This is a wonderful gathering of people from all over this region. The atmosphere is quite festive as people talk and laugh and just enjoy community.

Hope part 2
What is it that gets us out of bed in the morning, keeps us pressing forward in the face of so many trials, disappointments and discontentment? The world offers so little real fulfillment and true intimacy, which is what human beings crave so deeply. And yet we just continue to put one foot in front of the other, trudging forward as if all that we long for is waiting just around the corner. But how do we find the energy, the perseverance to do it? Hope! Hope for something bigger or better, for something new and improved. Consider this however, is hope always a good thing no matter what the circumstances?