Sharon and I are on our way to our next NOMADS project in Clarence, Missouri after a great stop in Pecatonica, Illinois for the NOMADS annual meeting.  And what a meeting it was.  This was the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the NOMADS mission.  I could go into a long story about the history of NOMADS, but I will let you go to the web site at www.nomadsumc.org and let you read it there.

Again, I want to apologize for the dates on my pictures, still haven't gotten it right on the camera I was using.

This picture above is of our praise band.  They got us started off each morning with great praise songs, and some of the great old hymns.  Each morning started off at 0700 with a coffee and donut social wake-up, followed by a Bible study at 0730.  The Bible study was conducted by one of the many NOMADS retired ministers.  His study was very good, and a great way to start the day.  After the Bible study we had our morning devotions.  This is when we had our morning sing-alongs, a great devotional message, and announcements for the day. 

The annual meeting started off on Sunday morning with church.  We were blest with the Methodist Bishop of northern Illinois and Wisconsin giving the morning sermon.  What a way to start the meeting.  She, yes a she, was very inspiring and gave us a perfect send off for the week.  Her message challenged us to keep on doing the work of the NOMADS, and to never forget that God is our guide and to share that with those we help in our work.  The week was filled with wonderful guest speakers from the Illinois and Wisconsin areas.  Each one challenged us to continue with God's work and to look to the future as to how we can expand our mission.

The organizers of this year's meeting did a wonderful job of scheduling free time, seminars, guest speakers, special meal times, and some special entertainment for the closing night.

Sunday, as I stated earlier, started off with church.  We had a free day for most of the day, so we took advantage to do a little sight-seeing.  We were only a short drive from Wisconsin, which if you don't know, is the cheese capital of the country.  We drove to Monroe, Wisconsin, where we visited a small museum dedicated to the local cheese industry.  It was very interesting to see how the production of cheese has changed over the years, and even more interesting to see the many different types of cheese that are made.  After our visit to the museum we went into town to find a place for lunch.  We were surprised to see that the downtown city square was alive with people, and several places open where we could get lunch.  We went straight to Baumgardner's for lunch.  Baumgardner's is known for their cheeses', and let me tell you, I can see why.  We ordered a cheese plate that had three different cheeses' on it.  Sharon and I could only eat half of the order, it was large enough for four people.  the cheese was very good.  I learned that good cheese should be eaten at room temperature, that way the cheese flavor really stands out.  Very good.

We then took a walk around the town square.  The square was decorated with painted animals.  The town's theme for the year is the farming community.  Let me give you a tour.

I thought I would start off with this real Auburn Fan.  This little calf really knows how to get dressed.

 

One of our fellow NOMADS is really enjoying this painted cow.  It is hard to see, but the painting shows the battle of the spirits, wine bottles shooting corks at beer steins, and the beer steins are launching pieces of cheese from catapults at the wine bottles. 

We liked the way this cow was painted.  The cards, and other emblems, painted on the cow indicate different businesses in the area that are related to the wine and cheese industry.  Like her spatts.

One of the cards painted on the previous cow picture.  The is where we ate lunch.  Note the Limburger cheese sandwich next to the glass of beer.  Didn't try any of that cheese.

This little piggy went to the artist studio.

Here is Billy the Kid.  Note his mask, bag of money painted on his rump, and the high top western boots.

One corner of the square displayed several decorated milk cans.  Pretty nice.

There were also some displays of the many crops raised in the area.  Don't think these pumpkins will be used for pies.

If you look hard you can see numbers on this little lamb.  Counting sheep.

Diane, a retired minister from Maryland, and Sharon found this corn farmer standing on the street. 

Don't know how this young lady fit in with the farm theme, but I couldn't resist sitting down next to her.

Our first planned dinner was on Monday night.  A host for each table was asked to decorate for the NOMADS 25th anniversary celebration.  Sharon and I decorated this one.

There were 31 tables set up for the dinner to accommodate the over 240 people that attended the annual meeting.

The annual meeting was held at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds, in Pecatonica, Illinois.  It was a great location for our meeting.  The large building that we used for our meeting place was big enough to allow for many different activities at one time.

There were 120 RVs parked at the fairgrounds.  The facilities were very nice.  We had electric hook-ups with 30 or 50 amp service, water hook-ups. and a honey wagon to empty our holding tanks.  I was surprised at the room we had for parking.  Even though it looks like a large parking lot, we had more space between each RV that I have had at commercial RV parks.

We ended the meeting on Thursday night with a catered dinner of pulled pork (I think that is what they refer to as BBQ up here) sliced beef, and all the fixens.  The dinner was very good, but the entertainment we had after was great.  A Swiss choir from Monroe, Wisconsin gave us a concert of Swedish songs.  I wasn't sure what to think about this until they started singing.  It was a real good concert.  Even though I couldn't understand the words they sang, I did like the music, and the feeling of the music that the choir expressed.

It was a great week of fellowship and worship, with our NOMADS family.  We are looking forward to next years meeting that will be held in Branson, Missouri. 

We are currently taking a little break before we get back to work at our next project which starts next weekend.  We will be at Camp Jo-Ota, in Clarence, MO.  Looking forward to another wonderful work project.

I will continue with our journey sometime next week, in the meantime, you all take care and remember

God Loves You.  Yes, no matter what He does Love you.

Gary