EL RETO Begins

EL RETO (THE CHALLENGE) is a game we started with the youth last year. We are doing it again this year and last Saturday was the first meeting. We will meet every Saturday of September and the youth will be challenged in many different areas; reaching out to others, having a good attitude and being a good sport. There are a lot of different games, or challenges, during the 5 weeks; physical, mental, and spiritual challenges. Each team will receive points during these challenges and the team with the most points at the end of the five weeks wins and we'll take them on an outing. This is a lot of fun and the youth are really excited about it. We had 21 youth start the game and we expect more in the coming weeks.

Last Saturday we divided everyone into four teams. The main challenge was to come up with a name for their team inspired from a Bible story, draw a picture about the story, and explain the story to everyone (at the end of the five weeks, we'll have a big youth event where each team will dramatize the story). The four teams decided on: Sembradores de Jesus (Jesus' Sowers) from the parable of the Sower; Los Primeroz (The First) from the story of Adam and Eve; Pescadores de Hombres (Fishers of Men) from the story of when Jesus calls his disciples to be "Fishers of Men"; and La Creacion (Creation) from the story of Creation. After this we had a quick little fun game just to accumulate points, and then each week we have a Final Challenge to decide which team will do some chores around the church property during the week. The team that looses that challenge has to do chores. Also, they received points for where they sat in church. One of the difficulties with the youth here in Cofradia is that they are not accustomed to sitting in the main Sunday service and usually are in the back talking the whole time. They'll recieve points for not doing that. In Arrayanes on the other hand, they are usually pretty respectful.

Next week we'll have a race for them to do and activities to do at different stations...much like the Amazing Race. It should be a lot of fun.

Here are the drawings the teams made...


Jesus' Sowers

The First

Fishers of Men

Creation