The next upcoming Maiden's Quest Retreat!!!
Location: Sadler Family Property
Gloucester, Virginia
Dates: July 11-12, 2008
Registration Deadline: July 1, 2008
To download a brochure/registration form, please visit our website at: www.maidensquestministries.com and click on "Retreat Information."
If any of our Texas friends are reading this post and have acquaintances in Virginia, please pass the word along about this upcoming retreat! Space is limited to only 75 attendees, so anyone interested in participating should register soon!
Meanwhile, please pray with us for beautiful weather as this will be the first-ever outdoor retreat, held under a tent on the Sadler family's beautiful property.
Blessings to all!
~ Katrina
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Gratefulness Goes a Long Way
Almost every day we have heard from attendees of the Dallas MQ retreat sharing gratefulness, testimonies of what the Lord did, and excitement for the joy of walking with Him! Their notes are too precious to keep to myself. We hope you enjoy reading the feedback of dear sisters in the Lord as much as we have!
~~~~~~
I attended the Maiden's Quest retreat and I had so much fun! Two of my fiends were able to come. I have decided to surrender my life to Christ. Your talk was amazing and helped me so much. Thank you so much!!!!!!
~~~~~~
I deeply appreciate that you all give of your time to put on such a lovely retreat. When [my duaghter] got home she was joyful and so happy to have attended. Thank you for infusing each session with Scripture and being so transparent and unapologetic about your love of Christ. This was exactly what I was hoping for! It's now my job and delight to pray for application!
Bless you all as you recover from these last two retreats and look ahead to what He has next for you!
~~~~~~
I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for a wonderful Maiden's Quest Retreat on Friday and Saturday! I felt so encouraged and challenged throughout the weekend. I found the session called "Before you kiss that frog" especially practical. Thank you so much, and may God bless you all as you follow His leading!
~~~~~~
Hey, well there is so much to say about this Maiden's
Quest.... I have learned so much... in how treat myself as a girl, I do play softball at school so I wear uniforms to school which I dont mind because you dont have to worry about looking imodest!! But I have learned so much and put my full life in Jesus Christ and don't care what any body else thinks about what I do and or what I say!!
Thanks a whole lot!
~~~~~~
Thank you! My heart was so encouraged by the time spent receiving your inspiration and encouragement, and witnessing your radiance in the Lord! Wow! I could tell all of you are just on fire for our King~ you are living testimonies of the joy that comes from His presence!
I enjoyed the weekend so much~ if I were to pick the favorite, most influential and delightful time of my life, the Maiden's Quest conference would definitely be one of my top choices! The messages were so inspiring and encouraging, the worship so Spirit-filled, and I could just tell that all of you love the Lord so much. Your joy in the Lord is contagious!
I loved each and every aspect of the conference so much, but most of all, I want to thank you all for your examples. Above everything else at the retreat, seeing the four of you full of passion and joy, life and love for the Lord was amazing. I can't tell you enough how much the Lord touched me through your examples~ on stage and mingling with all us girls. I am so proud of you, my older sisters-in-Christ, and I pray for God's storehouse of blessings to just be poured out upon you in its entirety.
Thank you! My heart was so encouraged by the time spent receiving your inspiration and encouragement, and witnessing your radiance in the Lord! Wow! I could tell all of you are just on fire for our King~ you are living testimonies of the joy that comes from His presence!
I enjoyed the weekend so much~ if I were to pick the favorite, most influential and delightful time of my life, the Maiden's Quest conference would definitely be one of my top choices! The messages were so inspiring and encouraging, the worship so Spirit-filled, and I could just tell that all of you love the Lord so much. Your joy in the Lord is contagious!
I loved each and every aspect of the conference so much, but most of all, I want to thank you all for your examples. Above everything else at the retreat, seeing the four of you full of passion and joy, life and love for the Lord was amazing. I can't tell you enough how much the Lord touched me through your examples~ on stage and mingling with all us girls. I am so proud of you, my older sisters-in-Christ, and I pray for God's storehouse of blessings to just be poured out upon you in its entirety.
I will always remember you, and lift you up in my prayers. Thank you so much for being such pure channels of His message and love, and for directing so many hearts to Him.
