Ladies' Retreat

As I said in my last post, we arrived home from our annual missionary conference on Thursday night.  We had enough time to do two loads of wash and then we crashed!!

Friday I spent the day putting the finishing touches on my studies for the ladies' retreat (and doing wash).  Patricia contacted me back in November about being the speaker for their retreat.  In December she gave me the subject.  So, really, I shouldn't have been finishing it up the day before I had to give it.

Actually everything was ready.  It was just getting it ready in my head.  I made a little booklet to hand out with each of the four studies on it.  It was just a broad outline that they would have to fill in as we went along.

It started Friday night around 9:00.  They told me to get there around 7:30, which I did.  I was the first one to arrive.  We were given our rooms and then had a time of introduction and testimony.  It was good.  But since there were 36 ladies there it took awhile.  Which means I got to bed late on Friday night.

I got up at 6:00 on Saturday morning to go over, one more time, the two morning messages.  Everything started at 7:30 with a prayer time, then breakfast, then the first meeting.  I was really pleased with how it went.

prayertime

Guess who??

Kristi Colas directing the "choir"

We broke for lunch at 12:30 then had a free time until 2:30 when we all came back together for the last two studies.  For the third study I divided the ladies up into 8 groups and gave each of them a passage that they had to read and discuss together about what the woman in the passage had done for the Lord and how we could do the same or something similar today.  Then one person in each group had to present their findings.  They did a really good job and I only had to add a thing or two from time to time.

Food and fellowship

Studying hard

Priscille presents . . .

Samia's turn

Then we had our last meeting and my part was DONE!!  I made a lot of new friends.  Oh, by the way, the theme was "Porter du Fruit pour le Seigneur." (Bearing fruit for the Lord) using 2 John 8 for the text.  I really enjoyed studying it and putting it together.  (Mike helped me a lot)

The ladies from St Denis

We had a final testimony service that evening.  It was really good.  A couple of the girls prepared a duet.  It was really good.  We practiced the song that the ladies would sing in church the next morning.  And then we went to bed.  Sunday morning I left before breakfast to get home in time to pick up Mike and Emily and be able to be to church on time.

"Compte les Bien-faits de Dieu"  (Count your blessings!!)

All in all it was a good weekend. Now I can "relax" until my surgery on June 4th.