Victoria's Vacation Updates

These were all posted at once, assembled from electronic "postcards" written over the course of the week.
Victoria's Vacation updates

These updates are arranged backward chronilogically and were written during my vacation in Newberg, Oregon at the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference. Pictures from Conference can be found here. Monday, August 11, 2003 This will be my final update. I'm still tired from my trip, but I will attempt to make this something resembling coherant. - Friday, August 8 The evening service was good. It had a mixture of traditional and contemporary music, though all was played on the piano and organ. It was interesting hearing contemporary music being belted out of an organ. I was able to get into it a little bit and raise my hands in praise. (Indeed, Conference is one of the few places where I feel totally free to do so.) We did communion which was cool. I just love taking communion with a few hundred other people. The closing song was very special. It was "Wonderful Grace of Jesus," which included this: Chains have been torn asunder, Giving me liberty; For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. He has indeed removed my chains and set me free. I don't deserve it; it's all grace. - Saturday, August 9 We started off with Sabbath School. I went into Stephen James' class when I saw Jane Mackintosh and Dave Johnson there. We studied the Helping Hand lesson for the week on Joel and repentance. After Friday night I was expecting Sabbath morning worship to be a let down like it was last year. But it wasn't. There were some good contemporary songs played like they should be - with guitar and drums, as well as the more traditional hymns done in the contemporary manner. I was able to praise God with raised hands. Our closing hymn was "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." This is one of those songs that God has used to tell me to look back - it makes me thankful for how far I've come. I remember singing it in the choir at my old church when the Billy Graham Crusade came through town in 1997. I flashed back on that, how much time has passed since, and where I am now. Thank You, Father. You ARE so faithful. After that was a very nice Sabbath "dinner" (what we left coasties call "lunch"). I spent the afternoon resting until it was supper (dinner) time. After dinner and before the last meeting I packed my stuff up. I was late to the final meeting, but it wasn't a worship service so I didn't miss anything except the instalation of the new president. The new president, Pastor Dale Thorngate, gave a short speach and unveiled his theme for next year, "Seeking God With All Your Heart," based on Jeremiah 29:11-14a and Matthew 6:31-33. Next year Conference will be held in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sunday, August 10 I was up, as usual, at 7 a.m. But my roommate had gotten up at 5 and I had a hard time going back to sleep. I ate breakfast and turned in my key then. Then I went back to the room and finished packing, then dragged my bags to the auditorium where we gathered waiting for the bus. The bus trip to Portland airport was uneventful. I took my hairclips off (the ones that hold my covering in place) while going through the metal detector. It didn't beep this time so it must have been the clips that set it off on the way out, causing me to have to go through the wand search. They checked my shoes going both ways, too. I don't know if my shoes would have been checked on the way out, however, if I hadn't set the metal detector off. Our bus had left on time, about 10:15 a.m., and I got to the airport, checked my bags, and through security by shortly after 11:30. I had THREE hours to kill before my plane took off. I went to a bookstore in the airport and bough a book and a couple other items, then had some lunch (a hot dog and a beer - haven't had a drink in over a week), and finally ordered some lunch to go at another restaurant there. I also had another drink there, which turned out to be one too much. The flight was uneventful. We were only a few minutes late. When I got home I scooped up Xena and she licked me, but no purring this time. Abby had hidden under the bed, but came out as she realized it was me. I'm still working on the pictures page. I just have to go back and make sure things are (mostly) in chronilogical order. Then it will be ready to share. That's about the extent of things. I'll probably add more as I remember things I forgot. Sorry this is so long. There was just so much to tell. There was lots of really good fellowship this week. Mealtimes were chances to talk with others. I love being around people and talking, but I must say, I got so little alone time this week. Even my room wasn't a haven because it had to be shared. I am looking forward to catch up on being alone now that I am home. 14:39 Friday, August 8, 2003 Well, this will be my last update. I have found that there is no lab open on Saturday, so I won't be able to write