"I almost didn't make it. Like, every other semester - I've been here almost two years - and every semester something just always seemed to come up. This semester, since it's my last semester, I'm like 'I've got to go,' so I signed up. I was supposed to go with two of my close friends, but they couldn't go. So I was like, 'well, if you're not going, then I'm not going, I don't know anybody'. The day the young lady called me and told me to come, I was like, 'no I'm not going to go. Someone came in town from Miami, my roommate, and all this stuff… I'm not going to come.' Boy, did my roommate give me a guilt trip! I sat down and was like 'I'm not going to go', and she goes, 'why aren't you going to go?' And I was like, 'because I don't know anybody, I don't have any money…' I was coming up with all these excuses. And she was, like, 'Okay, well, where's the important reason?' She was, like, 'first off, you can call Miami and get the money from your parents. They'll give it to you. Second off,' she said, 'you don't need friends to go with you, you're going for God, you're not going to socialize'. Basically, she was just going on, and I was, like, 'just tell me what to do.' She wouldn't tell me what to do, but sure enough she gave me enough reasons to go! So after awhile I sat there in silence, and finally I was, like, 'STAR 69!!!' (laughter) And I called them back, and I made it to the retreat, and it was the best decision I ever made in my whole life. And I …did it on my own and it was nice, and now I have a whole bunch of friends, and that hole in my heart that was there for awhile that I couldn't get rid of - that aching in my heart - is now filled with all this love, and this joy, and this faith that I get to look at in all of my friends and that now I've got, and it's so wonderful!"

-Kristy Pagan

    Other Testomonials:
"I'm so excited to talk about this retreat!" Susan Gill
"The best $45 this shop-a-holic has ever spent!" Tomisha Eton
"I really did want to go but…" Camilo Forero
"It was the best time I've had in a long time " Rudie Ibanez