Encuentro con Cristo

Today was my homeroom's "Encuentro con Cristo" and I really enjoyed it. We went to the sanctuary of the soon to be (March 2) first Colombian Saint, Blessed Laura Montoya. Then, we split up into our teams and did activities highlighting material things vs. fundamental things in our lives. First we did a fun game where each team had a store and they can cut items or pictures out if magazines to sell to other girls and each girl gets money to go around to buy things. But, the stores are allowed to sell things that you can't actually buy but people want in their lives-perfect legs, living in a foreign country, people. Then we went back inside and each team would have to pay the "bank" its dues and if they had money left over-from each girl buying things and the store selling things- the team got to go to the leaders' of the Encuentro con Cristo store, which was a store of sentiments-love, respect, listening, honesty, trust. But each item in this store was really expensive, this was all to show that if you spend all your money and time on material items, you won't have time to get the fundamental things that are really "expensive" and take effort to get. We also did the activity where you have a jar, big rocks, small rocks, sand, and water. First they ask you in what order should you fill the jar to be to fit s the things. So you start filling the jar item by item from the biggest to the smallest-the other times that I've done this activity, whoever is leading the activity asks, after putting each item in the jar, if the jar is full and you say yes until you see that the water is the only thing that can fill the jar, the water representing God, but this time they did it differently-and at the end they explain what each item represented. The jar represents our lives, the big rocks are the things in our life that are most important and take the bigger part of our lives and we have to put them in first to be able to fit them in, next comes the small rocks, which represent big parts of our lives, but aren't the latest part, like sports we play, privileges in our lives, or groups we are a part of. Then comes the sand, which is the material items in or lives that aren't necessary or fundamental to us. Last is the water, which in this version, also represents material items, but material things that we sometimes have to fill the "holes" in our lives. I loved seeing this demonstration again, because every time I see it makes me stop and think if I'm putting my "big rocks" first in my life. Then at the end we get read letters from friends ad family that right to you nice words if support or what your "Encuentro con Cristo" means. It was a really great experience and I loved doing it with this great group of girls here.