I am a planner. I make lists. I make lists on my iPhone and I write them on paper. So summer vacations are thought about, researched and planned. This coming summer is shaping up to be busy. One summer event has been on my calendar for over a year. A second summer trip has been spoken about for a few years and is finally planned and happening. And a third summer trip was a total surprise.
Over a year ago I was elected to be a delegate to General Assembly for the Church of the Nazarene in Indianapolis, Indiana. I also have the opportunity of attending General Convention due to my District position as Children’s Ministries Director. I have had the privilege of attending General Convention in San Antonio, TX in 1997, Indianapolis, IN in 2001 and 2005 and Orlando, FL in 2009. I was also a delegate to General Assembly in 2005 and 2009. I thoroughly enjoy both events. I love learning new things at the workshops, and exchanging ideas. I love listening to the discussion about issues and voting on policy. I love volunteering with World Quiz registration and making connections with people. But my favorite thing about General Assembly and General Convention is the worship services. There is something about worshipping in a service with thousands of people from all over the world. It is an amazing experience.
I will sleep in my own bed for 5 nights and then it is family vacation – yeah!!! My girls and their guys are joining me in Edinburgh, Scotland for a week. Meghan and I had spent a long weekend in Edinburgh a few years ago and we just loved it. We had decided we needed to do that trip for family vacation. Edinburgh is full of old buildings, gardens, cobble stone streets, little pubs and shops. We are renting an apartment for the week so we can cook some of our meals and also have room to spread out. Plus renting a place feels more like you are living there and I love that feeling of becoming part of a city or town. My girls and their guys will spend a couple of days doing their own thing before they travel back home. I will spend a week in Oxford, England exploring the city I was born in and then will travel to stay with family for another week before heading back to the USA.
I will sleep 7 nights in my own bed and then travel to Japan as a representative of the Tribute Center. Unbelievable!!! I am humbled to have been invited to travel to Japan with some of my fellow docents. As stated by Lee Ilepi:
“Finally after waiting to hear confirmation from American Airlines, we can announce that there will be a second trip to Japan that will take place in August. The purpose of this second outreach trip is to provide support to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami of 3/11, and revisit communities that were visited by the first group back in October, showing our ongoing commitment to the people who experienced loss. Our experience as a community has grown over the past 7 years, and we feel grateful that we are now able to provide support to others who have experienced disasters. Our trip to Japan is the first major outreach that we have undertaken and we hope that we can reach out to people in other places in the future as well.”
I have purchased an iPad mini so I can write about my experiences and I hope to share some of them with you. My Facebook friends have read about the “free camera” which will come in very handy. I am ever amazed at the opportunities that I have been given. I am so blest. Proverbs 3:4-5 states ” Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
