Snapshots!

Stepping Up in Faith. We as faith communities are crucial in reaching the end of AIDS.

These guys are golden.

Inspiring women from YWCAs around the globe.

Stephanie, the photographer!

Just a quick (chilly!) walk from our hotel to the Convention Centre. Laughing keeps the cold away.

We made it!!

The ELCA Young Adult Cohort with Karin from Lutheran Grace.

The ELCA young adult cohort with our ELCA colleagues Rebecca Duerst and Chandran Martin. So great to make connections!

Opening plenary session with a few of our closest friends.

The lives lost on flight MH17 were memorialized and celebrated often through the week.

We laugh and we cry…the best ways to create friendships!

Melbourne all lit up!

TOO excited to eat Nando’s — something we both ate often as YAGM in South Africa.

Interfaith worship service.

Interfaith worship. So beautiful and necessary!

Waiting waiting waiting to see President Bill Clinton address the conference!

Smile, Bill!

Rev. Phumzile Mabizela of South Africa. Living openly positive, and passionately calling communities of faith to act out loud in the fight against AIDS!

Rev. Phumzile Mabizela with the amazing Christine. Her wisdom just pours…

Social media takes teamwork. Sharing the story is so important!

Conversations facilitated in the “Faith Zone.” So many great, challenging questions about what we are up to in this world!

So inspired by both of these passionate leaders.

Oh, hey Steph!

Adventurous, hilarious, and thoughtful —- you just never know what Elishua will do next. What a joy it is to be in his genuine loving presence. He will see and change this world!

Courageous, sensitive, motivated, and going to do great things. Richard’s big heart will lead him to inspired action.  I know that I am following his lead.

Nothing says decompressing long days of sessions like a night at the Night Market and Silent Disco!

Sillies.

And we still have one day left!!

Many thanks again to those who are lifting us up in prayer now, and will continue to support us through our various journeys of fighting for social justice and loving all of God’s people.

let me tell you a story…

This 20th International AIDS Conference is far more complex than I expected it would be. It’s been overwhelming to take it all in, and it’s my challenge now to chew it up and spit it back out with meaning. Coming into the week, I knew I had a lot to learn. I knew that my familiar context was far removed from the event that I was headed to. But I had no idea just how narrow my perspective of HIV/AIDS was. I swear I’m not just being dramatic when I say that my mind has been blown.

My capacity to understand scientific lingo has been exceeded.

The little I learned in nursing school about the mechanism and action of retroviruses has felt like not nearly enough.

My limits of extending compassion to every child of God have been pushed.

And probably most difficultly, I have realized that I need not see myself so far removed from the fight against HIV/AIDS.

This is big stuff. And if I can be honest…I am both thrilled and frightened to be mixed up in it. The assumption I made that, ‘my familiar context is far removed from where I was headed’ remains true. My eyes have been opened to the complexities of the disease; I have felt drowned in the statistics and research findings; I cannot relate on a personal level to the experiences of people living with HIV…I was far removed.

But emerging through each of the facts that feel far away and the statistics that are difficult to wrap my mind around — are the statements like the ones I (loosely) quote below:

“I could tell you the facts, but I’d rather tell you the story.”

“I have no Power Point presentation, because I will be speaking from my heart.”

“Any person can present numbers, you must combine story telling with vidid insight.”

“We have been great at presenting the statistics, but not collecting the emotions.”

“We will be the first to be locked out of heaven if we judge them, just because we don’t understand.”

These are the soundbits that have shot right past the facts, and have drawn me in closer to the humanness of the virus. I got a small, personal glimpse of HIV/AIDS during my time serving with Young Adults in Global Mission in South Africa. But I have realized that there is much more to the story. This conference gives voice to some of the groups who are most affected by HIV, and are also most discriminated against by society. Sex workers, same-sex loving couples, people who inject drugs, transgender, and women in poverty have powerfully shared their stories; and all seem to agree that they just want to be heard and treated with dignity.

The science is rolling forward and the pharmaceutical companies have the capacity to create enough treatment, and (maybe it’s embarrassing to admit I have only this week learned that) a CURE IS POSSIBLE AND ON ITS WAY. But in order to get to the end of this, we must listen to the stories of those who are left behind. We must advocate for those who are seen as less-than. We must follow the lead of individuals who are affected, not always those with the power.

As the ELCA, we state that we are “Marked with the cross of Christ forever, claimed, gathered and sent for the sake of the world.” So, what can we do to speak up for the sake of those who don’t have a voice? What would it look like to live up to our claim that “all are welcome at our tables?”

AIDS is not only a biomedical issue, but is an issue of human-rights and social justice. I hope that you are just as thrilled and frightened as I am to realize that as a church, we better see ourselves mixed up in this.

Joyful hearts, open minds!

 We are so excited (can you tell…?!) to be at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre where all of the main events of the 20th International AIDS 2014 Conference will happen!  Thank you to all who are supporting us, lifting us up in prayer, re-tweeting our thoughts, and following our journey.  What a gift it is to be with our brothers and sisters from around the globe — all taking steps toward the end of AIDS.