Friday, March 03, 2006
Carnival retreat, 2006
This year for the first time we had a retreat at carnival, as a church. We have been concerned at lack of investment in the Peregrinos for some time. At this time of year there are always invitations to speak at retreats, and we have accepted them. This year Andrew turned down such opportunities, so that we could be together as a church and do some hard study and talking together.
We went to Marquito's family's beach-house in the South of the island. This was already a place that had become very precious to us from past meetings and days together. A number of visitors came during the days, but there were 20 of us staying together each night. With four tents in the garden, we had ample space. (I thought of my friends Peter and Terry, mountaineering in Scotland at the same time. The little mountain tent has been there too, in February, with a four season sleeping bag. Not so this time!)
Eight came over from Blumenau. We studied 1 Timothy together, and then in the evenings had separate sessions for each church group to discuss the application of the day's teaching. The arrangement worked really well, with sufficient togetherness and yet sufficient independence for it it be really profitable for the two churches.
One of the greatest blessings was simply to work together. Kito's mother gave us the use of the house for free, but asked that we helped with some maintenance and repair jobs. Alex is a phenomenon in this area, but all made some contribution. Then on the food front, Cora and Simone did wonders with the planning and shopping, and again, many hands did the work. The teaching was all accompanied with projections of the text and main points, to assist with note-taking and subsequent discussion.
And, despite the reputation of Carnival as always being rainy (just like Bank Holidays in England!) we had five lovely days. The house, garden and beach were all well used. The atmosphere was a blissful mixture of relaxation and intensity, of the physical and the intellectual, of fun and serious. The youthful liveliness of the Blumenau group was a great stimulus, and especially helped LetÃcia, our only teen, to really enjoy herself.
Please give thanks with us for a great retreat, and pray for good fruit. As a church we need to really take off or give up - pray that it may be the former.
To see a LARGE number of photos of the retreat, taken by various members of the gang, please see the blogsite: Retiro2006 Remember that you can see and download larger and clearer versions of the photos by clicking on them
This year for the first time we had a retreat at carnival, as a church. We have been concerned at lack of investment in the Peregrinos for some time. At this time of year there are always invitations to speak at retreats, and we have accepted them. This year Andrew turned down such opportunities, so that we could be together as a church and do some hard study and talking together.
We went to Marquito's family's beach-house in the South of the island. This was already a place that had become very precious to us from past meetings and days together. A number of visitors came during the days, but there were 20 of us staying together each night. With four tents in the garden, we had ample space. (I thought of my friends Peter and Terry, mountaineering in Scotland at the same time. The little mountain tent has been there too, in February, with a four season sleeping bag. Not so this time!)
Eight came over from Blumenau. We studied 1 Timothy together, and then in the evenings had separate sessions for each church group to discuss the application of the day's teaching. The arrangement worked really well, with sufficient togetherness and yet sufficient independence for it it be really profitable for the two churches.
One of the greatest blessings was simply to work together. Kito's mother gave us the use of the house for free, but asked that we helped with some maintenance and repair jobs. Alex is a phenomenon in this area, but all made some contribution. Then on the food front, Cora and Simone did wonders with the planning and shopping, and again, many hands did the work. The teaching was all accompanied with projections of the text and main points, to assist with note-taking and subsequent discussion.
And, despite the reputation of Carnival as always being rainy (just like Bank Holidays in England!) we had five lovely days. The house, garden and beach were all well used. The atmosphere was a blissful mixture of relaxation and intensity, of the physical and the intellectual, of fun and serious. The youthful liveliness of the Blumenau group was a great stimulus, and especially helped LetÃcia, our only teen, to really enjoy herself.
Please give thanks with us for a great retreat, and pray for good fruit. As a church we need to really take off or give up - pray that it may be the former.
To see a LARGE number of photos of the retreat, taken by various members of the gang, please see the blogsite: Retiro2006 Remember that you can see and download larger and clearer versions of the photos by clicking on them
# posted by Andrew and Cora @ 2:08:00 pm 
