Weekend away in Achseten

10-12 September 2010

At the beginning of September many of us were blessed to have the opportunity to travel together as a church group down to Achesten, near Adelboden. The scenery was beautiful and the fellowship was wonderful. Thirty four adults and seventeen children attended the Church Weekend Away (CWA) to Marchgraben, a Blue Cross house. Michael and Haruhi Widmer were our featured speakers, leading us through the book of Psalms. [Ed note: We even took a stab at writing our own psalm:

            All creation worships You,
            Birds of the sky and beasts of the field.
            Creation magnifies Your name,
            Day and night declare Your majesty.

It may not be David, but it gets the thought across. ;) ]

This is how you take a close-up Taking a well-deserved rest after traversing the gorge The flower children We were taught how to analyze each Psalm using it as prayer in times of both happiness and sadness. David and the other writers of Psalms went through the same emotions that we do today: excitement, hope, needing encouragement, anger, loneliness, and doubt. The Psalms take us on a journey ending in peace because we have God as our guide in life. Through their words, they paint a picture of what this journey looked like for them. If you have time, we encourage you to take a deeper look at the book of Psalms, like we did.

We had four different sessions throughout the weekend examining Psalms. The first was spent in mediation on God's word and how the Holy Spirit is moving us. What has happened in the past few months that you are having a difficult time with or is troubling you? How can you give that to God and allow Him to help you work on that in your life? Likewise, what is going on in your life that has been a blessing? Have you thanked the Lord for giving that to you, bringing good in to your life? The second session was spent analyzing the structure and types of poetry in the Psalms. The third session was spent looking in to the laments of Psalms.

Sreya Sarah Saturday evening brought an entertainment portion that displayed a few hidden talents we hope to present later this year for all of BIEC. We enjoyed several skits and rope tricks directed by Paul and Anna, a few Biblical challenges from Paul and Jerusha, and Eric and I led a couple of amusing games. However, Santosh stole the show when he became part of the skit unknowingly. He enjoyed being the center of everyone's attention. As did the Blaser girls during our first icebreaker, the game that taught us how we are all alike, yet different. Oh, and Sri is the only one of us that drives a Cadillac.

Sunday morning, we wrapped up the weekend discussions on Psalms. This led in to a large gathering for family worship and communion. The children played their shaker instruments that they had made in their earlier sessions and displayed their artwork that represented what they had learned about Psalms. Everyone at the CWA had their own experience with this inspirational book.

Michael has a bright idea! All that attended the weekend played a crucial part in making it such a success! Thanks to the Zysset's for the location recommendation! Margi, our kitchen queen, organized everyone in to small teams, kitchen princes and princesses, to prepare and clean-up one meal each. We ate very well throughout the weekend. Margi prepared fantastic homemade lasagna for our first meal together. Breakfast came in the typical Swiss fashion. We had items available to pack your own sack lunch Saturday afternoon for several hours of free time.

Saturday evening brought a delicious BBQ thanks to Tevita, Andre, and Eric's grilling skills over a campfire. Sunday's final meal was delicious homemade Casimir chicken by Marianne. We enjoyed fresh milk on our Just another incredible view cereal and plenty of bread from a local bakery. Ali donated all the specialty drinks. The CWA committee recruited several volunteers to help with all of the sessions for both the adults and children (leading, worship, planning, etc.). Parul shared her photography knowledge by leading an instruction session for all of the children during Saturday's free time.

Fritz shared his knowledge of the Adelboden area and led an excursion to the gorge. We were able to facilitate car-rides, luggage transportation, and bus pick-up trips because of everyone's willingness to help. The thoughtfulness of all, each individual doing their small part, allowed everyone to enjoy the weekend away. Thank you so much!

When we started the planning, we were not sure how it would all work out. After only a few committee meetings, the weekend took shape. Every part was special in its own way; we can only improve from here on out! We hope that this weekend was the start of an annual Church Weekend Away trip. We want to praise and thank the Lord for all of his answered prayers: from the Steiner's asking me to get involved, to the cost of the meat falling right under our goal, from receiving plenty of volunteers happy to help for the weekend to booking almost every bed in the house. We asked in prayer and the Lord provided! Amen!

Hope to see you there next year!

Bree Saunders