This past weekend was memorable for those of us here at Koinonia as we spent our time recounting with gratitude all the ways God has worked in our lives.

We began the weekend on Friday night with the first session of our annual Austin Thanksgiving Retreat. Pastor Jonathan gave a message on some of the passages we have covered through our Devotions, challenging us to think about the effects of sin and how we have been given this gift of salvation through the gospel. Afterwards, we got to see how God has worked in our church as well as our various sister churches, including our UCLA church plant that was started just this year, through various hilarious and heartfelt video sharings. The night ended with us separating into our various classes to continue practicing our performances for the Thanksgiving Celebration this Sunday.

The next day, we reconvened for a full day of seeing and recounting all the ways that God has been working in the different ministries that we have been praying for and serving with, ranging from the very young to the elderly, nationwide to worldwide, and even through the sharings of people who have personally experienced God this past year in concrete ways.

The weekend ended with our Sunday Worship Service, as we finished up our Thanksgiving Retreat. Pastor Jonathan challenged us through the message to recount all the ways in which we need to be thankful in our lives, to God and to those who have shown us love, and how we are called to love others all the more with that knowledge.

It was quite a packed weekend with all the events and videos, but through it all we definitely grew in our gratitude towards God and towards all the people in our lives!