Over the Horizon

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 1 Video

Here is a video that Macedonio (our video guy on staff) put together of the first week of THE CHALLENGE! Enjoy!

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 1

THE CHALLENGE (aka EL RETO) has finally begun! I hear that the first week was the best first week so far! Of course we say that every year, but every year IT'S TRUE!

You can keep checking here for reports each week, but also make sure to check out EL RETO on Facebook! You can see pictures, listen to music, read reports and comments from students, and you can also donate to the event! We still have not received any donations for this event, and we are still hoping to raise $2000 USD which is what it costs to put on this event each year. Please pray about partnering with us financially to reach the youth of Cofradía and the surrounding areas!

So, without further ado, here is Steve's report on the first week. Drum roll please.......

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EL RETO 2011: "TO BE CONTINUED..."

WEEK ONE: AUGUST 27, 2011

This year EL RETO started on Monday, August 15 for the Captains as we took them on a Retreat to San Blas, Nayarit where we did some team activities, discussed some important issues about leadership and carried out some activities for them in order that they would decide what story and color they would use for their teams. Also, we added a "Medallion of Power" to this year's event which gives the team possessing it an advantage in the next activity. They don't have to use it, but can only obtain it for three activities; then they have to pass it to another team who has not had it yet. It was a lot of fun!

RESULTS:

• Aidé Garzón (Arrayanes) chose her team to be brown and use the "Parable of the Ten Virgins" (Matthew 25:1-13) as the team's story.
• Fran Ruíz (Cofradía) chose his team to be red and use the "Parable of the Great Banquet" (Luke 14:15-24) as the team's story.
• Chuy Orozco (Cofradía) chose his team to be green and use the "Parable of the Wedding Banquet" (Matthew 22:1-14) as the team's story.
• Jorge García (Cofradía) chose his team to be blue and use the "Rich Man and Lazarus" (Luke 16:19-31) as the team's story.
• Guille Orozco (Cofradía) chose his team to be orange and use the "Rich Young Ruler" (Mark 10:17-31) as the team's story.
• Alfredo Garzón (Arrayanes) chose his team to be yellow and use the "Parable of the Talents" (Matthew 25:14-30) as the team's story.
• Aidé found the Medallion of Power and she elected to use it in order to choose the color for her team. She then passed it on to Guille.

The next Saturday, the Captains were given color-coded tokens to give out to students (maximum 10) in order to form their team.  Each student that showed up with a token on Week One (8/27), received 50 points and was placed on the team of the color of the token they turned in.

RESULTS:

• Guille-500 pts.
• Alfredo-500 pts.
• Fran-500 pts.
• Aidé-300 pts.
• Jorge-250 pts.
• Chuy-100 pts.

More students showed up after the allotted time for registration. We had a total of 66 students for the first week; each team was maxed out.

We proceeded to welcome the students, introduce the Staff, and explain this year's theme: "To Be Continued..."

 

(left) EL RETO 2011 Staff; (right) The teams lined up in formation for the start of EL RETO 2011

"To Be Continued..." has to do with our existence. This is a message that burns inside me and has ever since I was in High School when I began to actively serve God. Our existence is "To Be Continued...". Jesus said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." If we believe in Jesus, we will "continue" in life even though we die. If we don't, we will continue in death, aware of our complete isolation from God's presence--there is nothing good about that. 1 John 5:11,12 says, "...God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

We explained to the students the rules of the competition and sent them off to choose a name for their team as well as design a flag, a banner, and a tombstone. Once they were finished, they were judged on a number of aspects as they presented their work to the judges.

 

The Heirs (left) and The Faithful (right) making their flag

 

The Chosen (left) and The Humble (right) making their flag

 

The Prudent (left) and The Servants of The Lord (right) making their flag and tombstone

RESULTS:

• Guilles' team is called The Heirs--415 pts.
• Alfredo's team is called The Faithful--360 pts.
• Chuy's team is called The Chosen--355 pts.
• Jorge's team is called The Humble--315 pts.
• Aidé's team is called The Prudent--310 pts.
• Fran's team is called The Servants of the Lord--255 pts.

Once they were finished, their next activity would send them outside the church in order for us to prepare for what was to follow--the traditional spin-off from Survivor's Tribal Council. This year it will be called "Part Two".

In this activity, the teams were sent out in 10-second intervals, as they had to immediately choose between "Suffering" and "Entertainment." They did not know what either activity would involve; they only knew the title of the activity. Later, we would use it as our TEACHABLE MOMENT in Part Two.

Suffering: They would have to go all the way to the next town (Santa Fe--3 miles) in the truck driven by their chaperon. The clue they were given said to look for a Staff member sitting on the porch of a house in Santa Fe. Once they found the house, they were to search for little tiny bottles with prizes in them hidden throughout the property. As they finished, they received their reward--the alphabet of the Chinese code language we will use this year.

