Wrap Up from Calacali, Ecuador

Many exciting things have been happening at El Refugio. We have known our Director Bob Spoolstra and his family will be returning to the states June of 2009. Recognizing the team is in transition, a leadership team has been put into place to navigate the next 14 months. As Director of Operations, Howard will be one of the members on the team. Pray for them as they articulate the vision for El Refugio. Our mission is clear:

A training and retreat center which facilitates a deeper relationship
with Jesus Christ, through nature and outdoor adventure

The team has spent the last several weeks expressing how we as individuals and corporately carry out this mission. Now, the challenge is to articulate what our vision will be for the next year, five years etc. and how we proceed from there.

For a little background, the team here at El Refugio either serves on the Operations or the Programming side. In an effort to integrate these two areas, some training has and will continue to take place. Programming started the training with the whole team this week, illustrating how they train the facilitators who serve with us. Juan Carlos Cevallos, our new Program Director has developed a program for young Ecuadorians to come and serve as facilitators at El Refugio for our many retreats and programs. For those of us on the Operations side this was a very beneficial time.

Juan Carlos and Paul Reichert, who is now our Program Developer, explained how they teach the facilitators how to use Experiential Education with the different groups. This starts with Experience, then reflection, generalization and finally application. Basically it is: What – So What – Now What. The idea is the experience should change you. If you step out into the front of a bus and it almost hits you and the next day you do the same, you have not learned anything. However, if the next day you look both ways, the experience has left you a better and wiser person. Which is exactly what our high and low rope elements are designed to achieve when a person participates in each activity, teach the individual something about themselves and hopefully they will grow.

Biblically, this is illustrated how Christ spent time with the disciples. If you will peruse through any of the gospels, and notice when Jesus sat the disciples down and “debriefed” with them after an encounter. He did this, so that by the time He ascended into heaven, each disciple was prepared for their individual ministries, to the extent each one died professing their belief in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I challenge you to look through the scriptures and see examples of this concept, What – So What – Now What. As always, we understand and appreciate we could not be serving here without the love and support of so many of you.

As God is our Refuge, Mary, for the Scholl family