Alright! Week 2 of EL RETO = CHECK! It was an interesting week and definitely more challenging. This week's theme was "Basic Training", and it turned out to be exactly that, especially for us as staff as we dealt with last minute curve balls in the planning. But God is amazingly awesome, and in the end it was obvious that the youth were having a blast and God's grace was poured out over all!
We started the week with the call to formation so that we could take attendance. When all was said and done we had 54 youth participating this week, and 20 of them joined up this week. For about half of those 20, this is the FIRST TIME EVER that they have participated in anything related to the church or youth ministry activities!!! This is the real purpose behind EL RETO: to reach out to new youth and bring them the gospel! It's great to see our youth "getting it". What was also neat was to see several of these brand new youth in church on Sunday morning with Bibles and sitting in the first three rows of the church THE ENTIRE SERVICE. They were attentive and respectful and even stayed put during the prayer and ministry portion of the service! What great opportunities!
So, now after week two our grand total for EL RETO 2009 is 74 youth!! That is a new record! And we're only in week 2. Please keep praying that the Lord will continue to bring in more youth and that they will continue to arrive each week until the event is over!
After formation and attendance, we sent them off for a short devotional time led by their team Sargents. Then they were given 45 minutes to start brainstorming, planning, and rehearsing for their Military Cheer/Chant. This is a project that was assigned to each team on the first day of EL RETO. It will be presented on the very last Saturday. In the past their challenge has been to make up a skit relating their assigned Bible story. Last year, they had to make up a choreography and new lyrics to the theme song. This year, since our theme is military, they have been challenged to come up with a military chant. They can use music, they can include costumes or face painting, whatever their creativity comes up with. But their chant must have group movements, and it must relate to the theme for this year's RETO ("Fight the Good Fight"), and if they can incorporate their Bible story then even better. We're excited to see how these turn out!
When rehearsal time was over, Sandy handed sealed envelopes to each team captain along with a pencil and sent them to load up two teams to a truck. We then headed to Paso Real for "BASIC TRAINING" which included the infamous BANQUET!! The sealed envelopes given to the captains contained a menu where the captains had to write down the names of each team member that would be partaking of each dish in the banquet. Those were handed to Sandy upon arriving in Paso Real, and then the fun really began!
(left) The Conquerors (purple) and The Warriors (grey) loaded in the truck and ready to go! (right) The basic training relay course
BASIC TRAINING began with a timed relay race. The first station was PUSH-UPS. They had the choice to do five with both hands or three with only one hand.
The second station was the TIRES. They had to run in place inside 2 tires placed side by side, completing 20 steps before moving on.
The third station was the ARMY CRAWL. Here they had to crawl on their bellies underneath twine that had been wrapped around a series of sticks.
The fourth station was THE BAT. Here, they had to spin around 10 times bent over with the bat to their foreheads.
The fifth station was JUMP ROPE. They had to jump 15 times.
The sixth station was THE DEATH CRAWL. This was taken from the movie Facing the Giants. Only two team members had to do this one. One player had to carry the other on his back while crawling on his toes and hands over a distance of about 5 meters.
The last station was THE TEAM WALK. In this activity there are two planks of wood, and the entire team stands on top of them with one foot on each plank. They then have to move as a team on top of the planks over a distance of about 5 meters.
(left) The Favored (yellow team); (right) Conquerors (orange team)
(left) The Warriors (grey team); (right) The Banners (blue team)
(left) The Powerful (red team); (right) The Lord's Squadron (brown team)
THE Conquerors (purple team)
Upon completing the last station, we wrote down how long it took the team to complete the whole relay, and the team who finished in the least amount of time won!
Once the relay was completed, they moved on to the banquet. This year, the food items weren't so extreme, but they weren't necessarily easy either! Sandy, who planned this entire week's agenda, chose to go with a sweeter slant to our dishes. In this activity, the assigned team member comes up to the table and when the signal is given begins to eat their dish. Usually, they are not allowed to use their hands. A staff member is assigned to each team, and when the team member can present a clean plate and clean mouth the staff member signals that they have completed their dish. Points are awarded for the order in which they finish. At the end of the banquet, the team with the most points wins!
Here is our menu for 2009:
1."Canyons" = 2 cream filled HOSTESS CUPCAKES
2. "Staff" = 26 large MARSHMALLOWS
3. "Sargent Sweat" = 3/4 of a plastic cup of PURE HONEY
4. "Navy Food" = 1 TWINKY filled with PEANUT BUTTER & CATCHUP
5. "Explosives" = 2 pieces of TRIDENT GUM with 2 RITZ CRACKERS, and then they had to BLOW A BUBBLE.
6. "Gas Bomb" = 1 can of DR. PEPPER using 2 straws, 1 inside the cup and 1 outside the cup
7. "Exotic Salad" = sweet & sour salad made of sliced dill pickles, maraschino cherries in their juice, and green olives with anchovy filling...ALL MIXED TOGETHER!
8. "Training Under Fire" = 1 individual bag of HABANERO CHILE CHIPS
9. "Mud Fight" = 3/4 of a plastic cup of HERSHY'S CHOCOLATE SYRUP
10. "Cosmic Bomb" = 2 pices of SMINT GUM (gum together with a mint) chewed for 10 seconds, and then they had to down a cup of ICE WATER
11. "Jungle War" = The last plate had to be consumed by the entire team....ANIMAL CRACKER CEREAL (1 kilo animal crackers with 2 liters of milk)
The Banners (blue team...Los Estandartes), led by Royer, won the banquet and therefore won the first two clues to the four Grenades (hidden treasures). The Powerful (red team...Los Poderosos), led by Goyo, finished last in the banquet and therefore won immunity from doing chores on Sunday.
Due to some kinks in our planning and the fact that a couple of the dishes took a long time to complete (longer than we anticipated), we finished BASIC TRAINING late. So, when it was all done, we headed back to Cofradia straight to the new church for ARMAGEDDON. The teams filed in, silently, and stood in formation as Luis allowed staff to hand out Medals of Honor (there were quite a few this week!!) and then explained more details about Armageddon. Finally, each team filed in to vote for who would do chores on Sunday. This time The Israelites (white team..Los Israelitas), led by Jesus (Chuyeke), received the most votes for chores. On Sunday afternoon they had the privilege of washing the base vehicles as well as all the tables and tubs used for the banquet the day before which were caked in animal cracker cereal! They did a magnificent job with the trucks and the tables and tubs and left them all brilliantly clean! In the end, they too received the first two clues to the four Grenades.
All in all, though more challenging for us as a staff, this week's RETO was a ton of fun. It was far more active, and the kids were really into it all. They played with great attitudes and were even cheering on other teams while waiting for their turns. They are excited about inviting friends and family members to come participate, and they themselves are participating with a renewed vigor that is refreshing to experience! What a privilege it has been to be part of this event so far. And we're only through two weeks!! I can't wait to see what the next three weeks hold in store!
Please keep us in prayer as we put finishing touches on week 3, and please keep the youth in your prayers this week as they invite more friends and prepare themselves for the challenges that await them. Please also pray that the Lord will continue to prepare their hearts and minds for the mighty move He wants to do in each one of their lives!!
If you would like to be part of this event financially, please click here to donate online for "Cofradia Youth: EL RETO". Thank you!
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