RHHP displays at the Atlantic Coast Conference Fall Assembly

Ellen with Bekoli and Ruth Karebu.

Conference moderator, Warren Tyson, opens the session.

Ellen with Pastor Sam Walters, associate pastor of the Great Joy Fellowship, a church plant in
Delaware which is a Caribbean congregation.

with Warren Tyson

Me, with Delbert Seitz, the conference treasurer. Showing some of the
remodeling projects
at RHHP that the conference paid for.

Ellen with Sam Wanjau, pastor of the African Community Church in Lancaster. With him is Ruth Karebu, his wife.
They were interested in how RHHP supported asylum seekers.

Lynn Carlson, who stayed briefly at RHHP when it was still the
Baltimore Discipleship Center,
stopped by.

We decided this year to have a RHHP display at the ACC Fall Assembly held yesterday at the Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, PA. Kenton Bontrager of the RHHP House Committee made a table display and some brochures for the occasion. Our housemate Bekoli, Ellen and I left Baltimore at 6:30 am in order to make it up to the Assembly by 8 am and found the delegates already in the thick of deliberating the conference's business. Several other Mennonite institutions were also present with their displays and we were situated next to the MCC display.

We had a fine time meeting delegates and members of various congregations from around the conference. It was a great opportunity to share the work of the North Baltimore Mennonite Church and ACC through RHHP. Kenton's display garnered much interest among those who attended the assembly.

lunch with members of the African Community Church of Lancaster

As is often the case, the people we met and the connections we established were the highlights of the assembly. Bekoli and I had lunch with the pastor and members of the African Community Church of Lancaster and engaged in an interesting conversation of how the charismatic worship style fit in with the staid style of traditional Mennonite worship.

It was a productive time and we made a number of interesting connections. Ellen found out from the Everence (a Mennonite financial institution) representative that Everence now has a credit union and one may join it without being physically close to a branch. The main requirement is that the person be associated with a Mennonite organization. Therefore, it might be possible for our asylees to set up accounts and begin building their credit after winning their cases. This is important as they rent their first apartments after leaving RHHP.

Ellen with the Everence representative

Several others stopped by the display to learn more about the work of RHHP and we were able to highlight how the conference supported its work.