Hermanus Retreat

March 3rd-9th

This week was uneventful other than the movie night at Judy’s on Wednesday Night and the weekend retreat to Hermanus. So our group took a trip down the coast to a little town called Hermanus, which is known for the whales, unfortunately whales are not down here in March. However, the place we stayed at was really nice. We stayed at John DeGruchy’s Winery/Farm. Im not sure it is used for either of those purposes but it was just a hug piece of land that was unbelievably beautiful. So we stayed there because we were there to meet with John to talk with him about his book on reconciliation. But the best part of the weekend was relaxing and going hiking. There were many trails set up to hike and on the second day Ashley and I went to the waterfall and went swimming. It was so cool! The water was really nice and we got to go right next to the waterfall. It was so peaceful! Then we had a braai that night with John which was cool because we got to talk with him and Pearnel’s(our driver) wife and Melikaya’s(our director) girlfriend. They are all from South Africa and were all really interesting to talk with. Also when we were there we went to the downtown area because they have a festival set up on the weekends. It was really nice because 5 of us went to this restaurant and had seafood!!!! I miss good seafood! And it was unbelievably good and it was cheap! Also they had really cute shops downtown and a beautiful view of the harbor(this is where the whales usually are). Finally on the last morning we took the longest trail up to the cross which was on top of one of the mountains. It was a difficult hike, but we all made it! And I had a really nice conversation with Kalyn, another girl in the house, on the way down the mountain. Overall the weekend was extremely relaxing and it was amazing to see God in the beauty of nature!