Entertainment: They would have to run up to the Mission Base (four blocks). They would immediately receive their reward--a fake alphabet of the Chinese code language. Then, they would enjoy soda, chips, popcorn, and cookies as they watched a movie (which would be turned off about 15 - 20 minutes into it in order for them to go back to the church for "Part Two").

The Enterntainment room: What the students missed out on!

RESULTS: Without knowing any details, every team chose "Suffering" instead of "Entertainment." Every team received the correct Chinese code language alphabet plus the points they found inside the little bottles that were hidden. Guille's team, The Heirs, elected to use the Medallion of Power to give them a one-minute advantage over the other teams. Even though they were the second team to arrive at the house, it looks like it helped them. The first team to arrive at the house to search for the bottles was The Prudent. The Heirs passed the Medallion of Power to The Chosen.

• The Heirs--3,050 pts.
• The Chosen--1,850 pts.
• The Prudent--1,500 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord--100 pts.
• The Humble--0 pts.
• The Faithful--0 pts.

All the teams returned to the Church for Part Two. One by one, the teams entered into the church according to how many points they had accumulated up to this point. The focus of Part Two was that you can choose to suffer now and have life later, or choose to follow your fleshly desires now and suffer later. We used two main scripture references: Luke 16:19-31 and Hebrews 11:24-26.

Standing in team formation for Part Two

Luke 16:19-31 is the Rich Man and Lazarus. Here, we focused on how the Rich Man cried out in agony from Hell, a place he ended up because of decisions he made on earth.

In Hebrews 11:24-26 we learned that Moses denied his right to be called the Pharoah's daughter's son. He chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He chose Suffering instead of Entertainment because he had his eyes set on his reward.

TEACHABLE MOMENT: We can choose to give our life to Jesus knowing that we will suffer ridicule and persecution but knowing that there will be a reward for us that lasts for eternity in our "Part Two", OR we can choose to live our life the way we want and seek out pleasure and self-gratification; but if we choose that life, our "Part Two" will be suffering for eternity.

I was more than excited when I heard that every team chose "Suffering." As I waited for the teams to arrive at "Part Two," I could only imagine a glimpse of what God must sense when his creation chooses to serve Him instead of themselves.

In the end, each team would enter into the voting room. If they found that their name was written in "The Book of Life", they could vote for a team to receive a reward (clues to hidden treasures). Since all the teams chose "Suffering," they all were written in the Book of Life. For each vote a team received, they got to choose a clue to one of the three hidden treasures: Resurrection, Judgment, and Grace. I would tell you what they mean, but that's a secret (smile).

 

The Heirs

 

The Chosen

 

The Prudent

 

The Servants of The Lord

 

The Humble

 

The Faithful

RESULTS:

• The Humble-3 votes
• The Faithful-1 vote
• The Servants of the Lord-1 vote
• The Chosen-1 vote
• The Prudent-0 votes
• The Heirs-0 votes

The voting room this year is our upstairs youth room converted into a graveyard. The tombstones the teams created have been set in place. They walk through the graveyard, pass through a dark area (where we had a Staff act out the "Rich Man" from Luke 16), and arrive at a smoke filled voting room. They voted and exited towards the end door through the smoke (from where I was standing, it looked like they were disappearing).

 

The graveyard (left) set up in our youth wing and the voting room (right) in the kitchenette

The Book Of Life set up on the kitchenette counter

FINAL RESULTS AFTER ALL ACTIVITIES OF WEEK ONE:

• The Heirs--4,630 pts.
• The Chosen--2,754 pts.
• The Prudent--2,508 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord--1,500 pts.
• The Faithful--1,397 pts.
• The Humble--1,238 pts.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK.

DONATE TO EL RETO NOW and help us reach our goal of $2000 USD to cover the cost of this event!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Strange Weather

Wow, we've had some strange weather in Virginia this year! The winter was fairly mild this year, but late spring is when the weirdness began. For about two months we had severe thunderstorms that would spawned tornados about every other week!! I started to think we were living in Tornado Alley! It was fairly scary a couple of times, especially because a couple of the more severe tornados past right by where my mother, grandmother, and aunt live!!

We survived Tornado Spring and moved into a hot, humid, but otherwise quiet summer. Then just last week we had an earthquake! I was putting one of my charges down for his nap when the whole house started shaking! The rumble sounded like a mac truck, and since they live right on a busy road, my first thought was that a mac truck was coming right for the house. But no! That was not it, and there were no planes falling from the sky either! Once the tremor subsided, I tried to call family to find out what happened, but my cell phone was not working properly. Finally, I reached someone on the land line at the house where I worked and was informed we'd just had an earthquake! Not long thereafter, the news started reporting that it was a 5.8 quake centered in Mneral, VA....only a few miles from where my mom, grandmother, and aunt live!

