La Malinche

Fall Retreat to the Mountains

Two weekends ago we went on our annual fall retreat to "La Malinche", a mountain that is nearby. Usually the fall retreat has less poeple on it, so we were really excited when our final number was over 50. We had a great time and built many new relationships throughout the weekend.

We all met at the campus house at 5pm to drive the hour and a half up the mountain to our cabins we had rented.

But, we had a little delay because the bus didn't arrive for another hour.

Calling the bus driver

Finally, the bus arrived, we loaded up and headed out.

Pam and Nala

Tristan and Bernardo (friends that are always together)

Friday night after arriving at our cabins, we unloaded everything and then hung out till 2 or 3 in the morning.

Also we had band practice to get ready for morning worship

Pibe

Andrea y Pablo

In the morning we had worship then a time of teaching from our speaker, Tom. He talked about relationships, being rejected, forgiving others, not judging, breaking the cycle of bad relationships and such like that.

Then we divided all the students into teams and sent them on a race. They had to find 5 different stations and complete the tasks at each one. During the race they got points for different things that later would determine the winner. The first one was to make the longest chain with only the stuff they had on them.

The next one was making a dance or choreography to be performed later in front of the whole group. Some were really good...and some were really bad.

Lady Gaga made an appearance

this group had lots of energy

this one was really bad

this one was really good

The next station was picking 5 ingredients, blending them all up, then drinking a glassful. Mexicans don't find this quite as funny as most Americans do.

yummy

Lulis drank it faster than anyone

The forth station was making a car that one member of the team could fit inside of to later be pulled or pushed in a series of races. Each team only had a certain amount of material to use.

the didn't even make it halfway

the guys on the left won everything

some were not made as well as others

Beto, Ixchel, and Robert pulling Sara with Bego bringing up the rear

The final station was to go a find a list of 10 things, bring them back and then find the finish line.

this was the first team done, however they did not win 1st, 2nd or 3rd place

Later that night we had another time of worship with another talk followed by a campfire that lasted until the early hours of the morning like the night before.

the dog stayed by our fire all night

singing by the fire

well actually we had to move away from the fire because a marshmallow fight broke out

this was around 2 am. we moved inside where it was warmer

Sunday morning was a final time of worship with another talk from Tom. Then some of us packed up and left, while others stayed to hike up the mountain.

a few of us before getting on the bus to leave

The weekend was a huge success. Many deep and meaningful conversations were shared over the weekend and continue to be shared. Those who went on the retreat were challenged and impacted in many different ways. 
Below some of the pictures I put the names of the students who are in them. When you pray for El Pozo, think of them, pray for them by name, and for all the students who are searching, struggling, fighting, learning, and through it all seeing God.