Refreshed and moving on to the next project

This weekend was theWomen's Conference in the lovely hills of Izu Southwest of Tokyo. This yearly conference was started many years ago by missionary wives from all denominations all over Japan for a bit of relaxation, renewal and inspiration. Though not a missionary, I have been a hanger-on to these conferences over the years and as the years rolled by, many have retired and left Japan and many more non-missionaries have joined. This year the planning committee had movers and shakers from our sub-group which has almost become the majority.

The theme this year was Health and Healing Mind Body and Spirit. There were too many workshops to choose from and friends to do them with. The new banner as well as it's companion banner and the banner made a few years ago were all hung.

Although I did not go into a lot of detail about this year's banner, it had it's beginning years ago in a friendship forged at this conference. Carol Sack, a missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1982 is involved in the field of Pastoral Harp through a project called Lyra Precaria. She and her colleagues offer prayerful presence through harp and voice, mainly to persons who might be ill or dying. For many years she has been asking (suggesting/nagging) me to make a banner of David. When I began to think of making a banner for this conference, I came across the printed Psalm fabric and thinking nothing could be better for healing than the Psalms, (and perhaps God was doing a bit of nagging as well) came up with the banner I have been working on the past few months.

Needless to say, the women, but more so, Carol were very pleased. Now Carol is doing classes and lectures all over Japan and was very happy to take over custody of that banner and it's companion. It seemed that was a better solution for everyone than having one more banner rolled up on a shelf most of the year. It will get used and enjoyed by many and if I ever have need of it, I know where it is. She has a class on the Psalms this week so the banner will not have to be stored at all. If it comes back to the conference, I do not have to bring it.

Of course there was take-along-work. I took a challenge to complete the blocks for the batik quilt and finished the last one this morning so I could lay them all out on the floor where there was a big space and no dog hair. There seems to be one orphan block left over. I have decided to finish this quilt for my Yonbanme. (fourth daughter) Just before leaving for the conference I learned she will be visiting in March so I did not spend a lot of time arranging the blocks. She will do a much better job of it than I ever would.

Now refreshed in mind, body and spirit, I have returned to finish the on-going projects and find more take-along work.