AWGP National Family Retreat and Camp 2010 - Washington DC

Many of the testimonials already written have done a great job of recalling the beauty of our shared time at camp. For me, this retreat was filled with inspiration and love. I feel as if all of us really lived our lives fully for those six days, if only because we were awake for an unnaturally large amount of that time. The vibe went from bursting anticipation on day one to absolute enjoyment filled with a sense of urgency on our last day together. For six days, I felt surrounded by the utmost energy and positivity from everyone around me. I was inspired by the saints from Shantikunj and by Dr. Sanon who used their words to bring us closer to Gurudev and closer to each other. The experiential sessions, during which they shared their treasured experiences with Gurudev and Mataji made me laugh and cry. I felt as if I was leaking emotions. I will never forget one thing that Mrs. Datta mentioned when she addressed us all. She advised, if anyone tells you his Guru is a better vidhvan than our Guru, agree with them. If anyone says his Guru is more capable than our Guru, agree with them. If anyone tells you his Guru is a better sidhapurush than our Guru, agree with them. But, she went on to remind us, if anyone says that his Guru gives them more love and affection than our Gurudev, then they are mistaken. Gurudev loves us, and as Parth said, “Gurudev’s got your back.” It was that love that I felt that made me leak with emotions. In a word, this camp was unforgettable. The true measure of the success of the AWGP 2010 Family Retreat lies in the fact that when our six days came to a close, no one wanted to leave. On the plus side though, we left with a renewed faith in our ability to make the 2011 AWGP camp an even bigger success!

 2010 Camp Testimonial

 
Every year, I look forward to the AWGP youth and adult summer camp not only because it’s a chance to see all my friends again, but because I know that the Saints from Santikunj will uplift my spirits and enlighten my soul in some way. The 2010 camp held in Baltimore was an amazing experience filled with learning and enjoyment. The lectures presented by the Saints, respected elders and youth group leaders on various topics including thought transformation, global warming, inter-religious harmony and composite health were real eye-openers. I mean, it’s not every day that you sit down and ponder the big issues of the world and what your role in the solution should be….The positive energy in the camp classrooms emanating from all USA, Canada and UK youth was intense; it motivated everyone to take an active part in achieving the end goal instead of just discussing the theories. Dr. Sanon’s lecture on Seva, in which he told us about how he regularly donates his time to provide medical help to the poor and unfortunate people of Mussoorie, was especially inspiring. The key message I got from this camp was that in order to transform the world, we must first transform ourselves. This transformation of self is no easy feat, but as the Saints keep reminding us, we must maintain our faith in Gurudev and Gayatri mata because the faith is what will eventually guide us along the right path.
 
 
Jai Gurudev
Birva Trivedi

Jai Gurudev!
 
First Impression: My first impression of the camp was very positive.  As soon as I entered the ballroom I felt positive energy from all the Gayatri Pariwar members.  I hardly knew few people but I felt that all these people are my somehow connected to me.
What Camp means to you: This was my first experience attending the camp so I was excited and a bit nervous.  The only goal I had in mind was to spend quality time of my life with Dr. Pandya. Dr. Saheb had asked me to come to the camp and I felt that I have to respect his words.  I was also looking forward for my daughter to meet other gayatri pariwar children.
How you felt during camp: During the camp I felt deeply spiritual and I felt so connected with Gurudev.  I cried everyday during lectures and considered myself so lucky to be part of Gurudev.  I also made new friends and learned a lot about myself.  I felt amazing energy in Dr. Saheb's room and I knew he was with us.  I asked him to grace me with strength and wisdom and do my part at the camp. I will always cherish my time with Dr. Dutta and Mrs. Dutta.  I asked them so many questions that were on my mind for so long. I felt that Gurudev was answering all my unresolved questions. I will listen to Dr. Sanon's lecture on "Parenting" forever and treasure the one on one time he spend with me and my daughter. I am humbled by the experiences of all the saints and how dedicated they are to Gurudev's work.  I will hold on to the feedback from Omkarji on public speaking and Dr. Bhatnagarji's PP on "Thoughts."

How has it inspired you?

I am inspired to spread Gurudev's thoughts through distribution of stickers and books.  I also want to support my daughter to create story books using the 18 satsankalp.

What will be the one thing you take away from camp this year?

I will hold on to the positive energy I received from this camp and will try hard to increase my patrata.
 
 
 

It is hard to describe the 2010 AWGP National Family Retreat in a few words. One really needed to be there to feel and experience the EPICness. As a matter of fact, I was very close to not coming to camp a few months back because I did not have the urge to look forward to anything. I had never been to a national camp before, so I decided to give it a push one more time. Might I say, I am sooo glad I made it out to camp this year because the 2010 camp was amazing! If I had not gone, I would have regretted that decision big time.
 
Coming into camp, the only people I really knew were from the USA and primarily people from the East Coast. There were definitely a ton of people who made it out to camp this year from all corners. I made a lot of new friends and got to know a lot of people from the West Coast, Central USA, U.K., India, and finally Canada! HUGE shout-outs to the Canada crew; it was the first time meeting you all but it felt like we have been family forever; you guys were very hardworking people and very chill! It was definitely fun getting to know and meet everyone who I had not before; the family just keeps on growing and spreading like butter on toast!
 
There were a lot of things I like this year at camp. Something that really stood out for me was the experiential sessions in the evening with the Saints from Shantikunj/Dr. Sanon telling their stories about how they joined the mission and what they have gotten out of it so far. There personal views of the mission were awe-producing and very inspiring. The Picnic day was awesome and very fun. It was awesome when the “USA vs. Canada” chants randomly started whenever; felt almost as if I was part of a presidential rally. The watermelon contest was beyond anything; shout-outs to my team members...we were beastly! Garba night this year was too much fun! Shout-outs to Harshil and the new dance crew. I must say, new dances such as: Burrito Garba and Ice Cream Garba will catch on very fast! Game night was very fun also; Parth and Harshil did an excellent job being the hosts of Who wants to be a Millionaire; very much fun indeed. The debate/speech-writing activities were impressive too. I was astonished to see so much talent in the youth.
 
