Click here to view photo slideshow by Ezra Mack from the MSIA Seminar in Orlando, 2009
MSIA travel staff were recently in Florida, providing MSIA Services (Innerphasings, Polarity Balances & Aura Balances) as well as MSIA events. Staff member, Angel Gibson, provided this update from the trip:
DAY 1
It’s lovely at 4:30am in Los Angeles. Heading to the airport I look at the just-past-full moon radiating in the sky. Yep, it’s the first MSIA travel staff trip of 2009 and we’re going to Jacksonville and then Orlando. Check in is a breeze and now with Starbucks in hand I’m doing email and texting while I wait for Cleora who is flying the American skies to join me for our flights to Jacksonville (takes two of them today). Luckily our connecting flight is two gates down in Dallas as we barely have 10 minutes to catch it. Spirit and the Traveler are looking out for us! We arrive in Jacksonville as the sun is going down. With just the two of us it’s a breeze getting our luggage, finding our rental car and driving to our riverside hotel. But hey, it’s cold here in Jacksonville. Oh well, warm hearts welcome us anyway as we arrive and Judy Jackson, our Jacksonville MSIA Rep, welcomes us with a basket of yummy fruits and goodies and water. We settle in, me to email and Cleora to her novel and then to sleep. Tomorrow is a full day!
DAY 2 — Jacksonville
Ooh that alarm clock is loud this morning. A little slow to rise we figure the only way to really wake up is to go for a fast walk along the river. Good idea, but the weather is just not cooperating. It’s pouring rain and really cold…in the 50’s (ok, cold for us southern California types), so we opt for the running machines at the gym. Now we’re awake, and with breakfast under our belts we head off for Services at Barbara Moulding’s home. Judy is waiting outside for us under a huge golf-type umbrella. Walking into the house we see that Bruce Rosenfeld and Elizabeth Frumin are ready and poised to continue their training as balancers. So we go right to it. The morning flies by and Judy cooks us a delicious turkey lunch…the broccoli is cooked to perfection. We happily catch up with Snowden and Spencer, Judy and Sherry while we munch. More Services this afternoon and with lots of hugs we’re back in the car headed to the hotel. Judy has fixed us a picnic dinner so we dine in our room. Busy night on the computer with me though I enjoy catching bits of House on TV along with Cleora. Thank you, Judy, for all that you did to prepare the Services, the meals, everything! Now to sleep perchance to dream with the Travelers for tomorrow we have a few Services and then we’re off to drive to Orlando.
DAY 3 – Jacksonville to Orlando
Today is sunny but brrr-cold for Jacksonville. We have a bit of Services to do and then we pack up our car, get a picture taken near the river, and head for Orlando. It’s a quick drive with lots of girl-talk between Cleora and me. When we arrive in Orlando it’s actually a bit warmer. We unpack and then take off on foot to explore downtown Orlando. This is a new city for both of us and I think the first time that staff has done Services and a workshop right in the city. Walking around we find big guitars of different colors are all around the downtown, sort of like the angels in Los Angeles and the cows in Chicago. There is a picturesque lake with a fountain called Lake Eola, and many buildings which create a mix of New Orleans, Cuba, Miami and old Sacramento. We visit the Corona cigar shop with old wooden rocking chairs out front and a big wooden Indian right inside the front door. We walk down Church street and see the variety of restaurants in the balconied multi-story buildings. By the time we finish dinner, the temperature has dropped and Orlando is on its way to having a taste of the freezing cold front hitting up north. Back in our hotel room we settle in for some email catch-up and quiet!
DAY 4 — Orlando
Services and email is on our plates today as we prepare for John Morton, Leigh Taylor-Young and Roger Wakefield to join us for the coming weekend’s events. Our day flies by greeting old and new friends from all parts of Florida. John, Leigh and Roger arrive and we each take the evening to take care of ourselves and prepare for the full days coming.
DAY 5 — Orlando
We rise and shine early to power walk to the Breakfast Club — a locally praised breakfast spot — for a hearty breakfast. I love their omelets…! Martha Boston, Peter Brannigan, John and Leigh join us too for a quick catch up and impromptu workshop prep meeting. Martha is our supreme Team Captain and it’s so much fun to have her be with us for this workshop. Cleora and I get back in time to start Services and our day goes by so fast it’s amazing. Meanwhile Roger, Martha and the team — Spencer Whiting, Snowden McFall, Teri Wunderman, Christine Ashmore, Ezra Mack, Mirta and Nydia — prepare the room for our Meeting the Challenges with Spirit workshop. Well true to form the challenges have started and we find ourselves improvising to provide various items that have not materialized. Quickly we move into the fun of it all…how can we meet these challenges provided by Spirit with Spirit. And with that Spirit we glide right into the heart of the workshop with John who opens the first evening with a beautiful introduction. We look at how Spirit challenges us once we’ve answered the call, and we have chosen back. Will we choose to respond to the challenges with Spirit or otherwise? Most of us are sailing away barely in our bodies by the evening’s end. Thank goodness Cleora and I have only to use the elevator for transport to our room!
DAY 6 — Orlando
It only gets better and higher today starting with John taking sharing this morning. Then we move forward into looking at the challenges Spirit brings forward in our every day life and how we can meet these challenges with Spirit in practical and uplifting ways….and have fun and dance with it all too! Our day is capped with a Discourse subscriber seminar with John. Some of the themes that I heard were “the safest place is in the heart of the Traveler; there are challenges that come up when we resolve to be loyal servants of God; whatever our challenges are there is an opportunity to find the good, if we have the faith and trust and know there is good to be found; whatever will meet the challenges within me is already present; love one another…check into doing that earlier. And there was much much more. What a day and night!
DAY 7 — Orlando
The Meeting the Challenges with Spirit workshop today continued with beauty, joy and grace and was capped by a precious private seminar time with John. How wonderful to finish the weekend with the final challenge words from J-R sending us out the door into the world. Martha and her team did an exquisite job of supporting John, me, and all the participants. Roger Wakefield masterfully wove the sound and video excerpts seamlessly throughout the weekend. We are so grateful to Judy Jackson for being the person who held the vision for this workshop and to all the participants. Thank you also to Ezra Mack, the roving photographer. Light to John and Leigh and their travels today; Roger, Cleora and I have a quiet night to refresh and catch maybe a movie and/or a football game…ah the simple pleasures of road life….and of course, what would a night be without a dash of email.
DAY 8 – Back to LA
Roger, Cleora and I are bid farewell by many sweet employees at the Crowne Plaza. They did a super job of taking care of us throughout our stay there. It’s a quick pack, jump and drive to the airport and soon we’re checked in smoothly. I write this flying over the southwest. Cleora is by my side reading her latest Koontz novel. She’s been a trooper, volunteering once more to serve on the road. Our deep thanks and love to her and all who’ve sent Light throughout our trip, and to J-R who is like the wind beneath our wings. Till our next trip, “vaya con Dios y el Viajero Mystico!”
