NHA Annual Meeting

The Nazareth House Apostolate Annual Meeting was held on Saturday, 16th of March.  The Board Members began arriving on Monday and were all here by Friday afternoon, March 15th.  In the world of Non-Profit Organizations, there are many types of boards.  NHA is blessed to have a group that is creative, efficient, involved, prudent, guiding, self-critical yet encouraging, decisive and ready to implement  -- all the qualifications necessary to sustain and move forward a unique operation such as Nazareth House Apostolate.   To top all that, they also genuinely like each other and enjoy being together.   At the risk of causing Fr. Matthew Weber to clinch his teeth and wince his eyes, I will say that the NHA Board of Directors are an AWESOME bunch.  (Fr. Weber recently posted on Facebook his annoyance of the over use of the word "awesome").   However, if the shoe fits...and in this case the WORD fits to describe our board members thoroughly.

  

At the start of the week, before the meeting, there were some chores and work to get done.

Medications had to be purchased, labeled and packed and then sent to Sierra Leone.

We are working hard to get the " NHA Undercroft Shop" more accessible both online and on the grounds.

The Store has been available to pilgrims for a while but needed some adjustments to display sale items.



"Thrifty" being our goal, we found cardboard cases to be a cost effective alternative to fixed display cases.

However, construction of these items ...well... was ... shall we say frustrating.   Liz being the patient trooper that she is, helped plug away until all the cases were complete.   You know sometimes, you can become somewhat cranky when one piece doesn't fit where its supposed to and so on.

Liz and I had to especially keep our temperament calm and pleasant because Chase, our elderly border collie, would fret and feel he must make us feel better if we showed frustration!  Liz was better at this than me, I wanted to throw the cardboard several times. 

Keeping with our objective to be as thrifty as possible, we do not heat the Chapel or the Bookstore during the week - only on Sunday and only during Mass.  (You can find us all pretty bundled up at the 4 AM Morning Prayer/Liturgy!)

 Liz and I decided it was warmer to finish putting together the shelves outside in the sunlight than in the cold undercroft.

However, this also means contending with noisy chickens.   

The warm bright sun on the glass in the chapel windows attracted ladybugs.



Not one or two, but hundreds.

Seraphim has been vacuuming them up several times a day for months now

but this weekend it was worse than ever.



Together, he and Matt cleared

the ladybug invasion out of the chapel.

The bugs have returned but not in the numbers they came in this weekend. 

On Wednesday Night at Evening Prayer, just before beginning the Jesus Life Prayer Rosary, Seraphim pointed out a large bird flying over the Kellia towards the lake.  It was a fully matured, white headed Bald Eagle.  It flew majestically towards the lake and began to circle it.  What a beautiful sight to have added into our time of prayer that night. 

We brainstormed the whole time we were together, however,

the official meeting began at 10 AM on Saturday and ended at 9PM Saturday night with the syncing our computers for VC Meetings.



Our Video Chat Meetings are held every other Sunday at 6 PM.



 I am so very thankful for such a consistent and involved Board of Directors.    

At one point during the meeting, we took a "break" for lunch. (I place quotations around "break" because we kept the meeting's discussions going all the while we were in the car).

I wanted the members to have a good taste of Taylorsville, Kentucky, so Claudio drove us to the corner at 155 where, off road, sat a hummer with a BarBQ Smoker attached to it.

It is "Holy Smokes" the finest BBQ you can find.



You'll never see it in a restaurant, you have to find the hummer and the Lone Star Flag



to be sure you have the right one.  Everything else pales.

The lines were long but we waited through



and Claudio treated us to a huge mess of meat and fixins' -

even after the Potluck Celebration,



following the Mass on Sunday, we still had meat left over!



Although I must admit, Matt, who has a few less years on him than the rest of us and a much higher metabolism, was able to knock down a good chunk of it.

James, who was unable to leave the construction of the security wall around the Compound in Sierra Leone, attended the meeting via teleconference.

It was wonderful for all of us to chat with him together and hear his ideas and needs for the work in Sierra Leone.  

There are so many facets to Nazareth House Apostolate.  There is St. Simeon Skete (the monastic life of prayer and solitude) and there is the mission work of the skete - Sierra Leone.   Each requires resources and attention to sustain.  It takes a special group to understand and facilitate what is needed for NHA to provide the service to people in the USA and in the world.  We are humbled and incredibly thankful that God has placed together such an able body to carry on the work as board members.  There is no doubt His hand was in it and by His Grace we hope to do all things necessary to carry on, according to His will and glory, this work that has been set before us.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Thank you.