Bonclarken

Last weekend Michael and I traveled to North Carolina to attend a retreat for pastors and their wives put on by the Home Mission Board. We stayed at a lovely place called Bonclarken where the scent of pine hung heavy in the fresh, October air.

I found it very strange to be seeing fall leaves on the trees and azaleas blooming on the ground. The timing of those has never mixed before in my world.

We stayed in nice little hotel-like rooms in one of the guest houses and walked every mealtime to the dining hall, past this beautiful view:

Friday and part of Saturday were spent hearing talks from Dr. Curto, a minister in the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church). It turned out that Dr. Curto and his wife were the missionaries to start the mission work in Karamoja, Uganda where two of the girls from our church are (or will be soon) serving. Not only that, but the mission the Curtos were with ended up buying the mission compound in Mbale, Uganda that I visited as a teenager when friends of ours from a different mission group lived there! Small world, really.

Dr. Curto's talks were encouraging and the fellowship with all the other pastors and their wives was very special. I think we all benefitted from that part of the weekend.

This is the house at the center of the retreat center. It was built in the late 1800's and is just gorgeous inside. It goes on and on forever with little bedrooms and sitting rooms tucked in every little corner.

Another view:

Here is a picture of what the house looked like before they added the dining hall (which makes the left part of the house hard to see now). It was built by a man for his Swiss wife, thus the European look.

Next time I post I'll have to fill you in on the food we ate!