Life in The Family International

Vas writes: Just got back from the yearly retreat we did for all Mexico. It was held in a small town called Oaxtepec in the south of Mexico. As you saw in previous posts, we had some time to practice with our Conectate band this year.

Here’s a couple music video montages that Andrew V put together from live recordings and footage from the different performances:

Mañana (low res)

Mañana (high res)

Deja todo atras (low res)

Deja todo atras (high res)

The days consisted of seminars and workshops which were very convicting and spirit-filled. They covered subjects like working with people, stress, loneliness, overcoming and giving.

We also had sports; basketball, soccer, swimming and working out in the gym.

Because it was held during the Mexican holiday of independence it tradicionally is a festive time and most people here party a lot because this year it was a four day holiday. For example if a holiday lands on a Thursday they will go ahead and give you Friday off. Saturday and Sunday are already days off, of course. So they dance a lot and that’s what we did pretty much every night. We were teaching our friends more about the Lord and I was in turn able to learn from them about dancing. It was really fun and good exercise but needless to say after dancing till 2 or 3 am every day then getting up at 7 am to make sure everything is set up for the band–which was Johan’s and my job–I am pretty wiped out now.

But life still goes on, especially when you have five kids, so I’ll try to catch up an hour here or there. I don’t complain though because between being with my kids, playing music and doing the technical side, I have a lot of fun.

The band played at the beginning and end of each class. It made it fun. We tried something new and sat down while playing and people still got out of themselves and danced, etc. Next time I think we should do a bit of both standing up and being more rowdy during the concert and also sitting down, a little more intimate and relaxed. Also, next time more variety. But it was probably the best retreat in Mexico yet, out of the four so far.

If I can figure out how to make a file out of footage from my camcorder I will also post those files. So stay tuned. See you cyber guys later.

Vas and Joni are members of The Family International and are fulltime missionaries in Mexico. Vas helps to organize outreach, writes, records and produces music, plays in a band, performs and does shows, counsels young people and engages in evangelism. Joni teaches her four children, evangelises, performs and does shows, sings and records and assists The Family childcare board. More about Vas and Joni

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2005 at 11:23 am and is filed under Outreach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.