(I wrote this entry back on Feb. 15 but never posted it. I did not have internet available the rest of the trip. And while I took notes from time to time, I didn’t write anything the rest of the time. We often were told that we needed to be ready at a specific time to go somewhere and then would have to wait for some reason before we left. Since everything was packed away where we were staying, I wasn’t able to use that time to write. Now on Feb. 28 after our trip has ended and we are back to our lives at home, I’m going to try and catch up. It may not be as detailed but it will tell what we did the rest of the trip. However, first is the post from Feb. 15.)
Short comments – Each day we have gone to the Angel Hill Restaurant for our meals. There are several long tables and chairs with white covers. There is a short table at the head for the Bishops. There is a buffet consisting of various kinds of food depending on what meal it is. All of the guests of the conference primarily from the U.S.A. and Sierre Leone ate there.
(We found out later that the main cooks for our meals were persons the Conference had hired and brought from Monrovia to be sure our meals were what we could eat. In fact one of them was Mother Quire’s sister. Food was not quite as spicy as they usually eat.)
We have breakfast around 7:30 am. Conference has adjourned for lunch around 2:15 pm. Supper has been around 7 pm after whatever activity we had in the afternoon. Conference continues while we are gone. One evening was the memorial service which we missed. Another evening was a music program which we missed.
When we got to Conference on Saturday unlike the previous day, we were the first persons there. Hardly anybody was in the auditorium. The conference secretary introduced a seminary student who gave the devotions. His emphasis was on investing yourself in what you are trying to accomplish and in the future. If you don’t work on it now, it may never happen. Everyone has a part to play to make a significant legacy. The Bible Teacher Dr. Paul was next. He was building on his ideas from previous days. One interesting thing – he always started with a little exercise. Fist pushed forward into the air – Go, fingers wiping tears – Weep, hands down to ground – Sow, hands gathering in – Reap, hands in the air – Rejoice!
A time for the Bishop’s Appreciation had Bishop and Mrs. Quire sitting in front as persons passed by putting money for them in baskets. Later Dr. Brewer spoke during the Hour that Inspires and challenges. We went to lunch very late. Afterwards part of the team went back to the conference to experience the Ordination Service.
Others of us including me went back to the Guest House to rest. Very soon after getting in the room, I got out the computer to write some more. After I had written one post, I tried to get into the internet so I could send it to my son. It wasn’t taking the password even after checking with reception to be sure I had it correct. After about an hour I gave up and took my computer and phone to team member Jill who seemed to have the only 110 volt plug. After getting the phone set up to charge, I showed her what was happening with the login for the hotel internet. Turns out I had the user-id wrong. Once I corrected it, I could send to Dave. I got the computer charged up again too.
It was time to go the supper. The vans came and took us. The ones who had attended ordination told us that there were 2 commissioned, 9 ordained elders, and 44 ordained associate elders. They have a different system of levels of ordination.
After supper we came back to the hotel and sat in the patio area. We shared our high and low moments and had devotions. It was a good day.