{"id":1431,"date":"2012-09-10T15:16:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T15:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2012-09-10T15:20:24","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T15:20:24","slug":"womans-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2012\/09\/10\/womans-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman’s Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stepping Out of My comfort Zone<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The group of women who came on retreat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This past weekend I went to the woman’s retreat\/camp at our church. \u00a0I knew that going was what God wanted me to do, but I also knew how much I would be stepping out of my comfort zone (God seems to ask me to do this a lot). \u00a0My comprehension of French is getting better, but now I was spending an entire weekend in French, without Joel’s help. \u00a0I am accustomed to the heat here without AC, but now I had to survive it without fans.\u00a0\u00a0I am familiar with Senegalese culture, but this was FULL\u00a0immersion. \u00a0I often felt out of place, uncomfortable and unsure, but this weekend I was so touched to see how God is at work in our small church community here. \u00a0As much as I don’t like stepping out of my comfort zone, it seems like God usually uses those times to show me how and where He is at work.<\/p>\n

Highlights of the Weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We took up every available space there was in this bus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I knew it was going to be a weekend unlike any other when the first thing that came out, after we all loaded up into the van, was the drum. \u00a0The woman sang the whole way (1hr+) to the camp grounds.<\/p>\n

There were 49 women present from 5 church (3 village churches and 2 in our town). \u00a0The women spoke 3 different languages and were from very different walks of life, but we all came to worship the same God.<\/p>\n

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We slept side by side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We ate together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cooked and cleaned together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Studied God's Word together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Prayed together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Worshiped and Danced together (for the first time since arriving in Africa, I held my own on the dance floor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was amazing to spend time with women from the village churches. \u00a0Many of them have given up a lot to follow Christ and are very hungry to learn more from his word.<\/p>\n

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It was also a reminder of how many other villages around us have yet to hear the truth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And of our responsibility as a church (both in the village and in town) to be actively bring that truth to the villages around<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And discipling the new believers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I prayed throughout the weekend that God would continue to help me know how to love the women of our church. \u00a0It is not an easy or natural thing for me to do, because we are so different. \u00a0Yet he is slowly teaching me how to love.<\/p>\n

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It is amazing the Power present when God's people are united<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WOW!! \u00a0It was an amazing weekend. \u00a0I only wish that words could to justice to what God is at work doing here!<\/p>\n

Pray With Us This Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

I came home from retreat and 7 hours later (at 4 in the morning) Joel left to help a family move down to Guinea. \u00a0He will stay part of this week helping them unpack and set up their house and then he will drive back the mission vehicle on his own. \u00a0This is Joel’s first time south of where we live, so pray for safety on a very unfamiliar road. \u00a0Also pray for me as I will be home with the boys alone all week (after a very restful weekend :)).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stepping Out of My comfort Zone This past weekend I went to the woman’s retreat\/camp at our church. \u00a0I knew that going was what God wanted me to do, but I also knew how much I would be stepping out of my comfort zone (God seems to ask me to do this a lot). \u00a0My […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-updates-and-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}