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New Day Herald

On the Road in Sydney, Australia, with Angel Gibson, John Morton and the MSIA Travel Staff

Article imageDAY 8 – We arrive in Sydney

There’s nothing quite like Sydney. I love coming to this city with the ferries going back and forth in the harbor and Opera House. This year we’re staying in a different part of town, actually in the outskirts in an area called Ryde. Towards the end of the week all the MSIA events will be here at the Stamford Ryde Hotel, a resort hotel with exotic gardens, waterfall and ponds right in the middle of the hotel.

We arrive midday and the beautiful Sumi Menon and jaunty Paul Kelsey meet us at the airport. We get to our hotel, check in, and have just enough time to have some lunch before we head out to set up for the book event with John Morton and Paul Kaye at the Gleebooks bookstore. Roberta Grant had prepared the way by contacting the bookstore about having a presentation on the Blessings, Momentum, and Coming Home books. Gleebooks was delighted to have the authors, Morton and Kaye, from the U.S. Every week Gleebooks hosts authors and speakers upstairs (we climb a metal staircase and note the old floorboards that mark we’re in a building dating back to turn of the century or earlier). They do a “happy hour” serving wine and beer (and sparkling water) and pick-up foods, and then the speaker presents. Our crowd was big into the sparkling water! Excitement in the air as the Sydneyites kept watching to catch their first glimpse the Traveler! John Morton and Paul Kaye were a good team. They introduced each other, and read parts of The Blessings Already Are, Momentum, and the new Coming Home book. In the course of the evening John shared some stories that we’d never heard before about his first days in MSIA. Then it was time to sign books. The When Are You Coming Home book sold out in a matter of minutes — everyone wanted the “new” book. Ah, it’s been a long day–some of us opt for sleep and some for food. For the food hungry contingent Kate and Steve Ferrick knew just the place. They whisked us off to La Grillade for a lovely French dinner and lots of good catching up and reminiscing. And we’re off to a joy-filled start!

DAY 9 – A Day of MSIA Services

Today we do MSIA services. It is an unusually hot day — almost 100 degrees. Paul and Cleora go to the home of Julie Chenery which feels a little like an English country cottage. Esme Gill, the hostess for the day, greets and helps settles them in, and looks after their every need throughout the day. Vincent and I are doing services at our hotel, and our long-time American friend, Elliott Politi (who has been living here for the last 4 years), is our easy-going and efficient host for the day. I’m loving listening to the background sounds of exotic bird calls and the water fall outside my balcony doors throughout this day of services. This is Living in Grace! After services Vincent, Paul, John and I meet with the Australia team of Initiators and Ordainers for our annual review session which evolved into a beautiful communing with the Traveler as we touched into the essence and beauty beyond words of Initiation. We had a gentle dinner and retired for some late night emailing and rest.

More to come, and thank you all ways for the Light you send our way.

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