Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
AAAHHHHH!!!
I'm going to start a new blog for Project Burning Bush ... but not tonight ... i'm beat
~Maggie
~Maggie
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Final Day :-(
Good morning! This morning we were running a little late because we stayed up much too late last night saying goodbye to our friend Pat and neither of us feel very well. My roomie and I ran by Starbucks in the lobby, grabbed a muffin, and headed up to plenary. We didn’t miss anything, though. We started with budget reports and moved into stated clerk elections.
Gradey Parsons has just been elected as stated clerk! Installation service now (10:30am)
I’d like to ask your prayers for another friend of ours who got really sick this morning. He went back to bed, and intends to come after lunch, but it’s the last day and I’m sure he would like to be enjoying it. It’s the last day … hummm :-(
Would it be really selfish to request to be a YAD again for the next GA? I really want to, but if I’m not a YAD then I’ll be a volunteer or an observer; either way I am coming back in 2010 (hint*hint* Mrs. Jen). Lol!
We are about to delve back into the real fun … today holds Church Orders and Ministry, peacemaking (WOOT, WOOT), Health Issues, Social Justice Issues, and Church Polity. It’s going to be a long day. A woman in the Starbucks line, who’s been to General Assembly twenty two times, said that she predicted that we would be leaving the plenary at 2am. Hopefully we'll be out of here by midnight.
I have to leave at 6:30am tomorrow, and it’s going to take an eternity to clean our room. It’s so messy, there are piles of papers everywhere, clothes erupting from suit cases, power cords strung up like spider webs, and little trinkets cluttering all table tops (aside from the lack of organization, it reminds me of Dumbledore’s office). It’s not pretty, but we’ve been too busy to worry about how it looks. It’s actually funny because everyone’s rooms have begun to look like this.
We are now (3:20pm) going over my committees reports. I was, again, on the committee of Peacemaking and International issues. We got through the first overture easily with little discussion, but the second one got us stuck. We have many more to go, and we still have Health Issues, Church Polity, and Social Justice Issues to go tonight.
Lunch was delicious … we ate at a small European bakery and I think I fell in love with the Panini that I got. I was scrumptious. Nate’s still sick however and Addie wasn’t feeling well either, so they just sat there while Meredith and I ate. We got Addie some soup on the way “home”, and just chilled in her room while she ate.
We are now (4:15pm) still on peacemaking, but Addie and Nate have gone back to the hotel, and another has fallen out of the ranks. Not gonna lie … I’m not feeling so hot myself. I’ve hand sanitized after everything I’ve done. Nate thinks he has food poisoning, but about a third of the YADs feel sick right now. (Shannon: I think I’m dying again … like Montreat.)
Oh my goodness … I think I am dying … it’s so cold in this room, I feel so nauseous (sorry if you didn’t want to know that), and these wonderful Christians, that I love, are arguing over such unintelligent things that my head might explode.
We have now (5:30pm) moved from Peacemaking to Church Polity. I just had to inform “mom” (one of our advisors) that another of our group got sick and had to go back to there room. She informed me that 29 YADs are sick.
Just got back from dinner. It was ok … no real appetite. More people are sick and Nate is getting worse. We had to say goodbye to another member of our group :-(
Before dinner we started the discussion on homosexual marriage. We kind of ended right in the middle of our discussion, so everyone had time to write their opinions down, and are now (7:35pm) sharing their opinions with all of us.
Now (8:00pm) the question has been called … this will be interesting. Nope … more amendments. I wish these ridiculous people could hear themselves. Nope … It got shot down.
My mom has bugged me, every time I speak to her, to talk about where God is here in this place. Well mom, the truth is that God is everywhere. I prayed at dinner the other night, and I just asked that everyone feel God’s presence surround them and to imagine a Jesus bobble head sitting beside their computers, and to know that he is constantly with us … because he is, when we vote, when we sleep (or don’t), when we argue, and even when we get sick … God is there. I see him as part of our group (the splendid number 11), and even when I am disappointed with my brothers and sisters here, God is a reassurance in that he is still here with us, even with them. I don’t agree with everything that has been voted here, and perhaps neither does God, but he will never abandon us, he will forgive us and keep us moving in our faith so that we may mold it to fit the new ways o our church.
8:45pm … we have moved on to discussing something to do with leaving the PC(USA) (pc-biz is not working so I’m not really sure)
9:00pm … pc-biz is back up and running and we are moving on to Social Justice Issues.
We have just now (9:15pm) voted that every PC(USA) member give up one meal a week in efforts to give the money saved to those who are hungry and/or homeless.
9:30 … and they’re dropping like flies. The number of sick YADs in racking up … this is not good. There were only 140 of us who voted on that last one (and there are 175 of us)… and most of us abstained because we don’t feel well and have been distracted … there were twenty more people that abstained then voted no.
10:30pm … we have finished Social Justice Issues and are breaking before Health Issues. I think I may very well have a fever. Fever confirmed … strongly considering leaving.
10:45pm … YAD count down to 118
11:30pm … We have voted on our final overture!
11:45pm … must pack up … we are FINISHED!!!
Final YAD count: 98
Now (2:05) I am sitting in my room with Cate (roomie) and Luke … sad because everyone went to bed because they’re sick … and I leave too early for goodbyes :-(
I must go now and start packing. See you all in two weeks! Hopefully I can continue the blog if any are interested in hearing about Project Burning Bush!
I love you all and thank you for your support, prayer, and love.
Gradey Parsons has just been elected as stated clerk! Installation service now (10:30am)
I’d like to ask your prayers for another friend of ours who got really sick this morning. He went back to bed, and intends to come after lunch, but it’s the last day and I’m sure he would like to be enjoying it. It’s the last day … hummm :-(
Would it be really selfish to request to be a YAD again for the next GA? I really want to, but if I’m not a YAD then I’ll be a volunteer or an observer; either way I am coming back in 2010 (hint*hint* Mrs. Jen). Lol!
We are about to delve back into the real fun … today holds Church Orders and Ministry, peacemaking (WOOT, WOOT), Health Issues, Social Justice Issues, and Church Polity. It’s going to be a long day. A woman in the Starbucks line, who’s been to General Assembly twenty two times, said that she predicted that we would be leaving the plenary at 2am. Hopefully we'll be out of here by midnight.
