Retiro de Jóvenes (Youth Retreat)

We returned Sunday night from our first retreat with the older kids here at the home (25 of them ages 15 and up). The retreat was in the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlán, which as we've posted before, is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. We stayed at a small compound owned by Central American Missions, which has several houses with kitchens, a lawn, and a great view of the lake and one of the volcanoes.

We had devotional times in the mornings after breakfast and in the evenings after supper. Preparing three talks would be a challenge for me in English... it was a whole other game in Spanish, but I survived. Saturday everyone had most of the day free to go swimming, buy souvenirs, go fishing, or just relax at the compound. One of our boys, Rubén (pictured left), proved to be quite the fisherman considering that he just stood on the dock with a net that he borrowed from one of the workers here at the home. He came back with about 40 fish that he caught, which the boys got to eat for dinner on Monday night.

We enjoyed getting to be with these kids in a different setting, and are starting to develop some good relationships with some of them. Our hope is that the time we had with them this weekend helped to establish some trust that will allow us to be more useful to the Lord in our time with these wonderful young people.