Peru 2016 - Retreat Day

On February 6th, from 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m., our Peru team gathered at Calvin CRC for a day of retreat and getting to know each other.  

31 of us from Calvin, Barrhaven and Cornwall CRC's.  

Just getting things ready.  

We a gathered and are ready to listen to Ron babble.  : ) 

A nice group going this year.  

Peter led us in some statistics about Peru and Canada and other countries just to give us some perspective.  

We are going to be learning some Spanish songs. Zoe is leading us in them here, and maybe in Peru too???  

We spent the morning doing all sorts of things.

• Getting to know each other in our smaller groups
• Statistics about Peru
• Basic Spanish lessons and Spanish hymns to share
• VBS overview and crafts
• Schedule overview

and then lunch time.  

A time to share and get to know each other better.  

Some of our crafts packaged and ready to go.  

Hmmmm, not sure what Brenda is up to here.  

Always something.  : ) 

Hmmm, wonder what Colin is trying to say to me yet once AGAIN. 

Avacado or Mango maybe?  sigh...some things just never go away.  : ) 

After lunch we practiced our songs some more with Samantha helping lead us on the guitar.  

Hey Daniel.  

We gave out small Spanish vocab cards to use while in Peru.  

Erin and Pepe (in Peru and the face of LivingMissions Peru) joined us for a time to say hello and encourage us. I love modern technology.  

Everyone chatting with Pepe and Erin.  

We also reviewed a team covenant form designed to help us as a team work out any "issues" that might arise. May have seemed mundane to some, but very important to set the tone for the upcoming trip.  

We then broke off into our small groups for our final orientation time, having done two other orientation times in 2015, with Cornwall doing their own due to the distance.

Some pictures of other groups below.

The Cornwall ladies, Dianne, Marsha, and Brenda wanted to give us all a small gift.  

It was a pendant cross as a symbol to remind us of Peru and to remember to pray for them and us as we prepare.  
They are such wonderful and thoughtful ladies. : )

We ended our day with a concert of prayer.  

Praying for different elements of our trip, each other. 

A great way to end the day. 

So now we are pretty much ready to go.  Just some forms to fill in final funds to hand it, and soon we will be on a jet plane............