I have to leave at 6:30am tomorrow, and it’s going to take an eternity to clean our room. It’s so messy, there are piles of papers everywhere, clothes erupting from suit cases, power cords strung up like spider webs, and little trinkets cluttering all table tops (aside from the lack of organization, it reminds me of Dumbledore’s office). It’s not pretty, but we’ve been too busy to worry about how it looks. It’s actually funny because everyone’s rooms have begun to look like this.
We are now (3:20pm) going over my committees reports. I was, again, on the committee of Peacemaking and International issues. We got through the first overture easily with little discussion, but the second one got us stuck. We have many more to go, and we still have Health Issues, Church Polity, and Social Justice Issues to go tonight.
Lunch was delicious … we ate at a small European bakery and I think I fell in love with the Panini that I got. I was scrumptious. Nate’s still sick however and Addie wasn’t feeling well either, so they just sat there while Meredith and I ate. We got Addie some soup on the way “home”, and just chilled in her room while she ate.
We are now (4:15pm) still on peacemaking, but Addie and Nate have gone back to the hotel, and another has fallen out of the ranks. Not gonna lie … I’m not feeling so hot myself. I’ve hand sanitized after everything I’ve done. Nate thinks he has food poisoning, but about a third of the YADs feel sick right now. (Shannon: I think I’m dying again … like Montreat.)
Oh my goodness … I think I am dying … it’s so cold in this room, I feel so nauseous (sorry if you didn’t want to know that), and these wonderful Christians, that I love, are arguing over such unintelligent things that my head might explode.
We have now (5:30pm) moved from Peacemaking to Church Polity. I just had to inform “mom” (one of our advisors) that another of our group got sick and had to go back to there room. She informed me that 29 YADs are sick.
Just got back from dinner. It was ok … no real appetite. More people are sick and Nate is getting worse. We had to say goodbye to another member of our group :-(
Before dinner we started the discussion on homosexual marriage. We kind of ended right in the middle of our discussion, so everyone had time to write their opinions down, and are now (7:35pm) sharing their opinions with all of us.
Now (8:00pm) the question has been called … this will be interesting. Nope … more amendments. I wish these ridiculous people could hear themselves. Nope … It got shot down.
My mom has bugged me, every time I speak to her, to talk about where God is here in this place. Well mom, the truth is that God is everywhere. I prayed at dinner the other night, and I just asked that everyone feel God’s presence surround them and to imagine a Jesus bobble head sitting beside their computers, and to know that he is constantly with us … because he is, when we vote, when we sleep (or don’t), when we argue, and even when we get sick … God is there. I see him as part of our group (the splendid number 11), and even when I am disappointed with my brothers and sisters here, God is a reassurance in that he is still here with us, even with them. I don’t agree with everything that has been voted here, and perhaps neither does God, but he will never abandon us, he will forgive us and keep us moving in our faith so that we may mold it to fit the new ways o our church.
8:45pm … we have moved on to discussing something to do with leaving the PC(USA) (pc-biz is not working so I’m not really sure)
9:00pm … pc-biz is back up and running and we are moving on to Social Justice Issues.
We have just now (9:15pm) voted that every PC(USA) member give up one meal a week in efforts to give the money saved to those who are hungry and/or homeless.
9:30 … and they’re dropping like flies. The number of sick YADs in racking up … this is not good. There were only 140 of us who voted on that last one (and there are 175 of us)… and most of us abstained because we don’t feel well and have been distracted … there were twenty more people that abstained then voted no.
10:30pm … we have finished Social Justice Issues and are breaking before Health Issues. I think I may very well have a fever. Fever confirmed … strongly considering leaving.
10:45pm … YAD count down to 118
11:30pm … We have voted on our final overture!
11:45pm … must pack up … we are FINISHED!!!
Final YAD count: 98
Now (2:05) I am sitting in my room with Cate (roomie) and Luke … sad because everyone went to bed because they’re sick … and I leave too early for goodbyes :-(
I must go now and start packing. See you all in two weeks! Hopefully I can continue the blog if any are interested in hearing about Project Burning Bush!
I love you all and thank you for your support, prayer, and love.
3:00am ... taking a break from packing ... need to rest, still not feeling well. Please pray for everyone as they travel tomorrow, and that they all feel well enough to do so ... I can't imagine flying when you're sick.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Longest Day Yet
So this morning I woke up. I got breakfast (starbucks). I went to plenary. I’m dragging today.
Now (9:00am) I am sitting in plenary. We just voted on the candidate for advisory committee on the constitution. Stewart Pollock won. We then proceeded to vote on about 20 or so more people to positions that we know almost nothing about. It was great. People would stand at the podium and give a three minute speech in advocacy of someone to fill some position that we literally know nothing about. We didn’t know what these people would do, how they would do it, and therefore could make no appropriate decision on which one could fill this position. It was also around this time that I began to feel the lack of sleep from last night.
Now (9:00am) I am sitting in plenary. We just voted on the candidate for advisory committee on the constitution. Stewart Pollock won. We then proceeded to vote on about 20 or so more people to positions that we know almost nothing about. It was great. People would stand at the podium and give a three minute speech in advocacy of someone to fill some position that we literally know nothing about. We didn’t know what these people would do, how they would do it, and therefore could make no appropriate decision on which one could fill this position. It was also around this time that I began to feel the lack of sleep from last night.
After this, we heard reports from committees 3, 8, and 13. There wasn’t much commotion on anything, but I was a bit taken aback by how quickly we passed the acceptation of the Belhar Confession.
Lunch.Worship.
Again with the picketers giving their opinions. On the way to dinner (our presbytery went out to eat) we were again spoken at by a few men with large signs who informed us that we should be so taken with the lord that people look at us in awe. I truly wanted to say “people sure look at you in awe … because you’re making such fools of yourselves” but I don’t have a death wish and I don’t intend to give them the satisfaction of knowing that someone is actually listening to them … so we just walk past.
Dinner was pretty alright, and it was great to get to know more of our commissioners. It’s just sad that this was really the only time that I’d be able to do so.
Picketers still there after dinner. Now (10:00pm) I am dying in plenary. We have been sitting down for so long … I had to take medicine because my back hurt so badly. I’m in desperate need of fresh air. We have just begun on church polity and have a lot more to go tonight. We are going to be addressing the gay marriage overtures tonight, and there is undoubtedly going to be a lot of controversy. Also tonight we are supposed to hear from the committee on health issues which brings about the issue of abortion. To say the least, we are going to be here for a while.