Well, my family was all safe and survived basically unscathed, though we are still feeling aftershakes...especially my mom, grandmother, and aunt who all live near to the epicenter! Who knew that we have a seismic zone in central Virginia! We have had a couple of very minor quakes in the last 10 or 15 years, but the last one time we had one of this magnitude was 114 years ago! I'm hoping it's another 114 years AT LEAST before another one strikes!

And to top it all off, now we are cleaning up from Hurricane Irene which hit five days after the earthquake. Thankfully, it was not as severe as they had anticipated, but we are without power in Richmond, and we don't anticipate having it back for a few more days yet! To make matters worse, the main entrance to our neighborhood that is just around the corner from our house is completely blocked off by a massive downed tree. This tree landed on power and phone lines and also pulled down two posts! Of course, the power company and the phone company are arguing about who has to do something about it first, but I'm hoping they'll come to an agreement quickly so that we can return to normalcy!

Praise the Lord for my trip to Idaho this week! They have electricity AND I get to spend five days with my dear friend Audra and her little family! I cant' wait! We've been friends for nine years, and I'm just now visiting her home state! I'm really looking forward to meeting her husband of five years and their 1-year-old daughter, too!

There's so much to look forward to that it makes all this strange weather more tolerable!

EL RETO 2011 Captains' Retreat in San Blas

Steve just posted this on his blog, and I'm reposting it here so that you can keep up with the EL RETO happenings. Enjoy!

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This is a video that Macedonio Diaz put together for us of our Captain's Retreat last week at the beach in San Blas, Nayarit. I plan on adding English sub-titles later. The theme is "To Be Continued..." and the students are excited! At this retreat we talked about what it meant to work together as a team, lead a team, and know our purpose (Reach out to youth, Bring in the Fringe students, and Learn about God, Leadership and whatever comes up). EL RETO is a Youth Outreach that has become a Super Bowl of events in Cofradia. Youth Group is just not the same without it. Enjoy the video...

Back to school in Cofradía!

Saturday was the youth group's back to school event. I hear it was quite a fun and eventful night! Sandy wrote a short report and sent pictures, so I'm posting them here for your reading enjoyment.

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"Back To School 2011..." announcement

English Report:

Saturday afternoon, through this event, we had a lot of fun, excitement, joy, and above all involvmente of the youth in participating in all of the activities...including the message and worship. Our band played, some of the guys rapped, and even Macedonion and Steve rapped in Chinese! We had prizes (school supplies) and organized games. Everything went just as we had planned, thank the Lord. Just before concluding the event, Steve put on a video about this year's RETO team captains, and he also presented them to the rest of the youth group so that afterwards we would all caravan to the other towns surrounding Cofradía inviting youth to join EL RETO 2011. It was really impressive!!! We howp that this year of EL RETO we'll have more youth attend than ever before. Please be praying that the you would have an encounter with Christ while they participate in EL RETO.

Spanish Report :

Ayer sábado por medio de este evento tuvimos mucha diversión, alegría, gozo, y sobre todo entrega de los jóvenes en participar en todas las actividades, incluyendo la palabra y alabanzas. Tuvimos nuestra banda tocando, unos muchachos Rapeando, incluyendo a Mace y Esteban Rapeando en Chino, tuvimos regalos (útiles escolares) y juegos organizados. Todo salio como lo habíamos planeado gracias a Dios. Casi al final de esa noche Esteban puso un video acerca de los que son capitanes de equipo este año en EL RETO y también los presentó al resto del grupo para después salir en caravanas a los pueblos alrededor de aquí de Cofradía invitando a jóvenes a unirse AL RETO 2011, eso fue algo impresionante!!!. Esperamos que este año del RETO asistan mas jóvenes que el año pasado por favor estate orando para que jóvenes puedan tener un encuentro con Cristo en medio de ser parte del RETO.

 

(left) Team-building game; (right) Rapping

 

Organized Games

 

(left) Praise & Worship; (right) Team Captains (L-R: Jorge, Guillermo, Aidé, Francisco, Raudel, Jesús)

 

Caravanning and publicising EL RETO 2011 in the surrounding towns!

EL RETO 2011: "To Be Continued..."

It's that time of year again: Time for EL RETO 2011!!! This year's theme is "To Be Continued...", and everyone in Cofradía and the surrounding towns are chomping at the big to get the event started!

