One of the goals of ProFILE was to have each retreat in a different region of the regions of Colombia where IELCO has a presence. To keep with that goal, this final retreat was in Trinidad, in the region Llanos (about 11 hours bus ride from Bogota).
The theme for this retreat was the "Biblical - Theological Principles of Leadership". Pastor Atahualpa was the main presenter for the retreat. The whole retreat was based around the book of Jonah using different techniques to read and understand the text. In every activity we used different medians, including the crown you see above to talk about how the king felt after hearing what Jonah was saying....what made him mandate the whole city to repent? We asked other questions like how do they think the other sailors on the boat felt (hence the skull and cross-bone in the upper right photo).
Another activity was giving each participant a footprint to write what reaction they thought the people in Nineveh had when they heard Jonah's message. We used fish cutouts to talk about Jonah in the belly of the fish, and why God would have sent the fish. Anna-Bella (Pastor Edwin's daughter) is here helping me tape up the footprints.
Another activity was writing a song (in small groups). This is a video, of one of the songs written. Don't forget to turn your volume up.
Because this was the last retreat for the group, we made sure to have some down time. There is a river within walking distance of the church, so part of the group went swimming while the rest of us watched and ate ice cream. The children of Pastor Edwin (pastor in Trinidad) as well as the children of Pastor Atahualpa were around (and even participating in some of the activities). In the upper left photo is Henry and his wife Elisa (who was so impressed with everything she saw this weekend she is hoping to join ProFILE for 2016)...the parrot she is holding is a wild parrot that was hanging around.
We closed the retreat Monday evening with the graduation ceremony (and then the bus ride back to Bogota, arriving Tuesday morning). The participants all received a 'diploma' stating they finished all the requirements of ProFILE as well as participating in the 120 hours (wow) of retreat time throughout the year. I think I can safely say that as the Education Office of IELCO, Pastor Atahualpa, Zulma and I are all very please with this group of people, the work they have done, and the work we know they will continue to do! Way to go ProFILE group of 2015!