After being at Triennium for a whole week, I think I can finally assess it and give my overall thoughts and opinions about the trip!
Going into the trip, I was nervous because I am a regular Montreat-goer and did not want this to compete with Montreat. Once the first day was done, though, I think it's safe to say that this did not compare at all!! The format, style of worship, and even the college campus were HUGE differences that allowed me to separate the conferences in my mind and not compare them against each other.
As far as worships go, I thoroughly enjoyed every part of them! I loved that we did energizers at the beginning each time to really help us get pumped up. The worship band was also a cool, yet unexpected, addition to worship services. As I talked about in my Day 1 review, I am not used to having a full-on band at worship, so that was quite the surprise, but I really enjoyed it because it made singing even more exciting than it would normally be!
After singing, came the sermon which never disappointed! Each and every day the sermon and pastor kept getting better and better and Triennium really went out with a bang with the Saturday morning sermon! The Saturday morning worship was also a highlight of the trip, because with conferences like Montreat, there is typically no last morning worship to really send us off on a good note. I liked that they sent us off with something to remember and to keep fresh in our minds on the way home and weeks after. My favorite sermons of the week were Thursday's sermon by Alicia Ridgill and Saturday morning's by Perryn Rice because of how passionate they were and how much they held my attention.
The format of the days were interesting because everything was back to back. I felt like there wasn't a lot of time to just relax until after dinner, but then there were recreation events that were fun to participate in. A majority of the days would go: breakfast, delegation group, small group, lunch, worship, dinner, with only enough time in between to get to the next destination. I have mixed emotions about this because I felt like sometimes I needed a break in between, but I also liked that we had our nights to ourselves to do whatever we felt like doing. For example, my roommate went to bed at 9:30 one night just because she didn't have to stay up late for anything and took advantage of it!
Purdue's campus was not what I expected at all. It was very flat. Very, extremely, flat without a lot of tree coverage which made it nearly unbearable to walk to our small group locations. The humidity and heat was outrageous and there was only one day where it threatened to rain, but did not. The campus was great, however, for seeing other Triennium people because of how open it was! There were many times I would pass by hundreds of youth trading pins and getting to know each other and it was so cool that we were all able to make such easy friends.
Overall, I am glad I went to Triennium because I felt like my faith and friendships were strengthened during my time there. The discussions and topics we had were extremely relatable and easy to connect to. I made friends from all over the country, as far as California and Idaho, and even in our delegation group! We have already discussed hanging out together as a group and that makes my heart so happy because it proves that church camp friends don't have to stay at church camp! I also plan to take what I learned this week with me everywhere I go and to not let go of the "Jesus high" that comes with a church retreat so that I am always living as God wants me to.
The last thing I would like to say, is if you ever have the chance to go to Triennium, take it!! You will most definitely not be disappointed.
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