This weekend I went on a church retreat. About 75 youth gathered together at a local school here in Santiago. The retreat started Saturday morning and ended Monday evening, which was Christopher Columbus Day; a holiday, of course. I was the only Gringa and loved the complete immersion into young, Chilean Christians lives. I was in a small group with seven others. One of the group members was Paraguayan and the others were from here in Chile. My group made fun of my accent and it was absolutely hilarious. I received a lot of attention being the only English-speaker and they even translated some things into English over the microphone, just being funny! I learned some new slang which is always fun, but more importantly than that, I experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit with a body of believers.
The messages were pretty foundational, but small group discussions were an encouragement and blessing and allowed me to finally feel connected to people on a deep-level here in Chile. About half the songs we sang were familiar to me, though the words were in Spanish. I felt cared for, valued, and loved. The Lord reminded me that he just wants me and I am never alone.