tomorrow. - Thursday, August 7 The evening worship service was nothing but music (non-interactive), but I got some good pictures. I'm getting bolder about creeping right up to the stage during the service to get the pictures I want. Some member of our little choir sang a song last night. At that moment I wished I was in the choir. I am, however, considering joining the Conference Choir next year, if they will have me. - Friday, August 8 The other computer was messing up, so I hopped on this one. Those laptops are so tempermental. Techie companies should make them WORK and not concentrate so much on making them SMALLER. :-p Anyway, Bible study today was good. It was calling "Sharing in Christ's Riches," and put paid to the "Name It and Claim It" movement. Instead of asking God for a Rolex (we don't NEED it), we should sell our Rolex if we have one in order to help the poor. God takes care of our needs, not always our wants. I really wish Wolf...er, Doctor...was here. I think he'd get a lot out of studies like this. Hey, Conference will be in Kalamazoo, MI next year! Want to come? No? How about West Virginia the year after? Hey Kathi, how close is that to you? As it's Friday, we have some free time this afternoon, so I showered for Sabbath and now I'm here. Last year we did communion Sabbath morning; this year we are doing it tonight, so I sense this will be the big, important service this week. Oh, one other thing I forgot. At the Wednesday service, a man gave his testimony of all he's been through on his job to keep the Sabbath. Over and over he mentioned how he compromised his beliefs to keep his job, and yet I was struck by how God kept working with him, kept growing him in other areas...such grace and forgiveness time and again! He is truly so good. I guess that's about it except that I really wish some of you were here, not just for the fellowship, but because some of you could really learn a lot from the daily Bible studies and worship services. (((Hugs))) all. Sorry I won't be around tomorrow. I'll miss you all. I fly back Sunday afternoon assuming I make my plane. Please pray that there are no lines and I do. 14:02 Thursday, August 7, 2003 Skipped "morning worship" after breakfast because it's really just a musical performance of whatever group and not interactive. I went and laid down in my room and just rested until it was time for the Bible study. After the Bible study I again went back to my room while Committees presented reports. Then some other business which I did attend, lunch, and more business. I think someone switched the leaded coffee this morning for unleaded - I had a hard time staying awake all morning, and felt no caffeine rush at breakfast. At lunch I drank a bunch of Mountain Dew and now I am ok. Anita from church arrived, bringing the total number of people (including children) from my church to 15, 7 of whom are adults. This is Anita's first Conference. We finally got her to come! Afternoon business was interesting. Reference and Counsel finally got their report passed, but not without much debate. Feelings are still raw from last year's problems relating to the Alfred, NY church and so many amendments were proposed and voted on before the report passed - R&C is trying to get into place a procedure for dealing with problems like this in the future and we were haggeling over the specifics of the language. It's good to be a delegate and be able to vote on stuff like this. I even got up and briefly (VERY briefly) spoke a couple of times about my committee's report, which included stuff about upgrading the General Conference Web site and moving in the direction of online registration for Conference. The moves we made this year will pave the road for that at a later date. There's a lot of old people here who don't understand just how important the Internet is. The younger generation has more vision. I did have to be moved to an earlier bus on Sunday. Somebody put me on bus #4 as if I could check in and get through security at the airport in a mere hour. The earlier bus is still pushing it, but will give me two hours to do all that. *hugs and kisses* I'll try to get on tomorrow for another update. Hope you don't mind my little vignettes. I'm hoping to turn this into one huge blog entry when I get back. 15:37 Wednesday, August 6, 2003 Tuesday the 5th was okay. We had young adult interactive worship in the morning. In the afternoon, the skies clouded over and we had thunder and lightening and a shower. (Typical Oregon weather - lots of rain!) My interest group meeting lasted THREE long hours, with no break. :-p But we did get proposals together to bring to the Conference floor, including upgrading the main Web site (for non-SDBs), and, in the future, online Conference registration (for current SDBs). That last one is still a ways off, though. Evening worship had little music and included a lengthy presentation about a lady's short term mission trip to a foreign country, something that's never interested me. Wednesday the 6th was better. The