Fellow Soldiers of the Circles,
Janean and I attended the conference held at Glen Ivy, midway between Los Angels and San Diego, in the Cleveland National Forest. It was great!
Before I describe it to you, let me explain that we took a week and meandered our way out there doing tourist things along the way and then we meandered our way back doing more of the same. It was a great driving trip. We saw Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, San Juan Capistrano, plus lots of other tourist stuff -- some of which we had seen as children. Late May is a good time for this type of trip.
Now for the conference....
The site was by far and away the best choice of any conference we have attended over the years. It was all self-contained and everything was nearby. The quarters were nice and the food great. A wonderful band on Saturday night with dancing and a guitar group on Sunday (both groups are
Urantia Book Students).
The conference theme was An Eternal Perspective and it was superbly done. Our own Suzanne Kelly-Ward participated in the program and as usual her poetry was great. We had a worship service on Sunday night on top of a mesa -- complete with bonfire and a gorgeous view of the valley below. It was a very pleasant and sincere fun worship that ended with Bert Cobb’s rendition of his poem Jesus Was a Working Man and a songfest led by the inimitable Richard Keeler.
This is the First Regional Conference sponsored by the U.S.U.A. and the three I.U.A. Chapters on the West Coast. They did a remarkable job and individual effort by so many people that it would be impossible for me to mention them all. Just a few: Carol Jett who chaired the Committee did a great job as always. We are going to lose Carol and Joe as they are moving to Puerto Rico to grow mushrooms. We certainly wish them the best in their new venture. All the U.S.U.A. officers worked their heart out making the Conference a success. In addition, Joe and Alice McCoy, Sioux Harvey, Marilyn Alexander and scores of others did a wonderful job. They are planning another conference for next year and we can certianly recommend it. Details will be forthcoming.
Next year will be the International Conference in Helsinki, Finland, and we are hoping to go there for that event. Time will tell whether we can do that or not. It is the first week in August, 1998. As you may or may not know, the readership in Finland is estimated at near 30% of the adult population. It is remarkable what is going on in Finland as well as the Spanish speaking world. The sale of the Spanish version of the Urantia Book exceeds the English right now!
Bryan Snowden