Senior’s Retreat

OK, so what is the flower at the left? Do you recognize it? It was a big surprise when we arrived from our four day trip to find this flower on our kitchen cabinet. Does that give you a clue? Try another view. OK, it was blossoming on a plant that we bought to make tea because it lowers cholesterol. Still no guess? Well okay I’ll tell you. It’s an artichoke. Isn’t this wild?  I didn’t even know artichokes flowered, much less that one would flower after we brought it home. Still, it’s a beautiful flower, isn’t it? Really cool, I thought.

We were travelling because we were both conference leaders for a senior citizen spiritual retreat. There were about 360 seniors present, including João’s parents.  João spoke 3 times, I spoke once and also led a seminar. João’s messages were about joy in the Lord and were so very uplifting.  I shared about having good self-esteem as a result of obedience and submission to God, serving Him with joy even as you age.

Everyone was very responsive to the messages and we made a lot of new friends. I think we will getting a few more invitations for speaking engagements for senior events.

We did have some free time, but I had to finish speaking preparations since my message disappeared off my computer. Weird, but also when I got there my power point presentation had lost a couple of slide. I plan on making a really good virus check on my computer. We did enjoy swimming in the indoor heated pool, as well as doing a lot of “chatting” and visiting.

On the last day, João was honored since it was his 5th anniversary as pastor of First Church. It was such a cute skit with little sheep running all over the place and the guy playing João chasing after them.

It was a busy time and we are glad to be home, that’s for sure. I am definitely getting older, as I don’t enjoy being gone from my own home.