Our synod has a tradition of gathering the cluster deans twice in person each year–an extra night wherever we have Bishop’s Fall Convocation and a two-night retreat during Lent. We just had our spring retreat at the Monastery of St. Gertrude’s near Cottonwood, Idaho. We prayed together, heard about one another’s lives, heard about every ministry in our synod, heard about our staff goals, prayed some more (morning and evening with the Sisters), walked near the farms surrounding the monastery, went on field trips within driving distance, laughed, talked about the larger ELCA, heard from Prioress Sister Theresa Jackson and her admiration for the Rule of Benedict and the monastery becoming The Center for Benedictine Life. I am so grateful for this short time together. (Not pictured–another field trip was to the thrift shop run out of the parsonage of St. John’s Lutheran in NezPerce).

Trip to the historic village of Nipehe near the Salmon River.