Nourish Conference at Camp Buckner

This past weekend Quimi and I had the opportunity to lead worship for a Women’s Conference at Camp Buckner that is located about an hour outside of Austin, Texas. It was a conference for the women of Cityview Bible Church, which is also in Austin. We had an amazing time seeing some ladies we met last year and then also getting to meet new ones.

Friday | 1st Session

So we knew exactly where we were going, since well we had sung at this retreat last year. Let’s just say I remembered where we were going, haha. Quimi is funny, she has a hard time remembering recent things (short term memory) but she could tell you what we did 5 to 10 years ago in Mexico or something. It’s pretty hilarious. So here we are on our way to Camp Buckner on Friday afternoon, and as we arrive we have to drive into the camp a little bit until we get to the Faith Hall, which is where the worship sessions were held. Now I have to tell you that Quimi has sung at many many camps, so it makes sense she would have a hard time remembering where everything was at Camp Buckner. I remembered where our room was that we stayed in, where the cafeteria was for meals, and where we were going to be singing at for every session. On the other hand, Quimi immediately thought we were driving in through the wrong entrance (well we did once) but she could not remember where the room was that we stayed in, or where the Faith Hall was, it was just ridiculous. lol

We finally made it to the Faith Hall and right when we arrived it was around 6:30ish and we were going to sing at 8:30 pm for the first session of the weekend. We set up our stuff, plugged in Quimi’s guitar and beat peddle and then we did a little sound check/rehearsal before dinner at 7 pm. After a little rehearsing time we head over to the cafeteria where dinner is held. Now, I know what you might be thinking… yes we are at a camp and yes the food is “eh” camp food. But that’s the beauty of leading worship at a camp! So we sat down with the speaker that was invited for the weekend and some other ladies we just met. It’s always fun getting to know new people. We had a small conversation and just enjoyed our time there getting to know them and talking to them about how we started singing and leading worship and where we grew up.

Shortly after dinner, we met with Charis (lady in charge of the conference), the speaker Susan, the MC Leah and another lady named Tiffany who helped Charis a lot with the logistics of the conference. We gathered together to talk about the weekend and how they expect it to go and we prayed as a group to ask the Lord to be present and fill the hearts of the women joining us.

The first session is always the one where you feel out the vibe of the room and how the ladies will respond to the worship time. I have to say it was pretty amazing to see the ladies excited and ready to worship. We played two new songs that Quimi and I learned right before we drove down there and they turned out so well. The new songs held a great message that was closely related to what the entire conference was about. That first session was incredibly uplifting and the Lord’s presence was definitely in the midst.

The speaker was a woman Charis knew growing up. The entire conference was focused around Nourishment. Christ being nourishing for us. Susan began the speaking times starting with a message on sin. She described how we have to start with sin in order to see God’s grace and love in our lives and to receive that nourishment. We have to recognize we are sinners and know that we are completely imperfect to Jesus.

Friday night | girl night!

After the first session, we went to our room to put our stuff down and settle for the night. Here is our cute little cabin we got to stay in! Camp lifeeeee!

Last year Charis (woman in charge of the conference) asked us if there were any snacks we really liked for her to get us. So… Quimi and I can actually be very indecisive when it comes to choosing food. We honestly love everything and we can never think of something we absolutely want. Well, Charis surprised us with some yummy goodies last year and so this year we were wondering what she might get us, haha. We walked into our room and there it was…a basket with Takis, a caramel and cheddar popcorn medley, oreo thins, waters, and gum. Um, the freaking best basket of snacks right?! So delicious.. we instantly began snacking and could not stop! Oreo thins are amazing! Try them if you haven’t yet. Seriously life changing.

After we chowed down on all the snacks, we had a little movie night and watched a chick flick. Of course right?! Since Quimi is married now our time together is a little more limited… we don’t watch chick flicks on Friday or Saturday nights anymore like we used to. So that night Quimi wanted to watch one, and we decided to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2! It was pretty good. Funny and chick flick worthy.

Saturday | 2nd Session

So we woke up promptly at 7 am to start our day! Our first session was at 9:45 which gave us time to have breakfast with all the ladies at 8 am and then go rehearse and sound check before the next session. Breakfast was a little better than dinner, in my opinion. We had a eggs, bacon and a biscuit with gravy. I love biscuits with gravy and I don’t always eat them so when I do I get pretty excited, haha.

We sat with some different ladies this time and we were able to share with them about how we grew up, our nationality and how we got into singing and music. We shared about us, how were mixed, Mexican and Japanese, and that we are new to Texas. Cali girls living in Houston. I will forever miss California and favor it over everywhere else.

After breakfast, we had our first session of the day. We led all the ladies into worship which was beautiful and so heartwarming, then we listened to Susan share her second message on grace. Here’s a little picture of me walking through the camp. Its one of the nicest camps I’ve ever seen.

Mid-day break

So we had a little break time before our final session in the evening, about 5 to 6 hours to spare. We wanted to explore a little bit of the surrounding city, so we found a cute little coffee shop in Marble Falls, Tx called Numinuous Coffee.

After we got some work done and had our iced non-fat lattes, we headed out for some lunch. Marble Falls has a little town square that had some small shops and restaurants, we walked around there and shared an amazing and scrumptious Spicy Mac n Cheese Burger, uh huh extremely delicious. And the fries…. I mean look how crispy they look! They were so good too. We enjoyed that meal for sure, haha. After lunch, we walked around the little shops, went to a little boutique and to finish it off we got some huge ICE CREAM waffle cones. Yes, we’re ice cream lovers. We were so full… we did not eat anything for the rest of the day. But we were satisfied. A few hours later we made our way back to Camp Buckner. We led worship for our last session before we hit the road back to Houston.

Saturday | 3rd Session

For our last session, we had a fun time singing to Jesus with the lovely ladies, we sang some upbeat songs to get them moving, and also some slower ones to have that intimate time with Jesus. We felt so blessed to be there with them and to get to know some new faces. Every worship time was filled with warmth and I could hear the ladies voices as they praised Jesus like they never have before. It was genuine, real, and inspiring. We are always thankful for the opportunities the Lord gives us and we cherish the sweet moments of authentic heartfelt worship unto Him.