Blog #2 - With Jesus in the Boat

Michael Hsu

6/23/19

Entry #2

This past week, I was actually not in DC. I flew back to California last Tuesday to attend the California-Nevada Annual Conference. This was my first time at Annual Conference since I was a youth delegate two years ago, and I have missed it. It was great for me to see people that I knew not just from Annual Conference, but from Sierra Service Project, summer camps, and other places in our conference. I was able to spend time with friends that I haven’t seen in a few years. There were around 25 youth delegates and around 30-35 young adult delegates elected by their district conferences (with a total of 50 delegates), which was the most young people I’ve seen in a delegation in my time at Annual Conference.

“With Jesus in the Boat” was the theme in our Annual Conference this year. This theme was a particularly symbolic theme considering the results of the Special General Conference back in February, where the Traditional Plan passed. With the passing, it symbolizes the fact that only a certain group of people get to be on the boat. But as the Bishop reminded us in her opening sermon, we don’t get to decide who’s on the boat. God decides, and Jesus invites ALL to be on the boat with him, because we are all children of God. However, a question that lingers in my mind is that how do I debate someone’s humanity? How do I get someone to understand that someone’s a human being too? As an aside, being in DC, we got a lot of elected officials who call themselves Christians, but many of their policies are un-Christian like. It’s a struggle.

           

I am deeply humbled as I was elected as the first lay delegate for jurisdictional conference, meaning I will also serve as the first alternate to General Conference. This year, our young adult delegation made an organizing effort to get as many young people elected to both General and Jurisdictional Conference as possible. There was a total of six young adult delegates we were working to get elected to a delegate position, whether it be voting or alternate. We can proudly say that due to our organizing efforts during our conference, we elected all six to General and Jurisdictional Conference. Our young adult leader had the idea of getting us organized by making and printing flyers for all of the young adults and youth to pass out. People came to us saying this was the most organized they’ve seen young people ever. What a blessing! Young people’s voices are extremely important, and the fact that we have six that are under the age of 30 as part of the delegation is a big step in the right direction. There were moments where we experienced some concern, hurt, and pain. However, at the end, we were able to stay strong together as we do the work of the church.