the conference

We had our group's West Africa Regional Conference from September 10-15

 in Segou, Mali.  People from Ebola-stricken countries were not able to attend, but those of us who could come had a great time.  There were something like 70 adults and 25 kids.

I helped with music.  Our region of West Africa uses 3 major languages: French, English, and Portuguese.  Our conference was tri-lingual!  It is neat to come together with others to hear about their projects and encourage one another.

Here is our conference room getting set up for the last night's "Love Feast" or "Agape."  It was the highlight of the whole conference for me.  When it started, we were all sitting at the tables eating some appetizers (popcorn and those styrofoam-like prawn crackers) and the power cut.  Dozens of people immediately illuminated their cell phones, so we had a bit of light to see by.  Not quite a candlelit dinner; we are much more modern with a cellphonelit dinner!  After a while the power came back on.

It was a great party!  The whole conference focused on the value of family.  The Family is value #15 of our group's 18 foundational values.  It was a fun evening to spend together as one big family, united together even though those of us there came from about 12 different countries and some could not speak the same language.

 Here are a few of our fearless leaders speaking and translating a teaching.