This might be a long one...

Well, this weekend was our staff retreat. We got to take a day off of school and head out of the city about 30 minutes to a beautiful place called Brakenhurst. It is surrounded with tea fields and open country. Any chance we get to leave the smoggy city and head out into the beautiful land of Kenya I feel refreshed. I have to admit though, I was not wanting to go on this retreat at all. I find though, usually when I adamantly don't want to do something, it is usually because I am going to learn something and be stretched in a way I don't want to. Needless to say, that is exactly what happened.

Before going on any further, I need to reemphasize, if I haven't in previous posts, that my community is extremely small right now. I live with the people I socialize with and work with. I have zero independence, no way or no where to go to be alone. So part of why I didn't want to go this weekend is because as much as I love these people, I just wanted to be alone. But...I'm not here for me. God has a work to do in me and through me and in order to do that, I have to do stuff I don't want to do. And ask our chaplain or anyone who was around me the week before we left, I made it known I was not happy about going (pouting I think it's called). However, as soon as we reached our location, I was thrilled to be there. This place was beautiful and peaceful. I had a chance to slow down and spend time with people I needed to spend time with. I had time to sit and be convicted and listen to what the Holy Spirit wanted to teach me....and it's a lot.

Our whole theme for the weekend was dealing with conflict and examining ourselves in our actions, thoughts, and words towards others. The thing that stuck out to me the most was when our chaplain, Mike Bussell, said that we are here to do God's work. No matter what, God's plan is going to prevail. We can either be a part of that plan and enjoy the blessing of being a part of it, or we can tear each other down and miss out on the awesome experience of seeing God's plan work out. I definitely want to be a part of the blessing and experience the joy that comes from that. And what a life lesson to learn not only for here, but in general. I wish everyone could understand the incredible gift of following God's plan and allowing him to love and reward you. I'm not saying I always die to my own desires and follow his plan perfectly by any means, but when I do seek and follow him wholeheartedly, it is so so sweet. I only hope I can grow in such a way here that I follow him a little bit more easily each day. Anyway, I think I'm on a soap box so I'll get off now. It was just such a refreshing and great weekend I had to share.

Huge revival is happening at our school. Kids are coming to Christ, kids are seeking discipleship and spiritual growth. Things are happening that have never happened before. Sooo....Satan does not want that to happen and will seek to steal, kill, and destroy. Best way to do that is to break a staff apart. However, I do feel, this weekend was a huge blow to what Satan is trying to do, because God has big plans for this school and the children that attend. I am excited to be a part of such a revival and look forward to seeing how God is going to use this weekend to grow us stronger as a staff, in turn helping our school grow stronger. Expect huge things, it's going to be exciting!