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In a change from the last few years, this year’s retreat was held in Scotland, at Gowanbank – a Scripture Union Centre located in Darvel near Kilmarnock.

We received a warm welcome in the beautiful surroundings of the Loudon Valley. We would at this juncture like to thank Sylvia, Linda and the rest of the staff who made our weekend homely and relaxed. Nothing was too much trouble.

Proceedings this year were led by Esther, with input from Shirley, Jenny, Yvonne, and a visit from Femi on Zoom. The theme of the 2023 Retreat was from Romans 10:15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” past, present, and future. As you can imagine, we had feet everywhere on the exhibition stands.

The weekend began at 6 p.m. on Friday with an evening meal where we introduced ourselves to one another. This was followed afterwards with an introduction to BTBAB for those who were guests, looking at our past work doing short term mission trips.

On Saturday morning the day began with worship led by Alan and assisted by Jenny. We then moved to the present, with a more in-depth look at the work we do including ACI, Toolbox, OCT and GYI. We then had an interactive session which tested our geography knowledge as the delegates were asked to identify countries on an inflatable globe, where previous missions have taken place with details of projects we have supported using fact cards prepared by Alan. Using a loaf of bread as a prop, Jenny gave a practical demonstration and an insight in how short-term mission trips are the bread and butter of BTBAB with the fillings being ACI, OCT and GYI, with the loaf representing the whole of BTBAB.