Last weekend was our first whole church retreat. Regular
attendees from Pacifico and Los Cedros came and we had over 30 adults and as
many children. We went to a lovely
retreat house in the foothills north east of Lima, where there was loads of
space for the children to run around safely and lots of green grass and trees
to lay under!
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| Exploring the grounds |
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| Quiz in groups |
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| Keeping the toddlers entertained! |
Mark gave two talks during the day – one on the Father’s
heart and the second on the importance of forgiveness. Both talks led on to ministry times where many
gave testimony afterwards to God speaking to them and forgiving others – some taking
the opportunity to ask forgiveness from others present in the room – a uniting
and humbling time. Many people began the
forgiveness process for the first time – including forgiving their spouses and
children for offenses caused.  |
| Jesus said we should forgive 70 x 7 |
Meanwhile the children learned about how much the Father loves them and the importance of forgiveness too.
We also had some games – including the much loved bubble making and racing contest! (I think this game may turn into an Oikos tradition!!) Each team had a list of ingredients and had to make up a bubble mix and then make bubbles with shoelaces tied together. The teams had 30 minutes to get as many bubbles as possible across the line (which was about 15m away). It is actually much more challenging than you would think and the winning team got 8 bubbles across in 30 minutes. The spectators enjoyed seeing the different ways the teams worked together to try and move the bubble – contorting their bodies to get under them to blow them upwards, and flapping hats furiously to move them along! The losing team was at a situational disadvantage as the wind kept taking their bubbles off course!
In all it was a very encouraging and relaxing time. It felt like a good mix of spiritual focus and
family time together and for many who never get out of their shanty town aside
for work reasons, it will be the highlight of the year for many!
We are hoping to do another full church retreat in February….
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