Wow! The Most Amazing Days Ever

The last few days have been just so AWESOME I just can’t describe them well enough!! But I will try to do my best. Last Sabbath and this past Monday I attended the 59th General Conference Session of Seventh-Day Adventists in Atlanta, Georgia. We have our General Conferences every 5 years.

As I said, it was really really awesome. I could see people of my own faith; see how global our church really is. And I enjoyed browsing through the Exhibit Halls seeing all the different booths of Adventist colleges and ministries.

On Sabbath, just Dad and I went. We got up early (5:30 AM) and drove on over to meet our bus. We loaded onto our bus (a blue one) and settled in to see Georgia up close! On the 2-hour drive down we enjoyed watching the movie Secret of the Cave. We also ate breakfast. A little after 9, we arrived at the Georgia Dome/Georgia World Congress Center where the General Conference is being held, until July 3. (henceforth referred to as "the Dome", or "GWCC".)

A thrill went through me when I first caught sight of the Dome. "I'm really here" I thought to myself. "Not just watching it on TV. I'm really going to be HERE, where the action is taking place!" After getting through security and descending two escalators, I sighted the stage and also some seating. Another thrill went through me. "This is the place I saw on TV last night. I'm actually HERE!!!!!!!!!"

It's really hard to describe the Dome. I've heard that 50,000 people were expected to be at the GC (General Conference) on the weekdays, and 75,000 on the weekends. This was a weekend! All I can really say is that the Dome is HUGE, with 3 levels of seating. The Dome is home to the Atlanta Falcons, and naturally is a sports arena. Please look at the picture above to see what I mean!!!

Sabbath School and Church was very good. The Sabbath School lesson was on health, and church was excellent too. There was some very talented musicians to give music for church! I especially enjoyed their music.

After church Dad and I decided that we wanted to see the Exhibit Hall. Well, numerous turns, lots of steps, 4 floors, and 3 escalators later, we found it! The first time we thought we'd get lost maybe, but after the first time the route between floors wasn't so bad.

In the Exhibit Hall there was just about every Adventist college/university and ministry you could think of. It was really really cool, I didn't really realize how many Adventist ministries there were, until I entered the Exhibit Hall and wham! there they were!

We really liked seeing Southern Adventist University's booth, and how nice it was. (maybe because that's where we're from??) Also Oakwood University, Union College, and Southwestern Adventist University attracted crowds. It was nice seeing people from Southwestern, because we lived there for 7 years!

Other nice booths were those of Review and Herald Publishing Association, Amazing Facts, ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Association), Hope Channel, 3ABN, Loma Linda (an Adventist medical school), and Your Story Hour.

I'd have to say that the Your Story Hour booth was one of my favorites. It wasn't a really big booth, but both of the hosts, Aunt Carole and Uncle Dan, were there. I was really excited to meet them and get my picture taken with them! Uncle Dan was impersonating Abraham Lincoln. (See below pictures.).

^^Me and Aunt Carole.

^^Me and Uncle Dan.

At the end of the day Dad and I were both happy to sight our bus that would take us home. We got home at about midnight! And of course it was June 27 before I hit the sack...

Monday was very fun too. Dad and I both decided that the whole family should come on Monday. So Mom and Alison rode the bus while Dad and I followed in our van. Alison was REALLY excited to ride in the bus!

Mom and Alison really enjoyed seeing the Southern booth. (see bonus pictures.) Alison also really really liked climbing Union College's rock wall. I was really happy that I brought my mother with me. ;) She bought me some more Your Story Hour stories, and a documentary from Amazing Facts on the origin of evil. When we met Dick Stenbakken (see bonus pictures), she bought his latest DVD on the Armor of God! I really enjoyed getting an ADRA shirt. So now I am a walking advertisement!

We looked in the ABC sometime on Monday too. But the most awesome part of the GC was still to come! I regularly read an awesome magazine called Insight. (http://www.insightmagazine.org/) It's the Adventist magazine for youth, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It is soooooooooooo cool!! On Monday I had the great privalige to meet Insight's editor, Dwain Esmond. He was sooo thrilled to meet me, and the feeling was mutual. He was so happy that our whole family really liked Insight. He was also thrilled to autograph my copy of his devotional, 24-7-365. He was really really really nice and I am SOOOOO glad I met him. Along with meeting Uncle Dan and Aunt Carole, meeting him was the best thing for me of the whole GC! (see picture of me and him above.)


So I know this has been a bit lengthy. But the problem is that there's so much to say! :P If it all works, I have some "bonus pictures" in a slideshow below. This slideshow only works on my blog, so PLEASE visit my blog to see them! There's pictures of the Southern booth, the bus, and pictures of me and other famous Adventist people.

Remember, my blog adress is: www.tennesseephotographer.blogspot.com


~Photobug