A bit about the 'burg (Gatlinburg, that is...)

Recently I went with a group of around 29 GBSers to Gatlinburg. It was a missions retreat, and boy did we retreat!

I went on this same trip with a different group of students during my freshman yr. I wasn't sure if it was wise to try to enjoy the same basic thing twice, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the time away. It's always nice to refresh and refocus with fellow believers, especially when surrounded by so much evidence of our Creator.

The cabin we stayed in was the same one I'd been in previously, but the beauty of the mountains around us still caused me to stand in awe. We serve such an artistic Creator!

We enjoyed several times of hiking in and around those mountains while we were there. Our hope to hike in Berea, KY on the way home was dampened *chuckle* by the persistent rainfall we had follow us most of the way back. (I would def. recommend hiking there if you're into that sort of thing!)

Along with hiking, we did some shopping, just hung out together, and had some great times of fellowship.

Mr. and Mrs. Keep, along with Mr. and Mrs. Glick, shared with us each day. We had a morning and evening session each day we were there. They were encouraging and helped challenge us in our spiritual growth.
The things shared were so applicable, and the time of singing and worshiping together was beautiful.

I often think about how those are the moments I want seared into my brain so I can look back on them when the hard times come.

I can still recall several things that Andrea Whiteman(then) shared with us my freshman yr. and I know I've used and called on those memories. I pray God uses this weekend for a long time to come in my future.

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A couple things to note, I am no longer American...my roomies turned me Kenyan.

I stayed with Nichole, Lornah, and Olivia O. I had a blast with these girls!

They shared about their families, they shared music, they answered probably a billion questions, they tried to help us...um, find a "sense of rhythm"...and over all just were great roomies.

In return, Nichole and I taught them valuable things like how to get a trucker to honk at you, and what having your blankets ripped off your bed (after you've snuggled down of course) feels like.

We sang loudly and off key together in my car, and probably listened to every genre of music...including several country selections after Olivia asked us for something "exotic". I think Lornah appreciated it though...I mean whats not to like about Josh Turner's voice after all?!

Another point of interest were the times spent in the car. We had quite a bit of that, so we decided they needed to be livened up. We tired of singing and grooving after a bit, so that's when the whole "get the trucker to honk" thing started in, but there weren't enough truckers around to satisfy us...so we improvised!

We pulled up alongside the other cars (we had a seven car long caravan!) in our group and tried to get them to honk for us. Mostly they just looked at us funny and waved, but I noticed a trend amongst the Glick cars...they all honked. In fact they were the only cars to honk for us. THANK YOU GLICKS!

We also did some other things such as, wrote signs to hold up for the other cars, they read things like "Have you seen my Llama?" and on the other side I believe there was a reward offer for it. We had one with the basic message of the Bible...I mean we were a group of caravaning GBSers after all!
Another time we had stopped due to traffic, so everyone in our car put an arm out their window and we flapped/swam/rowed for awhile.

Needless to say, we had fun together and enjoyed our time away. God blessed us with His presence and blessed us with a wonderful, enjoyable trip!