This year's conference was held at Megumi Chalet, a Christian Conference Center in Karuizawa, Japan. Since I will be responsible for booking space at our Holiday House in Karuizawa for summer visitors, I went a few days early with an OMF couple to do the spring cleaning at the house. We aired all the blankets and futons and made sure everything was clean and organized so that people who need a holiday will be able to spend most of their time enjoying Karuizawa.
On Monday afternoon we went to the Chalet and joined our colleagues for three days of speakers, discussions, music, activities and enjoyed the meals prepared by the staff there. The facility is built on a hillside, and our meetings were mostly held in the Chapel about two-thirds of the way up. My room was on the lowest level, so I got lots of stair climbing exercise. A lovely little lake is nearby and provided a nice place for a morning walk.
It was a great chance to catch up with people we don't see all that often and to see how their kids have grown. We took several short term workers along to run a program just for the kids, so everyone had something to do.
Here's a picture of us:
