Last night location Brasilia began a leadership retreat for 16-25 year olds. It started at 6:45 with the Impact 360 team and Lifeshape team greeting our guests.

We are staying at Aqua Viva (a “retreat” center) and it is really not very large and then we had to put about 16 more guests in the house. I was a little nervous about how many people we would have to fit in the rooms, but after one night of it, I realized I really loved i! We played some games and had our first session last night. Adam, Caleb, Janelle, William and I are the leaders of the sessions. We have been preparing for weeks and it was really great to see the fruit of our labor after last night’s session, as well as this morning’s.

What I was most nervous about going into this weekend (and even last night), was the language barrier… I am a big communicator and I really enjoy talking to people and making them feel welcome. That is a very difficult task when we speak two different languages…

This morning I decided I would just listen and hug people and hope for the best. It worked! I realized that more people spoke English than I thought, and there were quite a few people who could translate as well.

Now I realize that we are all learning together and relying on each other and I am really excited for the rest of the weekend!

– Heather Dockery