Couples Retreat

Hello, Prayer Warriors!

Our hotel

I have so much to tell you! But I don't want this to be long and boring, so I will try to be as brief as possible.

We left for the mountains Saturday at about 1:30 pm. Eight of us went in Gardy's van, plus two more cars with two couples each, Carlos, Rosario, Luis in Patricia live near the capital, so they met us there. It was pouring rain when we arrived, so we got drenched just walking to our cabins, but it cleared up after that. We immediately went to enjoy the thermal water pools. I was still in our cabin, but I could hear them laughing like children going down the water slide.

Dinner was at seven. We had a private room, so right after dinner we had the talks. The topic was "Why marry?" We did not suggest this topic. Luis and Patricia decided that guided by the Lord. Luis is a pastor. He talked about what the Bible says about marriage; then Patricia followed. She is a lawyer. She talked about the laws of this country and why it is important to marry under the law. There were a lot of things we did not know because we are not from here. I thought the three couples who are not married were going to be offended, but, on the contrary, they were convicted. They all decided to marry. What a blessing!

Getting ready for dinner

Yúa and Diana

Francisco and Luz

Gardy and Paola - he was our driver

Luis and Patricia, our speakers

Christian and Daniela - she is actually 27 years old!

Ricardo and Miguelina

Carlos and Rosario

Luis sharing from the Bible

Patricia sharing the law

There was free time for the rest of the evening. Some couples went off to talk by themselves. Others went back to the pools. Next morning at 6 am, some of the men were already at the pool. Breakfast was at 8, and we followed the same arrangement as before. We had the talks right after breakfast. Carlos spoke about the parable of the wise and foolish builders on Matthew 7. We must build our house on the rock. Then Rosario followed with Ecc. 4:9-12 "Two are better than one..." She had illustrations and a keepsake for each couple. She is very good with crafts.

The Lord truly touched hearts. We ended with each couple holding hands and praying for each other.

Breakfast

Refrigerator magnet from the retreat

Carlos sharing

Couples praying

Carlos and Rosario praying

Fun!!

More fun!

Some of the guys

Some of the girls

 We all went back to the pools afterwards. It was so much fun! I should say that it was the best time John and I have had in this country. We had to drive by McDonalds on the way home. So Arleth, being so organized, took everybody's orders and wrote them on paper. When we got to McDonalds, most of us sat down and John, Arleth and a few others took care of the order. The girl at the counter panicked at first when she heard that they were ordering for 22 people, but Arleth just handed her the paper, and everybody got his order right. We arrived home Sunday at about 4 pm. Carlos, Rosario, Luis and Patricia stayed home with us through late Monday afternoon. We had a chance to debrief and relax at the beach and at the pool. We just give glory to God! He answered every single prayer we had for the weekend.

Another view of the place

Now for the unmarried couples. It is always surprising how people react. All three couples want to get married. We visited all three couples right away to confirm their decision. The lawyer had left with us a list of all the documents needed for the weddings. Tuesday we saw Yúa and Diana (that's not his real name, but that's what everybody calls him). They decided to wait until we comeback in February to have a Valentine's wedding. We also saw Walter and Yesenia on Tuesday because that is our regular Bible study day. They are ready, but Yesenia is from another country and her passport has expired; besides, she needs a document from the Civil Registry of her country stating that she is not married. Now, we thought that this was going to be difficult, and it still might be, but she called her consulate yesterday and found out that she can get it in 24 hours if she travels back home. She is leaving next week. If she can get all her documents in order, we will have a wedding in our condo on Sunday, September 10 (we are coming home on the 12). So, here we are planning a wedding with less than three weeks time! Walter breaks into a cold sweat just talking about it. This is great! We are really excited. We don't know how, but we are going to fit 30 people in our place. Pray that it doesn't rain, so that we can use the lawn.

The third couple, Eduardo and Arelis, are having cold feet. Actually, Arelis is having doubts. We had our regular Bible study last night. It so happened that the topic was what is the church and about using our spiritual gifts. Well, they both expressed a desire to serve the Lord, but we told them that they have to get straight with the Lord first. They have to get their house in order. They know this and agreed. We left the lawyer's list with them. It is up to them to get it all together and contact the lawyer. By the way, I did not explain that Patricia is a lawyer and a notary. You have to be a lawyer first to be a notary here. It is kind of like a Master's degree in law. Notaries perform all civil ceremonies here. People need a civil ceremony even if they get married in a church.

I promise not to bore you. So, I am going to end here. But I want you to know that my back is fine now, although I still wear a brace to ride in the car. I think I will continue to do that the rest of the time here. Thank you for your prayers!

Prayer requests:

• Continue to pray for a couple to take over this ministry.
• Pray that Walter and Yesenia can get married on Sep.10th.
• Pray for us as we teach and counsel.
• Safety and health for us.
• Pray for traveling mercies. You have no idea how bad these "roads" are.
• Pray for reconciliation for Luis Carlos and Irene.
• Pray that this wedding will actually take place on Sep. 10th.
• For our family back home that they might be safe in our absence.

Thank you for your prayers!

Until next time...from the beach...

Low tide this morning