We concluded our leadership meetings today. We didn’t finish everything on the agenda – ha! – but we did finish the time we had allotted to do so. More work to be done in the future, but good still has been done.
Good news includes we are finishing the year almost exactly on budget target, which is kinda impressive from my perspective. God-willing the budget we submitted and which was just approved last month will be equally adequate to the tasks we’ve set for ourselves.
Now it’s time to shift from leadership mindset to team mindset. People have been arriving all day and, for the most part, without incident. One person wound up on the wrong train and went three hours the wrong direction in Germany. But that seems under control now. Another person’s flight connection was missed, but they’re still going to be here in time for the start tomorrow.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned the additional oddness of the past weekend in Wittenberg. Each year the town has a huge festival to commemorate Martin & Katie Luther’s marriage. An anniversary celebration, I suppose you’d say. God only knows what the appropriate gift is for someone’s 501st anniversary.
The town has been holding this celebration for the past 30+ years. It’s quite the event and draws folks from some distance. Imagine a Renaissance Festival crowd only VERY loosely oriented around a Christian wedding. I mean verrrrrrry loosely oriented. The square outside our window has been filled with revelry until midnight each night. But today it’s all clearing up and out. Folks have retired their leggings and armor and associated other gear, and are returning to more modern and normal attire. Not all of them. Some of them dress like this all the time, apparently. But they’re more the exception.
One wonders what Luther would make of all this? I suspect he would be *very* disappointed.
Tomorrow will be calmer and less crowded as we begin our All-Asia Retreat tomorrow.
The Nelson Family Indonesia 