What Youth Are Saying:
"The retreat helped me understand who I can be. "
Retreats: FAQs
What is a Retreat?
What is TYME OUT?
What do I need to bring for my retreat?
What Should I NOT bring for my retreat?
When are meals?
What if I have a food allergy?
How much sleep will I get on retreat?
What are the sleeping arrangements like?
Are there monsters under the beds?
What type of activities will we be doing on these retreats?
Will my life be changed on a retreat?
What if I have a great experience and I want to get more involved?
Does Bigfoot live by TYME OUT?
Question: What is a Retreat?
Answer:
A retreat is a military strategy that involves running away from you enemy in order to protect the lives of your troops. A retreat at TYME OUT is kind of like that, without the running for your life. At its core, a retreat is taking time to remove yourself from your usual environment, along with the responsibilities, distractions, and stresses related to your environment, in order to focus (or refocus) as a group and become immersed in a particular subject matter. Like a coach taking a time out in a sports game, we at TYME OUT (yes this is on purpose) hope our participants take this time away from the game of life to rest and refocus on their faith.
Question: What is TYME OUT?
Answer:
TYME OUT Youth Ministry and Retreat Center is located in Stone Bank, WI (near Okuackee Lake). Our primary service is providing retreats for parishes and schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. We also provide other events like themed retreats, character development and leadership programs, adult reflection days, a Faith-A-Thon, a youth ministry internship program and even a farmers market.
Question: What do I need to bring for my retreat?
Answer:
You will need to bring almost everything BUT the kitchen sink. Actually, the most important thing to bring is yourself: willing to have a good time and participate in the activities. Extra Clothes, a sleeping bag, and shower supplies are necessities (toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.). Please make sure your clothing is appropriate for a church function (no short shorts, spaghetti string tops or tank tops, and shirts with inappropriate words. Make sure you do bring a pair of tennis shoes. If you like to sleep with two pillows bring one along (we provide one). Other things you may want to bring along are a prayer book you really like or a journal, and anything your Youth Minister or Teacher tells you to bring. Bringing your favorite stuffed animal is optional.
Question: What Should I NOT bring for my retreat?
Answer:
Your younger siblings that you fight with constantly should stay at home during your retreat, unless they are only younger by a few moments and are in-fact your twin (then they really are not younger) but if you could keep the peace for a weekend that would be great. Others things you shouldn’t bring include snacks because we provide food on most of our retreats (unless your youth minister or teacher asks you to bring something.) We don’t allow food in our dorm rooms or meeting spaces because we want you to have a clean environment for your retreat. Another great thing to leave at home are cell phones and iPods. For one you don’t want to lose them or accidently leave them here, plus you really don’t have time to use them. Retreats are time to get away from your usual environment and spend time focusing on the retreat and building community with the people also on retreat, your friends at home can wait for you to return to find out how awesome the retreat was!
Question: When are meals?
Answer:
Like the ancient Greek Philosophers, here at TYME OUT we follow the early morning, mid-day, and early evening meal schedule that have been determined centuries ago by using the sun and its position in the sky. However with advances in modern technology we have switched to using clocks. Meal times are determined by how many groups are in the building. We will keep you informed of when meals are. We don’t start our meals until everyone from your group in the dinning hall. It is important to note that we do not serve dinner on the first night of the retreat (if your group arrives after 5pm) so make sure you eat before reporting to your parish or school.
Question: What if I have a food allergy?
Answer:
Not a problem! Please try to let your youth minister know weeks before going on your retreat to tell us so we can plan meals you will be able to enjoy (or possibly have a different option). If you forget to tell your youth minister at least a week before the retreat you may also let our amazing retreat directors know after the rules are given AND also make sure you write it on your registration card that you will fill out after you arrive.
Question: How much sleep will I get on retreat?
Answer:
You will get a chance to sleep on retreats, I promise (that is unless you decide to stay up all night talking with your new friends). Even if you think sharing life stories all night sounds like a great idea, we have a lot of activities planned everyday so we ask that you still find time to sleep. We try to finish our programs before eleven thirty to provide time to get ready for bed. Sometimes we run later but we rarely go past midnight. Wake up depends on what time your group gets assigned for breakfast. Usually groups wake up a half an hour before the assigned breakfast time to provide time to get ready, this may be as early as 7:45am, but some youth ministers or teachers will wake groups up earlier.
Question: What are the sleeping arrangements like?
Answer:
While all of our rooms are furnished with pillows (except the bathrooms and the dining hall), our dormitory areas are specifically set up for getting a good night’s sleep. Rooms are same-sex only and consist of bunk beds and usually hold about fifteen people per room. Please leave unbunked beds for the two adult leaders (from the parish or school) who also sleep in the room to chaperone. The female dorms have a few more single beds in them, so please try to give preference of these beds to the young at heart.
Question: Are there monsters under the beds?
Answer:
While there have been reports of furry blue monsters under some bunk beds; our maintenance engineer has worked hard to fix this problem. We also want to stress that through conversations with the monsters that they are in fact friendly and just trying to do their jobs.
Question: What type of activities will we be doing on these retreats?
Answer:
Most people believe we will spend hours upon hours reading from the Bible. Good news for most of you and bad news for others, we don’t have hours and hours of pure scripture study (except on our “Extreme Scripture Study” Retreat). In fact we do a wide range of different activities from team builders, small and large group activities, games, discussions, and prayer experiences. Some of these activities involve moving around (even running around!) so don’t worry, your retreat will not be one long lecture.
Question: Will my life be changed on a retreat?
Answer:
If you want it to! The more open and willing to participate in the activities you are, the more you will get and experience from the retreat. It can provide you with new ways to look at things and very well may change your life.
Question: What if I have a great experience and I want to get more involved?
Answer:
Great! Contact your youth minister or teacher for options your parish or school may have. At TYME OUT we also have further opportunities or other retreats and programs you can attend. We also have a high school peer leader group and a college internship program; contact us for more information about any of these programs.
Question: Does Bigfoot live by TYME OUT?
Answer:
Not that we are aware of. Although there have been reports of him spotted by Holy Hill there are no reported appearances of Bigfoot or any Sasquatch for that matter skiing on or camping near Okauchee Lake.
