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Ladies' Retreat - April 3-4, 2009 The Lord gave us a wonderful Ladies’ Retreat this year! It is something that we prayed about once a week for a month last October (2008). It seemed like the Lord was guiding us to go ahead with the plan for having a ladies’ retreat in the spring of 2009. Then one Sunday evening, Pastor was reading a prayer letter to the church from the Fentons in New Zealand. They mentioned that Pastor Walt Coles and his wife Jan visited them and Jan spoke to the ladies on the subject of contentment. And, to make a long story short, Jan Coles agreed to speak on the subject of contentment to us! We met at the church for our retreat at 7 PM on Friday, April 3rd. We had a session with Jan in which she talked about the vice of discontent and the virtue of contentment. We then went to the fellowship hall where Becky Jaciuk had prepared homemade ice cream for all of us—with many toppings and Jackie Rook’s homemade brownies! We ended out the night by making cards with Casey (Knupp). On Saturday morning, April 4th, we had our second session with Jan Coles in which she talked about the specifics of how to be content. We then had a chocolate lovers’ tea in the fellowship hall. We ended the morning with Jan Coles’ third session in which she gave a personal testimony of how the Lord helped her through a very difficult trial and enabled her by His grace to practice these principles of contentment. The messages from God’s Word were a great blessing. It was wonderful to hear Jan’s challenges and to “hear” the ladies really listening intently as she spoke. Fifteen ladies went to Maymont after the sessions at the church. We had a carriage ride, toured the Dooley mansion, and ate lunch before returning back to the church around 4:30 PM. We praise the Lord for His great blessings to us at the Ladies’ Retreat. We had good fellowship, fun, and learning from His Word. We pray that we will bring more glory to the Lord and be better witnesses for Him as a result of this retreat!
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