Weekend Away / Retiro

Friday 14th December, 19 of us settled into Amelia Trust Farm.
Rodrigo took our first meeting where he talked about 'Life' and the fact that life is a challange and very fragile.
We were all given an egg to look after for the weekend.
Saturday we started with a prayer time led by Sidnei.
The morning was spent walking in Barry, for FRESH air. Before we returned to Amelia Trust for our next devotion time, this was taken by Sarah, who talked about The One who came at Christmas, and gave Himself for us at Easter, as well as fillling in some of the bits in between.
The afternoon was spent following the Teasure Hunt that Phil had excellently prepared.
There was more free time, when the game 'Maffia' was quickly entered into AGAIN..
The evening meeting, where Richard and Sarah shared testimonies and talked about the fact that Jesus loves us whoever we are, whatever we've been.
We then wrapped up warm and were led to the fire that Clive had prepared earlier. This was followed by Soup and more free time for games.
Sunday after breakfast we had a fun time of games with a Christmas theme.
The final devotion time was taken by Rodrigo, where with Raf 'playing dead' he illustrated that without God in our lives we are nothing.
Jonathan & Raf led the music sessions each time.
Sadly this meant almost the end of our time away and a clean-up operation was underway.
The weekend went well, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, enough to want another go anyway.
We are just trusting now that a spiritual impact was left as well as a good social time.
Many thanks to all who helped, and supported in whatever way!

God bless you

Rafael Carvalho de Souza

The Team and the eggs / O grupo e os ovos

Worship time / Momento do Louvor

No final de semana do dia 14, 15 e 16 realizamos um retiro com os jovens da igreja num total de quatorze jovens entre eles três não cristãos. Fomos para uma fazenda e lá realizamos muitas brincadeiras e um passeio a uma praia próxima de onde estavamos (detalhe: todo final de semana temperatura de mais ou menos 0ºC). Mas não tivemos somente momentos de diversão, foram realizados cultos e reunião de oração. O tema desse retiro foi: Vida, a escolha que fazemos; para complementar esse tema foi dado um ovo para cada pessoa, e esse ovo simbolizava a vida e a sua fragilidade. Agora o interessante foi que tinhamos que andar com esse ovo para todo os lugares e era a senha para participar das brincadeiras, para comer, para participar do culto. Essa foi uma idéia bem pratica que mostrou que nós não somos capazes de cuidar de nossas próprias vidas, e por isso precisamos de Deus. Para mim foi uma alegria tão grande ao ver um dos jovens que foi convidado louvando e dançando ao Senhor, e para completar, quando o encontrei em outro dia para aula de bateria, ele estava escutando e cantando uma das músicas que havia sido cantada no retiro.


Deus te abençoe e continue orand pelo trabalho que estamos realizando aqui.


Rafael Carvalho de Souza