This is the view from the stairs up to our room (we were on the 3rd floor, which is kind of a workout when you have to run back to your room because you forgot one wee thing!)
Every year, the Uganda-Tanzania Branch of SIL International gathers at Turtle Bay Beach Club in Watamu, Kenya, for a week of meetings, fellowship, spiritual refreshment, and fun. Oh yes, and some good food. :-) This was my third visit there, and Andrew's first. We're already looking forward to next July when we get to go again!
First of all, it had been two years since I'd seen a lot of the folks in the branch, since last year conference was the week we got married, I didn't quite make it to the 2009 event. For Andrew, he'd met some folks on his trip to Dodoma earlier in the year, but it was his first time getting together with most of them. As part of the regular conference schedule, there is sharing time, during which every member gets a few minutes to stand in front of the whole group and talk about their highlights of the past year, and share prayer requests for the coming year. It's a great way to get to know our fellow UTB members better. I love meeting new folks and making new friends, and of course it is always good to reconnect with ones I've met before. We were intentional about trying to sit with different folks each meal, too, so with those visits and what we learned during the sharing times, we built a good social network together. It has work purposes as well as social ones, too - Andrew met with Scripture Use folks from Uganda and Tanzania, and I was able to talk with other Translation Advisors at other projects for ideas and encouragement.
Since this year marks the 10th anniversary of UTB, some time during the week was intentionally looking back and remembering what God has done and intentionally reflecting on his work in East Africa and in each of our lives. Some special guests from Wycliffe USA, The Seed Company, and SIL International were in attendance, too, which was quite the honor. It encouraged me to hear them share and it reinvigorated me for being part of Bible translation. Also, I was glad to meet some of these bigwig types and realize that they are humble, godly people who didn't set out to be executive directors and presidents, but are willing to serve there as God has called them for this time.
Some of our highlights were the fabulous food (we ate more meat in the past week than in the past several months!), worshipping in English, and swimming. This year there was a men's water polo game as well as a women's one, and although we couldn't do the married/single teams like usual because of imbalanced numbers, we split into north/south, which pitted Uganda, Musoma, and Dodoma against Dar and Mbeya, and that worked out well. Well... it worked out well for us, because we're from Musoma, and both the men's and women's north teams won! We both had a really fun time playing, and I'm still sporting some scratches and bruises. I'm sure I gave just as many as I received, so I won't ask for pity on my owies.
On the final evening of conference, we celebrated finishing all of the meetings (I'm just talking about the highlights here, there were other more business-type meetings during the week, too) with a fun night. Andrew sang "I'll Fly Away" with our co-worker/friend/neighbor Dusty Hill, and did a great job. I volunteered for a skit of "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?", which proved that I might be as smarter than one, but not quick enough with my reflexes to prove it.
All in all, it was a refreshing week of getting away from some of the everyday stresses of life in Tanzania and enjoying some quality fellowship and productive and informative meetings.
