MSIA travel staff are currently on the East Coast, providing MSIA Services (Innerphasings, Polarity Balances & Aura Balances) as well as MSIA events. Staff member, Angel Gibson, provides this update from the trip:
DAY 11 — STAMFORD
Rainy and cool it is today as we pack our vehicles and head a little north to Stamford, Connecticut for a weekend of wonderful Traveler events. We travel on the verdant green expressway and arrive at our Stamford hotel just in time to set up for Services which begin today at Noon. We are greeted by our amazingly and awesomely efficient Connecticut MSIA Rep, Leigh Hamel. She has our room keys ready, has Services supplies set up in our rooms, takes our lunch order, gives us hugs and away Lesley, Cleora and I go into a full day of Services, while Vincent and Roger begin setting up the audio/video equipment for tonight and the weekend workshop. Like the skilled and practiced little platoon we are, in all of 15 minutes or so, we gals have unpacked, taken a deep breath and are underway.
In just a blip the Services are done and it’s time to sit back and travel with the Traveler to the high country as he answers and poses questions to our fellow ministers and initiates. The place is prepared in a touching and beautiful way by Valerie Walsh’s serenade and Leigh Hamel’s video slide show. Always I’m grateful that all the questions that seem to come through my mind during these Q&A sessions get answered during the evening. The evening closes and we are sent off for a night of dreams and hopefully rest with the Traveler on the other side.
DAY 12 — STAMFORD
All hands on deck this morning as Leigh Hamel — our talented MC/TC — MaryEllen Butke, and our skilled assisting team prepare the space for our Walking in the Light workshop. Mary Ann Somerville, whose delayed flight brought her in at 2AM in the morning, is lit up, as only Spirit can do…ok and maybe a little espresso too…to operate the new PowerPoint presentation of the animated version of our Walking in the Light exercises. Wow! This is when the techie world just awes me. Lisa Boone has created a temptingly arrayed products area that already has customers buzzing around the tables. I love the excitement and air of anticipation that is here as new and old Discourse subscribers from all up and down the East Coast converge and catch up. I see friends from Jacksonville and St. Augustine, from Maine, from D. C. and even California. And why not, it is a very special event this Walking in the Light workshop.
John Morton steps on stage and our voyage in walking in the protection of the Light begins. This is a workshop you can only experience as there are no words profound enough to capture and express the magnificence and the Godly ordinariness of these exercises and techniques. By 7:30pm we are almost cooked for the day, but wait!, there’s a touch more — ordinations. How joyful to finish the day coming together with our fellow ministers and receive of the blessings of these ordinations. Then we staff, John and Leigh Taylor-Young take a little dinner excursion into Greenwich and have our own little all-together time. It is sweet, and then a few more emails to squeeze in before retiring.
DAY 13 — STAMFORD
The majesty of the Light — and I’m not exaggerating here — just pours in and around us. I feel like I’ve expanded beyond anything my mind can grasp — and that is nice. John caps our time with a blessing that sends us out in a true blaze of glory. Everyone seems cocooned in Light. Thank goodness lunch awaits, and we can ground a wee bit before trying to pack up all the equipment. We hug and say goodbye’s to our new and old friends, laugh, play and do the pack-up with a host of wonderful volunteers like Ezra Mack, Chip Conley, Jan Rovecamp, Manny Stissi, Larry Brock, Bruce Rosenfeld, Leslie Fabian, Monica Simpson, Joan, Mary Ellen Butke and more whose names escape me — forgive me, but thank you!
We end the day with a celebratory dinner at the home of Sara and Eric Richelson and a cast of volunteers who were responsible for bringing the workshop together. How nice to be out in the country drinking in the green and beauty and relaxing with friends. Then it’s back for our own packing and more ever-present emailing. Now in case you don’t know these emails are important to do as we are always updating what needs to be done in the cities we’re visiting, and we’re preparing for the next trips which are taking place within days of completing this one. Our office goes with us when we’re on the road. Ah, I’m definitely ready for bed tonight and joy of joys I get to sleep in for tomorrow is a leisure departure. Thanks for keeping us in the Light as we go; that is invaluable to us.
DAY 14 – ON TO PHILADELPHIA
Ah the luxury of sleeping in this morning is just too loverly. We have a natural rising and lazily eat brunch before loading all the equipment and luggage onto our two vehicles for our short trek from Stamford to Philadelphia. Lesley and Vincent drive in one vehicle and Roger, Cleora and I are in the second one. I take advantage of Roger’s driving and Cleora’s navigating to do some email and then just sit back enjoying some on-the-road SE’s. I come to with our crossing the Walt Whitman bridge as we get close to Philadelphia. Entering this city we go past the historical section and I drink in the founding fathers essence in this city. It’s a quick check-in and unpacking and then Roger and les girls are out for another foray to Whole Foods for a few incidentals. Then we go back and gather Vincent and John and we’re off to an early dinner at the Buddakan. Our staff dinners when all the staff and John come together are few and sometimes far between on the road. We try to do it at least once a trip, but often one or the other of us can’t make them. I’ve often felt like we’re a “band of brothers” on the road, and these moments are some special fellowshipping time with each other. The dinner offerings all tasted wonderful to me and the ambience with this huge golden Buddha seated in front of a softly lit red background is striking.
After dinner Cleora and I opt to walk back to our hotel. As we walk past Independence Hall, my imagination takes off with images of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and other American Revolutionary persons who walked around on these cobblestoned streets meeting to debate what should or should not be in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. What an amazing time in our country that must have been! Now back at our hotel we each close out the day in our own special ways. Tomorrow is full day.
Click here to read Days 1 through 7 with Angel Gibson.