sun came back out, and intead of interest groups, we had a choice of seminars in the afternoon. I attended the one on Islam and Muslims and it was quite enlightening. I minored in religious studies in school, but Paul (the presenter) had a bunch of material that I didn't know. The seminar lasted three hours, with a short break. But I found it interesting, which mitigated the boredom. I came to this mini computer lab right after. The Women's Banquet is tonight. I went last year and was not impressed. It's one of those things where EVERYONE goes and shows off their best clothing. I hate that sort of thing. Anyway, that's today's report. There's lots of other things - denomination business, kids from our church and the things they are doing here, and other stuff, but these are the highlights. I'm learning a lot about how the denomination functions on a national level. Last year it was just confusing. This year I'm beginning to assimilate it all. I've been hanging out a lot with Pastor Ray Milalki, a pastor of a small church (4 members right now) that's starting up in Pennsylvania. He tends to be very conservative (religiously), so we have a lot in common. He's been to my home church once, and I also talked with him a bit at Conference last year. Attendance is much lower than last year (400 compared to 800 last year). Most SDBs are consentrated on the east coast and don't seem to want to fly out to the west coast. I honestly think we had a better showing of west coast people at last year Conference in NY, than we have east coast people at this year's Conference. At least us left coasties are dedicated! Still need to get more pictures. I'll upload them sometime after I get home and make up a little Web page. The pictures will be dark. The dang thing is terrible in low light conditions, which all indoor pictures are. God bless you all and I'll "see" you all next week! 16:33 Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - Sunday, Aug. 3 Wake up around 9 a.m. Leave house around 11:30 a.m. Arrive Portland airport, find a boy holding a sign that simply reads "SDB." Wait 60-90 minutes with others but a "tour bus" type bus for about a 1 hour ride to the Conference site. Arrive site around 6 p.m., register, collect packet and nametag, leave luggage at Registration and procede directly to dinner before they close. Go to my room with my luggage after dinner. I am in Pennington #121 with an elderly (80+ year old) roommate. - Monday, Aug. 4 Lock myself out of my room at 3:30 a.m. Have to wake roommate to get back in. Tract and communication Council meeting, 2 hours. Track down computer lab to get online. Nothing interesting for Tuesday yet except that morning worship was contemporary and therefore better than expected. I had some other thoughts to share, but they appear to be in the bulletin, not my notebook, and I only have my notebook with me. Oh, also, I once more forgot the address to my exwitch mail account, so I can't access it unless someone tells me what it is (again) or I suddenly remember it. :-p It's wonderful being able to do so much fellowship and worship and Bible study. Last night after the worship service, which included a lot of readings from Revelation, I went back to my room and read Rev. 4 and 5, then prayed for some of you people here, and then went to sleep. I love God and want to serve Him with my life, I know this is right! He's given me so many gifts, not the least of which is making me his adopted daughter, a princess, an heir. No matter what I don't have, I have Him, and no matter who others think I am, I am His. Let's not just live FOR Christ, but live IN Him! Ok, off to lunch now. I'll try to come on tomorrow. God is good, all the time! 11:08 Monday, August 4, 2003 Don't know how often I will be able to get here this week. I'm currently on a laptap in some building here and the equal sign key is where the backspace should be. Anyway, a quick update from here. Arrived here at George Fox at about 6 pm Sunday night. Since dinner was over at 6:30 we dropped our bags, got our packates (sp), nametags, and room keys, and went straight to dinner. Then we went to our rooms. My roommate (they found me one - yea!) is an 80+ year old lady named Margaret who walks soooo slow. We are late to stuff. She also takes forever to get ready in the morning; I can be out the door on my way to breakfast in 20 min. Lots of meetings today; more tomorrow. The rest of the day should just be dinner, worship (every night - yea!), and then I need an early bed. I can't function on the sleep Margaret seems to get. Perhaps she is taking naps. Anyway, other than being chronically tired so far I seem to be doing okay. Will try to take more pictures. I enjoy the fellowship over meals with various people. Good way to meet people. I've never been shy or had a problem with that. Dr. Who - I did get your IMs you sent to my phone. Thank you. I have also sent you a couple. God bless you all. I'm in Internet withdrawal here and came straight here to get my fix. Victoria Shephard 16:02