It all began when the mother of Naomi Kromer, our student missionary, agreed to raise money for a teenage young women’s retreat if we would plan the program. Naomi and I quickly worked up an outline and sent it to her mother.

Over the next few weeks, we filled in the details and recruited other ladies to speak on a number of topics. We contacted a lovely hotel near a waterfall about 12 miles from Natitingou and toured its facilities. They gave us a good price on three rooms for four nights. I got together the food we would need.

Early on a Monday morning, we gathered our 10 teenage girls at the church and loaded them and all the stuff into two cars, and off we went. The girls were very excited. At the hotel, we gave them their room assignments. Then the oldest, Noelie, and I went to the bush and filled the truck with firewood for cooking.

When all that was done, it was time for the first teaching session by Bernadette. She led the girls in a discussion about how developing good habits now will affect their happiness in their future homes. She also talked with them about what they want to do in their lives and careers. She had each of them explain what kind of food they knew how to make so everyone could learn. Some of them only knew how to make cornmeal porridge.

That evening, we watched part of the Jesus film in French. Early the next morning, I drove to town to pick up Uli and Jeanne. They led a discussion about sexual purity, Christian steps to take before marriage, and making wise decisions when choosing a mate. No one slept that day. They were all completely engaged in the discussion. There is a lot of promiscuity and teen pregnancy in this culture, so we wanted to teach the girls what Christians are supposed to do and how they act. On Wednesday, Maggi Harral talked with the girls about infant care and some of the harmful cultural practices. She also talked about purity in what we watch and listen to and in our associations with people.

Thursday, the last teaching day, I taught about fetus development from conception to birth using life-size paper fetuses. Then we talked about the dangers of using skin lightening creams and soaps, some of which contain mercury. We made beauty soaps out of laundry soap bars. I also showed them how to make scented body cream out of shea butter and cooking oil. They had fun heating that up over coals.

During free time, we went down to the nearby waterfall to swim and splash around. The girls also played soccer. In the evenings, we had a prayer time and watched the Jesus movie, and I read them African stories in French.

Friday morning found us on our way home. The girls were very excited to have learned so much relevant information and were ready to put it into practice. Please pray that they will keep these things in mind and follow through. We had fun and will definitely do it again sometime.

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