Day Three and still excited

Today is the third day of my adventure into Methodism. Last night was the first night to be broken into Legislative committees. The committee in which I selected to sit in on earlier during our preconference preparation was Local Church. This committee will be dealing with petitions that have been submitted that will affect the local church and believe me there are quite a few. The first thing on the agenda was election of officers. After which we had a dinner break, returning to the meeting with lots of work to be done. Shortly after the officers were elected, we broke up into subcommittees and begin to work on the petitions assigned to us. Last night we worked until about 10:30pm and were expect to be back here at between 7:00 am and 7:45am this morning to continue the task as hand. When they talk about long hours at General Conference believe them. I have really been fortunate, I mentioned that I met a person from the North Georgia Conference and we talked about things than only a person from around my hometown would know. Today, I met a woman from Tuskegee, Alabama, now this is a small world; we spent the entire lunch discussing the South Alabama/West Florida Conference. What a wonder experience it is to talk to persons from your native land. To at lunch we were treated to a concern given by a band ands the music had a jazz flair about it. I have watched the African delegates walk around in some outfits to die for. The vibrant colors are so rich and the style will flatter all. It is amazing the creative that has gone into the making of the crafts that are for sale. The jewelry is fantastic and to listen to how and why the items are made is fascinating. I have seen jewelry made from the seed of a fruit that is native of parts of Africa as well beads made of paper. There are beautiful handbags made from tree bark and artwork carved from different types of wood. When I examined the product, it was obvious that a lot of love and care goes into the making of them. My, it is hard to express how wonderful it feels to be a part of such an international community who has a great love for God.

Today, I have been busy observing a legislative committee and it has been more than an experience to see how the, process works and what the individuals really think about the petitions presented for consideration to be included in our next discipline. It has been also interesting to see what happen to petitions that are rejected and how it affects the author or a person who has a personal interest in the acceptance. Well I could go on and write about the process but you will have to see it to believe it. We as the United Methodist Church have been very warm and welcoming to each, I can feel the love and respect that we have for all of our brothers and sisters each time that I walk into the room or attend a worship service.

As I close now to continue my task, I ask all of you to pray for the General Conference as we are in session because the decisions that are made during this time will affect us for the next four years.