Monday, March 30, 2009

Home Sweet Home!

I'm home!  I got back to Carrollton last night around 9:45, so it wasn't too bad.  Saturday was more workshops and the conclusion of the General Assembly meeting.  A new steering committee was voted in, and there are two people from the Diocese of Atlanta on the Vocare International Steering Committee!  Fr. Dann Brown is the Province IV chaplain and Sarah Blizzard is one of the Lay At Large.  Yay!!  I feel like I learned some new things that we can definitely implement with our ministry that will make it even better. :)  

We got to go down to the beach Saturday night, so yeah for that!!  We had Eucharist with the Bishop and some of the Vocare community at Church of the Annunciation, which was just so much fun.  We had a music duo that was definitely tons of fun, too!  Overall the night of awesome food and a great service and fun music was a great way to top off the weekend.

I know this isn't as detailed as the last one, but hopefully still as enjoyable to read. :)  I'm working on a video of the weekend, so I'll definitely have that available soon!

Peace & Love!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Learning Time!

I must admit, today was pretty freaking fun.  Today started with the morning service at the outside chapel, which was just beautiful.  It was just a gorgeous sight. (I'll try to post a picture or two later.)  We had two workshop sessions before lunch - Connie and I attended Evolution of Leadership: Past, Present, and Future and then Sarah and I went to Teambuilding and Games.  The first workshop integrated ideas of how to publicize and get the word out on Vocare, how to deal with burn out, the importance of evaluations, and communication between other diocesan programs.  The second workshop was all fun and games - literally. We got to learn new teambuilding games, and that was pretty awesome. :)  

The afternoon session consisted of the General Assembly meeting, which is where we went over the business side of Vocare.  It was interesting to hear about what was going on nationally and to hear all the reports from the active Vocare dioceses.  There was also discussion that Vocare International was going to have a booth at General Convention this year, which definitely makes me want to go to convention even more.  So we'll see how that works out. ;)  We broke into our provincial groups to see who would be interested in filling open positions on the Vocare International Steering Committee.  Tomorrow we will meet again and make the decision on who best to fill those positions and bring it before the General Assembly.  

The last workshop of the day was Creating a Healthy Vocare Body.  This included different ideas for responses to talks, what you can and cannot do at a weekend, and other activities that can be added in if necessary.  It was cool to hear what other dioceses do and to get suggestions that sounded like pretty awesome ideas.  After dinner we had a handy dandy music/worship session, which was fun.  I'm continually learning new songs, so of course that makes me happy. :)

Anyway, I know this is pretty long, but I'm really enjoying it and learning a lot.  I love the fact that I've gotten to meet people from all around and hear about their experiences.  

Peace & Love!

Russell the Pirate didn't make it, but we are having a great time at Vocare International Conference!

We are winding down day two of Vocare International Conference 2009 at Day Spring Conference Center in Parrish, Florida. This is only my second weekend at a flat, beach-like camp (and in the same month!). I grew up in the mountains of east Tennessee and have spent time at Episcopal camps in the mountains, or at least hilly areas, of north Alabama and north Georgia, so Honeycreek near Brunswick (site of Vocare #18) and Day Spring are a new experience for me, but a good one.

Even though Russell the Pirate is not here with me, I brought some of his sense of adventure. This morning I adventured on my own for a sunrise jog around the camp, which was a nice way to start the day. Since the good beginning things have continued to go well. I have met a lot of great fellow Vocati from across the country - California, Nevada, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Florida (of course), and surely some others I am forgetting.

It is great to learn more about the Vocare traditions in other dioceses and make new Episcopals. This evening at dinner I think I finally found the right table mix, because we all shared jokes! I don't know if every Diocese of Georgia and Diocese of Atlanta Vocati loves to tell and hear jokes like I do, but I consider it a bit of a tradition in our Vocare and was excited to extend it here. I was most happy to learn a new pirate joke - What are a pirates favorite cookies? Chips-a-hoooooooooy (with the pirate accent of course) - so awesome!

