What happens when you take an Episcopal Priest, an Episcopal Conference Center Director and 8 other lay persons and mix them all together with an equal number of Episcopalians from the Diocese of Panama? A wonderful cross cultural experience full of worship, work, love, songs, games, stories, food, and laughter.

After traveling to Panama on a successful mission trip with a group of seminarians from Virginia Theological Seminary, Associate Rector of St. Mary of the Hills in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, the Reverend Jeanne Finan was pleased to find the Mission Committee at her parish eager to organize their first international mission trip experience. The ten available spots filled quickly when the trip to Panama (March 9-18, 2003) was announced.

Working with the Reverend Glenda McQueen in Bocas Del Toro, Bishop Julio Murray, and his diocesan staff, the trip was planned to be a joint effort between American and Panamanian Episcopalians. The group (ranging in ages 10-80) spent ten days working at the Bishop Shirley Center in Santa Clara. While there the group painted all of the cabins and the bathhouse on the camp grounds and were able to paint some of the interior space in the cabins as well. They also joined with a group of campesinos (rural farm workers) from the village of Machuca in the construction of 2 rancho"s on the conference center grounds. A rancho is an open-aired pavilion with a roof made from palm leaves. These ranchos will provide needed meeting space for groups using the center, especially during the rainy season.

The group brought with them over 300 pounds of books, crayons, paper, pencils, and other school supplies which they shared with schools and churches in Bocas del Toro, Rio Hato and Machuca. The group also toured San Cristobal Episcopal School and the Cathedral in Panama City during their visit.

The highlight of the trip was an early morning Eucharist celebrated by Bishop Murray in the restored chapel followed by a trip to the mountain village of Machuca. While there, they were treated to home grown grapefruits plucked fresh from the trees, water coconuts and a delicious chicken soup prepared by a woman"s group in the village. This group was started with help from Promesa, an Episcopal organization which organizes women in remote villages around Panama and gives them resources to help start industries for themselves such as making Panama hats, dolls, and baskets which they then sell in the markets.

Through Promesa they have been taught how to negotiate for better prices for their goods. While in Panama, Tom Eshelman, director of the Valle Crucis Episcopal Conference Center, donated his consulting services for the board of the Bishop Shirley Center to further their long range planning efforts. Other members of the mission team included: Tina Barrett, Larry and Sue Boyer, Van Joffrion, Jane Milner, Jane Tollison, Mike Vogel, and Diana White.

Financial support for the trip was earned through fund raising efforts of the participants and other individuals, St. Mary Of the Hills, The Valle Crucis Conference Center, Bishop Robert H. Johnson, The Diocese of Western North Carolina and the Church of the Holy Cross, Valle Crucis.

For more information, including lots of photographs, please visit Joining Hands and Hearts Together: Panama Revisited 2004.

- Tom Eshelman
Executive Director

We now have a wireless DSL hub in the Inn which can be accessed by our guests who have a laptop with a wireless card. This service reaches the Inn, the Annex porch and the parking area around the Inn. If any of our readers are upgrading their present laptop and have an older model with wireless card that you would like to donate to the Conference Center, we would appreciate the gift. We could then make this laptop available for our guests to use while they are here in Valle Crucis.

We received our Certificate of Occupancy on April 26th and the North Carolina Trust annual meeting was our first group to use this wonderful new space on Wednesday, April 28th! It has been in constant use by a steady stream of groups and everyone has been very complimentary about the design, construction and incredible view. While we still have to finish the landscaping and a few other details, we are happy to offer this new meeting space for your use. It has two large meting rooms, an assortment of round and rectangular tables, chairs, flip chart easels with pads, 32" TV with DVD and VCR, OH Projector with screen and a podium on each level. Each floor also has a hospitality area with refrigerator and ice maker, sink, microwave and coffee maker and is completely accessible. You can set up the space to suit the specific needs of your group and then put everything away when your meeting is finished. You may reserve Bishop Johnson Hall when you make your reservation.

— Thanks to Grace Strange and Bob Mann of A.T.T.I.C Design and all the wonderful men and women of Galleher Construction Company and their sub-contractors for their wonderful work on this building.

Under the direction of Pipe Major Sandy Jones, the North American Academy of Piping and Drumming returned to the mountains of Western North Carolina for their 33rd consecutive year. Sandy recently retired from The Citadel where he was the Director of Piping for 25 years. He and his wife Dorcas have recently moved to Brevard, North Carolina where they attend St. Phillip's Episcopal Church. Prior to his work at The Citadel Sandy was in the Air Force for 20 years. This year they added a fifth week to the school. Many of the students also participate in the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games held each year at McRea Meadows on Grandfather Mountain the first full weekend in July. We are blessed by their presence in this valley and their enthusiasm for their craft shows in their music.

Pictured above at right: Pipe Major Sandy Jones delivers graduation speech.

In late May we received the go-ahead from the State Health Department to begin using our new sewer system. After many inspections and some corrections of minor problems we are finally able to use this new system that serves the Inn, the Annex and the kitchen. Thanks to all of our friends who bought square feet of our septic field over the past 7 years. You have made this expensive but very necessary project possible.

What a busy year this has been with construction of Bishop Johnson Hall and the completion of our septic/sewer system. Both projects are now finished with our groups using both to their full advantage. Please consider a gift to the Valle Crucis Conference Center to help us with the costs of these expensive projects. No matter LARGE or small we certainly do appreciate them all!

P.S. If you have (or know of) a dump truck, backhoe, bulldozer, tractor, or golf cart you would like to donate to the Conference Center, we could put those gifts to great use at VCCC and give you a tax write off.

Our special thanks to these individuals & organizations for their generosity in giving to the Center in recent months:

The mission of the Valle Crucis Conference Center is to inspire, by loving example and service, those who break bread with us and share in the quest for spiritual renewal, Christian community, and stewardship of this sacred place.

The Right Reverend G. Porter Taylor
Bishop of the Diocese of Western North Carolina

Brenda Binning, President
The Rev. Brian Cole, Vice President
The Rev. Tim McRee, Treasurer
Billy DuBose, Secretary

Tom Eshelman (ex officio)
Jaan Ferree
Jack Haile
Sandy Jones
Nina-Jo Moore
Susan Morgan
The Rev. Brian Suntken
Judy Teele
Diana White
The Rev. John Zellner (ex officio)