I could go on and on but I'm going to start wrapping it up; This camp really affected me personally and was kind of like an awakening to change and become a better person. I would personally like to become much much much more active in the youth movement and have a bigger impact starting now! I would like to help out with and contribute what little I am able to.
 
I hope everyone enjoyed camp; I personally had a BLAST! Really missing everyone...please do keep in touch!
 
Oh and how could I forget the late night Mafia, Watermelon, Assassins, and Chill sessions. Too much fun. Harshil I have to say: you are hands down the best Mafia Narrator ever!
 
Y.O.G LETS DO IT BIG IT 2011. IT IS A BIG YEAR. ITS TIME WE TELL THE WORLD WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF AND MAKE GURUDEV PROUD!
 
Peace, Love, Aloha, Jai Gurudev,
 
 

 
Not really sure where to start. For being the first international camp, I thought it was a great success. There may have been problems here and there, but we as YOG were there to fix it. I have so many memories I can take back from sitting in lectures of Dr. Sanon to playing mafia till 3 AM!
 
I also agree with Neel, I think the game night was absolutely fantastic. I think Harshil and Parth did a tremendous job. From standing in the front, everyone including the youth, adults, and Santos seemed to enjoy game night.
 
Besides the picnic, game night, and garba night. (I want to agree with Arti, garba night was sooo much fun, I think im still recoveringJ.)   I think this years topic were good. The youth was interested and hopefully are able to apply what they learned in their everyday life. From teaching group one and sitting down during group two lectures, they were very active and participated in discussions. This years debate was also awesome, Harshil I think you did an incredible job picking the topics.  
 
The Canadians just blew my mind away and I am speechless about their youth group.
 
Overall, this camp was a big success and lets build on it to do it big in 2011!
 
And remember
Gurudev’s got your back J
 Missing EVERYONE.. PCS TO tHE MAXX!!
 
Jai Gurudev,
Krishna Patel
 

Ok so we all have to admit that camp started off really shaky and all over the place. But as the night went on everything just kind of clicked into place you can say and I even heard from some people after the icebreakers that "this is the best first day of camp EVER!"
 
This camp being the first National camp or even International camp i should say, I would admit it was amazing and a lot of fun. I mean all the lectures and  activities were planned nicely and everything just worked out well. I definitely am going to take back not only great memories from this camp but also great knowledge and experiences. 
 
I have to give big props to the game night, that was a fantastic idea and the way that Harshil and Parth did that, I thought it was such a great idea and that it is an event that everyone would love to see again. Everyone keeps on mentioning the picnic and I have to do that also, the picnic turned out to be wonderful, I dont think anyone had a complaint about it. Also the culture show turned out entertaining and the garba night was the event that summed up camp. Everything turned out wonderful.
 
The last thing I have to say is that ive been to about 7 camps now, and the main reason why this camp stands out is because normally we goto camp to hang with friends, however this year camp went by so fast due to the activities we had planned, i mean the speech competition and evening activities and yoga, everything was entertaining and was fun and the actual camp content was a huge success.
 
Therefore we have to give a huge thanks to the YOG for making camp what it was.
 
Thanks
Neel
 
 

I am currently suffering from PCS (Post Camp Syndrome)...
Symptoms include: Missing everyone from camp.. wishing time can go back to the first day of camp.. Haha but seriously, camp 2010 was a whole new experience.

Going back to what Dip said, the first day of camp was mellow and segregated between everyone's own groups.. The picnic was definitely the biggest ice breaker for everyone to come together and interact as Youth of Gayatri. I know Harshil already talked about the Watermelon eating contest and ultimate Frisbee, but i have to mention it again because it was soooooo much fun! It was great to see all the groups having fun and getting watermelon EVERYWHERE..

The topics for camp this year were very interesting and relative for our generation. Classes were not just lectures, but had a lot of interactive sessions for everyone to get involved in.

We definitely have a lot of very talented people in our Youth which was shown at the culture show.

GARBA NIGHT!!! wow what can i say.. I have been to 6 camps, and this was by far the best Garba night.. We learned a new combination from the Canadians which was a lot of fun.. We got down to Sanedo! We busted out our bhangra! Then still had energy to stay up the WHOLE NIGHT to play games..

I have laughed so much at this camp that i probably wont have to go to the gym for a year.. haha just kidding. I would say that National Camp was definitely a success this year.. Bringing together youth from all over North America to learn the teaching of Gurudev and to have a blast laughing!

It is amazing each camp seems to have an immense improvement from the last. I hope that 2011 camp will bring even more laughs and memories for us to keep with us forever..

Thank you to the Baltimore team for doing a great job.. Shout out to Canada for bringing a whole bus to camp! Also a big huge shout out to all the new friends i made this year from all over.. I definitely hope to keep in touch with everyone. Take careeee, and here we come 2011!!!

Jai Gurudev,
Arti Bhatt
 
 

Well, I'm going to follow Dip's example and write my own testimonial for this camp......also I'm finally back at work and don't really feel like working right now.  

 now let's talk about the camp lol

"Story behind the Logo is: As this is global event and people are coming together all different places and backgrounds. Hence the Splattered Colors. When we come together, we form a strong bond and strength and together we can promote the Yug Nirman Yojna, Hence the Mashal is shown through the colors"