Stimulating the Economy - Triennial Days 1-5

Cheryl and I spent way too much money at the Triennial.  We are a little scared to tell our husbands our grand total! There was a gift shop featured many handmade gifts made from women around the world.  It was such a powerful experience to see unique crafts from places like Ecuador, India, the Congo, .  I am finished Christmas shopping and done with birthday gifts for the next two years (at least for the women in my life)!  What a great conversation piece!  It will give me the opportunity to talk about where these gifts came from and how 100% of the proceeds are going towards such worthy causes.  One such ministry is the Abundant Life Center (ALC)in Thailand. ALC is a part of the Covenant Church in Thailand and their ministry is to reach out to those who are immigrating into the city in hopes of a better life. As they provide people with food and shelter as well provide work for them they are able to reflect the love of Christ through "lifestyle" evangelism.  Here I am pictured with a women from Thailand who designs these unique and beautiful bags: 

 Here are the gorgeous necklaces and earrings from Rahab's rope. This is an organization that looks to share the hope of Jesus with women who have been forced into human trafficking in India.  They do this by meeting physical needs and vocational training.  They provide shelter for up to 30 women at a time and their main source of income to support these women is through the beautiful hand-crafted jewelry.

The Starfish project jewelry is hand-crafted by women who have been rescued by exploitation and abuse.  100% of their proceeds help to provide income, education and support for women in their shelter. The Starfish project rescues exploited women throughout Asia.

Streams in the Desert is an organization that ministers to those in bondage by alcoholism and prostitution in Mongolia.  They also support their ministry through selling crafts.

These are only a few examples of the crafts that were for sale made from women across the globe! What an awesome cause to support.  Most of these causes have websites were you can order jewelry and other crafts to be shipped to your house.  Instead of going to kohls or target to buy gifts for the gals in my life, I'm going to be able to get them a gift that has a unique story to tell! 

Our gifts:

Check out the links to some of the projects listed above.  They will also permanently be at the left side of the blog soon!

Starfish Project: http://www.starfish-project.com/

Streams in the Desert: http://www.mongoljohn.net/

Rahab's Rope: http://www.rahabsrope.com/

Abundant Life Center: http://www.thaicov.org/alc.html

Living Dangerously ~ Triennial Day 4

The morning started with 1000 women worshiping the Lord!  What a powerful way to start your morning ~ listening to a 1000 female voices lift praises to the King. As I was thinking about how meaningful this conference is to me, I began to think about how I can get back to this conference three years from now. I began to use my cell phone to calculate out the cost (travel, airfare, food, conference fees) of this conference.  I figured that if I save $30 per month over the next 36 months I would be more than able to make it back to Triennial XIV. Live dangerously with me and make Triennial XIV a priority.  I'm already thinking about how I can sacrifice $30 per month to make it back to Triennial XIV.   

Lynn Hybles delivers a powerful message!

We got to see Deb Hamilton from Alaskan Christian College (also my mentor in high school at ACC).  The Hamilton family has a special place in our hearts!

Ruth, Deb, Julie, and I:

Noriko in her beautiful kimono dress:

We also had the chance to celebrate the diversity of the women who are attending Triennial at the International Ceremony!

Worship Ceremony in the evening:

Our Speaker for the evening, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier: what a fireball!

Here's a recap from Cheryl about today's sessions:

TRIENNIAL XIII

Key Note Speaker: Lynn Hybels

Book: Nice Girls Don’t Change the World

Lynn shared with us a beautiful and deep story of her life. She grew up in the church, married a pastor (Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Church) and carried with her all her workings for God through it all. And she worked hard; she started Bible studies, played flute in the worship band, guided young mothers through hard times, helped with curriculum…etc., etc., etc. Then one morning in her late thirties, she woke up and just couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t get up one more time and ‘do’ for God. She dove into a great depression and in solitude she considered that she just couldn’t serve this God that demanded so much of her.

Through a wonderful Christian counselor Lynn came to realize that the god she had served all these years was not really God. Because, God does not demand. All the times that she would ‘do’ one more thing for God, He was really standing and quietly saying, “No, don’t take it on, it’s not you, that’s not how I gifted you.” As she rested her body and the Lord began to speak and heal her she realized that to serve God in obligation was bondage, and He did not call her to bondage but to freedom. Lynn was recreated during this time and now serves in her areas of giftedness, completely fulfilled. She challenges each of us to dig in to God, let him define us and guide us to ministry. This is living dangerously free. And women, when we are free, are dangerous to Satan’s kingdom. Learn to live as a dangerous woman, a force of God’s nature that Changes the World.

