By tradition, the members of the Executive Committee and the heads of departments of the Association meet every year for their pre-Christmas gathering on the first Friday of December. This year it fell on the 5th. As before, not only the Association’s staff were invited to the meeting, but also their spouses—husbands and wives.
About 60 people gathered in the evening in the building of the Bryte Church on Solano Street, seated at festive tables. The new president of the Association, vice presidents, new members of the Executive Committee, heads of departments—almost everyone accompanied by their spouses—were all in an uplifted, festive mood.
This time there were no reports from the staff. The heads of departments were getting acquainted with the new Executive Committee and with their curators. Each committee member was assigned two departments to oversee during the term of their service. The heads of departments came forward, congratulated those present on the Christmas holiday, shared their wishes, and briefly outlined their main plans for work in the new year. Their curator then joined them, also offering wishes and saying a few words about how they planned to cooperate with the departments entrusted to them. In this way, introductions took place between representatives of the 16 departments and the committee. And may God grant that all the wonderful wishes voiced that evening, and all the plans aimed at continuing and improving the ministry of the Association, be fulfilled to the glory of God and for the benefit of the churches.
At the conclusion of the evening, a group photograph was taken, although unfortunately some of the staff had to leave earlier and were not included in the photo. But the Lord knows their names, and regardless of whether they are in the photograph or not, let us wish them all God’s blessing both in their ministry and in their personal and family lives.
Olga Avetisova