Please stay strong in and intimate with our Lord~ you are doing a wonderful work for girls like me, and your obedience and devotion to Him are truly making a difference in many lives. I am so privileged to have attended the Maiden's Quest retreat. I just know God smiles every time He looks down on you and your team! God bless you all so much! May His presence be real to you every day of your lives, and may He always, always strengthen your hearts as His eyes look to and fro throughout the earth, seeking those committed to Him.
I love you in the love of the Lord!
~~~~~~
We are praying you all will come next year to minister to us again. It was such a delight to see God at work in your lives. Our girls came away so encouraged to wait on the Lord for their husbands and to do their best and give their best for Him while waiting on the Lord for His perfect timing! We continue to pray for all of you and ours, as you each wait on the Lord in His service, while he is preparing young men to be your husbands. Thank you again for blessing us!!
~~~~~~
Thank you so much for the special weekend you gave me! I can't tell you how greatly I enjoyed the Maiden's Quest Conference. It was so motivating and challenging. I'm excited about growing in my walk with the Lord in the coming days! You truly are having an eternal impact. For a very long time I had planned on going to the typical four year college, but after this weekend I am seriously considering staying home and taking classes at a community college and learning how to do domestic things. Thank you for your encouragement in that area. I'm still not sure what I will do when I graduate but you helped me to think a little more clearly about the joy of being a homemaker and serving others.
Again, thank you for blessing me in such a huge way!
Again, thank you for blessing me in such a huge way!
~~~~~~
I cannot find words to describe how much I enjoyed the conference!! It was just fantastic! It was so inspiring and encouraging! I am amazed at how well you and Tara know the Bible by your teachings! Your teachings were so convicting! I can't wait for y'all to have another conference nearby!
An Abundance of Kodak Moments
It gives me great joy to announce that the much-anticipated pictures from the 2007 Seattle retreat are now up and ready for viewing on our website! To all of you from Seattle, thank you for your patience. I'm sorry it has taken so long for these pictures to be made available, but it turned out that we didn't even have them in our possession, much to our surprise and dismay! We thought we had lost them, but thankfully, Pastor Seim mailed a disc to us just recently solving the mystery of where the "missing" pictures went! :)
Pictures from the Dallas MQ retreat are also now up on the web. I took a few minutes this morning to page through them (warning - there are hundreds!!!) :), and had such fun re-living the memories.
For those of you waiting to see the Houston retreat pictures, I have been promised that they will be ready for viewing next week sometime. Mr. Riddell is spending extra time getting them ready considering all the studio-quality portraits that are included.
In the meantime, make sure to check out the Seattle and Dallas retreat pictures here!
Much love to all!
Katrina
Pictures from the Dallas MQ retreat are also now up on the web. I took a few minutes this morning to page through them (warning - there are hundreds!!!) :), and had such fun re-living the memories.
For those of you waiting to see the Houston retreat pictures, I have been promised that they will be ready for viewing next week sometime. Mr. Riddell is spending extra time getting them ready considering all the studio-quality portraits that are included.
In the meantime, make sure to check out the Seattle and Dallas retreat pictures here!
Much love to all!
Katrina
Praise Report from Dallas!
The Lord has once again been faithful to hear and answer the prayers of His people! We are grateful to report that the recent Dallas MQ retreat went extremely well and was a blessing to many - including us!
Out of the 202 expected registered attendees, all but one came to the retreat! (And we even had a few unexpected guests show up!) This is an incredible percentage, proving once again that the Lord had the very young ladies/mothers hand-picked that HE wanted at the conference. :-) We found this group to be a delightful crowd! They were friendly, grateful, receptive people with whom we experienced an instant rapport.
Everything about the retreat flowed smoothly from start to finish - even with a small fire mishap thrown in the mix! (A bit of toole in one of the centerpieces accidentally caught on fire from a small tea light, but ended up creating more mess than danger.) This smooth flow was truly an answer to prayer from the Lord, especially during the banquet, considering that we had 22 casseroles to thoroughly heat in ovens/warmers spread out throughout the 4-story church building. :) Thankfully, after our arrival in Dallas on Thursday afternoon, my mom took over as banquet coordinator, and with all her past experience, she was the perfect person for over-seeing this massive endeavor! Miraculously, by God's grace and a healthy dose of creativity, everything came together beautifully.
