2014 Fall Tanzania Retreat | Bittersweet Day

One of the hardest things about being a Thrive volunteer is saying goodbye to “your ladies.”

Our first retreat ended today. Before each attendee left, her small group gathered around her, laid hands on her, and prayed for her. Then we all made a huge circle around the room, held hands, and sang the doxology a cappella. Sweet female voices floated on the air like perfume.

After lunch the volunteers took some well-deserved R & R. A few visited a local ministry that is teaching women how to sew. Others headed to the beach for an hour or two of relaxing in the sun. And several more donned the very latest fashion in snorkeling attire, waded into the Indian Ocean to climb aboard a rustic motorboat (easier said than done), and took a rollicking, wave-splashed trip to an offshore island to view the wonders of the coral reef off the Tanzanian coast.

Tomorrow afternoon more attendees will arrive for the second retreat. By then the volunteer team will be fully refreshed and ready to embrace a whole new group of “our ladies.”

 

Diane Coleman | Retreat Volunteer

©2014 Thrive