Key Note Speaker: Elizabeth Conde-Frazier

Elizabeth is a fired up woman whose oratory delivery was strong and powerful! Elizabeth spoke at length that Reflecting God’s Glory is only possible when we move out of the way all that blocks or impedes the flow of the Spirit through our lives and on to the lives of others. If we build a dam where God’s blessing can only flow to ourselves and stops there, then we are not a reflection of His glory. It is our job as sisters to help those who build the dams that prevent the flow of God to move through their lives. Elizabeth is a passionate advocate for the injustices in our world; hunger, poverty, human trafficking, the poor and needy and spurred us on to evaluate what, if anything, is standing in the way of the flow of God’s love in our lives. What keeps us from acting in love towards the injustices that surround us in our world today!

Be sure to check out the videos from each day!  http://www.triennialxiii.org/videos.php.  Looking forward to sharing more experiences with you tomorrow!!

Get Real...Triennial Day 3

Today Cheryl and I went on an all day tour of Washington DC. When I think of seeing DC in one day a certain phrase comes to mind…GET REAL. While it is impossible to get even a small overview of Washington DC in a day, we think that we actually did very well at seeing the highlights. We started out our day by going to Capitol Hill. Here are some pictures in and around the capitol building:

 

 

 

After the Capitol building we went to the Smithsonian Museums. Cheryl and I knew we only had two hours at the museums and prioritized our time. So our first priority was the First Ladies Exhibition at the American History Museum. They have several of the gowns that the first ladies wore including Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan who Cheryl and I agree have the most timeless style. We were surprised to see a silk dress worn by Martha Washington and a dress worn by Mary Todd Lincoln (pictured below).

Our second stop at that museum was the Price of Freedom Exhibition. Our favorite part was the piece of Berlin Wall. What a powerful picture.

Next priority was the Natural History Museum. We saw the fossils:

Then our next stop was the Hope Diamond. This is a 45.5 carat blue diamond in a setting surrounded by 16 white diamonds and hanging on a chain of 45 diamonds. The Hope Diamond is one of the most visited museum items in the world:

After the Natural History Museum we visited the outdoor sculpture park at the Art Museum. Our favorite piece was this silver tree:

Cheryl poses next to a unique sculpture:

After the Smithsonian we had a photo op by the White House:

From the White House I walked over to the Washington Monument:

 

My favorite part of the day was visiting the WW2 Memorial. In the center of the memorial was an oval pool with fountains in the center. Surrounding it were wreaths hung on pillars representing each state or province that participated in the war. When we looked towards the Lincoln Memorial there were three infinity waterfalls on either side of 4000 gold stars with each star represented 100,000 men. In front was engraved, “Here Marks the Price Paid for Freedom.” This is a powerful monument honoring the 4,000,000 men who sacrificed their lives in WW2.

To end our tour we got to drive by the Washington National Cathedral. What a beautiful church!

Julie and Ruth went on the Duck Tour:

They got to experience the city on land and water. Here they are posing outside the famous restaurant, Ben’s Chili Bowl:

Julie, Cheryl, and I take a picture to mark the opening session of Triennial XIII:

Our first session began in the evening. Ruth Hill, the executive director for the national women ministries, welcomed us to Triennial XIII. This is Cheryl’s first triennial, my second triennial, Julie’s seventh triennial, and Ruth West’s (my grandmother) eleventh triennial. Ruth Hill will be speaking at our fall retreat in September!

The flag ceremony was a highlight of the night. We have 30 countries represented at this conference:

Noriko from Japan recently came to our church for dessert. She is carrying the flag for Japan:

This is a picture of the beautiful woman representing the Sudan:

We had wonderful worship and ended the night with one of the most (if not the most) powerful messages I have ever heard. If you get the opportunity I highly recommend listening to the message at http://www.triennialxiii.org/videos.php.  Cheryl will recap the message for you!

Trienniel XIII

Opening Talk

Keynote Speaker: Brenda Salter McNeil

Written by: Cheryl Meakins

Tonight Brenda spoke truth! It was truth that all women across our nation and our world needed to hear. Reflecting God’s Glory has been the theme ushered into our Women Ministries at Triennial XIII.

