This year Inter-American School held it's annual Spiritual Retreat in Panajachel, Guatemala. We stayed at the Hotel Visíon Azul, on the shore of Lake Atitlan.
Prior to our departure from Quetzaltenango we began our Retreat with songs and games. Then we boarded our two busses for the two hour trip to Pana.
We arrived just before lunch, checked into our rooms, ate a wonderful noon meal, then had some free time.
The early afternoon was spent settling in, enjoying the beauty of our location on the lake, and playing in and around the pool and lake shore.
We got together and the students played "teacher trivia". They were surprized to learn that one teacher auditioned for American Idol and another was a three time World Champion in horseback riding.
During the evening hours, after supper, we began the "Spiritual" part of our retreat. We joined together while middle school teacher "Tank" Broyles (of American Idol Fame) led us in songs of worship.
The theme of this year´s retreat was "Our Faith Journey" and we explored the beginning, middle, and end of our faith journeys, from several perspectives. This year was different from past years, in that the entire retreat was led by the teachers and staff. In past years retreat leaders from the United States volunteered their time to lead the retreats.
One of the differences was that rather than having large group meetings, we broke up into to "break-out groups" of about seven students each.
Each teacher chose three topics: one for the beginning of our faith journey, one for the end of our faith journey, and one for in-between.
Each student could decide which teacher's session they wished to attend, keeping in mind that each group was limited to seven students.
The result was, of course, races between sessions. The first seven to arrive at any teacher's location got to stay, the late arrivers had to continue thier search for a group.
The retreat was for the entire middle and high school at Inter-American School. Altogether their were about 70 students and 10 teachers.
The students told us that they really enjoyed the small group format. So did the teachers.
The middle school is located at the entrance of our campus in Xela. The high school and elementary school are on the top of a very steep hill. The result is that the high school teachers and middle school students do not have much opportunity to interact. The same is true with the middle school teachers and high school students. So we all, students and teachers, enjoyed the time we spent together.
We returned to our campus in Xela on Friday afternoon. The staff had Dominoes Pizza ordered and waiting when we arrived. So we concluded our retreat with a Pizza Picnic on the soccer field and play ground enjoying Pizza!
During the course of each session the students participated in three different groups.
The result was, of course, races between sessions. The first seven to arrive at any teacher's location got to stay, the late arrivers had to continue thier search for a group.
The retreat was for the entire middle and high school at Inter-American School. Altogether their were about 70 students and 10 teachers.
We had a total of three sessions. One on Wednesday evening, "The Beginning of our Faith Journey"; one on Thursday afternoon, "Our Journey"; and, one on Thursday evening, "The conclusion of our Faith Journey".
The students told us that they really enjoyed the small group format. So did the teachers.
Each group consisted of different students, middle and high school combined.
The middle school is located at the entrance of our campus in Xela. The high school and elementary school are on the top of a very steep hill. The result is that the high school teachers and middle school students do not have much opportunity to interact. The same is true with the middle school teachers and high school students. So we all, students and teachers, enjoyed the time we spent together. We returned to our campus in Xela on Friday afternoon. The staff had Dominoes Pizza ordered and waiting when we arrived. So we concluded our retreat with a Pizza Picnic on the soccer field and play ground enjoying Pizza!
