Lucinda and I had excellent experiences at the national congress.

The Latihans were great for both of us, I suspect in no small part due to being during Ramadan.  Hadijah O’Bar is the new SPNW chair!  We will miss her as a helper, but our feeling is that her presence and experience will serve the region very well.
Another highlight for me was attending Isman Kanafsky’s session on Latihan in daily life.  I’ve been working on it ever since!  He shared some printed materials-here is a truncated excerpt from Bapak’s talk November 29, 1977, “If we want to experience the possibility of improving our being – that is, returning our being to its original state, to clean it out again – we have to receive the latihan every moment, every second, as Bapak showed with his pulse.  Every second, every heartbeat, we have to experience the latihan.”

It was great to reconnect with Subud brothers and sisters from throughout the country-and meet new ones.  Entertainment night was excellent with really great poetry, piano playing, guitar playing, and singing-plus a dance piece.

I left the congress feeling reinvigorated and reinspired!

Jim

Marston Gregory

My experience is that World Congresses are often life changing Subud events and so I have been moved to help our recently opened brother, Aarkarsh Gotthumukkala who is off at graduate school in Maryland and as with all students short of funds.  

I offered to do what I could to help him go including putting his airfare on a credit card.  

The next step is registration, food and lodging.

He has offered to work in the Childcare area so he certainly will be earning his keep…so to speak.  He has tutored young students in Math and is a Math wiz. He does latihan with the Washington D.C. group when there at college.  

I have set up a GoFundMe account to collect funds for his travel costs.

Please just click on this link to donate:  gf.me/u/iiym5d 

Thanks for any support you might give.

Sincerely,

Marston Gregory

Dear Subud PNW Members,

This coming Friday we will be selecting our new committee and regional helper teams.  I thought it would be good to reflect on where we are right now and where we might be able to go.

 We are financially sound

We have put aside money in our housing fund and in our reserve account so that we currently have the ability to take care of our financial needs.

 We have held a regular annual kedjiwan event for over 25 years

For over 25 years the Pacific Northwest Region has hosted a kedjiwan gathering at the Menucha Conference Center east of Portland. Organized by the regional helpers, this event has served thousands of Subud members in and outside of our region.

We have three centers we own

Our Portland, Bellingham/Skagit Valley and Seattle centers have buildings we use as places for the latihan, enterprise and hosting events throughout the year.  These centers, assets created through the hard work and dedication of the members of these areas, are important in showing new members that we are able to work together to achieve something.

We have four other groups who meet for regular latihans

In Boise, ID, Spokane, WA, Flathead Valley, MT and Eugene, OR we have members who meet on a regular basis to continue their practice of the latihan.

We have regular monthly latihans two times a month

Due to the efforts of your regional helpers and a member who has regularly emailed the announcements and taken care of our phone-in system, we are able to offer regularly scheduled regional latihans for isolated members who are not near a group.

We have a regional website where we tell our stories and make announcements

During this term your committee, with the help of Paul Nelson, we created our new regional website.  We have used the site to publish regional board minutes, tell each other stories and announce upcoming events.  The power of this website is that, with MailChimp technology a regional newsletter is created and sent to every member of Subud PNW with the news of the week.

We have men and women interested in joining Subud

Recently, in Seattle and Portland, we have begun to have a new group of mostly young men and women coming to find out about Subud and getting opened.

How much time does it take?

I did a brief survey of your regional committee and helpers on the time they spent doing this work for you.  Those details are below.  Please review and consider: Are you willing to add your time and efforts to help Subud grow?

Are you willing to help Subud grow?

Both at our annual Kedjiwan event at the Menucha Retreat Center and in local meetings, I’ve heard the phrase: “We’re shrinking.  What can we do about it?”  If you will be willing to be a part of the many hands it takes to keep Subud growing by volunteering regionally or locally, we’ll find out together.

With Love and anticipation of a great Regional Congress,
Oswald Norton
Regional Helper

Time spent in Committee Work

Time Spent In Regional Helper Work

Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Pacific Northwest Region,

We are now 2 weeks away from our regional congress and we have a request of those of you who pray.  Would you please pray that strong candidates step forward to test for positions on our regional committee and for the positions of men and women regional helpers in for the next term?

