Durban

The World Methodist Council and Conference are meeting in Durban, South Africa.  We began our Council meeting today, visiting with Methodists and other members of the Wesleyan family from around the globe.  Evangelism, family life, worship and international concerns are the focus of our week.  I am  looking forward to our worship experiences which will feature music from around the world, but most especially from South Africa.  Pastor Joe Scahill and his wife Marilyn and Pastor Charles Spence are also among the delegates.  We will come home with many stories. 

We are right on the Indian Ocean and it is fun to stick our toes in the water, but of course it is quite cool.  It is winter in this Southern hemisphere and the days are cool.  A little to the south of us there was snow last week.  Of course the days are short.  My grandson Max is having a grand time explaining to everyone he meets how it is cold in Mozambique and South Africa because it is winter, even if it is very hot summer back in Houston where he lives.  .  I am so privileged to be able to introduce him to the peoples and countries he could not begin to imagine.  Our world, our foods, our customs, our cultures are so different, and there are delightful people everywhere.  The miracle and gift of this diversity is almost overwhelming..

God is so good.

Bishop Ann