Thirty Five New Friends

This past weekend I went on a retreat. There were almost forty people there, and before I went I 'knew' two of them. So on average I hung out, talked, connected, and such with about thirty five people that did not know before last weekend. It was a great weekend too, the Philly's lost (good news), the Yankee's lost (boo), we 'hiked' to a waterfall (that was sadly not that amazing as waterfalls go, but nice), we saw a bolder field (more then a football field full of boulders and rocks absolutely amazing!) and in general hung out.

Mostly the weekend was designed for all of us to figure out if we wanted to be a part of the Church I've been going too. But in reality it was just a really great way to connect with other people. It started Friday night, with a four hour drive, which should have only taken two. We got caught in horrible traffic mostly, which made the trip up to the Poconos rather annoying. Once there we met a couple of people, and set up out beds. Unfortunately my bed was on the landing which was open to the main living space below, which meant I could hear everyone in the kitchen and living room downstairs. After a short amount of sleep, I helped to set up for breakfast. After breakfast Saturday we gathered for teaching/talk. Then we had lunch (taco salad, which was amazing).

After lunch a lot of us got in cars to go for a hike, which was really a glorified walk to a near by water fall. It was a nice little walk, and the water fall was nice, but could not really stand up to the waterfalls I am used to around my parents house. After sitting in the slight peacefulness, watching the water and feeling the warmth of the sun, we walked back to the cars. The next sight was the bolder field, one of the most amazing sights I've seen in the USA. It is a whole field (more then a football field) of boulders. Nothing grows through and you can walk with caution over the large rocks. All the rocks where dumped by a glacier, and it was really a cool sight.

Back at the house, I took a short nap, after which we had dinner. We had another teaching/talk, then turned on the Phillie's game. Although I am not a Philly's fan, it was a fun game to watch, although after the last pitch, which ended any series hopes for the Philly's the TV was quickly shut off and everyone silently went to bed. The mood was rather sober and sad (personally I was happy). I quickly fell to sleep.

The next morning I woke with the sun rising through the trees (which means really early). We had breakfast then Sunday morning worship/teaching, which ended with Communion. We all then quickly cleaned the house up and started to organize the left over food for people to take home. a couple of hours later found us on the way back to the city (which took a little less the two hours, since there was basically no traffic). At home I did some chores and watched a movie and went to bed really early. All in all a very good trip out of the city, although it seemed to go by really fast. And supposedly I have 35ish new friends too (fun).