From Dr. Lauranne Harris (5/4/16):
Our camp was at a wonderful forest retreat with tall pines and log houses. We stayed together in our own 2 story cabin with beautiful views and nice rooms to share. We had a kitchen and the first night we made chicken barbeque outside. The weather may have been cool and rainy but we were warm and happy together.
We drew names at the beginning of camp so we could be secret angels – everyone had someone to write notes to and give small gifts/candy and pictures we made. The second day we could reveal ourselves to our partner and there were lots of hugs and smiles as we thanked each other for the loving support. Lauranne led a lesson on how we need to walk the path the Christ has shown us and we in turn should lead others.
We had 2 small groups and went around the camp meeting other people and wishing them Happy Easter and giving small gifts to the children (we brought bubbles to blow). The small groups also talked about the lesson and we made pictures to demonstrate walking Christ’s path. We also talked about God’s forgiveness and wrote our sins in the sand and then wiped it clean just as God does for us. We had times for singing and learned some new songs together.
The end of our first day, we had a wonderful worship using Lectio Divina and the story of the woman who washed and perfumed Jesus’ feet. We had a painting of this by a Korean artist that was printed on the current Russian version of the Upper Room devotional book (theirs is called Место Встречи). We used that for silent meditation and wrote our impressions. We were led by Marina K. and Kira with questions to ponder silently then we had a very moving time of silent prayer to end the candle light service.
We were off to bed and then up early the next day for singing and morning devotions. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the camp restaurant and then had crafts where we made lots of cards to give to friends and family. We used the ideas that Jo Ragsdale sent as patterns and there was lots of creativity shown. We packed up and left camp with wonderful memories, lessons learned and the fellowship continues on.
