Thank You Letter from Kei Torita

[This is a thank you letter from Kei Torita in Japan. We neglected to read it at our annual meeting.]

Dear Nancy, Jeannette, and Women's Alliance people,

Thank you very much for your letter and gift. This year your gift came early and thank you for that too.

Jeannette, in your letter of March, I read that you and the alliance people prayed for my friends who had experience the earthquake in the Northern part of Japan last year. Thanks to your prayers, they were all right.

I used to write letters pretty often to a woman who lived inthe Southern part of Japan. She felt insecure and needed my support very much. She is now getting well and married to a blindman about whom I wrote to you last time. I have been tape recording New Church books for him. Now I am reading Swedenborg's Thought by a Japanese author. This book will take a long time but I am glad that he is enjoying listening to those tapes. He sends me back his comments by tape. He is a good acupuncturist. I am translating Helen Keller's Introduction to the True Christian Religion and the first half of it was published in the small periodical of JSA (Japan Swedenborg Association) in April. The latter half will be published in the fall.

I am visiting an elderly lady at a nursing home in the hills every once in a while and I am visiting this week too.

I was asked for conducting a cermony before building a house. And I did it for a New Church lady just a few days ago. In Japan usually a Shintoism priest does that according to that religion and he prays for safety of the whole building procedure. This was my first experience of doing this kind of ceremony but I was glad that the lady was pleased. Also, it was a good opportunity for ministry to those attending the ceremony.

Thank you again for your letter and gift. I am encouraged and helped by both. I hope you have a good convention and Women's Alliance meeting in Olympia, Washington. God bless you all.

Sincerely, Kei Torita

Pre-Convention Conference Call

Pat (our secretary), Jeannette (our out-going treasurer), Barb (Mite Box chair), Jenn (Communications chair) & I (President) met via conference call on Saturday morning. It's always funny trying to get used to talking to more than one person at a time and trying to figure out voices. Conference calls a great though. We get a lot accomplished and you can have a meeting in the comfort of your home (and maybe even in your pajamas! ;-))

We discussed:

• A program for our annual meeting and luncheon. This is something that was done many years ago and got phased out. We're trying to revive it.
  
• How to integrate "newbies" into our meeting.
• Changing the fiscal to a calendar year to be voted on next year.
• Ideas for Mite Box 2010.
• A funeral for Round Robin.
• A Google website for Executive Committee members to share documents.
  

It was a good meeting and we're all looking forward to being in Seattle. Except for Jeannette who can't attend! We'll miss her!