Mennonite World Conference

The whole purpose of heading down to Pennsylvania this summer was to attend Mennonite World Conference. It's a conference that happens every 6 years, and we wanted to take the opportunity to go since it was on our continent. In 2008, it was in Paraguay, and even though we were in Bolivia, we were not able to attend.

I was really looking forward to this event because many of our friends from Bolivia, Paraguay, Japan, Lesotho, the Congo, California and other parts of the world were planning to be there. It was going to be an amazing reunion.

I admit, on the first day of the 5 day conference, I was a bit anxious. I wondered how I would be with all the crowds and sessions for that many days. I wondered how the kids would be and even more, how my introverted husband would cope! I was also very excited about spending time with dear friends. We had booked a fabulous hotel that was a 15 minute drive and planned that we would have most of our meals at the hotel. That gave us a break and a place to retreat to.

The first day, I tried to take in all the workshops and the displays. There was a lot to see. Over 8400 people from 77 different countries attended and shared their Anabaptist experiences with everyone. It was almost surreal. The music was amazing! Each main session it featured another continent. I loved singing Spanish songs again, standing right beside my Bolivian friends. The following days, I decided that I would balance attending workshops and the main sessions with visiting with people and lingering beyond the meal times. And on one of the last days, I spent the morning sight seeing and spending time with my dear friend Yuneth.

What did the kids do? Well, Joel was with the youth and he went to various workshops and field trips. He really enjoyed chumming with his old Bolivia friends, Kailey, Jessica, and Clara. Most of the time we weren't exactly sure where he was, but knew that somewhere in that enormous farming complex, he was with friends.

The girls took part in the children's activities and were in groups with other children from around the world. Kezia and Maria were happy to be together. Asha mentioned a number of times she was making new friends, but many of them didn't speak English! And Elena was convinced that this was her new daycare, since she was in groups, went to meals with the kids and participated in fun activities. For weeks afterwards she talked about her American daycare!

It was a once in a life time experience. Joel is already talking about Mennonite World Conference in Indonesia. That will be in 2021 and he'll be 18. Wow.