Goodbye, and a Trip to Oregon

I took my leave to join the Mennonites of the Pacific Northwest Conference following our appearance at Iowa Mennonite School a week ago. Before the Seed’s summer schedule was solidified it looked like we might be finishing up around the end of August so I accepted a volunteer position at Western Mennonite School as a dorm leader. The school year in Salem, Oregon begins at the beginning of September and as our Seeds of the Kingdom schedule began extending into September I knew that I’d have to be skipping out on the end portion of the trip.

Now, saddened that I don’t get to continue learning about our conference with the others for the remaining 5 or 6 weeks, I’m glad that they are able to continue and glad that I’ll be able to add input for our final project that will come together following the end of the Tour (now early October – see calendar).

Thank you Matt and Elizabeth for concocting this great idea and for following though on the hard work it took during busy times last year to write grant proposals, to contact conference leadership, and to arrange transportation. Thank you for donating your own time and money to a project that helped me learn about the importance of conferences and about their role in weaving together a varied response to our Mennonite history.

Thank you Randal H. Keener, for your enthusiasm for our midwestern conference! Your outside perspective helped me realize what we do have here in the Central Plains Mennonite Conference and also to see where growth as a body can still happen.

Jess, you did such a wonderful job of coordinating the upcoming stops, and helping add pep at just the right times that your presence was invaluable. I also appreciated your calm tone and dexterous words when our group ran into conflict or had to navigate different personality/organizational/preference types that made our summer tour an experiment in community living — something we may not prefer for our entire lives, but a lifestyle we now know we can certainly survive and something we all recognize help us grow in the fruits of the spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

Thank you Shana Boshart for walking along side us and giving us room to struggle, to overcome and to learn on our own. At this time in life, when it’s easy to think we can figure it out by ourselves, it has been a good reminder for me that there is a huge group of loving supporters who want to see the youth of their conference succeed and grow into leaders themselves.

The list of others I’d like to thank could go on and on, but just know that if you have interacted with our group in small or large ways during the hot, corn growing months of Summer 2008, I extend my gratitude whole heartedly! Each of your donations of time, energy or something else where what made this trip possible and I feel honored to have been a participant.

It’s my hope that others could experience the trip we went on whether it’s online following our blog or as part of a future trip that has a similar mission.

Mark Gingerich