Committee Candidates

To those of you who are considering answering that inner voice in you that is asking, “Can I do the work of the committee in our region?” I can assure you that should you become our new chair, or vice chair, you will be provided training and assistance in understanding the role and responsibilities.  You will assist in the further development of a strong region, with a solid set of bylaws, regular meetings and financial health.  You will have the opportunity to help our region to grow further through your efforts.

If possible, please grab a local helper and pretest regarding putting your name forward.  If this is not possible, testing can occur at the congress.

Regional Helper Candidates

To those of you who are considering answering that inner voice in you that is asking, “Can I do the work of a regional helper in our region?” I can assure you that should you become a regional helper, both Elizabeth Flanders and I are committed to assisting you in understanding the role and responsibilities of this job.

The role being primarily to serve the regional members in a way that you will discover during your term.

The responsibility is to just be sincere in doing the work and willing to grow as the work helps you to grow.

Also, know that if you travel out to visit our members, there is a budget for regional helper travel so that this work can be facilitated.

If possible, please grab a local helper and pretest regarding putting your name forward.  If this is not possible, testing can occur at the congress,

What a night!    A call for “More, more” came from the packed house. And at the end of the evening a standing ovation!   The audience loved it. I was thrilled to be witness to the magic.

Luther Schutz with his unique style of sophistication and soulful singing, the swinging piano improvisations of Elisha Gullixson, with Drew Baddeley playing a fascinating virtuoso double bass, and a very smooth John Anderson on tenor saxophone, mesmerized a packed house. All at the Conway Muse, the noted entertainment spot in Skagit County, Washington.  https://conwaymuse.com

We all listened intently to a wide range of tunes with major emphasis on the much beloved jazz standards. Gee, they were good. A special treat was the trio’s treatment of “Secret Love”, Doris Day’s old sock. The  audience went wild.  Luther said, “And we didn’t even practice [this one].”

Such a delight to witness four people enjoying themselves to the hilt and at the same time giving their all to the music.  Nice. The cohesion was like listening to a freshly oiled gate. Smooth. Very smooth.

By Danella Mauguin

Join us after Latihan on Sunday, April 22, 2018, for a day of gardening. Marston Gregory, Jim O’Halloran and Leandra will lead the troops in a celebration of Earth Day to clean up around the Subud House, perhaps plant a new hydrangea (thank you Lucinda O’Halloran) and replace the dogwood tree that did not make it.

Garden tools will be provided. Please come help make our house outside look new for Spring!

Were you hoping to be able to participate in some national latihans at the SUSA National Congress May 24-28, at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver, Washington, but don’t have child care?

Put your worries aside and come. Free child care and programs now available.

The congress team is providing a paid staff person for Friday Saturday & Sunday (5/25-5/27) with additional activity support from other members.  So parents will be able to get to at least 1 latihan a day while attending the congress.

This will also provide support for those attending the Subud PNW and Subud California congresses.

Kids under age 12 years eat at a reduced rate. Kids sleep FREE under age 18 years.

For more information on the child care, and how to signup, click this link.

For more information on the latihans scheduled, click this link.

WORLD CONGRESS 
July 28-August 8

Freiburg, Germany
NEW! Congress at a Glance
Register Here
Details on travel, lodging 
Info for Families and Children
Discount Airfares 
Travel tips
Volunteer at the Congress
Financial Assistance Information
Latest Newsletter 

For many years, Melinda Wallis was the voice and multi-tasking wonder of the Subud USA National office, during which time she planned over half of the National Congress events.  
 
Melinda possessed an unwavering enthusiasm for Subud. Her welcoming, can-do attitude will not soon be forgotten, and we are excited to establish the Melinda Wallis World Congress Assistance Fund in her honor.
 
The fund will be especially useful in supporting elder members who may not have the financial means to attend the World Congress but wish to connect with lifelong Subud friends. It will also be awarded to youth with limited resources who will benefit from exposure to the greater Subud world. Moreover, it will help us defray the cost of travel by our Zone 7 World Congress delegates.  

Contributions to the fund are tax-deductible.
 
Thanks to several generous donors, we have already received $9,000 to put toward a challenge match for this fund.  That means everything raised by April 30 will be matched dollar for dollar, up  to $9,000.  Should you wish to increase the matching fund, please contact Lucas Boladian at boladie@aol.com.
 
Individual/joint donations to the fund can be made here.

Apply for assistance here.

Read more of the Subud USA Newsletter HERE.