Relationship Success Tip: What to Take Along with You on a Couples Retreat PT 6

When Getting Ready to Head Out for a Christian Couples’ Retreat

Just before you two leave to enjoy the Couples Retreat ….

The week before you leave, on Sunday at church, check with the people in charge of the congregations’ retreat that you two are properly registered, your payments are in and made in full, and you’re on the list.  Ask if there is a schedule of activities and get a copy as well as a list of what that particular retreat center recommends you bring.

Inquire if there is anyway you can help.  Do any other couples need a ride?  Does any one spouse in a couple need a separate ride because the other spouse has to drive up very early or arrive a half day late because of a work commitment.

Find out if there are any of the modern amenities we are all so used to which they advise you not to bring.  For instance, find out if there is wifi there.  Yes, gasp, cough, gasp.  The Retreat Center might not have internet wireless.  Then again, yah nevah know.  They just might have wifi and you can bring your laptops and upload photos of the retreat trip right there to your church’s Facebook page while you’re still on the retreat!  Even if they don’t have wireless, many moderns (like me! lol) bring their laptops with them, um, like, everywhere.  Additionally, you might want to use it for taking notes during anything like a couples Bible study or when a speaker presents on a particular topic.  However, you’ll want to make sure you room can be locked.  Or make sure to put your laptop in the interior locked compartment of your car.

Pack the day beforehand.  Pack your bus or car the morning of the road trip and aim to leave a little bit early if you possibly can.  You want to aim to avoid the commuter traffic patterns.  You might be passing through more than one major metro area on your drive to the Retreat Center.

Stop off at the bank to bring some cash with you both for the Snack Shop but also for any tipping opportunities.  Often the meals will be served by volunteer staff and there will be baskets out to tip the cooking staff and the wait staff.  Tip generously because none of them is earning a huge salary here. Typically they are pursuing this as a ministry knowing they won’t be earning a lot.  Be generous.

How can you bless the Retreat Center staff?  Is there a special food item from where you live that they can’t readily get themselves?  In Northern California it was always See’s Chocolates and Peet’s Coffee.  Bring them a pound or two just as a treat.

A Southern Baptist church I joined when my late husband started courting me, there was an expression they had for a certain way to bless any new person serving as the head of any ministry: Pound Them. The congregation was invited to give the person, often a couple a POUND of anything useful and practical for life and settling into the area. Think like that and take that fun example as inspiration for blessing the Retreat Conference Center Staff. I’ll just let you know now. I’ll confirm it. They’re underpaid. They’re not in it for the money, bless their hearts. Many Christian Retreat Centers are just hardly getting by. So, they certainly don’t have ways to treat their staff to anything extra. Let us be the ones to bless them.

Be sure to bring your favorite Educational or Teaching Topic CDs with you.  What Relationship Success Messages do you want to listen to in your car on the drive to and from the Retreat Center?  Remember to bring something for both the drive there as well as the return drive home.  Often these drives are 2 -4 hours each way.  How do you want to fill and prepare your mind and spirit before arriving?  What topics of discussion do you want to stimulate between you and your spouse in the drive you two take together this weekend?  Pack and bring those in the car.

Now you’re all set to head on out the door and enjoy a leisurely drive to the Retreat Center and have a wonderfully refreshing, revitalizing, and rejuvenating time together at the Couple Retreat!  Enjoy this special time together and much it refreshes your married couples relationship!

Happy Dating and Relationships,

April Braswell

Dating and Relationship Expert

As seen in “Dating for Dummies, 3rd Edition”