Hills and Leaves

It's only been four days since I got back from my retreat, but it already feels like Tennessee was weeks ago. The retreat was really wonderful and came at the perfect time. I think all of us needed to get out of the city and have some intentional down time. I don't know why, but I think it's good for the soul to see mountains (or even just hills) and fall leaves. If it weren't for the fall decorations in the store, you wouldn't know it was fall in New Orleans. Up until last week it was still in the 80's. Also, Palmetto trees do not change colors and lose their leaves.

Eastern Tennessee however, provided exactly the right type of fall. We stayed at our site coordinator's parents' house, which was beautiful and overlooked the mountains (the photo is the view from their house). Friday was really restful, which we all needed. I especially appreciated it because I was still getting over the flu. We got to sleep late and then in the afternoon did a bible study and personal reflections. We read the story of Elijah going into the wilderness and the parable of slaves receiving and investing (or not) their talents.



Friday night, we were free to go out in Chattanooga. Chad knew the city the best as served as our fearless leader. After exploring the riverfront, glass-bottom bridge, and art museum grounds, we went to a fun pub called the Honest Pint. I'm pretty sure it was one of the few times all of us had been out on the weekend together. We also met up with Nate's roommate from college and and old friend of Chad's. I always enjoy meeting my friends' friends from other parts of life. They usually help explain those missing bits. They are also a great source for embarrassing stories.


Saturday was my favorite part of the whole retreat though. All of the Nashville and Atlanta YAV's came and met up with us. We all then when to Chilhowee Mountain for the day. It was so enjoyable to see everyone from orientation again. We had a lot of fun catching up with each other and hearing about everyone's placements. It felt refreshing to have new people to interact with, but they were still part of our same community and were going through many of the same experiences as we were.

On the mountain, we went for a hike to a waterfall (I have actually never seen a waterfall of significant size before). We played cornhole, bocce ball, and badminton. We had a camp fire and made s'mores. We played music and sang songs. At sunset we had a short worship service at a lookout point. It was really just a perfect day.