This year we had the opportunity to travel to Egypt for our annual conference/retreat. It was the first year where the MCC Middle East and MCC Europe programs met as one big group, called MCC EME for those of us who can’t seem to get enough acronyms. 
It was a great experience. Getting together with other workers is always great. It seems that even if we haven’t ever met before we can still relate to each other really well because we seem to have a lot in common. Spending time with the 70+ others in the group was good for us, helping us to realize that even though MCC began in Ukraine, the organization is doing a lot more worldwide than its relatively limited scope in the “Post Soviet Republics.” The stories of the workers in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon were very intimidating to me personally. Comparing these stories to how we live and work in Ukraine makes life here seem peaceful and a bit uneventful.
The former executive director of MCC, Ron Mathies, was the resource person and he did a great job of energizing the workers. He has an unbelievable memory and spent most of his time at the podium telling about a) his years as an MCC worker in southern Africa, b) many of his trips as executive director and c) some of his responsibilities as executive director. Two points really hit me personally. First, the “Ron Mathies” translation of Deuteronomy 26:1-10: where he changes the words a bit to be a history of Mennonites and MCC. Second he talked about how MCC has a history of “ordinary people (in North America and abroad) doing ordinary things with extraordinary worldwide consequences.”
After the retreat, which took place near Alexandria, we had the opportunity to take a vacation day in Cairo. We thought we could see some sites and maybe do some souvenir shopping. Notice the picture of me at the pyramids (no, I'm not practicing my "I'm at the pyramids" disco dance)… Laura is not absent from the picture because she is the one taking it (as is the case with many of our pictures). At the time the photo was taken she was quite possibly stooped next to the toilet in our hotel imagining what the pyramids would be like (I think she saw the outlines of a couple from our bus window and she could have been building on that). That was unfortunate, but I think even after whatever she ate that made her sick, Laura would agree that the trip as a whole was great. Dave
It was a great experience. Getting together with other workers is always great. It seems that even if we haven’t ever met before we can still relate to each other really well because we seem to have a lot in common. Spending time with the 70+ others in the group was good for us, helping us to realize that even though MCC began in 
The former executive director of MCC, Ron Mathies, was the resource person and he did a great job of energizing the workers. He has an unbelievable memory and spent most of his time at the podium telling about a) his years as an MCC worker in 
After the retreat, which took place near 