More stories and pictures from the conference to come, so stay posted all you fans of our amazing blog!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

It's Been a Long Day

So we, (myself, Fr. Dann, and Sarah B), picked up Connie Cote from Valdosta around lunch time today and then continued on to the Daysprings Episcopal Conference Center in Parrish, FL right outside of Tampa.  We made pretty good time, so that was a bonus.  The evening started off with a pretty good dinner and then we had the Rector's Address.  Cori Phillips from Michigan is the current president of Vocare International and she let us know that we'll be doing some voting on the next steering committee members as well as workshops throughout the weekend.  Oh - before Cori started talking we did a couple of songs that were new to me (I liked them), and a couple of icebreakers.  We ended up the evening with an ice cream social (yummy!) and now we're all just hanging out for a bit before crashing into bed.

I like Daysprings a lot so far - it's really pretty and the weather's been pretty nice up to this point.  I'm really excited about the workshops and all the learning opportunities I'll get to have and then to be able to take it back to our Vocare ministry.  But overall, I'm just really freaking excited about being here - woot woot!

Peace & Love!

It's really early.....

Morning!

Well, I thought I'd give a handy dandy little hello before we all got on the road. Today is FINALLY here! Sarah Blizzard, Fr. Dann Brown, and myself are all leaving this morning for the Vocare International Conference. It's down near Tampa, hence the really early post. I didn't get a lot of sleep due to major allergies and my puppies being VERY excited to see me (they've been at my mom's in Atlanta since last week), but I'm thinking a good dose of Starbucks and excitement will keep me going all day. :)

Hopefully I'll be able to update at some point while I'm down there, but I really freaking excited!!

Peace & Love -
Liz W

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Where is Russell the Pirate?

About this time last year Lauren and I thought it would be super sweet to send some bobble-head dolls around the world with young adults. I was in possession of Russell the Pirate for a couple of months and we were lucky enough to visit Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone last March and April. Russell is the adventurous sort, as you would guess most pirates arrgghh.
Thinking about Russell and all that he has seen, I am reminded that I was not meant to watch life from the sidelines - I was meant to be a part of it. In the Pslams we are told there is a time and season for everything - a time to rest, a time to sow, a time to reap, a time to dance, time to mourn, etc. I am ready to dance and reap the harvest. Anyone with me?
On the left you can see Russeell with Damaka, our wonderful CARE driver in Ethiopia. It wasn't easy to take photos inconspicuously of a plastic bobble-head in communist village in rural Ethiopia, but somehow I managed. There are many more adventures Russell would like to share, but those will have to come later.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Rector? Damn near killed her!

So this past weekend (Feb 27-March 1) was Vocare #18 for which I was the Rector.  Now being the Rector is kind of what you would imagine; you're the guy (or girl, but in my case guy) in charge, the decisions run through you.  I loved being Rector, truely loved it and whats more it was an honor.   One of the challenges I faced on the weekend was somewhat unexpected though.  On past Vocares that I have been on staff for, I was a Family Group Leader.  Family group leader really suits me.  It is right in my wheelhouse.  I was able to really get to know the participants on the weekend, make strong connections.

The challenge I ran into as the weekend went on was that I was somewhat disconnected from the experiances the pilgrims were having.  I mean, I was there but I wasn't at the same time. My job was to ensure that things went smoothly, or as smoothly as possible.  My job wasn't to be a Family Group Leader.  As I said before I loved being Rector.  I want to make that clear.  It is an experiance I will take with me always.  But part of the job of being Rector and being on staff for Vocare in general is to give up what you want, for the sake of the participants.  The weekend wasn't about me.  It was about them.  As I said at closing, if it seemed like I was stressed and running around like crazy trying to get things taken care of it was only because I wanted their Vocare experiance to be as special as mine was.  I hope that it was.

Matt