220 white satin chair covers were once again donated for our use from our sweet friends in Baytown. The Riddells hauled these up to Dallas - and oh! did they ever transform an ordinary eating room into an elegant banquet hall! What an extra blessing from the Lord these chair covers were!
God answered so many prayers to make this retreat possible. He gave us all safety on the road, zero technical difficulties, great peace of mind during our speaking times and smooth flow of speech (unlike the last retreat during which I was fighting a constant feeling of scatter-brained thoughts and unconnected sentances), provision of wonderful elective session teachers, and many other countless blessings!
Most importantly, the girls who attended thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and expressed over and over how encouraged they were in their spiritual lives! Many moms in the crowd also took the time to tell us how grateful they were for the event and for the opportunity their daughters had to hear many of the same lessons/principles they've been taught growing up but from a different perspective. They were excited to see their daughters really listening and genuinely engaged during all the messages. This was a real answer to prayer! For many of the girls there, the retreat seemed to give them renewed courage to stand alone in convictions and decisions that are so counter-culture. It was encouraging for them to know they aren't really alone in the pursuit of surrendered Christianity and virtuous womanhood, but that hundreds of other young ladies join them on the quest for God's best all across the city, state, and nation! Amen.
Out of the 202 expected registered attendees, all but one came to the retreat! (And we even had a few unexpected guests show up!) This is an incredible percentage, proving once again that the Lord had the very young ladies/mothers hand-picked that HE wanted at the conference. :-) We found this group to be a delightful crowd! They were friendly, grateful, receptive people with whom we experienced an instant rapport.
Everything about the retreat flowed smoothly from start to finish - even with a small fire mishap thrown in the mix! (A bit of toole in one of the centerpieces accidentally caught on fire from a small tea light, but ended up creating more mess than danger.) This smooth flow was truly an answer to prayer from the Lord, especially during the banquet, considering that we had 22 casseroles to thoroughly heat in ovens/warmers spread out throughout the 4-story church building. :) Thankfully, after our arrival in Dallas on Thursday afternoon, my mom took over as banquet coordinator, and with all her past experience, she was the perfect person for over-seeing this massive endeavor! Miraculously, by God's grace and a healthy dose of creativity, everything came together beautifully.
220 white satin chair covers were once again donated for our use from our sweet friends in Baytown. The Riddells hauled these up to Dallas - and oh! did they ever transform an ordinary eating room into an elegant banquet hall! What an extra blessing from the Lord these chair covers were!
God answered so many prayers to make this retreat possible. He gave us all safety on the road, zero technical difficulties, great peace of mind during our speaking times and smooth flow of speech (unlike the last retreat during which I was fighting a constant feeling of scatter-brained thoughts and unconnected sentances), provision of wonderful elective session teachers, and many other countless blessings!
Most importantly, the girls who attended thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and expressed over and over how encouraged they were in their spiritual lives! Many moms in the crowd also took the time to tell us how grateful they were for the event and for the opportunity their daughters had to hear many of the same lessons/principles they've been taught growing up but from a different perspective. They were excited to see their daughters really listening and genuinely engaged during all the messages. This was a real answer to prayer! For many of the girls there, the retreat seemed to give them renewed courage to stand alone in convictions and decisions that are so counter-culture. It was encouraging for them to know they aren't really alone in the pursuit of surrendered Christianity and virtuous womanhood, but that hundreds of other young ladies join them on the quest for God's best all across the city, state, and nation! Amen.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
More MQ Preparations
This weekend, in the Dallas, Texas, area, we are expecting over 200 maidens and mothers in attendance, making it the biggest retreat yet. We are both excited about the opportunity for encouraging so many, while at the same time sobered by the tremendous responsibility the Lord has entrusted to us.
God has once again been so good as to send us a dedicated, behind-the-scenes work team who have given of their time and effort to assist us with countless preparations! Many thanks to Rhonda, Cara, Annabelle, Madeleine, Kelsey, Mema, Papa, and Hannah for all the time you have given here at the Maiden's Quest headquarters for this upcoming retreat! We are so grateful for each of you!
