Sierra Sierra oh how we love you!! This past weekend was one of the most fun trips to Sierra Lodge ever!  Built with the hands and sweat of our Gracepoint Fellowship Church members, it’s great to go visit our very lodge up in the Sierras. We could not have asked for more perfect weather conditions while driving and up there.  Thank God for providing us with great weather and safe travel. After making it through the afternoon/evening traffic on the 80, we reach our destination and it was  amazing!  The beautiful  tall trees covered in snow, several feet of fresh powder from earlier that week, the fresh air, and tons of food.  After some bros helped shovel the snow and put on our chains, we all entered into Sierra Lodge and the newly built Sierra Barn.  We feasted on some aMAzing carnitas until we could eat no more and had a great time of praise and Bible study.  We played some ice breaker games to get to know some of the staff more, followed by a game of King Kong Shower.  We all hit the sack early (well, the guys had some more “bonding” time) and were up and ready the next morning for our Devotion Time and a full on home cooked breakfast by USF Koinonia.

We all threw on our layers and ran out into the snow going down an ultimate sled run, wrestling each other in the snow, getting pummeled, pummeling each other, playing capture the flag and just experiencing true fellowship as we dumped snow on each other!  As we played for about 3 hours, our bodies were cold, tired, hungry and ready to go in and eat until we noticed Gracepoint Berkeley’s college freshmen of Koinonia and staff within shouting distance playing in the snow.  And since they were within shouting distance, that’s what we did, or at least one of us did.  Taunting and egging them on to a war, our fearless (“I’m sick!”)  leader, Brother M, urged them to come fight us.  They all turned to look at us, we returned it with grunts straight out of Lord of the Rings, Orc style.  And before we knew it, they started coming towards us and battle ensued.  Bodies were flying, snow was everywhere and right when we thought, “oh yeah, we got this” another mass came from the side and we met our doom.  We fought and wrestled in the snow and concluded with body bruising game of the ultimate 3-way capture the flag. Needless to say, we were tired and worn at the end!

We always look forward to our trips to Sierra Lodge and are so thankful that we had this chance to enjoy God’s beautiful creation!  We hope you join us next time.. see you next time Sierra!!  Enjoy the photos, and don’t blink, they go by fast!