Not too many exciting moments today. We’ve been in plenary since this morning at 8:30am with only three hours for both meals and about four small breaks. I’ll try for more excitement tomorrow.
Speaking (thinking) about tomorrow … it’s a sad day. One of our group members is flying out tomorrow morning so this is our last night together as a whole :-( and we are now constantly reminded about how tomorrow is our last day together :-(
These crazy kids are like my family now, and I feel like we’ve know one another for a month. I’m going to miss them terribly, but we are already planning our reunion! No worries here … we will be together again. It’s just been so amazing to have the opportunity to come here and find my way alone. I have been myself with this group from the beginning and I feel no reason to be embarrassed about being who I am. We are totally and completely open with one another and that is perhaps the best feeling in the world.
AAAAHHHHHHH! We are now(11:45pm) still in plenary.
12:10am and we have said our goodbyes :-(
12:20am and I guess I’m getting ready for bed
12:40am and I’m still sad and not in bed … but it’s an early morning tomorrow so …
Funny story of the day … oh shoot … I can’t remember
Mom: I’m working on it
1:22am and saying goodbye
Thursday, June 26, 2008
I'm out of witty headlines
Day five … or is it six? Technically it’s seven for me … they all sort of blend together.
Today we got to sleep in!!! The first thing on our agenda for toady was lunch at noon … which was wonderful considering people were in our room until 3:30am. AGH!! I was so tired that I just rolled over and went to sleep around 2:45am, knowing they would leave eventually. It was fun though!
After lunch we wandered around in the Exhibition hall for a little while, and then headed back to our hotel for mission presentations and a mini YAD worship.
Now (3:45pm) we are sitting in plenary listening to and voting on the reports from different committees and their overtures. We are scheduled to be here until 6pm. YAY! But we are planning on dressing up and going to P.F. Chang’s for dinner, so that’s exciting.
OK … made it to dinner and it was amazing! We got a myriad of different entrées and just passed our plates! Delicious! On the way back, however, we J-walked back to the convention center, and were confronted by picketers who shouted at us “Break man’s law, get a ticket. Break God’s law, go to hell.” They were there to show their disapproval of homosexual rights in our church. Not more than 50 feet away, however, a group of people who were promoting the rights of homosexuals were handing out cookies. It’s disappointing to see how separated people are on such issues and the lengths to which they will go to get their views across. These Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ but seem to be so blind to that fact that they are feuding so harshly and have resorted to these (for lack of a better word) animal like behaviors. We’ve been told that it will only get worse from this point forward so I guess the fun has only just begun :-/
We have just finished “speak out” (an opportunity for people to get things off of their chests or offer suggestions) and have now (8:05pm) returned to the business from before dinner. We have been debating the majority of this time about whether or not our God and the Gods of Jews and Muslims are in fact the same God. Now I’m not sure if any of you can answer this question, but I know that I sure can’t and I’m not really sure how anyone can truly know about another’s God. I don’t believe that the God you worship is the same as the one I worship, because I believe God is what you believe him/her to be, and we all see this God figure in a different way because not a one of us believes the same exact same thing in the same way as any other. And that is not to say that we don’t share in this religion, because we all worship this higher power as one and come together in this faith as people who believe in God regardless of how we see him/her individually. A representative just stood up and actually said almost the same thing that I just typed so I guess I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
We are actually ahead in our docket so they have moved a few committee reports up to tonight instead of leaving them for tomorrow. We are now (8:30pm) on a short break as we wait for the amendment to be put on the screen. I believe that the running feed of our meeting can be found on the PC(USA) website (if anything can be found on that site) for all of those interested in exactly what is happening. It is in real time (pacific coast time) however, so we are three hours behind.
The natives are getting restless … it was just suggested that we move a little slower (because pc-biz doesn’t move as quickly as our moderator and by the time the overture pops up on the screen, we’ve already voted on it) and there was a huge uproar of disapproval. They don’t make that much noise when we vote.
Alright … now (9:05pm) we are watching a video about our stated clerk … but it’s not so much a video as a medley of pictures put to music. Not gonna lie … it’s a bit awkward, and I don’t necessarily see it’s relevance to the committee that brought it into question.
YAD caucus is officially over and we are now (12:30am) sitting in Nate’s room watching Scrubs. We got Ben&Jerry’s ice cream in the lobby and we are not just chillin’.
Tomorrow starts bright and early with plenary ALL day long.
I want to add a special thanks to my parents and all of parents who allow their children to be who they are and accept them no matter what. We heard a lot of testimony today about people whose parents disowned them because of choices that they have made, and people whose parents didn’t take the time to inform them of the natural happenings of life. It just makes me appreciate so greatly how wonderful my parents are. So thanks to them and to all … it’s great to know how much I am loved. Love you too mom and dad … and to all others who are like parents/mentors to me!
Today we got to sleep in!!! The first thing on our agenda for toady was lunch at noon … which was wonderful considering people were in our room until 3:30am. AGH!! I was so tired that I just rolled over and went to sleep around 2:45am, knowing they would leave eventually. It was fun though!
After lunch we wandered around in the Exhibition hall for a little while, and then headed back to our hotel for mission presentations and a mini YAD worship.
Now (3:45pm) we are sitting in plenary listening to and voting on the reports from different committees and their overtures. We are scheduled to be here until 6pm. YAY! But we are planning on dressing up and going to P.F. Chang’s for dinner, so that’s exciting.
