Several years ago, two pastor friends of mine came to visit Chelan. Both were burned out at the job, struggling with relationships, generally feeling stressed. They needed some place to relax and heal and, during a week in Chelan, they found their spirits rejuvenated.    After these experiences, it became clear that perhaps Chelan could offer that same rejuvenation of spirit to other people who desperately needed it, specifically, returning war veterans. The idea of Honorable Welcome Home was born.  With the thoughtful guidance of our friends at the American Legion and VFW, as well as community-wide conversation, we decided to host our first Honorable Welcome Home in March of 2010.  Since then, Honorable Welcome Home has hosted over a hundred veterans, mostly from the Vietnam conflict, but including veterans from WWII through the Iraq War.    Typically, veterans come to Chelan still carrying the emotional and spiritual wounds of wars long past. Often they have condemned themselves, long since disqualifying themselves from enjoying life because of the horrors in which they participated in battle.  Here they find a warm and caring reception and an understanding and nonjudgmental community that offers four days of accompaniment on a journey towards wholeness.    Veterans who have been through HWH return to Chelan to tell us how transforming their time with us has been.  Men and women who thought they would never be welcomed find that they have been warmly welcomed here.  The experience has been profoundly liberating for many of our now dear friends.  This is the mission of Honorable Welcome Home: to give veterans the welcome they should have received when they first returned from war.  It is a welcome that lets them know that we are honored to assist them and to offer rejuvenation of spirit to those who carry the hidden burdens of war.