New Hampshire Retreat

Last Spring, the Relief Society presidency decided that the Weston First sisters were in need of a weekend retreat. As soon as the cabins were reserved for a beautiful fall get away to Zion Camp in New Hampshire, the RSVPs started coming in. It wasn’t long before over 40 of us had cleared out our busy schedules, arranged child care and packed our bags for two days in New England’s spectacular fall foliage. We spent the weekend together hiking, line dancing, singing, playing games, endlessly feasting, learning and being spiritually fed.

For early arrivers, our weekend retreat began with visitng over games and puzzles in front of a roaring fire in the lodge. We decorated the lodge and arranged our cabins. Homemade guacamole with chips and salsa was soon served as as we welcomed more of our sisters. At 7:00 pm we enjoyed a dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, baked beans, salad, corn bread muffins, and hot raspberry peach cobbler. Many sisters reconnected over husking corn and peeling peaches in the kitchen.

After dinner we enjoyed Helen Claire Sievers presentation on astronomy. We were amazed at her depth of knowledge and appreciated the opportunity to learn about our universe. We were taught how to measure the size of a star, why the constellations came to be, what great amount of space surrounds us and that we should never pass up the opportunity to see a solar eclipse! Her photographs were stunning and her knowledge was fulfilling. She ended her presentation by explaining that, through her knowledge of astronomy, she understands, just as Moses understood, that although we are minuscule in comparison to space, in God's eyes we are important enough that he created, for us, this expansive universe.

We spent the rest of the evening visiting in the lodge. We enjoyed snacks of apple slices, pumpkin pie dip, gingersnap cookies, autumn candy bark, carrots and hummus and warm apple brew. Marty Elliott led us in line dancing and groups of us sat around the fireplace talking past midnight.

Saturday morning came early for those impressive sisters who spent an hour exercising in the lodge! Soon after, buttermilk pancakes with caramel banana, blueberry and apple maple syrups were served as well as yogurt parfaits and orange juice and hot chocolate.

Sister Evans soon arrived and we gathered our scriptures and circled around the fire for a spiritually uplifting devotional. Sister Evans spoke to us about recognizing the answers to our prayers. She encouraged us to be patient. Sometimes our prayers are answered on the fourth watch and sometimes they are answered even later, but our Father in Heaven knows our needs and knows when we are ready to receive answers and personal revelation. Through her personal experiences, the scriptures and her testimony, we all feasted spiritually. What a great opportunity it was for us to be taught and inspired by Sister Evans.

Because we were unable to hold our devotional on the shores of beautiful Lake Onway, we brought our hymnals to the amphitheater where we sang hymns together as sisters. Despite the wind and cold, the spirit was strong. This moment will be remembered by all.

After the hymnals were closed and the pictures were taken, we all wondered exactly how cold the water was. Anne Tardiff volunteered to find out for us! We were all entertained and amazed by Anne's dip in the frigid lake!

Once our cabins were inspected and our cars were packed, we joined again in the lodge for a lunch of apple butternut squash soup, harvest salad and fresh breads and organic spreads. While we enjoyed our meal, Mischell Shapiro gave the presentation, "Out of the Lunch Box". We learned how to create interesting lunches with ingredients from our gardens and our food storage. We were all impressed that the delicious spreads that we had just devoured were beet jelly, zucchini jam, homemade nutella, roasted almond spread and homemade peanut butter! We were definitely convinced that these healthy, organic recipes could easily be used and enjoyed in our daily cooking. We were grateful to Becky Lloyd and Mischell for researching, preparing and introducing us to these new treats.

We ended our retreat with a hike through the spectacular fall foliage that lined the shores of Lake Onway. Shann Wood led us along trails, canopied with red and golden leaves. She stopped along the way to point out local vegetation and taught us where the plants live and how they change through the season. We were grateful to enjoy God's beautiful creations.

We returned to the lodge to say our good byes, collect our last belongings and divide into each other's cars for the ride home. Debbie Marcantano sent us off with a bag of homemade sugar cookies, decorated for the season.

With many women commenting that this retreat should be an annual tradition, it was clear that our time together as sisters in the Gospel was a success. We look forward to more weekend retreats in our future!