OK … made it to dinner and it was amazing! We got a myriad of different entrées and just passed our plates! Delicious! On the way back, however, we J-walked back to the convention center, and were confronted by picketers who shouted at us “Break man’s law, get a ticket. Break God’s law, go to hell.” They were there to show their disapproval of homosexual rights in our church. Not more than 50 feet away, however, a group of people who were promoting the rights of homosexuals were handing out cookies. It’s disappointing to see how separated people are on such issues and the lengths to which they will go to get their views across. These Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ but seem to be so blind to that fact that they are feuding so harshly and have resorted to these (for lack of a better word) animal like behaviors. We’ve been told that it will only get worse from this point forward so I guess the fun has only just begun :-/
We have just finished “speak out” (an opportunity for people to get things off of their chests or offer suggestions) and have now (8:05pm) returned to the business from before dinner. We have been debating the majority of this time about whether or not our God and the Gods of Jews and Muslims are in fact the same God. Now I’m not sure if any of you can answer this question, but I know that I sure can’t and I’m not really sure how anyone can truly know about another’s God. I don’t believe that the God you worship is the same as the one I worship, because I believe God is what you believe him/her to be, and we all see this God figure in a different way because not a one of us believes the same exact same thing in the same way as any other. And that is not to say that we don’t share in this religion, because we all worship this higher power as one and come together in this faith as people who believe in God regardless of how we see him/her individually. A representative just stood up and actually said almost the same thing that I just typed so I guess I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
We are actually ahead in our docket so they have moved a few committee reports up to tonight instead of leaving them for tomorrow. We are now (8:30pm) on a short break as we wait for the amendment to be put on the screen. I believe that the running feed of our meeting can be found on the PC(USA) website (if anything can be found on that site) for all of those interested in exactly what is happening. It is in real time (pacific coast time) however, so we are three hours behind.
The natives are getting restless … it was just suggested that we move a little slower (because pc-biz doesn’t move as quickly as our moderator and by the time the overture pops up on the screen, we’ve already voted on it) and there was a huge uproar of disapproval. They don’t make that much noise when we vote.
Alright … now (9:05pm) we are watching a video about our stated clerk … but it’s not so much a video as a medley of pictures put to music. Not gonna lie … it’s a bit awkward, and I don’t necessarily see it’s relevance to the committee that brought it into question.
YAD caucus is officially over and we are now (12:30am) sitting in Nate’s room watching Scrubs. We got Ben&Jerry’s ice cream in the lobby and we are not just chillin’.
Tomorrow starts bright and early with plenary ALL day long.
I want to add a special thanks to my parents and all of parents who allow their children to be who they are and accept them no matter what. We heard a lot of testimony today about people whose parents disowned them because of choices that they have made, and people whose parents didn’t take the time to inform them of the natural happenings of life. It just makes me appreciate so greatly how wonderful my parents are. So thanks to them and to all … it’s great to know how much I am loved. Love you too mom and dad … and to all others who are like parents/mentors to me!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
what's sleep?
so we are now (1:45am) all sitting in our room watching infomercials and doing things on the the computer ... sleep is no more.
we don't have anything to do tomorrow until 12pm!!!
i can't contain my excitment
must sleep ...
we don't have anything to do tomorrow until 12pm!!!
i can't contain my excitment
must sleep ...
more fun stuff
gas prices $4.96
body slam
the beach!!!
bumper cars
Sky thingy
new KISS shades
bus ride
my committee's representations of peace
Palm Trees ...
the mountains that enclose the city
**ERIN DON'T LOOK** ... my feet in the Pacific Ocean
Arcade GamesA disfunctional game of volleyball
Rollercoaster Fun!!!
Swinging Dragon Ride Thing
lemon eating concert
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
what's today?
(In committee we have wireless internet, but the only website able to be accessed is pc-biz so I type my blog in a word document during free time throughout the day and post it all at night)
Sleep …
This was an early morning again with worship at 8:30. Worship was great, but it released late so we didn’t exactly have time for breakfast before we had to go to committee. Nutrigrain bar and pretzels it was.
Now (11:49am) we are now discussing overtures pertaining to human rights in Zimbabwe and Columbia. We got through the hearings smoothly (although they took forever, I think we had twenty) and moved to pass the first overture quickly. After that, however, the pace slowed to a crawl (and a slow crawl at that). We’ve been stuck on our second overture for more than an hour :-o We actually managed to get so tangled in this overture that we had an amendment to the amendment to the amendment to the amendment … this is not a joke. I wish there were something funny about it, but once again I’m out of luck. We heard testimony from suffering people living in these countries that was disturbing, horrifying, sad, and scary all at the same time. These countries are full of so much hatred and violence that it’s hard to imagine. It’s trying and difficult to accept that there could be so much pain in other countries, and that we don’t even see the tip of the iceberg from here.
Lunch time … be back soon.
Oh! Lunch was delicious! We had only a short time (our committee decided to meet early) so a small group of us headed to Johnny Rockets (American food today). We got there, sat down, and got things going, but after a few minutes, our numbers doubled and we ended up squeezing 13 people into a booth for 6. I was stuck in the middle, and it’s not that I don’t love these people, but it’s difficult to function when you are basically sitting on top of one another. Because everyone else showed up, the process of food making slowed drastically and we ended up having to get our food to go and hurry back to committee. So we ate while we debated, but it was still delicious.
Now (1:30pm) we are going over commissioners reports pertaining to the starvation caused by flooding in Korea. Motion passed … now onto the afternoon docket!
I should be paying better attention, but I’m sitting here debating what I should do. The YAD’s are invited to go to Santa Cruz tonight, but that will take us away from committee. I truly want to go and stick my foot in the Pacific Ocean, and have more YAD hang out time, but at the same time I feel called to be present and have my voice in committee (that is why I’m here … to represent the youth of our presbytery and this is the only place that my voice truly counts). So I’m dreadfully torn between the two :(
We now (1:50pm) have 47 hearings on the overtures related to Palestine and Israel.
YAY! We are now (3:15pm) done with hearings … now time to get started debating.
Still torn …
Ok … I eanie-meany-miney-moed it (the fair way of course) and ended on the beach. So … it was so great! There was like a pier with a carnival on it (like in the movies) and the beach was like home. It was so great to smell the salt air … like getting a natural fix or something. I can now openly admit that I have seen, been to , and been in the Pacific Ocean!!!!
It was a lot of fun … we had a cookout on the beach, got free tickets to ride the rides, played on the beach and continued to get to know one another. On the way home, Luke and I fell asleep so it was nice to get some rest.
Now (11:30pm) we are back at the hotel and getting ready to hit a dance party.
Now (12:15) I am sitting in my room typing these last words so I can put them on the blog and hit the hay.
Sleep …
This was an early morning again with worship at 8:30. Worship was great, but it released late so we didn’t exactly have time for breakfast before we had to go to committee. Nutrigrain bar and pretzels it was.
