.Amani
Friday, May 4, 2012
BT's Women's Ministry Annual Retreat 2012
Two weeks ago I spent the best 3 days with the women from my church, up in the middle-of-nowhere, New York.
As sarcastic as that may sound, there are really no words to describe everything that went on during this trip. It was mind-blowing, every moment of it, and me being the hugest dummy, I forgot my camera. So barely any pictures. I took the -one- photo above off my phone and it doesn't do any justice.
Friday morning at 5:30a I woke up... 5:30a was the time I was supposed to be at the church (but guess who was on the internet all night?). My phone was blown up with texts and voicemails. I return the call and all I get from Lady M was "uh you better get a cab and get over here before we leave you!" We actually didn't leave until like, 7 or so but I still scrambled my butt together, called a cab. The operator said the guy would be there in -3 minutes- and those three minutes, I literally pulled out my suitcase, threw a bunch of clothes and crap in there, face stuff, hair stuff, toothbrush, etc., and nearly broke my neck down the stairs when the cab came beeping. Of course halfway to the church I realized I forgot something important for the display and stuff and I had to go back home and get it.
It was a 5 hour ride from New York City to Speculator, pretty uneventful until we passed Schenectady and Amsterdam. Right after Amsterdam it was an hour's worth of a scenic route.
So beautiful.
Suddenly streams, brooks and completely green woods were popping up along both sides of the bus.. riding along the mountain we all suddenly lost reception (the majority of us were left without phones for the weekend, too) but the scenery made up for it perfectly. Mountains ahead of us, behind us, beside us, old fashioned homes and shacks popped up occasionally, railroad tracks and what have you. There was this one river that was just so gorgeous and wide, everyone was watching the fresh water crash against the rocks... it was refreshing just to look at it! We were all awestuck.
After 45 minutes or so we made it to Speculator. I'm not sure if it's an actual TOWN and we never got to saw because our destination was the first turn after the 'Welcome' sign.
This Christian retreat camp was pretty huge, I personally only got to go through maybe half the area, but it was so nice. The lounge smelled of fresh wood and all the staff were kind. The rooms were nice and simple, no TVs or telephones. Free Wifi which was useless to me, and then it was $5/hr to use the internet on their own computers. Needless to say I was suffering.
The lack of technology led me to explore, though. Once we were settled in it was time for lunch, where we were served BBQ pulled pork + cole slaw wraps, sweet potato waffle fries, etc buffet-style. We got acquainted with the hostess of the dining hall and she was so accommodating, after Lady M requested certain things for her tea they made sure to cut some up and sit it in her usual spot for the rest of the mealtimes over the weekend...
After lunch me and Zoe (who was assigned official babysitter for the trip) went to walk around with the little kids, found the playground, found the gym center which was HUGE and had two or three floors, and we went to the lake afterwards.
The lake was so beautiful. The cell photo I have does no justice whatsoever. Saturday morning we had an early morning prayer by it, and it was just spectacular. It was emotional to look at as we prayed and saw what was only an -example- of God's masterpiece. Clear, calm waters, with woods and mountains in the distance... there was an island in the center that was also filled with trees... ducks and geese flying and swimming in the water... and at first it was sunny and you saw the warmth of the sun doing something to that scene. As we continued to pray clouds rolled in and at some point half the lake was covered in sun, and the other half was covered in clouds and it was such a sight to see. Once we were done with prayer the clouds took over, leaving the scene covered in a blanket of a misty blue.
It was seriously the most spiritually edifying event I've been at so far, and once we left on Sunday I left feeling much more wholesome. I can go on and on about this trip... but I think I'll put it into more detail because every day, and heck every workshop that went on deserves it's own post.
To be continued....
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2 comments:
I am awfuullll and waited forever to comment on your blog post~~.
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Oh wow! I've always heard the BEST things about going on these retreats from the ladies that go on them. Everyone looks so refreshed when they get back-- light and happy and all that good stuff.
I am SO glad you had such an amazing time. And even better-- a good time in the spirit. ;]
There's nothing like, peace, quiet, and the natural world to bring a person back to what really matters in their heart~.
Glad to see you're back!
It was sssssogoodgurl. so good.
I ended up being sick for like the whole week afterwards because of the weather but NO REGRETS
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