Brenda started the evening by sharing a personal story. She had been incredibly busy in her ministry to students on campus at a college near LA when she determined she would stop and spend time with God. As she invited God to her time of reading and worship she remembered a practice that a professor encouraged them to use in their times of reading scripture. She began to read the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) but used her imagination to place herself in that story. And in doing so, God brought something to the surface she had no idea had been buried within her heart. She imagined Martha welcoming Jesus to her home and how busy she was, in the kitchen baking, washing dishes and giving orders to those around her to help with the process. Brenda had a flash back to her mother preparing for company and how her mother only wanted the best, in her home and her children. Until that moment Brenda had no idea that she had kindled, for 20 years or so, a resentment for the perfection that was demanded of her. Brenda responded in tears and asked for forgiveness for what she had masked over with her easy churchy answers of, “Mmm Hmmm I am blessed,” “No Mam and Yes Sir.” You see she had been raised in the church and new the ‘right’ things to say, and quite frankly thought she was just too good a church girl for something so nasty to be residing in her heart.

Quite often we all choose the business of Martha because we are too afraid of Jesus coming into our home and finding dirt under the rug, or dust on the mantle. And if He should lift the rug we distract the conversation with our ‘offerings’ of a cold drink or fresh baked cookies. Or maybe it is out of fear that we don’t sit and really talk with our Lord. Maybe we don’t trust that He would reflect back to us the beautifully inspired vision of ourselves, made in his image, as a daughter of the King, uniquely gifted for this time and place.

So as Brenda closed she took us to Revelation 3:14. Where Jesus was talking to the Church! Yes, you got that right, when Jesus said “Behold I stand at the door and Knock” he wasn’t talking to the unsaved, unchurched or heathens in this world, HE WAS TALKING TO THE CHURCH! Why would He have need to knock on the doors of our hearts? You see, Jesus is not interested in being busy for Him he is interested in knowing you and in being known by you. He did not drop in for a social call, he wants to come home and walk in without hesitation and be comfortable with you. He wants the real you; cracked, broken, used, failing. And out of the time spent getting real with Christ you will end up reflecting REDEMPTION! That’s the real reflection! It is time for us to GET REAL!

Until tomorrow...which is now in Washington DC...

Soak it Up, Sweat it Out ~ Triennial Day 2

Today started out with a comedy of errors.  Cheryl and I had to get up early and repack so we could switch rooms.  We were put in a wing far away from the conference and they were able to move us after the first night to a room located next to my mom and grandma.  So as we are furiously repacking, our bagel and coffee from room service were 45 minutes late and our tour was just about to start.  Cheryl gets her bagel in the nick of time as well as our coffee.  We head down to meet for our tour.  Cheryl hands me my coffee and I spill on my white shirt.  Of course it happens when I'm wearing white! So I run to change and hope that I don't make people wait on me.  My husband makes fun of me for packing extra outfits...however, my packing habits saved me today as I had an extra shirt to wear! 

On our tour we did a whirlwind tour of the important places by bus.  We weren't able to get out but Julie's camera got amazing pictures through windows! 

I have a great capacity to remember medical information for my job as a PA.  But, I am the world's worst history buff.  I find history fascinating but I can't remember anything.  So if any of my labels are incorrect in my blog you can graciously correct me.  I already know my history knowledge is insufficient and I won't be offended. Here are some of the sites we saw today: 

Washington Monument:

1600 Pennsylvania Ave:

Jefferson Memorial:

WW2 Memorial:

  Iwo Jima Memorial

 Arlington Nation Cemetery: 

????

Smithsonian Art Museum:

Capitol Building:

After driving past some of the best sites in Washington DC we headed to Georgetown for shopping.  My father-in-law went to law school at Georgetown so I really wanted to see the campus before we shopped.  My mom, grandma, and Cheryl indulged me and we were all glad we got to see some of the campus!  Here are a few pics of the campus and surrounding areas:

Kinsey, Julie (my mom), and Ruth (my grandmother) on the Georgetown Campus:

I've been trying to take some head shots of Cheryl for her to use as she ventures into the world of speaking to Christian women.  We got a few great shots around Georgetown!  Here are two of my favorites!

The flowers and architecture around Georgetown are gorgeous.  We were talking to an owner of a house that was built in 1812.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the architecture but I did take some shots of my favorite flowers:

It was a fabulous day and we were glad to get the chance to see sites and shop!  We learned that the fastest way to make a Colorado woman sweat is put her in heat AND humidity!  So the theme for the day came from Grandma Ruth: "Soak it (the scenery) up and sweat it out." At the end of the day we were exhausted:

When we got back to the hotel a new room was awaiting.  Look at the view from our balcony!  We feel blessed!!

 

Tomorrow Cheryl and I do an all day tour of DC!  Triennial kicks off tomorrow night.  Be sure to check out the webcast that will start tomorrow night at: http://www.triennialxiii.org/videos.php

  Looking forward to sharing tomorrow's adventures with you!