Now (11:49am) we are now discussing overtures pertaining to human rights in Zimbabwe and Columbia. We got through the hearings smoothly (although they took forever, I think we had twenty) and moved to pass the first overture quickly. After that, however, the pace slowed to a crawl (and a slow crawl at that). We’ve been stuck on our second overture for more than an hour :-o We actually managed to get so tangled in this overture that we had an amendment to the amendment to the amendment to the amendment … this is not a joke. I wish there were something funny about it, but once again I’m out of luck. We heard testimony from suffering people living in these countries that was disturbing, horrifying, sad, and scary all at the same time. These countries are full of so much hatred and violence that it’s hard to imagine. It’s trying and difficult to accept that there could be so much pain in other countries, and that we don’t even see the tip of the iceberg from here.
Lunch time … be back soon.
Oh! Lunch was delicious! We had only a short time (our committee decided to meet early) so a small group of us headed to Johnny Rockets (American food today). We got there, sat down, and got things going, but after a few minutes, our numbers doubled and we ended up squeezing 13 people into a booth for 6. I was stuck in the middle, and it’s not that I don’t love these people, but it’s difficult to function when you are basically sitting on top of one another. Because everyone else showed up, the process of food making slowed drastically and we ended up having to get our food to go and hurry back to committee. So we ate while we debated, but it was still delicious.
Now (1:30pm) we are going over commissioners reports pertaining to the starvation caused by flooding in Korea. Motion passed … now onto the afternoon docket!
I should be paying better attention, but I’m sitting here debating what I should do. The YAD’s are invited to go to Santa Cruz tonight, but that will take us away from committee. I truly want to go and stick my foot in the Pacific Ocean, and have more YAD hang out time, but at the same time I feel called to be present and have my voice in committee (that is why I’m here … to represent the youth of our presbytery and this is the only place that my voice truly counts). So I’m dreadfully torn between the two :(
We now (1:50pm) have 47 hearings on the overtures related to Palestine and Israel.
YAY! We are now (3:15pm) done with hearings … now time to get started debating.
Still torn …
Ok … I eanie-meany-miney-moed it (the fair way of course) and ended on the beach. So … it was so great! There was like a pier with a carnival on it (like in the movies) and the beach was like home. It was so great to smell the salt air … like getting a natural fix or something. I can now openly admit that I have seen, been to , and been in the Pacific Ocean!!!!
It was a lot of fun … we had a cookout on the beach, got free tickets to ride the rides, played on the beach and continued to get to know one another. On the way home, Luke and I fell asleep so it was nice to get some rest.
Now (11:30pm) we are back at the hotel and getting ready to hit a dance party.
Now (12:15) I am sitting in my room typing these last words so I can put them on the blog and hit the hay.
it's only Monday?
I’m so tired …
Right now it is 5pm here and we have been sitting in committee meetings all day. They started this morning at 9:30 and, other then a one hour lunch, we haven’t stopped since. We went over the overtures pertaining to human trafficking, and some of the miscellaneous overtures that did not fit into our other categories. We heard the public’s opinion during the hearing time and then continued to discussing and voting on the overtures as a committee. (those overtures included 11-19, 11-22, 11-12, 11-13, and 11-14)
Then a group of YAD’s went out for lunch. We grabbed Asian food and ate it picnic style in the park. Yum!
After lunch, at 1:30, we came straight back to committee and have been dealing with all overtures pertaining to Iraq ever since. We again had hearings on the issues, and then moved into committee discussion. Before we review each overture, the people who created it have an opportunity to advocate for it. Also, because this is such a large topic, we have heard from many special interest groups that deal with the proposed topic. I don’t like this. People are trying to be polite and reserved so as not to create conflict, but through doing so are not helping us to move forward toward resolution.
I do enjoy this experience, however. The process is interesting and I am finally getting a hang of it. Also, it was interesting getting to hear others views on such issues, especially those of the military chaplains.
Alright … now it is officially 1am here and I’m exhausted. Like I said earlier, we dealt with Iraq overtures this afternoon in committee. There were seven of them, but we decided to clump them together and form two groups. The first group took all afternoon and most of the evening, with a lot of discussion and amendments, and amendments to the amendments, and so on and so on.
Everything was eventually passed in some form or another. Now we are moving on tomorrow to human rights in the morning and Israel/Palestine conflicts in the afternoon.
We had Steak and potatoes for dinner and managed to eat at a table consisting only of YAD’s in a room full of commissioners and advisory delegates; a large accomplishment … leading to much fun and many laughs!
After our final Committee meeting we met back for YAD caucus
Then headed to bed!!
Now it is 1:20am (a get distracted alot) so I must go to bed
Sorry if this is all jumbled or confusing but I am dog tired and can’t organize my thoughts well ... oh well … until tomorrow …
... and thanks for all of your wonderful comments ... it's good to know that I'm in your thoughts and prayers!
Right now it is 5pm here and we have been sitting in committee meetings all day. They started this morning at 9:30 and, other then a one hour lunch, we haven’t stopped since. We went over the overtures pertaining to human trafficking, and some of the miscellaneous overtures that did not fit into our other categories. We heard the public’s opinion during the hearing time and then continued to discussing and voting on the overtures as a committee. (those overtures included 11-19, 11-22, 11-12, 11-13, and 11-14)
Then a group of YAD’s went out for lunch. We grabbed Asian food and ate it picnic style in the park. Yum!
After lunch, at 1:30, we came straight back to committee and have been dealing with all overtures pertaining to Iraq ever since. We again had hearings on the issues, and then moved into committee discussion. Before we review each overture, the people who created it have an opportunity to advocate for it. Also, because this is such a large topic, we have heard from many special interest groups that deal with the proposed topic. I don’t like this. People are trying to be polite and reserved so as not to create conflict, but through doing so are not helping us to move forward toward resolution.
I do enjoy this experience, however. The process is interesting and I am finally getting a hang of it. Also, it was interesting getting to hear others views on such issues, especially those of the military chaplains.
Alright … now it is officially 1am here and I’m exhausted. Like I said earlier, we dealt with Iraq overtures this afternoon in committee. There were seven of them, but we decided to clump them together and form two groups. The first group took all afternoon and most of the evening, with a lot of discussion and amendments, and amendments to the amendments, and so on and so on.
Everything was eventually passed in some form or another. Now we are moving on tomorrow to human rights in the morning and Israel/Palestine conflicts in the afternoon.
We had Steak and potatoes for dinner and managed to eat at a table consisting only of YAD’s in a room full of commissioners and advisory delegates; a large accomplishment … leading to much fun and many laughs!
After our final Committee meeting we met back for YAD caucus
Then headed to bed!!
