Every New Beginning Comes from Some Other Beginning's End

I can't beleive it has been almost a week since I have had a chance to sit and ponder. Where to begin? Well, first off,Washington Sate is amazing. So green, so glorious. I had put in for my firs call in the Pacific NW...I think I always knew I would love the area.

The purpose in my trip to Washington was to visit a remote Lutheran retreat center called Holden Village. It's strength and difficulty is the remoteness of it within the Cascade Mountains. Amelia and I discovered late on Saturday that no buses were running on Memorial Day, the day we were planning on getting to Holden. So we changed plans and rented a car. This meant we were able to drive through the gorgeous mountains to get to the boat dock before taking a 2 1/2 hour boat cruise to Lucerne, where Holden's school bus met us and transported us up to over 3000 feet elevation where the camp is located.

No surpise, the most common visitor to Holden after people from Washington, are people from Minnesota. We ended up meeting some wonderful people, including former classmates of mine from Wartburg Seminary and two counselors from Camp Wapo.

I spent four days reading, hiking, sitting, talking, learning how to use a pottery wheel, walking the labyrinth, and enjoying evening vespers. My favorite time of worship, though, was on a boat on Lake Chelan with my ipod listening to "I could sing of your love forever" while feeling the sun on my face and looking at the majestic peaks roll by. God is mighty indeed!

On Friday, we returned to the Seattle area via a differnet route...this time traveling close to an elevation of 5000....with waterfalls cascading around every corner. I had some time before my flight, so I drove down to Tacoma and looked for the campus of Pacific Lutheran College....but to no avail. So I returned to Sea-Tac Airport and had a nice flight watching my newest favorite movie, "Twilight."

I will spend some more time late rereading my journal entries and writing about what all took place for me while at Holden....but for now...this is my update as I am anxously getting reading for the next leg of our journey...Paris!