Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Conference

The whole weekend was a very great experience - though it was some very long bus rides.. and it took 3 hours each time we tried to cross the boarder. But the actual conference was very good. First some facts: The conference was held in Managua, Nicaragua. Our Members from the ITC were Juan Francisco Mora from Costa Rica and Rachel N'degwa (I'm sorry, I don't know how to spell her name) from Kenya. I believe there were about 23 countries from Central America and the Carribean attending and, I think I've been told, about 1,500 people present and the conference was translated into three languages. And again, the experience was great. I was so amazed with the focus. I've never been to a conference that was so focused on a single purpose - it made it very unified. Which is soo interesting. With so many different countries and peoples and even languages - not everyone could communicate (easily) with each other, this is the conference I will remember for it's feeling of unity and purpose. Much more so than even ones I've been to in the States. And, unexpected - everything was on time! fancy that :). The first day were mostly talks by our ITC members. And they were great, though I admit I had trouble undrstanding Rachel's. The reason is because I listened to everything in Spanish. Juan spoke in Spanish and he was very clear and easy to understand. Rachel, on the other hand, spoke in English, so we listened to the spanish translation which was acutally much harder for me. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because of the pauses and the not consistent speed of the translator. I should have picked up a device to listen to the English but I never got around to it. Still, they were both very inspiring. It was a great blend of, of course, praise for what has been accomplished, but nonetheless a call to action - but without creating any sense of guilt or shame for not having already stepped up. It wasn't a time to look at the past - the goal, the focus is the future.. so we look at the present, evaluate and plan for the future.

I think the conference was especially good for the 6 members of my community who attended the conference as well. I know at least two of them really didn't like it for the crowds - I'm sure none of them have been among so many people before... crowded conference halls are very different to our lovely little community in the rainforest. But I also know that every one was inspired at the conference. Yesterday we actually had a meeting to plan for activities - and guess what they decided to do - go to Alto Conte (about 2 hours up) and have a teaching campaign! They are going go and teach the Faith using Conozcamos (Anna's Presentation). So, they planned a time when they could come and practice using Conozcamos and then they're gonna go teach. And, so many more people are now involved in the Children's classes and Pre-youth group (I'm having to get over my little bit of ownership I felt for my classes and let others in - how great is that?!).

And, for me personally, it was a lot of fun to see so many of the people I met in Colombia back in July. We only missed our friends from Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. But it was still great - though we really didn't have a lot of time to just sit and chat - like I said, it was a focused conference. Plus, the place was so packed that it was hard to find anyone in the short breaks we did have. But the last night we stayed until late and I got my visiting in - as well as a little impromptu dancing started by the Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic youth. What better way to end a conference? -especially latin american style.. some of the people down here can really dance!

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