(By Alyssa)
Most of the team recently attended the Serge East Africa retreat that occurs every four years.
Retreats provide an opportunity for us to get away from the hustle and bustle of life in Burundi and to reconnect with God, each other, and Serge friends doing similar work in the region. The theme of the week brought by speaker Greg Thompson was "Life in the Wilderness." In Exodus, God leads His people in the wilderness - not an easy place but the place where God was with them by day and by night. We had no trouble applying the imagery of wilderness to our lives in East Africa - places where we lack clarity & control, sometimes powerful and beautiful places but where we don't always understand what's happening. We identify with Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, "Always there's a wilderness before us." But wilderness doesn't have to be a place of despair. Instead it is a place of invitation by our Beloved Heavenly Father to be embraced, transformed, and consoled by Him alone which leads us to join Him in consoling and loving others. We appreciate your prayers for our team that these truths would sink deep into our lives and overflow to those around us.
And to update you on our ever-growing and transitioning team, check out this video that we shared at retreat - created by our oldest team kid Jonah Watts:
So glad you could get away as a team to grow closer to God and to each other. Jonah, you did a fantastic job on the video!!
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