Retreat!

We did it!!! We had our Fall Retreat and we had 45 people attend! After only week, we doubled our number of people signed up, so thank you for your prayers, and thank you especially to those who gave money to sponsor a student. We were able to give 6 scholarships!! And now I will tell you some of the stories that came from this weekend!



Three of these four girls gave their testimonies this weekend. Vanessa, in the blue sweater, gave an especially powerful testimony, sharing of her struggles with the church while growing up. One thing that really impressed me about Vanesa's testimony is the fact that she is a very private person in general, very warm and very nice, but private. So when she stood in front of her peers and some people she didn't even know, it was hard for her. But when she cried while telling us about her first Bible Study she came at En Vivo, the whole room was in tears. She said that Jeremy Lawler stood up in front of everyone that night and spoke about the hypocrisy that is real among the church, but he said it in a way that spoke directly to her. She said "I felt like he had written that talk for me, and I left immediately after without talking to anyone and I cried all the way home."
From this moment, she said, the Bible that she had had stashed away, was pulled out and she began to discover her faith again.

What an incredible testimony of how the church, how honesty, how the Bible, and how your friends can all play parts in your walk with God. I'm not even sure who those girls are that brought Vanesa to En Vivo, but I am so thankful that they did and that since then she has become part of our leadership group, she won the 'Annual Service Award' last year, and she has become a dear friend to all of us at En Vivo.



And this leads me to my next story. This young man in this weird outfit (I can't think of any way to describe it in words...) was particularly touched by Vanesa's story. Maybe I should've put a more serious picture of him here, but it's ok, he was just participating in our ridiculous Olympic games by being extra festive. Anyhoo, his name is Miguel Angel (yes, Michaelangelo), and he's been in and out of our ministry for several years. But during the very last session of the weekend, he stood up and shared something with the entire group that none of us expected.

Miguel Angel stood up and with tears in his eyes said he felt like this weekend God had been crying out to him, that God was calling him back. While he heard Vanesa's story, he felt like he was a Christian living a hypocritical life and he had to change that immediately. He did not want to hinder anyone from coming to know Christ because of his behavior. He stood up to share that so that we could hold him accountable to becoming the Christian man that God was calling him to be.

We were completely surprised and very proud of him for asking for this accountability and we are now praying for him as he goes back to his day to day life where he will be challenged to follow through on what God made so clear to him this weekend.



This lovely little lady is named Sam. Sam had no idea what a retreat with En Vivo would consist of, because she came to her first Bible Study the day before we left for the retreat. With her adventurous spirit, she said yes when her friend asked her to come.

The weekend was beyond anything she could've imagined. She shared with us that before this retreat, she had never even considered a relationship with God. Not that he didn't exist, but why would he want a relationship with her? She had never had any Christian influences in her life that made her think twice about him. But this weekend, through the testimonies, the devotions in groups and individually, and the worship, she experienced something completely new to her. A God that wants to know her and loves her.

She got a Bible from En Vivo on the Monday after the retreat, and has already started meeting with another one of my teammates to read through Matthew. She's never had a Bible before. She went home and downloaded some of the Hillsong worship songs we sang over the weekend, cause she had never heard any of those songs before. She is EXCITED. She is reading the Bible FOR THE FIRST TIME! Can you even imagine??! It's incredible.

Incredible things happened this weekend. We felt the presence of God, He was working on all of our hearts, He was answering our prayers.

Thank you for your prayers and know that these stories don't just end on the retreat, this is just the beginning. Sam is now reading her very own Bible, Vanesa has shared her life in a way that touched other people like Miguel Angel who will now be needing our support and prayers to live out this Christian life. It's not always easy, but it's good.

And thank you for reading to this last line. There are other stories but I will just have to share those next time....
Love you all mucho!!