The Men's Retreat!

Last weekend, I (Jared) was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of a men's retreat "out bush" at Beswick Falls. I didn't know what to expect, and I was hoping to get to know some of the Christian aboriginal men in our area. God really blessed me while I was there. The things that stood out most will be what I include here.
First, I didn't know exactly what to expect from the weekend. I have discovered "Aboriginal time" which is very much like "Native American Time" and similar too to "Mexico time". Just in case you're not sure what those are, it means, "It will start eventually. When everyone is here, it will start." If there is a starting time of 5:30, it could get started by about 7 or so. :) As far as the retreat structure went, ... Structure?
Even with less structure, it was a good time to get to know men who had just recently come to the Lord, and to hear their testimonies! I spoke with one man, and he told me how God had rescued him from alcohol and completely changed his life around. Praise God, He is working in the hearts and lives of aboriginal men!! This excites me because I have noticed the women taking leadership roles in the church, simply because men aren't there.
I had brought my Kriol Baibul with me to the camp, because it was a group of indigenous men, all Kriol speakers. However, the devotion times where all in English, with English Scripture readings and teaching from the non-indigenous men. I noticed that when the Scripture was being read, a certain man just zoned out and didn't seem to be listening. That bummed me out a bit.
Then it dawned on me: I brought the Kriol Baibul! Why don't I read it? So, after the English was read, I asked if I could read the Kriol Baibul as well. Praise the Lord, the men suddenly started listening more intently! Why? Because it was their heart language!!!
As the camp went on, I was wondering how things would pan out, and if their would be indigenous leadership. There was definitely indigenous leadership during the praise time, which was great, but the lessons, not so much. On the final day of the retreat, we had the English devotions and the Kriol Scriptures read. The non-indigenous men were working on packing things up into the trailer and such, but I noticed something rather encouraging!
The indigenous men were all sitting together on the ground, and they were praising God, and then praying! It was cool to see them taking the leadership.

On a different note, I was able to go fishing with one of the men and he started teaching me some Kriol things. He also taught me how to "Tjakumbat dijan line langa riba" toss my line into the river! We caught my first Barramundi, and a couple of the young men took it back to the camp and cooked it up over the fire. YUM!

There were so many opportunities and so many things happening, that I didn't even think about picking up my camera! But the experiences will not be forgotten(and next time I'll remember my camera!) :)