Day 4 – we head for Maine and the Retreat
This morning John Morton heads back to Los Angeles to do a sharing at the Insight II happening in Santa Monica. What a jet-setter! He’s on a plane by 8am and into sharing by early afternoon. He gets a quick overnight with his family and then he’ll be back on the plane again. Hmm, a Traveler in more ways than we can count. Meanwhile our not-so-little band of merry men and women load up the cars and head north.
Our final destination is Portsmouth, a quaint harbor town in New Hampshire. This will be home for the next few days as we participate in the Initiates Retreat in nearby Eliot, Maine which is across the water from Portsmouth. It’s late afternoon when we arrive. Some of us decide to stop in at the local health food store and do a little walking throughout the town. This is a very picturesque town — almost looks like a movie lot for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” written in the 1700’s time period. Little colonial homes on little streets. And, of course, we’re down a couple of towns from Salem, home of the infamous Salem witch trials. We do come across John’s Barbershop with real old-fashioned leather chairs giving us that ol’ back-in-time feeling. It’s a free night so we all go out to dinner at The Library. Our table is in front of a large fireplace in a room lined with book cases and prints taken of the town in the 1800’s. Brooke and Phil Danza join us for dinner — they’ve just arrived from Los Angeles and are going to be with us at the retreat. Feels like we’re on one of those PAT trips — all of us being together and J-R’s with us. A sweet teasing camaraderie is the order of the evening! Then it’s off for a night’s sleep as we prepare for the retreat.
Day 5 – The Initiates Retreat Begins
We get a good breakfast this morning because it’s going to be a long haul until dinner. I love how the energy gathers and builds as we meet with other assistants to prepare the room for the participants, and for John-Roger and John Morton to be with us this weekend. The Initiates Retreat is for active Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness initiates only. This is a special time of renewal and recharging for an initiate, made all the more special by the presence with us of two Travelers. The location of the retreat is the Green Acres Baha’i School Retreat in Eliot, Maine. When we drive up the driveway we see lovely old and new whiteboard buildings on lots of green rolling lawn that slopes down to the river’s edge. The training room is cozy with oak beams. We start with a yummy dinner and then gather to begin the first session. Midway through the evening J-R and John come to do sharing with us. They take time – almost three hours – this first night, answering questions thoroughly and lovingly. Just to be in their presence and the presence of Spirit was so gratifying that we would have sat there all night. Alas our bodies were insisting we get some sleep, so waving goodnight as J-R and John depart, we also get ready to catch a few winks of sleep.
Day 6 – Initiates Retreat
It just keeps getting better and better. The meals are very good, and J-R and John come again to take sharing for another 3 hours. Our cups are filled and then are overflowing. This evening we have a real treat as J-R takes us through an innerphasing on The True Self. We’re now giddy with love.
Day 7 – Initiates Retreat
What a beautiful day! The sun is shining and it’s warmer outside and in. John comes and caps the retreat with almost 2 hours of sharing and a final blessing that brings tears to our eyes. Then it is time for us to pack up all the equipment. We have oodles of help — loving hands join with us to wrap up cable, pack the sound cases and products (what’s left of them). Our assisting team, under the joyful and easy guidance of team captain, Jeeni Lawrence, have been a strong, cohesive and effective unit throughout the retreat and even until the end. Phil and Brooke join in too as well as many other participants. We are all done in one hour — a record. With many hugs and words of thanks we head back across the bridge to our hotel, and finish up the evening with a satisfying dinner at our table by the fire in The Library restaurant. Then it’s back to our rooms to pack up, catch a few winks in preparation for our traveling to New York in the morning.
Day 8 – Onto New York
Vincent, Paul, Cleora and I grab an early breakfast and are on the road by 9am. The rest of the troop will leave a little later and travel by train rendezvousing with us in New York later in the day. Though it is pouring rain we are blessed all the way — cocooned by Light. Even when we were forced to go into this one lane that we thought took us away from the proper exit, we still found a detour that bypassed some very heavy traffic and brought us to the desired highway. The six hours fly by for us and we are more than ready for lunch when we get to our hotel. Checking in is always exciting with this group and this was no exception, but we flow with it all — using our cubes of Light to manage the increase in visual/kinesthetic stimulation that has increased once we hit the city. Finally we all get our rooms and start the settling in process. Soon we are joined by J-R, John and the guys, and Brooke and Phil. Each of us had our own programs of activity for the evening. Some of us decide to go check out the new Whole Foods store at Columbus Circle. This makes for a good walk up and down Broadway. The lights here are amazing — very colorful and bright. Once at Whole Foods we meet Jeeni and Howard Lawrence and enjoy taking in this huge store and our first evening in New York. After a fairly quick foray, we head back. Tomorrow is a full day; it’s time to catch a little sleep.
