Annual Conference

I am finally back home again. The first part of June I was in Antlers, OK where it was so insanely hot, for Annual Conference. Our annual conferences are held in open air tabernacles. We rotate between three places, campgrounds. One in Antlers, one near Anadarko and one in Preston. The one near Anadarko is called Hog Creek. I always encourage friends to get married there. I think seeing the words Hog Creek in gold script on a wedding invitation would be so funny. I, myself, plan to get married, if I ever get married, at Preston and have my funeral service at Antlers.



This is a picture of the tabernacle at Antlers. My Mom and I got there a day early while the SE region people were still working on the grounds. We went into the front part of the tabernacle and there was this huge hairy thing on the ground. My mom walked past it but I stopped and said is that a fake spider? She looked at it and said, of course it is. Then it moved. It was an huge tarantula!!! I was busy freaking out to take a picture. The people from there were like "it won't hurt you" and then a woman got a broom and swept it out. My mom and I were like "kill it, kill it. it'll come back if you don't kill it."

So, at annual conference I was appointed to extension ministry at Clinton Church and Community Center!! As of June 27, I am a Church and Community Worker! So I don't have a church per se, but I spent my first Sunday preaching at a tiny little church outside of Okmulgee. I had planned to spend the day in bed until 3:00pm when I needed to get on the road to Clinton. Oh well.

I am trying to move to Clinton. I just got a phone call saying I was approved for the apartment I looked at last week. Moving kinda sucks. Its only suppose to be for about 6 months while work is being done on the Clinton Parsonage. But the house is considered un-live-able and condemned so I do not have high hopes for it. But I am so ready to stay still. I cannot wait til they fix the house or decide to get a new one ("they" is my conference) I want to plant flowers and sit in my back yard and get a cat. I should be there for about 8 - 10 years. So that is staying pretty still considering 3 years is the longest I have lived in one dwelling. And that was at Drew.

 I have moved quite a bit in my life and I am ready to settle down.
I also went to Kansas. Southwestern College. Where I went to UMW's regional school of mission where I got certified to teach in MS. About Indians. We are the flavor of the year with the UMW. So I have 6 hours to teach 35-50 people everything Indian. Yeah, I don't know what to say to that either.

Then I attended a funeral for one of our retired pastors of OIMC. In our conference, if a pastor or pastor spouse dies it is customary for all clergy to attend. It was way out in the woods though. Think: copperheads and rattlesnakes. Bleh. Nature is not fun. But it was a really nice service. It makes me sad. When my mom dragged me to funerals as a child, I rarely knew who the dead people were but now I do. I remember seeing this guy and his wife all the time when I was growing up.

Times are changing quickly and I don't' look forward to it. My mom thinks that as soon as a few more of the "old guard" dies that the "young people" will close in the open air tabernacles and install air conditioning. Young people not as me or my age but the late 40s and early 50s group. I can't decide what I think about it. Tradition over creature comforts. Or perhaps it is something we need to do. I prefer the way we have always done it but...

I am home again, in air conditioning, thinking about lunch. I am happy to home again. I move later this week and I have not packed. But its all good.