Retreat

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh.  I am having such a stupendous time at the Senegal Missionary Women's retreat!  I could write for ages and ages, and probably I will, even though it is after midnight and I have to be up before 7:00.  For the second time.

Anyway, I was looking forward to the retreat less than Fatick, and leaving Fatick on Friday was awful, because I already miss Travis and the kids.  So I was in a bad mood, and I think part of it was spiritual warfare, albeit on a lamer scale than what most people were expecting (because this retreat has been bound up in horrible horrible things, which makes me think God is/will do awesome things through it!).

So after we got to the hotel (which is beautiful and fancy by African standards) and put together the gift bags, I took the Woodlanders to La Riviera and some shops!  By myself!  It was so fun to be the knowledgeable one, especially since that included haggling and hamburgers.

Then we got in the pool.  Heaven.

Wendy and I are in charge of leading the high school girl's small group, which we did before our first main teaching session on Friday night.  Every session, we start by singing at least ten songs.  Yeah, it's intense, and my legs get tired.  But it's AWESOME.  Oh man, singing praises with 150 women who have given up everything to serve God is just incredible.

Oh, and I found out that more than 45 organizations are represented here.  Of which the IMB is a very small percentage.  Very cool! 

The speaker is just awesome.  She completely solidified my desire to be a missionary.  I don't know how anyone can listen to her stories and not want the life she has, even though her stories involve car accidents and abductions and revolutions.  But she loves God, and she was a missionary for 27 years before being stationed in the United States.  This morning she said that one day in the States she was running on the treadmill when she realized that she was no longer desperate for God, at which point she got off and sobbed.  That is what I keep trying to say, but can't.  It's hard to be desperate for God when we have so much at our fingertips.

After the teaching session, we ate a feast, then put out jewelry for women to make earrings and bracelets.  I befriended one missionary in particular, and we made some pretty awesome things.  The crafting was too popular, though, because it was after midnight when we finally got everyone to leave.

We started today with a breakfast feast (where I bonded with one of my high school girls), and a workshop meeting.  It's very weird to be a leader here, when I am 20-30 years younger than the other leaders.  But that is okay!

The first session was brilliant.  Then we broke for personal prayer time, which was also brilliant.  Then I met with Wendy to pray for our first workshop, which went pretty well.  We had four adults along with some high school girls, so there wasn't as much discussion as we anticipated.  Still, I got to share a bit of personal stuff, and Wendy was awesome as always.

Lunch.  A woman from Guinea Bissau talked to us, and oh my gosh it was maybe the highlight of the trip.  Guinea Bissau is the third poorest country in the world, and the worst place to be a child (because of malnutrition) or a woman (because female genital mutilation is actually increasing is popularity).  But HOLY COW, God is working there.  She and her husband live with some African believers, and Muslims are coming to love Jesus all over the place.  The African man they live with went to a hugely Muslim city, and saw a lame man on the side of the street who hadn't walked or felt his legs in four years.  The believer said, "I have good news for you.  The kingdom of God is here.  Would you let me touch your legs so the power of Jesus can heal you?"  The guy said okay, so the the believer touched him, and the guy stood up and flung his crutches away.  He asked to know everything about this Jesus, and became a Christian, and immediately began telling the crowd that had gathered about what had happened.

And this is not even unusual for this missionary woman!  OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH. 

Please read that paragraph again.  It blew my mind.  I want to see that.  I want to have the kind of faith that allows miracles to happen.

AAAAAHHHHHHH.

It's after midnight, can you tell?  The emotion would be the same always, but I'm less eloquent after this little sleep.

Because after totally rocking my world, we had three hours of pampering during which I emptied and filled water basins for foot soaking, painted one woman's toes and another's fingers, and generally ran around doing menial tasks.  Exhausting.

The evening session was brilliant, again, and then Wendy and I had our second and last small group meeting in the shallow end of the pool.  At dinner I bonded with Melanie (have I mentioned that I genuinely love Melanie and Jessie, even though they are the Hands On girls who most obviously replaced me, having moved into my room and all?  They are awesome) and Christina.  Then we were back in the Koinaniansd something Cafe.  I didn't help with jewelry this time.  Instead I played Fishbowl with Kimberley and six new missionary friends.  Awesome.

After my team won, Liz and Mallory brought over some Bible clue game.  Eventually Wendy, Cheryl, Christina and Kim played with us, and it was just basically a big laugh fest as we screamed, "DAVID!  DAVID!  Jericho!  Coins.  Coins.  Coins.  Jesus?  The son of Kish!"

So much fun.  So much awesomeness.  The women here are just so inspiring, and I think we've actually done a good job of encouraging and uplifting and pampering them.  They sure have encouraged me.

I love it.  I don't want to leave.  I want to stay desperate for God.  I'm scared to be desperate for God.  I love mission trips and I never want them to end.  I'm tired.