Just got back yesterday from an awesome trip to Tahoe with the South County United Community Pastors. It was an amazing week for fun, relaxation and fellowship. We left Orange County in Troy and Tricia's van early Wednesday morning. The six of us (Troy, Tricia, Marc, Megan, Dave and I) drove straight to Tahoe only stopping for restrooms, food, and gas. We arrived in Tahoe around 3:30pm and Jeff and Lori joined us about an hour later. We stayed in a condo in Kirkwood right on the mountain. The ski lifts were only steps away. There was tons of snow on the ground (looked like about 8-10 feet). Each evening we broke apart different sections of Col. 4:2-6 and discussed how to best live these verses out in our lives, our community groups and our church. Each morning a different couple would lead us in a discussion ranging from prayer with your spouse to dealing with specific prayer needs. It was such an awesome time of being real and vulnerable with each other. I feel like God is really moving inside of us. These discussions wree actaully the highlight of the trip for me.
During the days we were on the slopes or playing games. Thursday morning, after some time of prayer with our spouses, we hit the slopes bright and early. The sun was out and the snow was perfect. Dave and I made some real progress with our quest to be master snowboarders. I even did a black diamond (of course I didn't know it was a black diamond until I got down the hill or I probably wouldn't have followed Troy down it). I never did master riding on the toe edge of the board. I just rode down on my heals switching between regular and goofy foot in order to steer without ever having to go on my toe edge (the standard "falling leaf" method). I was, however, quite proud of the progress I made with getting off the lifts. I only ate it big once and didn't even take anyone down with me.
We were on the slopes again the next day. It was another beautiful day. It snowed lightly all day until about 5pm when it really started snowing heavly. By the end of the day I was so exhausted the muscles on my thighs were totally spasming. However, Dave looked like he was about ready to turn pro. He was going down the mountain on both the toe and heal edges. I was so proud of him. Is there anything that this guy isn't good at???
It snowed all Friday night and we awoke Saturday morning at 4am to the snowplows pushing snow into our windows. Then at 6am started the canons. It sounded like we were being invaded, but I guess they were causing avalanches to make the mountain safe to ski on. This blasting continued until about 8am. So much for sleeping in! Oh, and I fogot to mention the fire allarm that went off for 2 hour the first night right when we were getting into bed (yes, sleeping was a bt of a challenge on this trip). However, when I looked out the window at 7:15am Saturday morning I was faced with the most beautiful sight. The sun was rising, the ski was blue, and everything was covered with a thick layer of snow. It was incredible! That day we went intertobeing! It was so so much fun!!!
Sunday Troy said we were to leave at 5:28am, but the cars didn't start rolling until 5:31am. Fortunately, even with this set back we still made it home by 2:30pm and had plenty of time to unload the vehicles, get to our homes, shower and be to church by 4:45pm for the 5pm service.
I am so thankful for this pastor's retreat and the opportunity to rest, refresh, pray, and have fellowship with this group of incredible people.
It was such a wonderful trip and I had a total blast, but it is good to be home!
No comments:
Post a Comment