Business is Good in Orlando

Hello Friends!

So I’m here at General Assembly in Orlando, Florida with our NYI delegation.  We are in the lap of luxury here!!!  Someone who has inside information tipped us off to some condos that can be rented a mile-and-a-half from the convention center.  They are extremely nice and roomy, totally furnished with dishes and pots and pans and everything!  There’s a beautiful pool nearby and a few other perks like a rec room, gym and mini-movie theater.  So, in case you were worried about how we are faring in Orlando, fear no longer.  We are doing quite fine!  (Although we haven’t quite had any free time for the pool just yet…) 

Anyhow, I thought I’d take a moment to give you an update on what has been taking place.  We’ve been participating in a variety of interesting events.  (Some are definitely more interesting than others!)    We started the day at a Regional Caucus, in which we nominated people from our region to run on different global NYI ballots.  This sounds like just some tedious business but in reality, there are a lot of people there from our Region that we have made friends with over the years.  So, even though we are just taking care of business, we are also surrounded by people we know and love and only get to see a few times a year.  Laura and I even made a point to stop in the Mexico/Central American Caucus so we could connect with some of our Latin American friends that are stateside for the Assembly!  Like I said, “business is good.” 

Following the Regional Caucus, the Region invited us all to a free southern lunch complete with BBQ ribs, macaroni, coleslaw and sweet tea!  Not bad.

From lunch we went straight to the longest meeting of the day.  It was for all the regions to vote between the people that each region had nominated in the morning for the Global Committee.  Since the winner of the election has to be passed with a majority vote, it took several tries before we finally had our reps.  No one from our region won a ballot. 😦  We also learned that Nazarene Youth Conference will be held in Louisville, Kentucky in 2011!  Time to start getting ready for that!  Tomorrow this meeting will continue with several resolutions for us to vote on. 

Before we left the Convention Center, we made sure to participate in what was called “A Symphony of Prayer.”  We were invited to pray in small groups as different leaders stepped up to lead us in a variety of different languages.  There was a wonderful spirit in that building as we brought our praises and petitions before the Lord together. 

Finally, we returned to our luxurious apartment for some games before going to bed.  After all, we need our rest because there will be even more business to take care of tomorrow!  Peace.