He Must Become Greater, i must become less: A Weekend Retreat...

Last weekend we had the opportunity to spend two days with the wonderful national women we partner with as well as the wives of many of our partners. I went into the weekend feeling tired and a little stressed because we were in charge of leading this retreat for the women, and I wanted it to go well so badly. I had no idea how much fun we actually would have! The theme of the weekend was Masterpieces: Created by G.o.d. We wanted to give the women some good teaching from the word and encourage them to relax a little bit away from their busy home lives.

I was really excited to see that my friend R., a Cousin friend had come along with her sister in law to join us. On Friday night we learned a story from the word using henna storying. During this type of storying the leader tells the story to the group and then shows them a henna design that corresponds to the story. Our story was the story of the lady with the alabaster jar of perfume. After telling the story, the leader asks questions about what the listener thought about the story like what it teaches about the Father and the Son, what it teaches about humanity, and how they can apply this story to their lives. R. has had followers from our team pouring into her life for about three years. I think she knows that she needs to believe, but reluctance from her husband and mother are a huge barrier for her. It's really difficult for a Cousin woman to defy the wishes of her husband, and following definitely does just that. R. was fascinated by the henna design and quickly picked up the story to retell it again. She and I had a good conversation about what it meant that the lady with the perfume would make such a sacrifice for the son. R. was also able to participate in a small group session and hear about what the father is doing in each lady's life as well as spend some time in prayer with us. Unfortunately, she had to leave early the next day to visit a sick relative in the hospital. I know the father is working in her life, she has a lot of questions and a lot of knowledge about the truth. Please lift her up.

On Saturday night, it was my turn to lead a session. My topic was creative arts. I'm not a particularly “creative” person, at least when it comes to leading people in being creative. I had no idea what to do for an hour and a half. But the Father really blessed it... I talked to ladies about how the Father is so creative, which we can see in the beautiful way he makes everything. He gave us that same creative personality, a desire to make things beautiful, imagine and invent. The ways we exercise our creativity can be an act of worship. One of the primary ways people here enjoy being creative is through song. It's one of my favorite things about this culture...people love to sing and they're not afraid to do it in public, during the middle of a meeting, walking down the street, or whenever. So first, I had the ladies share songs of praise to the Father that they had either written themselves or just wanted to share with us. Our language teacher, B., who became a follower just a couple of months ago shared a song she had written herself. Another sister, whose family is from a Cousin background, shared a beautiful song that she had helped to write in the zakir style, the traditional Cousin music style. She and some other cousin background followers had a music workshop at our office where they wrote ten of these songs. Each of these zakirs are each translated stories from the word, from creation to the return of the son, told in the musical style of the Cousin people!

After sharing songs and testimonies, I had a small surprise for the ladies. I let them know that one of my favorite ways to be creative (and to exercise) is to dance. We moved all the chairs and had them line up to learn two Zumba dance (an American aerobic dance style) styles. I will never forget watching thirty three women laugh hysterically, their faces full of joy as they danced to Shakira and Ricky Martin, even those who were dressed in sarees. One of my closest national friends told me afterward that it was amazing to her to see women just let go and enjoy themselves to such a degree. “I've never seen them do that. (Women here) just don't do that,” she said. After we finished our dinner, a large group of them informed me that they wanted to dance more. Exhausted, but thrilled, I agreed. One of my teammates and I taught the electric slide, the macarena and the hokey pokey on a rooftop terrace. We stayed up late into the night on both nights, talking, laughing and sharing. Barriers of language and culture seemed almost nonexistent. I particularly enjoyed a hilarious conversation in our local language with a young sister who was talking about wanting to find her "life partner." She was genuinely concerned that she would not be able to get married before the son comes again. I jokingly assured her that if she sees the son coming, she might ask him to wait a little bit!

It was one of those times that you know you're never going to forget. Living here has not been perfect or easy by any means, but there are those moments that make everything so worth it. Being with dear sisters here who feel like family, crying with them, bearing one another's burdens is so worth it. I hope I have encouraged these dear women even a fraction as much as they have encouraged me! With graduation just two weeks away, the question I inevitably hear from national friends and others is, "What next?" I'm learning to be okay with saying, "I don't know. The Father knows." Living here has helped me to trust the father with my future because I have been living such an uncertain life out here. Nothing ever goes according to plan in South Asia. It's our way of life. Yet uncertainty requires us to place radical trust in the father for his provision, comfort and safeguarding.

I'll be among you again soon, dear friends and family. Please be patient with me as readjust and occasionally answer you in a language other than English! It will be interesting to see what sort of reverse culture shock occurs. I'm trusting the father!