Greetings all! Ok pretty much this entire post will be about my days from last Thursday until today. It was the 9th North America Leaders Conference which was held in Maryland. And might I say, what a conference it was! I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Anyway, let's begin on Thursday night, shall we. First of all, I was surprisingly happy when almost all of Jacksonville was on time getting to our meeting place. Much props to you all for that! I just wish I could say the same thing about our bus! It was over an hour late and I was just so... ahh!! I was just anxious to get going because all the excitement was building inside of me. The bus ride to Maryland wasn't all that bad. I actually slept a good while, though it was majorly uncomfortable. At least I got a seat all to myself. We arrived in Maryland about 4-something Friday afternoon. With conference, there were two horrific things we had to go through all three days! First of all, the dorms had no air condition! Never again should we take that for granted! A lot of the guys slept in the lounge room which had AC, but I toughed it out in the hot room. Every morning I woke up all sweaty! Naks naman! The second horrific thing at conference was the walk from the dorms to the main conference room. Ok so at the YFC conference in Jacksonville back in '99 we had to walk from the dorms to the main conference room. But this time, it was way worse! It took about 30 minutes each way, there were some hills to go up and down, and the walk wasn't straight at all! Curves here and there... it was just outrageous! Not to mention it was hot... but at least it wasn't raining. All in all, the conference was pretty dope. It didn't feel like a normal conference to me. I was really hoping for a spiritual conference, but it didn't have that effect on me. Don't get me wrong, just because I didn't feel the awesome spiritualness like I did at the Seattle conference, that doesn't make this conference worse... just different. I actually felt like I was a chaperone more than I did a participant. I can think of five people I was asked to keep an eye on. I did every now and then, but I didn't make it my sole purpose for being there. The most inspiring thing for me at this years conferece was when Angelo gave his talk and the thing he did after his talk. The challenges, the goals, the mission, it was just all overwhelming. It's quite the challenge, and it's going to take a lot of work this year to accomplish it. Impossible? Definitely not. Feasible? Yes. Do I think we can do it? Honestly, no. But that doesn't mean we're not going to try our hardest to accomplish it. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic. Then again, my sense of reality may not be what God has in store for us. Amen? Amen! Let's see, this conference was very pictureless for me. I took one picture with my camera at conference, and one after conference (which was back here in Jacksonville). Most of the time I just video taped things. I know I'm going to regret not taking a lot of pictures. Usually I have two rolls of film to develop after conference. My gosh this conference was just different! Ok let's talk about the volleyball competition. Then again... let's not! Grr!! Yet another disappointing year... worse than Dallas! But the volleyball competition in Dallas still hurts more than this years. Blah! I accomplished my goal of finding my out of state friends. I didn't have a lot, but I found them all. Unfortunately, I only took one picture! Arlene, you're the lucky one. hahaha. Let's see what else can I talk about....

Sunday of conference I wore my pink shirt. How awesome was that! =) Quite a number of people complimented me on wearing it, even people I didn't know. Word! hahaha. Come to think of it, sisters and brothers complimented me on it. True that!

Oh! I would like to say that I'm very proud of Jacksonville! I think we all represented very well. I hope you all learned something from this conference. I prayed for you all that you may be able to bring something back from that conference. I hope you did... and I hope it's what I prayed for. You finally saw how hype a worship can be, and I hope you can continue with that hypeness at our meetings and what not. Worship is a huge deal to me, and I was praying that you may be able to see how a praise and worship should be like. It was awesome to be able to worship like that again. No doubt I miss those days. Currently our worships haven't been even close to that level. Don't get me wrong, I think our worships are great! But I know it can be better. Worship can be the thing many people look forward to, maybe even the only thing they look forward to. A great worship can keep people around, a crappy worship and lack of respect for it can make people leave. I've seen it before, I still see it today. God willing, from this day forth our worships will just keep on getting better. It's up to us!

Congrats to G-UNIT for being co-winners of the girls flag football competition. I honestly thought Seattle or NJ would take it, but you sisters surprised them all! Awesome job! I'm so proud of you all! Congrats to Fern for winning best t-shirt design! Awesome dude! Congrats to California... you better make next years conference dope as anything! I mean, it is going to be our 10th conference! Word! YFC Georgia, I hope you loved your first conference! I'm glad you were all able to make it and I hope this conference really opened your eyes to what God has in store for you and for YFC in your area.

It was sad to leave, but not as sad as other conferences... =) It actually took us forever to leave because we kept missing people! hahaha. Good times, good times. The ride home wasn't all that bad, I think most people slept most of the way. I wasn't comfortable for the most part, but at least I was able to sleep. When I got home, I actually unpacked all my stuff, checked my e-mail, then went to sleep. I only slept for like, two hours. I had a good day at the gym today. Woohoo! hahaha. Watching the my conferenc video was pretty cool. Saw some people, though not my out of state people. Geez not even on camera! Naks naman! Anyway... all good all good.

Do I miss conference... not a whole lot. Do I miss the people... no doubt! Do I want to go to next year's conference in Cali... most definitely! Regrets about this years conference... not quite sure. Conference crush(es)? Hm... wouldn't you like to know!!

The REVOLUTION has begun!