As I mentioned earlier, we have begun our preliminary meetings. Last night I decided not to mention the fact that I was frustrated with the whole process..because I thought it would get better! Today, was not much different so now I feel a little better about airing frustration..though I will try not to be too negative!
Last night, after starting our meeting fairly late, the Chair announced that strangers do not make good decision makers. Therefore she said, "Tonight, we will not be making any decisions. Instead, we are going to take some time to get to know each other. Turn to the person behind you and get to know them". I wasn't too frazzled by it until she mentioned that we were not even going to look over the material! So...we turned to the person behind us and introduced ourselves...continued talking for 20 more minutes, etc. I assumed she was going to ask another question or have us turn to someone else (believe it or not though I don't really like icebreakers) but she didn't. Instead, she said that we would have a lot of work ahead, but that we could go ahead and leave as we have had a long night.
Okay, so don't get me wrong....I LOVE getting out of things early! Seriously, it is the best feeling in the entire world UNLESS you have a plate of petitions to go through, collaborate on, and vote on. When you only have Thurs - Sunday, with plenty of petitions to discuss and come into agreement on..well, I would rather get them done, then get out early at the end....not the case. So after rushing through my dinner to be on time for the 7:30 meeting. Instead, I found myself done by 8:30! Keep in mind that we were scheduled from 7:30-11pm to meet! While other groups were taking a break..our group was taking a hike!
Then there is today. Our committee was scheduled four times: 10:45-12:30, 2:30-3:40, 4-5pm, and 7:30-11pm. Can you believe that we did not even elect our sub-committee members until 7:30pm..which means that we did not go over the petitions until almost 8pm! And...to make it even better, we did not get anything voted on as a group! But here is the kicker for me...we got out early again! We were dismissed at 10:30. Again, I am all about it...until something like this.
My biggest fear is that we are going to run out of time in the end. We have a couple times we meet tomorrow..but only 2 hours on Sunday. If we are not through, that is it. Sometimes I wonder if that is how certain things end up passing. You eventually cut time so close and you have to make a decision in a hurry. Things that should pass sometimes don't (I know, opinion), and things that should not, do! It bothers me.
Anyhow, I am tired tonight on top of it so I apologize for my lack of positive energy. Truly, I am loving every minute of this experience though. But as Jan and I promised, this is a "real" look of general conference. We will do our best to give you the facts, but many of you are interested in the real thoughts and feelings. We are definitely keeping it real!
Prayers for plenty of rest--and a return of the positive energy for tomorrow! ;)
Stephanie
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2 comments:
Wow. I am not a delegate, only a visitor. But the Discipleship committee elected leadership of not only the total group, but of four subcommittees the first night. I monitored the youth and young adult subcommittee and they dealt with at about 5 or 7 pieces of legislation the first night! By 5pm on Friday, they had dealt with the 20-something pieces of legislation in their subcomittee!
That is great! I don't think it is conference wide...but it was an issue in ours. I have seen youth and young adults and other groups work through this process more efficiently... Thanks for the comments and for reading my blog!
Steph
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