Our team joined all other Newsong sponsored short term missionaries at a spiritual retreat at Thousand Pines, California on May 15-17th. It was a good time of spending time together, with the Lord, worshipping as a larger missions team and receiving spiritual instruction and further missions training. As you can see from the photo, our team gets to stretch in teamwork at an obstacle course and show a little different side of ourselves too. We continue to realize that effectiveness and unity as a team will be critical to honoring His name while we live and work together in Costa Rica.
"To Know Him, Love Him" was the theme of the retreat. It was a great theme since it pretty much summarizes our reason and purpose for the missions trip. All the devotions, teaching, music and worship were designed around this theme. Highlights of teaching came from the main speaker, Craig Hendrickson, who spoke about the lessons from a "reluctant" Missionary:
1. God is calling us to join in what he is already doing in the mission field.
2. We need to cultivate intimacy with God to discern the Spirit's activities in the mission field (that is already going on).
3. We need to step out in obedience to gain a clearer understanding of what the Spirit is doing in the mission field.
4. We need to take a learning posture to the mission field. (*really critical*)
5. When we chose to remain open to the Spirit, the results will exceed our expectations.
As we all remain open to God's voice and preparation for this work, we come to discover how inadequate we are and disobedient sometimes - and we grow in our respect and admiration for all missionaries around the world. We truly seek your prayer that we can join in partnership with the Holy Spirit in this endeavor and remain faithfully to continue to "Know Him and Love Him".
