Retreat weekend

Hello Fam we are doing a family blog where you can see each of our perspectives on our recent retreat that we hosted!

Jason: In the beginning of this month we were blessed to host all the kingdom workers in our area for a retreat on the farm. We never imagined the turn out we would get. We ended up with over 120 people at the farm that day. Amos and I handled all the logistics as far as who would sleep where and what people would eat.  We worked together with the leadership team of the Beautiful feet fellowship to plan out the program. We slaughtered 5 goats and no meat remained. We also enjoyed lots of fresh fish from the fish ponds! Overall I think the time was enjoyed by all! At least I know everyone's appetite was satisfied and that makes me happy!  We also managed to show the Jesus film in the village. In the darkness I could not tell which farm workers were there for the film but I know that we obeyed Jesus by showing the film. It was not easy to get it to work though we had to be creative . The speakers did not work so by God's blessing I had a auxiliary cable in my land cruiser so I ran the audio through my truck.  That is African ingenuity!  I found myself very busy through out the retreat managing the chaos in the evening when I laid my head down I found myself asking God if I had done enough. Did people enjoy? Was everyone satisfied? The next morning when we woke I found so many people that looked so happy and felt so refreshed. After breakfast we had a worship service together there under the trees. As we worshiped together I found myself feeling moved emotionally as I looked around and saw all of the beautiful people that had left behind their lives and their home places to see Jesus establish His kingdom in this place. Then Mash shared his song about being a witness to the ends of the earth and tears streamed down. It encouraged me so much to the hope and the promise that the Kingdom of Heaven is a present reality and a future promise and that is true for our village and our town as well. It was such a refreshing time of worship and a reminder that Beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!

Charis: It was nice to see people talking throughout the entire two days- it is a way of bonding in fellowship. 

Charis: When it came to eating meals there was not enough chairs for everybody to sit on but mats on the ground allowed for everyone to squeeze together and stay off the dirt. I did see ants however, no scorpions. 

Charis: I always love when there are pictures of my dad. Here he is with his close friend, Amos. When everyone first arrived Dad and Amos were explaining where everything was on the farm- of course everyone needs to know where the bathrooms and showers are. This was an experience that can never be replaced. I hope everyone else enjoyed this time like I did. I think the weekend really showed  what the family of Christ looks like. We got to get out into the African bush- away from "civilization ". We had a time to pray in small groups and lift one another up. The adults showed us children how to encourage. We got to see a lot of friends, ask how they were and play a lot of fun games.

Charis: Another picture of my Dad and Amos.

Bekah: My mind likes to plan up all sorts of details for upcoming events. This is very evident when it comes to birthday parties- I  homemake decorations and have different themes. When we were discussing this retreat coming up, I started thinking up how I could go about ensuring that everyone who attended would have the most fun possible.  Nobody asked me to do this, I just like to be in control in this way. We were already planning to have a variety games for people to play and I was considering have tickets/points to hand out to those that won. Then I wanted to have a "prize booth" for people to exchange their tickets to pick out snacks/prizes. All these ideas never happened, instead I was able to be present with how the day progressed on its own. Everyone stepped up to help in different ways that were needed. There was a team that cut up vegetables for dinner and a different team that made the plates for lunch and breakfast. There were several people who facilitated team building exercises and some doctors that allowed our group to ask medical questions. All in all it was a beautiful weekend, I didn't have to do anything to make sure that happened.

Some of the farm workers (who were fasting for Ramadan) stepped up to help meal preparations. 

Nevaeh: Some of us spent a portion of the day preparing for dinner. Thankfully we didn't have to chop everything by hand because we brought dicer/choppers. If any of you know me you will know that I usually don't get through a meal without getting a little bit of a mess on me. It turns out that I don't necessarily need to be eating to get messy🤦‍♀️. When I finished helping I had tomato seeds and juice all over me, fortunately I had known myself enough to bring an extra dress.

Righteous: Eating food is one of my favorite things to do. However helping prepare the food with others makes it all the better. One of my characteristics is that I am bossy. I am the oldest so that comes with the territory. When there is a job that needs to get done I try to persuade anyone who will listen, to come and help. When it has been a long and busy day, during meal times the food tastes all the better. I was glad I was involved in getting the food finished.

Charis: We had to borrow a trailer to get the large group of people to the farm. My sisters and I went with all the children and a few adults on the trailer. We had so much fun! We had to duck and lay flat to not get hit by sharp thorns. There was a lot of jokes and laughter 😀 we really had a good time.

Making sandwiches for lunch.

 

Charis: We got separated into four different groups to do team building exercises. In my team we always took some time in the beginning to discuss what we wanted to do.

Samara: I was probably the youngest member on my team but I still had a fun time getting involved with those older than me. One time one of the babies came and interupted our activity but I thought that was funny.

Righteous: As I said before I'm bossy and on top of that I am a teenager. So take that all into consideration when I explain the story about this photo. You can see that there is man and a teenage boy sitting on the edge of the trailer. My immediate response was, "You kow that is not safe sitting like that, get down". 

Samara: It was a bumpy ride but despite this, the intern named David fell asleep. He was banging his head at times but didn't wake up. He also got scraped by thorns but didn't wake up. I don't know how he stayed asleep- I sure would not be able to.

Righteous: There was overall excitement in getting to do something new. A lot of students here in Kenya had to stay home doing nothing last year (except those in 4th, 8th, and 12 grades). There were happy smiles and laughs all around. There were funny conversations and everyone had to duck when passing  thorns bushes. Thankfully we all have are heads in tact still. The scenery was beautiful and we had a wonderful ride (my DAD is an excellent driver). We definitely started sweating when the sun was directly on us but that did not stop us from having the Jesus joy!

Charis: We were all split into groups and played team building games. My Mom was playing a game called mind bomb 💣 and you had to figure out how to switch the balloons/bombs to a different circle with a limited amount of tools. You couldn't go in the circle or touch the balloons with your hands. They tried to hold a man up to grab the balloon but he kept on falling. In these games we learned to listen to one another. Even children can offer good ideas.

Charis: One of the interns named Andrew played the guitar while someone else lead us all in worship. 

Charis: When we were doing worship it was a precious time as we were all joined together as Christians to lift our voices in bringing praises to God. When I listened to all the  voices combined it was a touching moment. There was even one person who  made up a song from the Bible and taught it to us all.  ❤

 Nevaeh: In this picture a game of volleyball is in action. Just around the corner from where this was happening is where me and my older sister Righteous slept on a mat under the stars. I will admit that I was a bit nervous at sleeping out in the open but in the end it was a great experience. It turns out that what actually kept us awake was not the thought of wild animals but it was the teenage boys that talked until  3:00am. Boys!!! In the early morning around 5:00am we moved into a tent because we were surprisingly cold. The whole day turned out great and I couldn't have asked for anything more.