The Silbermans: EL RETO 2011

"TO BE CONTINUED..."

One of the key words you will learn on a missions trip to Mexico is "flexibility." Sometimes you have to be ready to make split decisions given the circumstances that arise. This is how we started on Saturday.

Because of a death in town and a town meeting, the Town Commissioner asked us if we could do our open-air program on Sunday. Our plan was to carry out our activities in the Center of town after we were given permission last week. Since Town Hall is less than a block away and the funeral wake was directly in front of Town Hall, it didn't work out.

It was 3pm already, time to start. Instead of cancelling the whole event, we decided to go back to the church for our annual RETO Auction. Each team had a drama or skit ready as well; this was all to take place in the center as part of the outreach and open-air evangelism. Instead of performing the dramas, each team did a "practice run" in preparation for Sunday as we decided to do just the open-air evangelism at the south end of town in front of the Jr. High.

So, we had three activities on Saturday (The Auction, the practice, and Part Two) and one on Sunday (The Evangelism).

The students had been anticipating the auction all week. It is something we've done for the past four years and has turned into a classic. Each team is given a secret note informing them of how many points they have. All the teams can bid on any item they want, however, all of the items are hidden in a box. They "buy" theses unknown items with the points they have. Some teams use up all their points as they really have fun bidding and receiving the prizes we give them. Some prizes are good; others are not so good.

The RETO AUCTION 2011 begins!

Each time a team bought an item, we would bring out another box so they could choose between the two. Sometimes, they chose the one we brought out instead.

The Servants of the Lord bought the first item--a cake!

The Humble bought the second item (some kind of tree gum).

They also bought #3--ICE CREAM!

The Heirs entered into the action taking #4--another cake!

When The Prudent got in on the action, they got A NEW CAR!--a matchbox car, that is.

The Chosen's first item bought were the clues to the Hidden Treasure "Grace."

The Faithful bought some Oreo Cookies in #7.

By this time, the students were on their feet going crazy as they bid the most points ever in the history of EL RETO AUCTION!

The Chosen would say that it paid off by getting three 3-liter cokes in #8!

and The Servants of the Lord got a bunch of chips!

The Humble finished their ice cream and bought some Snickers!

The Prudent entered in again and got the clues to the Hidden Treasure "Judgement."

The Faithful won 3,000 points!

Then, right away, bought the next item--all the clues to the Hidden Treasure "Resurrection."

The Prudent took the candy.

Fran is about to open a note that says his team has to do chores after church on Sunday. He wasn't happy.

The Heirs entered the bidding again and had to distribute 3000 points amongst two teams. They decided to give The Servants of the Lord 500 points and take 2,500 points for themselves.

In the end, Alfredo's team won a taco feast for the second year in a row! This is the item that all the teams are hoping to get!

RESULTS OF POINTS SPENT IN THE AUCTION:

The Prudent - 11,600 pts.
The Servants of the Lord - 11,100 pts.
The Chosen - 8,100 pts.
The Humble - 7,900 pts.
The Heirs - 2,400 pts.
The Faithful - 9,300 pts.

Once we finished the auction, each team did a practice run of their team project. We saw dramas, skits, and human videos.

In Part Two, we shared about what the Bible says about Heaven, where it is and who it's for.

Part Two begins

The teams, then, came up for their final vote as they voted for another team to receive a prize (all of the clues to all of the hidden treasures).

Here are the votes...

The Heirs voted for The Humble.

The Prudent voted for The Humble.

The Faithful voted for The Humble.

The Servants of the Lord voted for The Humble.

The Chosen voted for The Humble.

The Humble voted for The Chosen.

Amazing! The votes were unanimous as all the teams (except for The Humble) voted for The Humble.

We had the staff pass through the graveyard to the voting room as well so they could experience what the students experienced each week. They even got to cast a vote for the team they thought had done a great job during EL RETO.

The Staff makes their way through the Graveyard.

Without knowing how the teams voted, the majority of the staff voted for The Humble, so they got the vote.

The next day, we held the open-air evangelism at the basketball court in front of the Jr. High. Five of the six teams performed their project and they all did a great job. Pastor Luis shared about the Rich Man and Lazarus followed by the students leading a couple of praise songs. The energy was incredible and it was a very exciting time. The students are learning about Christ, learning about the need to share their faith, and learning about what it means to persevere in Leadership. I am proud of every one of them!