Highs and lows

Well, it's been awhile - and for some reason!

The Women's Conference at Mo-Ranch was off to a swimming start.  Sometimes literally. It was a wonderful conference, with the best leadership team I think I may have ever had the honor of serving. I left for a night to attend first the General Council meeting and then the opening of the Mission Presbytery meeting in Austin, What a powerful sermon we heard from Thomas Daniel about digging wells vs. building fences. (In light of the experience our nation has endured this past weekend in Orlando, that sermon was somewhat prophetic...)

Then, almost back to Kerrville, I received the call about Kelly Allen. I headed straight for the Kerrville hospital, back to Mo-Ranch to open the second conference, then my daughter and I packed up to head back to San Antonio.

Kelly's loss has been such a blow to so many, not the least of whom is her family. I spent the last week working with the Board of Pensions, her family, and the church staff and congregation to try and figure out the next steps forward.

In the middle of that, I got to take off for south Texas and have a delicious lunch while getting acquainted with the Rio Grande Valley cluster.  What a wonderful group of people!  Seeing the vital and multiple ministries being carried out in the RGV was an absolute shot in the arm for me. There are so many good things happening there.

I finally got to take a day off yesterday to CONTINUE working on unpacking our house. It just seems like Day 412 of our move, but it's actually been about 2 weeks.

It's been a rollercoaster of highs and lows as I continue trying to get off the ground with serving the presbytery. I have been up to my elbows with Presbyterians since I arrived - and oh my goodness, what a lifeline that has been. It is truer than true that as a Presbytery, we ARE "better together." We have laughed together, cried together, worked together, maybe argued a teeny bit, but all of us have made all of us better. And I am so proud to be part of such an enterprise.

I'm taking off for General Assembly this week. Please feel free to follow along here for reports from GA, and also on my Facebook ("Sallie Sampsell Watson"), the Presbytery's Facebook ("Mission Presbytery"), and my Twitter account (@salliedmin) for all the news that's fit to print. And maybe some that's not. You can also follow the action at the website PC-Biz.org. (It's easy to set up an account if you don't already have one) And live streaming of the Assembly will be available on the PCUSA home page, www.pcusa.org.  Please keep the commissioners, all who are traveling, and the deliberations of the GA in your prayers!