Now it is 1:20am (a get distracted alot) so I must go to bed
Sorry if this is all jumbled or confusing but I am dog tired and can’t organize my thoughts well ... oh well … until tomorrow …
... and thanks for all of your wonderful comments ... it's good to know that I'm in your thoughts and prayers!
Monday, June 23, 2008
The end to Funday
All hopes to get to bed early are shot …
Our business meeting was good actually. It was short and the biggest thing that we did was watch a video about how to treat people with disabilities. The video was both fun and informational and truly made you think about things from another’s perspective.
Dinner was just alright tonight, but that is to be expected (we didn’t eat at our hotel), but we were able to sit with the ecumenical delegates and converse with them. That was fun and I really enjoyed to hear about how they and their churches did business and worshiped.
After that we had our first committee meeting. I’m on the committee for peacemaking and international issues (number 11), but we didn’t do much in committee. We had some get to know you activities that were pointless and unsuccessful followed by an acceptance of the docket, some technical difficulties, arguments about the process, more technical difficulties, and worship. I think it is going to be a highly argumentative group, but hopefully we will provoke good discussion that will lead to compromise and resolution.
Tonight in YAD caucus, we had a Pastor form Switzerland come and answer questions we had about ecumenical practices. It was really neat and I enjoyed the points he made.
It’s 2am here now … so I must go to bed. We have decided that the David Lamotte concert (at 7am) is just not going to work out … so I guess it’s starbucks for breakfast once again. UGH! I have nutrigrain bars though … and those are my favorite, so I guess I can have one of those for breakfast.
My roomie and I are beginning to become giddy in our tiredness so I must hit the hay.
Miss you all and wish you could be here! Much Love …
Our business meeting was good actually. It was short and the biggest thing that we did was watch a video about how to treat people with disabilities. The video was both fun and informational and truly made you think about things from another’s perspective.
Dinner was just alright tonight, but that is to be expected (we didn’t eat at our hotel), but we were able to sit with the ecumenical delegates and converse with them. That was fun and I really enjoyed to hear about how they and their churches did business and worshiped.
After that we had our first committee meeting. I’m on the committee for peacemaking and international issues (number 11), but we didn’t do much in committee. We had some get to know you activities that were pointless and unsuccessful followed by an acceptance of the docket, some technical difficulties, arguments about the process, more technical difficulties, and worship. I think it is going to be a highly argumentative group, but hopefully we will provoke good discussion that will lead to compromise and resolution.
Tonight in YAD caucus, we had a Pastor form Switzerland come and answer questions we had about ecumenical practices. It was really neat and I enjoyed the points he made.
It’s 2am here now … so I must go to bed. We have decided that the David Lamotte concert (at 7am) is just not going to work out … so I guess it’s starbucks for breakfast once again. UGH! I have nutrigrain bars though … and those are my favorite, so I guess I can have one of those for breakfast.
My roomie and I are beginning to become giddy in our tiredness so I must hit the hay.
Miss you all and wish you could be here! Much Love …
Sunday Funday
Breakfast was on our own this morning, so the group went wandering and found a Starbucks and then proceeded to a doughnut/bagel shop down the street. It was good and a reminder of home. We walked a lot though and I have decided that I want to live here. It’s so beautiful and historic and there is a zero humidity factor!! It’s just so amazing that I can’t even put it into words, but maybe I’ll have a camera next time so that you can see it also.
After that we headed to worship. There were multiple worship services going on, but the YAD’s were asked to attend the one that was farthest away (because it’s easier for us to make the journey), so we attended the service located at the San Jose State University Events Center. It was just so completely awesome that I wish you could all have been there. The choir was made of over two hundred people and about two thousand people attended the service. As I said … Amazing!
Following the service, my friend Addie and I attended the Media Lunch that was sponsored by the Presbyterian Media Mission. The guest speaker was a role model and one of my favorite actors, Mike Farrell. That was really awesome and I got him to autograph a copy of his newest book, and take a picture (and I got to shake his hand and talk to him!!!). It was awesome!! (I need a synonym for that word) It was spectacular!!
Now I am sitting in my room with my roomie and some others and we are on our computers and watching TV and napping and just thoroughly enjoying our small amount of free time. Some YAD’s traveled to San Francisco, but we decided to rest up. In about 30 minutes we will head to the convention center for another business meeting. Then it’s dinner and our first committee meetings, YAD caucus and bed!!! I think we are supposed to be done around 11:30 tonight so hopefully I will get more sleep tonight.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers and I promise to try and get some pictures up later tonight.
After that we headed to worship. There were multiple worship services going on, but the YAD’s were asked to attend the one that was farthest away (because it’s easier for us to make the journey), so we attended the service located at the San Jose State University Events Center. It was just so completely awesome that I wish you could all have been there. The choir was made of over two hundred people and about two thousand people attended the service. As I said … Amazing!
Following the service, my friend Addie and I attended the Media Lunch that was sponsored by the Presbyterian Media Mission. The guest speaker was a role model and one of my favorite actors, Mike Farrell. That was really awesome and I got him to autograph a copy of his newest book, and take a picture (and I got to shake his hand and talk to him!!!). It was awesome!! (I need a synonym for that word) It was spectacular!!
Now I am sitting in my room with my roomie and some others and we are on our computers and watching TV and napping and just thoroughly enjoying our small amount of free time. Some YAD’s traveled to San Francisco, but we decided to rest up. In about 30 minutes we will head to the convention center for another business meeting. Then it’s dinner and our first committee meetings, YAD caucus and bed!!! I think we are supposed to be done around 11:30 tonight so hopefully I will get more sleep tonight.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers and I promise to try and get some pictures up later tonight.
The Begining
The internet is still not working well so I am typing all of my blog entries in a word document with hopes to put them online later.
It is Saturday morning and the fun has begun. We began with a YAD picture before breakfast which was tons of fun. We all hoarded out onto the stairs leading up to a parking deck so that we could all fit. Hopefully it will be a good picture :)
We had our first business meeting at 10am this morning and it was very informational. They thanked everyone, and we watched some videos, and so on, and so on. The room where we meet is awesome. It’s about as wide as a football field and about as long as two or three. If the internet is working correctly then hopefully I will have some pictures up.
