Jhane Brasier admits she was a little uncertain when she first signed up for it. “I expected it to be more reserved, but it was so far the opposite,” she says, laughing. “It was more of a hoot than you can imagine.”

There were many opportunities for the women to connect. Penny Welch describes the scene on Saturday night: clusters of women, clad in their pajamas, hovering around chocolate fountains, dipping fruit and chatting.

“I don’t know if it was the chocolate talking or not,” she says with a laugh, but that’s when she heard reports that numbers for the retreat could be doubled next year.

Jhane says that the kinds of friendships that were made at the retreat couldn’t be established over years of seeing people every day for two minutes at school.

There was plenty of time for recreation. Women could choose to go snowshoeing or hiking in the woods. Other options were scrap-booking, playing games or watching a movie.

There was a lot of laughter. None of the women will probably soon forget Tina Covert’s skit at the end of the weekend. Using excerpts from several Robert Munsch books, Tina dramatized the life of a Rhema mom. From pouring chocolate pudding over her entire body to trying to squeeze into a too-small snowsuit, she had people either wondering about her sanity or in stitches, says Penny. “It was brilliantly done.”

There was also time to delve into some spiritual issues. For Lynne Lewis, that was the highlight of the weekend.

“The whole weekend has changed my walk with the Lord,” she says. “It was just what I really needed at the time. The Holy Spirit had been working on my heart before that and he prepared me for what I would hear.”

Penny says it was amazing to see God “weave his own theme through the entire weekend.” Speakers could choose their own topics, relating to the theme of transforming the body, mind and spirit. Without prior coordination, most of them spoke on how much God loves his people.

“It was totally His weekend,” says Penny. “He wanted us to clearly hear how much he loves us as women, how we’re chosen by him, we’re not an accident, we’re not randomly picked.”

The first-ever Rhema women’s retreat was a brainwave of Reema Sukumaran’s. “With her creativity and enthusiasm, it turned into a great weekend,” says Penny, who planned the event along with Reema and Chris Leney.