Girls Week / Guys Week

Oct. 13 - Oct. 18
Girls Week

Girls week was based on “where women dwell” either with other women, within themselves or with God. I learned that it’s important to only ever see yourself as “very good” because God wouldn’t create anything differently. A quote that stuck with me was “as you grow up you become more of what you already are.” We did an exercise where we cut things from magazines which we use to describe ourselves and then added how other people would describe us now. That was interesting, thinking of things people like about you and your personality.

We also put a paper up and filled it with things which get in the way of us being able to be comfortable in our own skin. It almost felt like once you realized everything that stops you from fully being yourself you can work on not making as big a deal out of them. You have to love yourself before you can love others.

We went through different views on sex, in the church, media, in our culture and in scripture. We talked about chastity and the three building blocks in female and male relationships: physical, emotional and spiritual. We finished our week talking about who we want to be, what we want to do and where we want to dwell within ourselves and with others. Overall it was a really good week. It was very fun to get to know Sharon (our speaker) and just spend time with other girls getting to know them even better.

-Caroline F


Guys Week

Guys week began as we pulled up to the Rundle Mountain Lodge in Canmore late Tuesday night after an exhausting 16 hour van ride across the prairies. After being put into rooms of 4 with 2 virtual strangers from the Guatemala site we finally got our first piece of good news to kick off guys week: no organized activity until 12:00, giving us a wonderful opportunity to sleep in after waking up at 4:00 a.m. the previous morning.

The next day we spent the afternoon doing a scavenger hunt around Canmore in our room groups. This included taking crazy pictures at a Halloween store, ordering coffee and getting pictures with the barista, and even one group dropping their pants for a photo shoot at the shooting range. This gave us a chance to get to know and make friends with our Guatemala site roomates as well as a chance to get to know the city we would be spending the next 5 days in. That night we were introduced to our speakers for the next few days. Blaine Rainer has been speaking at guys week for the entirety of its existence and brought a brash yet knowledgeable approach to our discussions. His assistant instructor Johnny Fukomoto is a past Outtatown leader who brought a relatable youthful approach to the discussions as well as a fun presence to our numerous activities.

Our second day we rented out a gymnasium in Banff and spent the day indulging in some competition. It started off with a fantastic floor hockey tournament won by team Fukomoto in a thrilling victory over the undefeated team Joost Asselberg in overtime. After this we headed back to the Rundle for supper and a poker tournament. This day provided exceptional bonding for the group and felt like it allowed us all to gain much more familiarity with each other which allowed for us to open up in later discussions. It also allowed for a much needed release of testosterone and a good bout of competition which was lacking in the 2:1 boys to girls ratio we had been in for the past month.

The third day we went running around in the forest and if that did not bring out the wild men in us then getting Jordan from the Guatemala site to eat 23 hot dogs for 25 bucks did. Our 4th day we drove into Calgary and first went swimming at a local rec centre, before we went to a Calgary Hitmen hockey game. I think all of us appreciated those two days because not only did it provide a great bonding experience it gave us a chance to relax and have some fun after the past few weeks of sessions we had had.

The final day of guys week we went into Banff national park and spent a good part of the day hiking. This gave us a chance to really see the beauty we had been surrounded with. That night we went to the hot springs in Banff but were never warned to bring our bathing suits. Apparently this was done on purpose so that we had to take advantage of the historic rental suits. These were tight suits that were very short shorts attached to a spandex undershirt of sorts all topped off by a skirt to add modesty to a certain area of the male physique. Interspersed throughout this week of fun were a few sessions that taught us about women and about our own sexuality. This included a session where we made a list of questions to ask the girls and then another where we answered the questions they hand made for us. It was amazing to see how much everyone opened up despite the fact that we had just met the Guatemala guys a few days before and even the rest of us had just known each other for a few weeks. It was a week filled with fun testosterone and deep conversation. All and all a great week.

-Lucas B.