Lunch time was next! The food here that we get as YAD’s is amazing to say the least. Most of our meals are catered by the hotel and are absolutely delicious. Dinner the first night was homemade pizza, yesterday for lunch we had steak and potatoes, dinner last night was heaps of pasta, and on, and on.
After lunch we came back to the plenary hall, everyone was broken into three groups, and we traveled through stations learning about different aspects of plenary sessions. It was exciting to get things going, but I’m a bit anxious about all of the rules and strict procedures that we have to follow. I’m also a bit nervous about starting committees tomorrow.
Dinner at last! I feel as though we eat every five minutes here. Our group wandered around and found a cute hole-in-the-wall pizza place a few blocks away from our hotel. It was delicious (just like all food here is) and we had great laughs (like always), but we had to hurry back to the conference center for our third business session.
Right now it is 7:20pm and I am sitting in the business session listening to representatives from the churches of European countries. Soon we will have the moderator campaigning and elections, and then we will return to our hotel for YAD caucus. Hopefully we will be done by 11, but our group has a hardcore game of Mafia (a card game) planned for tonight.
We are getting started now so I must go … until next time! To tack on to earlier … I have sat through an hour of a moditorial question/answer session, the moderator election, the moderator installation (Bruce Reyes-Chow won!!!), and YAD caucus.
Now I am most defiantly ready for bed … but we are all in one room on our laptops facebooking one another and talking. It’s wonderful!!!
Until tomorrow ...
Oh ... to highlight a feely good moment: this morning during the plenary session, they showed a video of Triennium and discussed the power of the candel light service we had. It brought back all of those moments and I got warm fuzzies remembering all of those good times! Also, they showed a picture of my Triennium small group in their video and that was just awesome!!
It is Saturday morning and the fun has begun. We began with a YAD picture before breakfast which was tons of fun. We all hoarded out onto the stairs leading up to a parking deck so that we could all fit. Hopefully it will be a good picture :)
We had our first business meeting at 10am this morning and it was very informational. They thanked everyone, and we watched some videos, and so on, and so on. The room where we meet is awesome. It’s about as wide as a football field and about as long as two or three. If the internet is working correctly then hopefully I will have some pictures up.
Lunch time was next! The food here that we get as YAD’s is amazing to say the least. Most of our meals are catered by the hotel and are absolutely delicious. Dinner the first night was homemade pizza, yesterday for lunch we had steak and potatoes, dinner last night was heaps of pasta, and on, and on.
After lunch we came back to the plenary hall, everyone was broken into three groups, and we traveled through stations learning about different aspects of plenary sessions. It was exciting to get things going, but I’m a bit anxious about all of the rules and strict procedures that we have to follow. I’m also a bit nervous about starting committees tomorrow.
Dinner at last! I feel as though we eat every five minutes here. Our group wandered around and found a cute hole-in-the-wall pizza place a few blocks away from our hotel. It was delicious (just like all food here is) and we had great laughs (like always), but we had to hurry back to the conference center for our third business session.
Right now it is 7:20pm and I am sitting in the business session listening to representatives from the churches of European countries. Soon we will have the moderator campaigning and elections, and then we will return to our hotel for YAD caucus. Hopefully we will be done by 11, but our group has a hardcore game of Mafia (a card game) planned for tonight.
We are getting started now so I must go … until next time! To tack on to earlier … I have sat through an hour of a moditorial question/answer session, the moderator election, the moderator installation (Bruce Reyes-Chow won!!!), and YAD caucus.
Now I am most defiantly ready for bed … but we are all in one room on our laptops facebooking one another and talking. It’s wonderful!!!
Until tomorrow ...
Oh ... to highlight a feely good moment: this morning during the plenary session, they showed a video of Triennium and discussed the power of the candel light service we had. It brought back all of those moments and I got warm fuzzies remembering all of those good times! Also, they showed a picture of my Triennium small group in their video and that was just awesome!!
Orientation Extravaganza
Day two: Also one of the longest days of my life. Friday began with 8am breakfast and from there went to orientation for almost the entire day. After breakfast some of us slipped out and went to the convention center to get registered. The convention center is gigantic. No joke. It is so amazing and beautiful and HUGE.
After lunch we all wondered back to the convention center for three hours of anti-racism training. The training was truly pointless and didn’t tell us anything really. We did have discussion time, however, and that was a lot of fun. I was sitting with a group of YAD’s and we had good and true discussions about racism in today’s society. It was awesome to hear everyone’s s stances on the issues and to get there insight on many other difficult topics that we encounter as youth.
The day ended with our first YAD Caucus (a worship/informational session that YAD’s have every night to relax and share our experiences for the day) and elected our YAD co-moderators for the week. I was interested in running, but so were twenty others who were much older and much more experienced than I, so I sat that opportunity out. It was good though and two really great YAD’s got the positions.
As for making friends … no problem. If you’ve never been to a youth conference you may not understand, but when you’re in a place surrounded by other youth your age who have the same beliefs and faith, it’s is truly easy to be yourself and therefore make friends. I hate to say it but I've sort of fallen into a notch and am now part of a specific group of people. Not that we aren’t open to new people (we actually would love to include everyone) but there are about eight of us who connected on the first night at dinner and have been together ever since. It’s weird to think about the fact that we just met two nights ago because I feel like I’ve known these people forever. Every time we are together, we have constant questions going around so that everyone answers and we all grow closer. Also flying back and forth every time we are together are the jokes. I’m almost positive that I’ve never laughed as much as I have in the last two days.
Alright, I guess I should pay attention now; we are starting something (as always), so I’ll get back soon.
After lunch we all wondered back to the convention center for three hours of anti-racism training. The training was truly pointless and didn’t tell us anything really. We did have discussion time, however, and that was a lot of fun. I was sitting with a group of YAD’s and we had good and true discussions about racism in today’s society. It was awesome to hear everyone’s s stances on the issues and to get there insight on many other difficult topics that we encounter as youth.
The day ended with our first YAD Caucus (a worship/informational session that YAD’s have every night to relax and share our experiences for the day) and elected our YAD co-moderators for the week. I was interested in running, but so were twenty others who were much older and much more experienced than I, so I sat that opportunity out. It was good though and two really great YAD’s got the positions.
