It’s officially spring break here in Madrid which is wonderful! It’s been three months since we arrived, so it’s finally nice to be able to sleep late, get caught up, and just enjoy Madrid!
This past weekend was probably the best weekend of the year. The college and career group at Amistad Cristiana (see my previous blog post “Dios”) had a retreat out in the c
ampos of Extremadura. The countryside was beautiful and the nearby mountains still had snow clinging to their peaks. Also, it was nice to get away from the noise, visual, and air pollution of the city.
Our trip was about 2.5 hours in a packed 2-door sedan. I was in back and I was pretty close to getting carsick, thanks be to God that I didn’t! Once we got to our little retreat center, we all unloaded and helped the people who were already there start to set everything up. I was kind of homesick; I miss going on retreats with all of my friends from back home: fraternity retreats, youth group retreats, ministry retreats, etc. I didn’t know many people… but that changed really quickly. Through the course of the 2 short days on our retiro, I managed to meet 35 amazing people from all over the world: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Netherlands, and all over Spain. It is incredible to see Christ’s love m
oving throughout people of all different races, ethnicities, politics, and economic backgrounds. We all became very good friends very quickly and we look forward to doing tons of stuff in the near future!
My favorite part of the retreat was our paseo, or walk/hike, through the small pueblo and to a riverside where we ate lunch. A bunch of the guys in the group got the great idea to go swimming- brrr it was cold! The spot on the river is a popular spot for the community swimming hole, but the locals who passed by thought we were crazy for swimming in what is essentially the snow melt from the mountains! Sooooo cold, but lots of fun!
The theme of the retreat was “…aprended de mi…” (“… learn from me”, Christ telling us to learn from Him) which is from Matthew 11:28-30. We learned a lot of
about the idea of humility and what that truly means in our daily lives. I know I’m not the most humble person and God made it clear to me that when I judge and negatively criticize others, not only am I prideful in the way I treat them, but I am prideful in thinking that people deserve a degree of judgment in addition to God’s. Our sins (for we are all sinners), separate us from God and deserve His judgment, which is an eternity apart from Him. However, Christ came and died on a cross to give salvation, through grace and not by our own actions, to all who believe. Christ didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him, that we might be reunited with God (John 3:16-21, please check it out, it’s one of my favorite chapters in the Bible). I need
to reflect His love for me by loving others, not by judging them. I, too, am a sinner who is saved by the same grace that he has offered to all!
In the end, it was a phenomenal retreat with a very applicable message to my life. It’s funny how I started out the weekend a little homesick, but now I wish I could spend 3 more months with all of my new friends at Amistad!
This past weekend was probably the best weekend of the year. The college and career group at Amistad Cristiana (see my previous blog post “Dios”) had a retreat out in the c
ampos of Extremadura. The countryside was beautiful and the nearby mountains still had snow clinging to their peaks. Also, it was nice to get away from the noise, visual, and air pollution of the city.Our trip was about 2.5 hours in a packed 2-door sedan. I was in back and I was pretty close to getting carsick, thanks be to God that I didn’t! Once we got to our little retreat center, we all unloaded and helped the people who were already there start to set everything up. I was kind of homesick; I miss going on retreats with all of my friends from back home: fraternity retreats, youth group retreats, ministry retreats, etc. I didn’t know many people… but that changed really quickly. Through the course of the 2 short days on our retiro, I managed to meet 35 amazing people from all over the world: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Netherlands, and all over Spain. It is incredible to see Christ’s love m
oving throughout people of all different races, ethnicities, politics, and economic backgrounds. We all became very good friends very quickly and we look forward to doing tons of stuff in the near future!My favorite part of the retreat was our paseo, or walk/hike, through the small pueblo and to a riverside where we ate lunch. A bunch of the guys in the group got the great idea to go swimming- brrr it was cold! The spot on the river is a popular spot for the community swimming hole, but the locals who passed by thought we were crazy for swimming in what is essentially the snow melt from the mountains! Sooooo cold, but lots of fun!
The theme of the retreat was “…aprended de mi…” (“… learn from me”, Christ telling us to learn from Him) which is from Matthew 11:28-30. We learned a lot of
about the idea of humility and what that truly means in our daily lives. I know I’m not the most humble person and God made it clear to me that when I judge and negatively criticize others, not only am I prideful in the way I treat them, but I am prideful in thinking that people deserve a degree of judgment in addition to God’s. Our sins (for we are all sinners), separate us from God and deserve His judgment, which is an eternity apart from Him. However, Christ came and died on a cross to give salvation, through grace and not by our own actions, to all who believe. Christ didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him, that we might be reunited with God (John 3:16-21, please check it out, it’s one of my favorite chapters in the Bible). I need
to reflect His love for me by loving others, not by judging them. I, too, am a sinner who is saved by the same grace that he has offered to all!In the end, it was a phenomenal retreat with a very applicable message to my life. It’s funny how I started out the weekend a little homesick, but now I wish I could spend 3 more months with all of my new friends at Amistad!
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