University Retreat & First Colony Group

The weekend of June 10-11 we held a retreat for our University students from church. We had 6 Chileans, plus 5 of the interns. The thought behind the retreat was to have a time apart from our other activities where the Chileans would have the opportunity to bond and get to know one another better. The group has grown recently with Perla’s baptism, as well as the addition of Claudio, a recent graduate, and Raquel, also a student who has said she wants to be an active member of the Providencia congregation. We spent two days at El Canelo, a small town in the mountains outside Santiago. We had an excellent devo/discussion time on prayer led by Claudio, after which we divided up into prayer partners and prayed over the weekend. We did prayer partners twice over the weekend, which gave us a chance to get to know each other and pray in smaller groups. We also had trust games, as well as “hot seat” where each us of took turns in the middle of the circle, while the rest went around and took turns saying what they liked/admired about that person. Sebastian Ecterovic, a recent convert, joined us to share his testimony of how God rescued him from wanting to take his own life, drug addiction and restored his marriage. We finished off the retreat by returning to our apartment to watch the World Cup and cook hot dogs. It was a great weekend for all of us to spend together, and we believe it served to draw the Chileans in the group closer together, which we felt was an important part of the weekend. Three of five interns will be moving back to the U.S. in the next 5-6 weeks and people tend to stick around more if they have formed relationships with the Chileans in addition to their friendships with us.














Me, aparently quite giddy about being led by Cristian during trust games.














L-R: Camilo (background) Perla, Claudio, Amanda and Jenni working in the kitchen.





























Claudio leading a discussion on prayer. And wearing a humongous scarf.
(note: this picture swiped from Tyler Wall's blog)

First Colony Seniors

A week ago, a group of recent high school graduates and several of the parents arrived from the First Colony Church of Christ in Houston for an LST campaign. The first weekend of their trip, they worked all day Saturday at the building preparing a banquet for the entire church. They brought 75 lbs of brisket as well as pinto beans, corn bread, potato casserole and peach cobbler for dinner. They used Texas-themed decorations for all the tables. Entertainment consisted of one of the youth, Zach and his dad Greg pickin' and singin' for us several classic country songs including John Denver's Country Roads, which a surprising number of Chileans were able to sing along to....sort of.





























Everyone enjoyed the food, especially us gringos who haven't eaten real BBQ in months. The church also appreciated the hard work the group put into the banquet and honored them with a standing ovation to close the evening. The First Colony group is here for two weeks, teaching English lessons to high school and University students for a week, then finishing up with a weekend English retreat. We've been incredibly uplifted and encouraged by the energy and enthusiasm they have brought, and enjoyed several chances to worship with them in English.














Thanks for reading, God Bless, and check back soon for updates on the First Colony group and a visit from Amanda's parents. We love y'all and appreciate your prayers!