Here are a few snapshots from these past few weeks of all the work that's been taking place lately.
God has once again been so good as to send us a dedicated, behind-the-scenes work team who have given of their time and effort to assist us with countless preparations! Many thanks to Rhonda, Cara, Annabelle, Madeleine, Kelsey, Mema, Papa, and Hannah for all the time you have given here at the Maiden's Quest headquarters for this upcoming retreat! We are so grateful for each of you!
Here are a few snapshots from these past few weeks of all the work that's been taking place lately.
Katelin, Rhonda, and Cara labor over the hundreds of prepartions that go into Katelin's hand-made card making elective class. In this picture, they are tracing, cutting, and ribbon tying for one of the six card kits Katelin prepares ahead of time.
Katelin has mastered the art of ribbon tying by now!
Meanwhile, Mom works the paper cutter to prepare pretty papers for the card kits.
On another day, Hannah, Mom, Katelin, and Cara diligently stuff 200 folders with handouts and certificates!
Smile for the camera!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Report on the Houston MQ Retreat
Two weeks ago, 120 young ladies and their mothers gathered at North Belt Baptist Church for a delightful weekend together! The Lord was at work in many hearts and lives - my own especially. He used the whole experience to humble me, strip me of all self-confidence, and teach me to yield my definition of success and perfection to His definitions instead.
There were several glitches throughout the retreat this time such as PowerPoint presentations being messed up, miscommunications, last-minute tasks cropping up right and left, cleaning crews not arriving, being locked out of the building on Saturday morning right up until the time we were supposed to start, etc. Despite these trials, however, the retreat flowed right along and the 120 mothers and daughters seemed to be enjoying it all tremendously.
Many attendees told us how refreshing it was to be hearing messages that were infused with the Word of God and constantly pointing back to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were hungry for this! This was a goal Tara and I had established going into the conference, so to hear such feedback was exhilarating! Jesus truly is the answer to everything! He is the foundation upon which every encouragement, admonishment, and principle should be based...and we so desperately longed for the attention of our audience to be pointed to Him. What a blessing it was to hear testimony of God's answer to this prayer.
An alumni attendee, age 20, who actually ended up serving as a helper behind the scenes during the whole conference rededicated her life to the Lord in wholehearted commitment to Him after hearing the closing message of the retreat (the only session she got to sit in for!).
Another alumni girl came with some serious battles raging in her soul. She has amazing potential to be used mightily by the Lord as a radiant young lady and Satan knows it. He has been fighting her a lot lately. She came to the retreat with a crumbling defense and some painful battle wounds. Throughout the two days, she often came up to me or Tara and either burst into tears under conviction of the Holy Spirit, or peppered us with pointed questions about struggles she was encountering. I am thrilled to report that the Lord did a tremendous work in her heart this weekend, bringing her to a point of brokennes and repentance over various sins in her life and giving her the resolve to live for Him no matter what. One huge step of victory for her is that she committed to telling her parents of a secret sin she's been hiding from them. She eagerly agreed to let me be an accountability partner for her and we made arrangments to talk and pray on the phone together weekly.
One attendee shared with us that for several weeks, she has been planning on joining the Marines in the near future. However, during the retreat, God conivcted her that such a plan was not in line with His design for women (and we never mentioned one thing about women in the military!). She experienced a new appreciation for being made a girl and resolved to cultivate a delight in femininity. She told us that rather than join the Marines, she is excited to begin preparing herself with the skills necessary for being a wife, mother, and homemaker one day.
For a group of 3 sisters whose family is involved with intensive inner city ministry, the retreat provided a weekend of spiritual rest and renewal that they said they were greatly in need of. As we all know, there are times when we get weary in fighting the good fight and constantly pouring out to others. Their love for the Lord and wholehearted commitment to Him was readily evident; it was such a blessing to know that God used this event as a time to raise up their hands and encourage their hearts.
For many girls, the retreat brought them face to face with the truths of God's Word and the choices involved with wholehearted obedience. Our prayer for these maidens and mothers is that the Holy Spirit would continually draw them and woo them away from the watered-down version of Christianity they may be living into the depths of a tight-knit love relationship with Jesus Christ. No sacrifice is too great to make for Him who gave up all for us!
