still figuring out how to drag themselves out of bed for another eight-hour school day, two buses of chattering, sleep-deprived Zion students were already parked outside, preparing to leave for the Grade 12 retreat. As I surveyed the mini chaos—the stacks of chips-filled bags, half-eaten McDo burgers, and music blasting from someone’s Bluetooth speaker—a wave of nostalgia hit me. This was going to be the last road trip I’d take with my batchmates and teachers, and I was determined to make it a meaningful one.
With a seemingly endless stream of assignments, our looming research defense, and a rather intense lineup of academic and sports competitions, the last few weeks simply refused to let us slow down and soak up our last few moments of being together. Kept alive by 3 AM coffee and sheer willpower, we chased after our deadlines together, once more, as a batch united in shared procrastination. Thus, “the end” didn’t feel real until we were packing for our retreat in Magarra Hotel, Bataan, last April 10 to 12, with the theme “Firm Resolve.”
In the nights leading up to the retreat, I found myself lying awake, my brain cells suddenly working on overdrive (as they conveniently forget to do when I actually need them for exams), spiraling about what life would be like outside the safety and familiarity of MGCNLCA—my second home for the past fifteen years. Am I truly ready to face the chaos of the outside world? Would I still hold on to the same values without the school community’s support, forty hours a week?
But, it seemed like I barely had any time to process these thoughts, as we soon found ourselves arriving at our first stop, Sinagtala, a farm resort complete with giant swings, hanging bridges, and death-defying ziplines—all designed to see how far you can go without getting a heart attack. But as someone who is deathly afraid of heights, I can assure you that the ground was also a perfectly thrilling (and, might I add, wonderfully safe) experience. While my batchmates were zipping and zooming to their hearts’ content, I spent the morning catching up with old teachers, acting like a stage mom as I took pictures of my friends, and cheering on my very brave classmates from the safety of solid ground.
At lunchtime, we all trooped back to our rooms as we prepared for our first theme message by Pastor Jebo Banzuelo about “Finding Your Identity and Purpose in Christ.” He used his experience as a pilot to strike us all with a hard truth: When inside the plane with an instructor, it’s easy to feel safe and confident, but when your instructor asks you to fly solo, that’s when everything becomes real.
The message hit me harder than my 3 AM coffee, as it reminded me of all my worries back home—fears of being alone and entirely responsible for myself. Pastor Banzuelo went on to explain how Christianity has honestly been such a convenience for all of us, being in a Christian school. It’s easy to make devotion a habit and prayer a routine right now, but what happens when we graduate? Will we all still find the strength to choose God when it’s no longer the easy choice?
While we all pondered the message, we were given some free time to enjoy after lunch. While some of my very brave batchmates went back to Sinagtala to risk their lives in the giant swings, the rest of us decided to cool off in the pool, where we reverted to playing our childhood games of Ice-Ice-Water and Pepsi 7-Up (ohh, the Grade 1 flashbacks). Finally, after the second theme message (“Dare to be a Disciple”), group devotion, and a lot of shrieking about the imaginary flying creepy crawlies, we all went to bed (erm–at least, we tried to).
Soon, we woke to the quiet song of crickets and birds (and, well, the blaring sounds of three alarm clocks). The second day began with a morning devotion, where I came across Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
I reflected on God’s faithfulness to me and to our batch these past fifteen years. Through the stress, middle school drama, mental breakdowns, and our junior high school years spent behind a laptop screen, God sustained us. Somehow, we continued to learn and mature and, by His grace, made it here, on the edge of graduation. Amid everything changing around us, His faithfulness is the one thing that will remain constant, and that brought me a sense of peace to all the restlessness I’ve been feeling.
The final theme message (“Grow in Godliness”) brought everything together, with Pastor Banzuelo challenging us to re-evaluate our spiritual walk. Considering all the things we consume and allow to influence our lives, we were forced to think: Has God truly been a priority for us? As many of my batchmates later said in the testimonies, the message urged us to make changes in our daily routine to make space for more opportunities to work on our faith. Later, a special activity led by the Makati Gospel Church volunteers had us ugly-crying, as we went around the room thanking each other and apologizing, healing old wounds. The tears continued as we received letters from our family members and prayers of blessing from our cell group leaders.
On the last day of the retreat, we headed to La Jolla Luxury Beach Resort for a day trip, where we lived our beach dreams as a batch. My friends and I enjoyed digging little holes in the sand (because, why not), inspecting all the pretty rocks (we still remembered our Earth Science lessons!), and playing beach volleyball. The day was spent riding banana boats, snorkeling, burning our feet on the hot sand, and, of course, taking all the aesthetic, IG-worthy photos because we absolutely have to. Eventually, though, as the sun began to set and we boarded the bus, it was inevitable: Our time together was coming to an end.
On the way back, we stopped by a gas station for dinner—the same place we stopped over during one of our field trips back in November. As I munched on my KFC fun shots, I couldn’t help but reflect on how quickly time passed. The last time we were there, we had only gone through one semester, panicking-but-not-really about our research papers and looking forward to enjoying the Christmas break. Suddenly, we found ourselves with only a month left before graduation. Life seems to be moving faster than we can keep up, but if there’s one thing I learned during this retreat, it’s that God is faithful. He who was faithful to us in the past will continue to be faithful to us in the future.
To Batch 21, our time together may seem too short, but it was many years’ worth of laughing, making mistakes, and growing together, cemented into memories that will forever unite us as a batch. As life rushes us into our next chapters, into the pages of different stories, may we continue to carry the passionate and fiery spirit that sustained us through these past fifteen years, as we dare to choose Christ in a world that tries so hard not to.
