Mount Washington!!!!!

I absolutely loved our week at Mount Washington! I woke up at four in the morning on Monday and realized the power was out! So then I was afraid to go back to sleep because my alarm wouldn't go off. So I listened to the wind and watched the lightening and it was absolutely gorgeous! I reminded of God's power. So my roommates and I got ready in the dark with headlights at four thirty in the morning on Sunday! It was actually a lot of fun, then we went to breakfast in the dark and packed the vans in the dark. Before we left we sang "How Great Is Our God" together in the lobby here and prayed for the week of head. We prayed for safety, fun, learning, and growing. We prayed for God to go ahead of us to Mount Washington to keep us safe and watch over us. we got there around eight on Monday and got our rentals - then hit the slopes, it was absolutely gorgeous. I have never been in the mountains in the winter before and it was stunning! There was lots of fresh powder too, so conditions were favorable. At lunch we all ventured to the Lodge that we were staying in - this lodge was absolutely gorgeous! It was a great big log lodge and had lots of room for everyone. Laura (our cook) and Dave came along to cook for us and the food was delectable all week. Tuesday we did more snowboarding and Wednesday we went snowshoeing. Snowshoeing was way more fun than I expected! We traveled up the mountain on the chair lift and then snoeshoed down in the back country. The snow was gorgeous and it was so much fun to walk through it. We stopped around noon to make snow caves, this was an awesome time too. Unfortunately our Student Life Leader injured her shoulder at this time - so pray for a quick recovery for her. She was taken down the mountain by a ski doo. Wednesday night we went tubing and that was amazing! Thursday and Friday we snowboarded again. Friday was crystal clear and you could see all around from the top of the mountain. I loved basking in God's creation! Each evening we spent time together in "chapel" times. These times were incredible, we sang worship songs and one night we named everyone in our group. Kaleo gave me the name "radiant" - this is a name for me to grow into. we also talked about the ways that we see Jesus in one another - this was a really sweet bonding exercise too. I love that we kept the focus of this trip on Jesus and on the work that he is accomplishing in our group more than anything else. There were even hot tubs in the lodge - this was greatly appreciated as it didn't take me long to be sore from boarding! All in all - God was so good during this week and I am incredibly thankful for that experience. I felt like it changed the dynamic of our group somehow - for the better. This next week we are continuing the Camp Ministry Class with Jim Badke - lots more to learn!