Retreat!

Close your eyes and picture a beachside retreat.

Wait!  On second thought, don’t close your eyes because you’re supposed to be reading this. So keep your eyes open and picture a beachside retreat. Are you imagining a tranquil scene? 

Last weekend, Rachel and Brandy attended a retreat at the beach. Was it tranquil? Perhaps, if your tranquility bar is set very low. Maybe tranquil is the wrong word, but it was spiritually uplifting. 

The Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries and Ministries generally puts on two retreats per year and Brandy and Rachel try to attend at least one of those. This year, that meant loading up Nathan, Michael, and Levi into their vehicle and driving 4-5 hours to San Pedro Sula one day, in order to break up the travel time. The family checked into an Airbnb for a night. 

Unfortunately, the evening of relaxation didn’t go exactly as planned. Nathan had an accidental encounter with the glass shower door and it broke on top of him. Startled and scared by the sight of broken glass, he ran through all of the broken pieces! A trip to the hospital was in order. Thankfully, the family is on Brandy’s military health insurance. After Google Maps pointed them in the right direction, they arrived at the nearest military hospital. Nathan’s injury was clean and the deep cut on top of his foot only required a single stitch! His run across the broken glass hadn’t sliced the soles of his feet. The worst part of this as far as Nathan was concerned was that he wasn’t able to go into the swimming pool or into the water at the beach. Rachel says he was a trooper, though!

The following day, the family piled back into their vehicle and drove another 4-5 hours to the beach. More than 100 adult missionaries were in attendance and around 60 missionary kids. Rachel and Brandy are very appreciative of the volunteers that traveled to lead worship, speak at workshops, and… drumroll, please!... provide childcare so the parents could enjoy participating in worship, workshops and sessions!

As usual, there were a lot of new faces in attendance. If your main exposure to missionaries is the Sowers family, you may not realize that most missionaries don’t stay on the mission field for decades! While it’s difficult to know the exact number, it is estimated that 50% of missionaries leave by the end of their first two years. Most people make a commitment to stay for two years, but some don’t make it that long. There were also a lot of “old timers” in attendance–people who have been there for 10, 15, or 20 years. 

For Rachel, Brandy, and the other missionaries in attendance, the retreat was a time to get away, disconnect, and focus on spiritual health. Rachel and Brandy made the long drive home in a single day. When asked if she came back feeling refreshed or exhausted, Rachel’s response was, “Yes! Let’s just say that I came back feeling physically exhausted but spiritually uplifted.”

 - posted by Christi