Young Women's Retreat

A week and a half has gone by, and I am finally sitting down to write about the young women's retreat in Potosi. Back in March, I was invited to share at a young women's retreat in the city of Potosí (where I grew up). It was originally going to be in late June but ended up being postponed to the end of October. I felt very honored by the invitation and at the same time inadequate as I lacked experience in public speaking. I felt especially intimidated when I discovered that Auntie Lori (a dear American missionary who I've known since I was little and who has always been like an aunt to me and my siblings) was going to be the other speaker. As always, I had nothing to worry about! God helped me through the sessions, and Auntie Lori's presence ended up being a great blessing!

The topic was "Relationship with God." I was excited about the subject and didn't have too much trouble coming up with material to speak on. I was in charge of three sessions. Each session I shared on a different key ingredient for a good relationship with God: Confidence/Trust, Communication, and Consecration (in which I talked about lives characterized by obedience and love). It was exciting to see how a lot of what Auntie Lori shared in her sessions tied in with and complimented what I was sharing. We didn't really coordinate, so it only could have been God!

In one of the sessions.

There was a group of just over 20 of us. The winning team of the retreat!

Auntie Lori and I with the four lovely ladies who organized the retreat!

One of the things I shared on was trust. Trust is key in any relationship. In order to trust someone it is necessary to know the person. It's the same with God. We can't trust Him if we don't really know Him! How do we get to know God? I encouraged the girls to keep their eyes open to see God revealing Himself through the Bible and through daily life experiences. I shared some of the experiences in my own life through which I got to know God better. It seems like God especially reveals Himself in the hard times. I spoke about my difficult experiences working at the deaf school last year and the more recent experience of losing my brother. I only have 26 years of life, but I am amazed at the life lessons God has already given me. May we all open our eyes to see God in our lives and then share Him with others!