Mini-Retreat: Temple Care

God has created us three-part beings: body, soul, and spirit. An important concept for missionaries to grasp is that if our ministries are to have any degree of longevity and fruitfulness, we need to take care of not only our spirit, but also our soul and our body. To neglect to do so, is a sure setup for burn-out and failure. As Nate provides pastoral care and supervises the Students International staff in the D.R., he tries to keep this in mind. In October, we planned another one-day staff mini-retreat, this time with a focus on health. After all, some encouragement in the area of nutrition and physical excercise is something we all need now and then. Dan, our physical therapist, who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in this area agreed to be our speaker.Dan did a great job of not only sharing information, but he made it tangible and applicable. For example, when he spoke about nutrition, he had a table set up with a variety of meat, vegetable, and fruit samples. He then talked to us about the nutritive value and number of calories in each.

We concluded the event with a healthy lunch complete with salad bar, whole wheat bread, and for desert, a fresh fruit salad.

I think we all came away from this mini-retreat with a renewed desire to take care of our bodies, which after all is ""the temple of the Holy Spirit".