We are so grateful for each of you joining with us as prayer partners in this ministry! Your time spent interceding for us means a great deal. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
~ Katrina
There were several glitches throughout the retreat this time such as PowerPoint presentations being messed up, miscommunications, last-minute tasks cropping up right and left, cleaning crews not arriving, being locked out of the building on Saturday morning right up until the time we were supposed to start, etc. Despite these trials, however, the retreat flowed right along and the 120 mothers and daughters seemed to be enjoying it all tremendously.
Many attendees told us how refreshing it was to be hearing messages that were infused with the Word of God and constantly pointing back to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were hungry for this! This was a goal Tara and I had established going into the conference, so to hear such feedback was exhilarating! Jesus truly is the answer to everything! He is the foundation upon which every encouragement, admonishment, and principle should be based...and we so desperately longed for the attention of our audience to be pointed to Him. What a blessing it was to hear testimony of God's answer to this prayer.
An alumni attendee, age 20, who actually ended up serving as a helper behind the scenes during the whole conference rededicated her life to the Lord in wholehearted commitment to Him after hearing the closing message of the retreat (the only session she got to sit in for!).
Another alumni girl came with some serious battles raging in her soul. She has amazing potential to be used mightily by the Lord as a radiant young lady and Satan knows it. He has been fighting her a lot lately. She came to the retreat with a crumbling defense and some painful battle wounds. Throughout the two days, she often came up to me or Tara and either burst into tears under conviction of the Holy Spirit, or peppered us with pointed questions about struggles she was encountering. I am thrilled to report that the Lord did a tremendous work in her heart this weekend, bringing her to a point of brokennes and repentance over various sins in her life and giving her the resolve to live for Him no matter what. One huge step of victory for her is that she committed to telling her parents of a secret sin she's been hiding from them. She eagerly agreed to let me be an accountability partner for her and we made arrangments to talk and pray on the phone together weekly.
One attendee shared with us that for several weeks, she has been planning on joining the Marines in the near future. However, during the retreat, God conivcted her that such a plan was not in line with His design for women (and we never mentioned one thing about women in the military!). She experienced a new appreciation for being made a girl and resolved to cultivate a delight in femininity. She told us that rather than join the Marines, she is excited to begin preparing herself with the skills necessary for being a wife, mother, and homemaker one day.
For a group of 3 sisters whose family is involved with intensive inner city ministry, the retreat provided a weekend of spiritual rest and renewal that they said they were greatly in need of. As we all know, there are times when we get weary in fighting the good fight and constantly pouring out to others. Their love for the Lord and wholehearted commitment to Him was readily evident; it was such a blessing to know that God used this event as a time to raise up their hands and encourage their hearts.
For many girls, the retreat brought them face to face with the truths of God's Word and the choices involved with wholehearted obedience. Our prayer for these maidens and mothers is that the Holy Spirit would continually draw them and woo them away from the watered-down version of Christianity they may be living into the depths of a tight-knit love relationship with Jesus Christ. No sacrifice is too great to make for Him who gave up all for us!
We are so grateful for each of you joining with us as prayer partners in this ministry! Your time spent interceding for us means a great deal. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
~ Katrina
Monday, March 24, 2008
Behind the Scenes...
This past weekend has been busy, busy with preparations for the upcoming Houston MQ retreat! Several wonderful people volunteered their time to join us for work parties, and we are so grateful for each one of them! I don't know what we would have done without all the help! Here is a sneak-peek of the work as it takes place behind the scenes of the conference...
Believe it or not, there really is a dining room table buried under all this stuff somewhere....
Brittany puts stickers on Saturday's name tags signifying the elective classes each attendee has signed up for
Rainey, Mom, and Kelsey tie ribbons around question scrolls for the banquet
120 question scrolls later...
This box-load of 120 treasure packets is the work of 6 girls' dedicated labor!
Folders stuffed and ready to go...
Katelin and I working late after everyone has gone home
On Easter Sunday, after lunch, my grandparents and aunt wanted to get in on the action and proved great help!
Mom and Dad hard at work
Katelin was so grateful for everyone's help preparing and assembling all her materials for the hand-made greeting card class!
Praising God for all our helpers!- Katrina
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