As for making friends … no problem. If you’ve never been to a youth conference you may not understand, but when you’re in a place surrounded by other youth your age who have the same beliefs and faith, it’s is truly easy to be yourself and therefore make friends. I hate to say it but I've sort of fallen into a notch and am now part of a specific group of people. Not that we aren’t open to new people (we actually would love to include everyone) but there are about eight of us who connected on the first night at dinner and have been together ever since. It’s weird to think about the fact that we just met two nights ago because I feel like I’ve known these people forever. Every time we are together, we have constant questions going around so that everyone answers and we all grow closer. Also flying back and forth every time we are together are the jokes. I’m almost positive that I’ve never laughed as much as I have in the last two days.
Alright, I guess I should pay attention now; we are starting something (as always), so I’ll get back soon.
I finally made my way to San Jose
I wrote this last night but the internet is still not solid, so it didn’t work long enough to post. Sorry again that it’s been so long.
Where to begin? Where to begin? I'm sorry that this is the first time that I'm getting on to blog, but we just figured out how to get wireless internet in our hotel rooms. Right Now it is 10:45pm here on Friday June 20th, and I have never been this tired. We are being kept busy every second of the day. I left my hotel room at 7:30 this morning and didn't get a free minute until around 6ish when we were allotted ten minutes free time before dinner. I have so much to tell, but I'm not sure if I will have the energy to stay up too much longer.
I guess I should start at the beginning. Thursday morning ...
I was ruthlessly dragged from bed at around 3:30am (Raleigh time) and got to the airport at around 4:15am. My flight boarded at 5:30am and we were off by 6am. This is when the fun began. I was to fly out of the Raleigh airport and arrive at the Dallas TX airport at around 7:45am Dallas time (one hour behind). That's not exactly what happened. Instead we were informed of major storms hitting the Dallas area and of the delays they would cause. After circling the airport about five times waiting for our turn to land, we were told by our pilot that we didn't have the fuel to continue circling for the predicted 30 minutes that it would take for our turn to come about, so we were diverting to an Oklahoma airport (I think) to refuel. That was fun :) When we finally got fuel we had to travel back to Dallas and wait once again for our turn to land. As we finally pulled onto the runway, the very sweet elderly lady (with a passion for conversation) that I was sitting next to pointed out the fact that we had been on that plane for five hours. Did I mention all the fun we had? Needless to say ... I missed my connecting flight and had the honor to stand in line for about an hour to wait for a new flight. When I reached the front of the line however, they informed me that I wouldn't be able to catch another flight directly to San Jose so they changed my entire flight plan.
Form there I had to catch the sky tram to another terminal so that I could wait some more for my new flight. After all of the delays (apparently the airport was struck by lightning twice so It messed up all of everything) I finally got on the plane and was on my way to Orange County and the Santa Ana airport (Sah-nah-tah-ah-nah). As was to be expected, I missed my connecting flight, and was rescheduled again to San Jose. This gave me another few hours to wait in the cramped room that is the Santa Ana airport, where apparently the air conditioner was broken. When I arrived in San Jose we were horded down to the terminal and out into a parking deck full of waiting busses. After a bit of a hunt, I found my bus and was finally on my way to the hotel.
Thursday June 19th was one of the longest days of my life to date. But I finally, after 13 hours of airport, made it to what is sure to be one of the best experiences of my life … and now I have a good story to tell :)
Where to begin? Where to begin? I'm sorry that this is the first time that I'm getting on to blog, but we just figured out how to get wireless internet in our hotel rooms. Right Now it is 10:45pm here on Friday June 20th, and I have never been this tired. We are being kept busy every second of the day. I left my hotel room at 7:30 this morning and didn't get a free minute until around 6ish when we were allotted ten minutes free time before dinner. I have so much to tell, but I'm not sure if I will have the energy to stay up too much longer.
I guess I should start at the beginning. Thursday morning ...
I was ruthlessly dragged from bed at around 3:30am (Raleigh time) and got to the airport at around 4:15am. My flight boarded at 5:30am and we were off by 6am. This is when the fun began. I was to fly out of the Raleigh airport and arrive at the Dallas TX airport at around 7:45am Dallas time (one hour behind). That's not exactly what happened. Instead we were informed of major storms hitting the Dallas area and of the delays they would cause. After circling the airport about five times waiting for our turn to land, we were told by our pilot that we didn't have the fuel to continue circling for the predicted 30 minutes that it would take for our turn to come about, so we were diverting to an Oklahoma airport (I think) to refuel. That was fun :) When we finally got fuel we had to travel back to Dallas and wait once again for our turn to land. As we finally pulled onto the runway, the very sweet elderly lady (with a passion for conversation) that I was sitting next to pointed out the fact that we had been on that plane for five hours. Did I mention all the fun we had? Needless to say ... I missed my connecting flight and had the honor to stand in line for about an hour to wait for a new flight. When I reached the front of the line however, they informed me that I wouldn't be able to catch another flight directly to San Jose so they changed my entire flight plan.
Form there I had to catch the sky tram to another terminal so that I could wait some more for my new flight. After all of the delays (apparently the airport was struck by lightning twice so It messed up all of everything) I finally got on the plane and was on my way to Orange County and the Santa Ana airport (Sah-nah-tah-ah-nah). As was to be expected, I missed my connecting flight, and was rescheduled again to San Jose. This gave me another few hours to wait in the cramped room that is the Santa Ana airport, where apparently the air conditioner was broken. When I arrived in San Jose we were horded down to the terminal and out into a parking deck full of waiting busses. After a bit of a hunt, I found my bus and was finally on my way to the hotel.
Thursday June 19th was one of the longest days of my life to date. But I finally, after 13 hours of airport, made it to what is sure to be one of the best experiences of my life … and now I have a good story to tell :)
Counting Down
Let the countdown begin! Only 9 more days of school ... only 16 more days untill Montreat ... and only 28 days until I fly out to the General Assembly!With General Assembly comes an amazing amount of reading.
I am on the committee 'peacemaking and international issues' and so far there is a ton of reading on all of the different overatures to be reviewed by my committee. So as excited as I am to go to the GA (general assembly), i'm also really anxious about getting everything done before I go. I know that GA is going to be an amazing experience, and I can't wait unti I fly out!!
until next time,
Maggie
I am on the committee 'peacemaking and international issues' and so far there is a ton of reading on all of the different overatures to be reviewed by my committee. So as excited as I am to go to the GA (general assembly), i'm also really anxious about getting everything done before I go. I know that GA is going to be an amazing experience, and I can't wait unti I fly out!!
until next time,
Maggie
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