We will be adding photos daily so the folks back home can see what we are up to this week. Last updated 6:55pm CDT 7/19/08. You can now view photos as a slideshow & purchase prints on through Kodak on the adjacent page or you can click here to link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=g9l19b1.7ojc4zh&x=0&h=1&y=f719ip&localeid=en_US
Saturday 7/12: Our trip to Montreat was a good one with no vehicle problems. After the 7 hour drive, we rested & just took it easy.
Sunday 7/13: Harrison Garden & David took a walk in the morning. Harrison was surprised by the giant "mongoose" which we later learned is a large white swan named Elvis. We climbed to the Lookout. Everyone made it to the top of the mountain. The view of Montreat was beautiful. It started raining about the time we arrived back at the house & rained most of the evening (good sleeping weather). At 7:30 we attended the opening ceremony. We had our back home group back at the house & shared our thoughts & prayers. Everyone is excited about the upcoming week.
Monday 7/14: Everyone was up in time for breakfast. There is a bird next door that whistles the theme to Andy Griffith & makes monkey noises plus many others. We attended the morning Keynote & Energizers before everyone left for their Small Groups. Everyone had lunch & left for afternoon Small Groups. Lasagna is on the dinner menu. Evening worship begins at 7:00pm. Our back home group met & shared our thoughts & prayers. Some of us stayed up late & talked.
Tuesday 7/15: People are slowly rising for breakfast. Everyone made it up in time for morning Keynote & Energizers as well as their Small Groups. We are having a guest for dinner tonight, Jeffrey Harper. Jeffrey is the Musical Director for the conference. He is 23 years old and lives in Nashville. We have invited him to sing at our church sometime. Our dinner with Jeffrey was exciting. He has agreed to come to our Youth Sunday service on August 17th. After evening worship, most everyone stayed & watched Monsters Inc. but came back to the cabin when it started getting colder. We had a great back home group & stayed up late talking & sharing experiences.
Wednesday 7/16: The photo gallery has a slightly different look. If you have problems viewing the photos, please e-mail me at the address below. Everyone was up & on time for morning worship. Jane & Steve went on their daily grocery run to the Bi Lo. We are going rock hopping - photos will be posted when we get back. Today was a special day since the whole afternoon was free time. We packed a couple of coolers & headed upstream for a picnic followed by rock hopping down the creek. After wading, slipping, & sliding for over a mile, we finished our trek at Roger's Place. Most of the group has gone shopping in Black Mountain. A few of us stayed behind to rest. The worship service is later tonight at 9:00pm. This is an outstanding group of young people! As you may have noticed in the photos, the theme of the week is "Throw Open the Doors". After arriving back from the late worship service, we had another late back home group. Everyone is sharing how they "throw open the doors" to God.
Thursday 7/17: We start today off with a Happy Birthday wish to Miss Bobbie Strickler! The kids made a large birthday card - see photo. They call Thursdays lazy Thursdays since everyone is tired from all the events of the week. It seemed napping was a popular activity today. The variety show was tonight & there were some very good acts from various youth groups. We had a relatively short back home group since it was such a long day.
Friday 7/18: It's hard to believe this is our last full day at Montreat. We'll be heading down the hill to worship & small groups shortly. It's been a wonderful week of fellowship & worship. This afternoon we headed to the Montreat gate for the traditional group photo. Most of the group stopped on the way back to play ultimate frisbee & wiffle ball before heading back to the house for pizza. Most of the youth left for recreation before the final worship service at 8:15.
Saturday 7/19: We are rising very slowly for the return trip. The girls & Dakota were going to stay up all night & climb the mountain to watch the sunrise but went to bed around 3:30am. Dakota stayed up all night to watch the sunrise over the mountain from the porch - see the photos. It's been an awesome week & we can't wait until next year. We'll be having a slideshow at youth group tomorrow night & talking about the trip. Keep us in your prayers for our return trip.
You can e-mail questions or comments to David Muffett (Click Here)