Success in the Monastery!

So Sunday night was the official start of the CIB Conference of delegates and I was going to be the first to present after the opening remarks! I had written it out and practiced a few times, I wanted to keep it short since I knew most of these folks were going to be tired from their travel. We had practiced everything that afternoon so I felt good, but still nervous. Sister Lynn had requested that I speak slow and not to use slang or colloquialisms,( um… that is pretty much my whole schitck!) since there would be interpreters trying to translate to many different groups from Germany, France, Italy, and Korea!

Rachael and I got there and we were walked into the room that had about 40 nuns seated and there were a handful on zoom too. I started getting a little nervous but Sister Lynn introduced me and it was so incredibly sweet. I also met Sister Nancy who had drove up from Minnesota too (S. Benedict) and had told me that she knew my dad and had a cool story to tell! I LOVE THAT STUFF!

The talk went great and I was so proud but I had no idea of the reach until at random times at the monastery, a Sister would sit next to me and share how the scroll had affected her, that started to hit me. A Sister would walk up to me and tell me how the imagery and the words had struck a cord. That was when I realized that this was way bigger than I had thought, this was bigger than just a piece of art, this scroll was going to continue to connect me to people all over the world. There were Sisters from Korea, Philippines, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa and they were all touched by the scroll. The best part was when the Sisters from Italy stood up after the talk and said we want you to come to our Monastery in Assisi, now THAT is what I’m talking about!!!!