Mount Hermon

The past weekend I went to CPC's retreat at Mount Hermon! It was a really good break to just be away from all the chaos and distractions by placing ourselves in a environment that allows us to see God's glorious creation. My favorite type of weather if I had to choose would be a sunny day (about 74 degrees) with a slight breeze. Not only was the weather perfect, but being surrounded by a multitude of tall trees was such a WOW factor for me! To know that GOD provides growth for these trees to be the height that they are today was WOW! :) Although it took awhile for me to debate whether or not I wanted to go, I am so glad I decided to go.
During the retreat, the speaker formatted his sermons in such a way that it was broken down verse by verse in the book of Ephesians. It was very interesting to learn and be reminded of God's grace for us. (More on that later :))
I really enjoyed just the fellowship amongst a good amount of regular attendees in DIVE fellowship. There were definitely fun-ny moments: from random pictures of us jumping in the bathroom&beach synchronized to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, conversations in the car, meeting and seeing new faces in the crowds of CPC. :) This retreat not only allowed me to learn more about God, but also the opportunity to rebuild friendships.

Last but not least, I had a conversation dealing with my future goals with someone from the retreat. My heart for servitude in the mission field has been pressed in my heart ever since college had started (More so, after rejection letters from UCD, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona- architecture schools). I remember going to a retreat at CUMC and the speaker's father was an overseas missionary. To cut a long story short, the speaker said if it was God's calling for us to be a missionary, then there would be an encouragement and acknowledgment of God's calling for the missioner (congregation/Brother-Sister -In Christ/parents/friends/pastors/others). For me, being a missionary has only been pressed on my heart, but I had never received any sort of acknowledgment or encouragement for me to go overseas and serve on short/long term missionary trips. Even though I share with others of my passion to serve overseas, it was more of a sharing rather than a sign of conviction from a Brother or Sister in Christ to tell me whether or not I should go overseas. But this retreat, I was encouraged for the very first time, by receiving a sort of encouragement from a fellow member of the church about missions in China. And it was all at random, he had no idea beforehand that I had thought about becoming a missionary. He told me to trust in God's plan and even though it seems like I know where I am going, I won't full know until God leads me there.

There's so much that happened in three days and two nights- I probably left out some stuff I wanted to share.

All in all, I am amazed by how GOOD GOD IS! :)

Pictures of Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk!




Using the remainder of the tickets. We were waiting in line to go on rides, so we took some pictures.


Thank you Whitney for these awesome pictures! :)

Ahh, we took some pretty hilarious pictures ;). I wish I had them too!

Question of the Day: What is it like to give everything to God? (Surrendering our will for God's will) Whether it'd be celibacy, serving in long term missionary, joining the army, quitting school, selling everything we have to work on an orphanage in Mexico, giving up our most prized materialistic possession, joining leadership team, etc. TO KNOW CHRIST AND MAKE HIM KNOWN.