Sometimes we speak without necessarily paying attention to what we say. Sometimes, we mean what we say, but it can be fulfilling when you say a positive thing and see it come to pass. That was exactly what happened to me yesterday. In January, I had attended the Empower Ladies Conference at the Calvary Church in Roseville, where I met some ladies that came from Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The conference was about creating awareness on the issue of human trafficking.
They visited me at the vendor table for The Enitan Story when we began to chat. We said so many things, but little did I know that I had said to them when they asked, “What can we do to help?” And, I had said, “Organize an event in your community to create awareness.” They bought a copy of my book, and for the first time ever, I signed one copy of my book to about four or five ladies. They said they would read and pass it around. It was snowy, the weather outside was very depressing, and they left.
Few weeks after, one of them, Rebecca contacted me via Facebook to ask if I would be willing to speak at their event in April. I said yes and asked her to complete a Speaker’s Request Form to help me plan with my team. I discussed this with some of the board members of The Enitan Story and after several messages back and forth via Facebook and email with Rebecca, to ensure our mission aligns with their request, my team agreed that I should honor the request.
Few days before the event, I received a program outline and my contact person, Beth upon my arrival at the venue. Rebecca also called to speak with me. I left a voice message on Beth’s phone to find out what time I was expected to arrive, because, they wanted me in town a day before the actual event. Also, I wanted to have a proper plan for my son while I was gone. The event was going to start as early as 9:00 a.m. with guests’ registration. There were nine vendors, which comprised of vendor tables for their five speakers and four local organizations at Grand Rapids.
The two hours fifty eight minutes’ drive was smooth. I stopped to figure out where I was when I received a call from Beth. On the other side of the phone, she asked, “Where are you? I answered, I don’t know. My phone GPS stopped working.” She asked me to tell her what I saw around me. I told her then she asked if I was coming from highway 169. When I responded affirmatively, she said that I was already in Grand Rapids and that I should just keep coming until I saw a community school, then the church, The Community Presbyterian Church where they were getting things ready for the event would be one block after that.
When I drove into the town, I was pleasantly surprised. First, it was seeing Cub Foods that felt that Grand Rapids might be far away from the Twin Cities but it is definitely like one of the cities in the Twin Cities. I have been to some cities, where they did not have Cub Foods, but just a local grocery store. The place looked boisterous. There was Home Depot, Target, Mexican Restaurant, and so on. After a little bit of taking the wrong turn because highway 169, which I was on merged directly into a turning lane (by this time, it was rush hour at Grand Rapids, so I could not quickly change my lane), I had to tell Beth what had happened. By this time also, I had already called her back, and she offered to stay on the phone with me until I reached my destination. To cut my long story short, Renee, another member of the planner, came to pick me up at the community school, where I had agreed to park.
The group was excited to see me when I pulled up in front of the church. I saw some children and Renee pointed her children to me among them. She also showed me Beth’s kids, who would have been my son’s buddies, if I had brought him with me. The kids and adult helped to unload my car and I was showed my table, so I set up.
What happened next? Find out in another sequel I will be writing to this.
Overall, it was a great event. the hosts, comprising of women, who wanted change and their husbands and friends put together a very nice event.
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Bye for now, until next time.
