Synod of the Northeast trip - part II

 

[image: UPC Cedar Grove]

The second half of my trip was just as good as the first. However, I forgot to tell you that I visited one other presbytery in my first few days. I was in the Presbytery of Newark last Friday, visiting the Presbytery office in Bloomfield, NJ and was hosted to lunch and discussion at Prospect Presbyterian Church in Maplewood, NJ. It was a small intimate group but very lively discussion! So in my first four days I visited Long Island, New York City, Hudson River, Newark and Geneva Presbyteries. That is a lot of traveling!

For the next week, I spent the first three days staying with my friend Andy James who is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone in Queens, NY. He picked me up at LaGuardia airport when I arrived from Ithaca, NY on Monday and took me to a wonderful Thai restaurant named SriPraPhai that has excellent food! Later on that evening, I was hosted at the church's manse with his congregation and members of the North Presbyterian Church of Queens for a discussion with questions and answers.Tuesday was a full day in the City for Andy and I as went on a Circle Line Ferry sightseeing tour of the Hudson River and Manhattan. We also went next door to tour the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and afterward we met up with our friend James Tse, who works for the Presbytery of New York for dinner at Harvest Buffet. On Wednesday I took the subway to Harlem to spend time at Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church, an African-American congregation directly across the street from Harlem Hospital. Every other Wednesday they host was is called "Brown Bag Jazz and Jesus", which is an outreach invitation to the community to come and bring a brown bag lunch and listen to Jazz musicians from the Jazz Foundation of America. There were about 40 people in attendance enjoying jazz from the musicians. I also had the opportunity to spend time with Rev. Spencer Gibbs, the pastor of the church who is also my cousin and former General Presbyter of New York City Presbytery. Afterward, Andy and I ate at a wonderful Indian restaurant named Dawat. This was my first time trying Indian cuisine and I enjoyed it!

The next day after we ate breakfast at Utopia Bagels and lunch at BKNY, Andy and I made our way to Stony Point Conference Center for the Synod of the Northeast Assembly. While there I had the opportunity to spend time with the Synod YAD's as well as meeting old friends and making new ones. I also made a presentation of my experiences as Vice-Moderator and the Synod had a beautiful evening reception in my honor. I truly had a good time and had a good send-off back home to Raleigh yesterday.

I definitely enjoyed my time in the Synod and I am thankful to everyone who made the trip possible. Next trip - Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) meeting Wednesday, October 21 - Friday, October 23. 

Comments

[George W. Whitton]

Byron, it was great meeting you at the Synod of the Northeast this past weekend. That was my first as an elder commissioner and your talk to us was inspiring. Thanks for traveling to "snow country" to meet and greet us all!

[Cairns Hotels]

I've been reading your blogs recently and I'm enjoying reading them, keep it up thanks.