Long-overdue post about the remainder of conference.

So, I've been terribly delinquent about posting these last couple of weeks.
The conference started on Wednesday morning. Everyone came to Hyde Cottage where we were staying for the morning meetings. People started showing up around 9 and there was a pretty even mix of people I knew already and people I was meeting for the first time. We prayed for a while and sang some worship choruses with accordian accompaniment and then a couple of missionary couples would give their report on what had happened in their lives in the past year. It was really neat to be able to hear what each of the other missionaries were focused on and to learn how to pray for them. We also had a speaker speak to us each morning for a while and that was really encouraging too. After the morning meeting at the cottage, we would all get in our cars and drive 5 minutes away to a little town called Cheapside. (Such a great name for a town!) Each day we had lunch in the basement of the church there. This was also a really nice time to visit with the other missionaries and board members and start to connect with the people I'd be working with. After lunch each day, I got to have a free afternoon. That was pretty sweet! On the first day, I crashed on the couch until dinner time. I think I was just really exhausted from all of the socializing with new people in an unfamiliar place. In the evenings, we'd go back to Cheapside for dinner in the basement. It was really neat. There were a bunch of people who just spent every day of the conference getting meals ready for us. It was really nice not to have to think about where to eat. On Wednesday night there was a business meeting after dinner. I wasn't officially a missionary with RLM yet, so I just listened in and counted ballots. It was good to hear about what's going to be happening in the coming year. That night, Mark and Christy and I played another game of Scrabble where they both whipped my butt again.

Thursday was much the same as Wednesday up until dinner time. We had an early dinner and took some pictures (a lot of pictures!) and then headed into Hagersville (where the mission is based) for the annual public meeting. The public meeting is a lot like a church service where people come to hear what's been up with the missionaries for the past year. Each couple gave a short, 10 minute report about what they'd been up to for the past year and told people how they could pray. Mark and Christy usually do their report at the public meeting in some unconventional way. They do a skit or something along those lines and present their information in that way. This year they did something a little less crazy. They wrote and read the testimonies of 4 people who had been impacted by their work over the years. One of the testimonies was mine. So Mark started reading mine and then I came up and interrupted and told the rest of my story. It was really exciting to be able to share my story with a group of people who had been indirectly praying for me for my whole life. I talked about my life growing up at Round Lake and also in Faith Chapel (which was planted by RLM back in the day). It went really well and it gave people a chance to see my heart and where it comes from. After the meeting, everyone piled into the hall of the church and ate timbits and drank juice and visited. I got to meet a lot of really cool people who have been connected with RLM for years. Some for up to 75 years in different ways. A lot of people I met that night said things like, "Oh! You're Jen! We've been praying for you for the last few months!" It was so encouraging and eye-opening to hear that people I had never met had been praying for the Lord's hand in my life as I was making decisions. So cool! I also go to see Abby for a bit at the meeting! It was awesome just to be able to hug her! After all of the visiting, Mark and Christy and I headed over to the mission home (office) to visit for a while with Don and Deb (one of the missionary couples) and David and Leesa (the executive director and his wife). That was a nice relaxing time just sitting around unwinding after a very long day. We got back to the cottage around 11 and were all pretty beat, so we decided not to play Scrabble that night. Even though we had good intentions of getting to bed early, Christy and I got to talking and ended up staying up a lot later than we'd intended. It was totally worth it though.

On Friday morning, we had our last morning meeting. One more couple had to share and we sang and prayed and then talked over some businessy stuff for a while. After lunch that day, the conference was officially over.

Friday afternoon, Mark and Christy and I went to Port Dover on Lake Erie and wandered on the beach and sat on the pier and looked through the shops for a while. It was a really nice day. When we got back to the cottage, we ate some dinner and then took a stroll down the beach from the cottage. It was so beautiful! There was a great sunset and I found lots of really neat sea glass and shells for Julia and Michael. Jon (Mark and Christy's son) came from Huntsville that night and we all played a rousing game of...guess what...?! You got it! Scrabble!!! It was a pretty good time. We had some good laughs and my level of sucking was about even with Jon's so that was good! After Scrabble, I had to pack because Fred was coming to pick me up the next morning at 9:30. I brought way too much stuff with me and it was a real pain to get it all back in my suitcase, but I succeeded and got to bed.

On Saturday morning, I got up and got ready, grabbed and apple and hopped in Fred's van for the half hour drive to Hagersville. Fred is one of the board members and it was super-cool to chat with him on our way to my interview. Fred and his wife have been connected with the mission in one way or another for many years. They adopted 10 kids and have done a lot of amazing things. It was really great to be able to connect with him in that time!

I think I'll write about my interview in a separate post because this is getting pretty stinking long!