This event lasts about 6 weeks and begins the last Saturday in August....that's August 27!!! EL RETO is a Suvrivor/Fear Factor/Amazing Race styled event in which the youth compete in teams to complete challenges and earn points over the course of the six weeks, all of which coincide with the theme and the overall message of the year's event. At the end of the six weeks, the team with the most points gets to choose their prize: usually something like a beach trip, a trip to the movies, or some other outing or big activity.

This year's theme, "To Be Continued...", deals with the fact that when we die, we do not stop exisiting...our existance is to be continued on the other side of the grave. The question is: What will that existance be for us? Will we choose eternal life or eternal death? Will we accept the grace and salvation gift offered us by and through Jesus Christ, or will we choose eternal torment separated from Him? It's a big and important question, and the sooner we begin to wrestle with it, the better!

This year's captians have already been chosen and their team colors have already been assigned. The captains are now busy recruiting their intial team members. Currently I believe they have around 60 youth signed up to participate, and usually the numbers increase every week! Last year we had a record 108 youth participate over the course of the six weeks. We are praying for even more this year.

BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! To put this event on, it costs about $2000 USD for the entire thing. We are not even close to reaching that goal. Please pray about whether the Lord would have you support this event through a financial gift in addition to your prayers and encouragement. Even a small gift is helpful and goes a long way. The old addage, "Many hands make light work" is never truer than when facing a large financial goal! $10 or $20 may seem like pocket change in the face of a $2000 need, but if many people give those small gifts, we'll reach our goal very quickly!

Thank you for your prayers and support. Please keep checking back here for weekly updates once the event begins. Also, check our our EL RETO Facebook page! You can like us on Facebook and get updates through the page on your Facebook wall. You can also donate to the event dirctly from the Facebook page through the "Donate Now!" tab on the left (under the profiel picture)! Join us! Spread the word! And help us reach the lost youth of our region with the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

If you're curious about what EL RETO is like, here is a video from last year's event. It's an overview of the entire six-week experience. Enjoy!

EL RETO 2010: "UNDER THE MAGNIFYING GLASS"

VIDEO PART 1

VIDEO PART 2

VIDEO PART 3

VIDEO PART 4

VIDEO PART 5

Sandy's Photo-Editing Endeavors

Sandy has really gotten into creating images through digital editing. She's done some pretty interesting stuff, and I have really enjoyed the snippets she has shared with me. Check them out!

This is one she made inspired by the theme for EL RETO 2011 (aka THE CHALLENGE). This year's theme is "To be continued..."

This is my favorite! In fact, I made it my Facebook profile picture. She sent this to me to show me with the message that it reminded her of a scene in The Lake House, which is one of my favorite movies. I can totally see how it reminds her of tha tmovie because it does the same for me. Yes...she made this!

She titled this one "The Inspiration For Conversation"

No caption necessary...

Amber Lilies!!

While Beth and I were at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, we happened upon a Fabergé-specific gift store area at the exhibit exit. While browsing we saw this exquisite necklace made with real amber (the gem stone, not me!) made iton cala lilies! All you Lilies out there, this made me think of ou!

At $800, this neclace is unfortunately not for me. But oh how I would love to be its owner! Ah well....one can dream, right?!

Happy Birthday Beth!!!

My very good friend Beth had a birthday this weekend. I won't say how young she turned, but suffice it to say it was a milestone birthday. And we had a good time celebrating! She came down on Friday, and we made a day of it in Richmond.

First, we headed over to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to see their new Fabergé exhibit. They have over 500 pieces of Fabergé on display there borrowed from various private and public collections. It was an amazing exhibit to walk through. I seen copies of Fabergé, and I've heard of how exquisite his creations were, but it was awesome to see them in person. They were truly breathtaking!

   

   

Upon seeing everything there was to see in that exhibit, we headed back toward my house with a stop first at a local Latin Market near my house. We picked up a few things I needed for Beth's big birthday surprise: A Mexican Banquet!

This is what I picked up at the Latin Market: CACTUS!!! If you're wondering why, check out the videos at the end of this blog post!

Oh, it was so fun. We have been talking about hanging out one weekend and making our own favorite Mexican dishes, since I know how to make them, but we had yet to actually make the thing happen. So, for her birthday I planned a scrumptious lunch of refriend beans, hand-made corn tortillas, pico de gallo salsa, molletes, guacamole, and cactus juice!!! All homemad, folks! It was fabulous!

So, without further ado, here are the pictures and videos!

Beth's beautiful hand-made corn tortillas in an authentic, hand-stitched tortilla cloth given to me by a friend in Mexico!

Pico de Gallo: The Finished Product! Oh so yummy! And the kitchen smelled like cilantro & onions, an authentic Mexican kitchen odor!!!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH!!!

Steve's August Ministry Update

Steve posted another video update covering the month of July. Check it out!!!