Members of the “Edentia Garden” study group organized the Ecuador National Conference 5-6 August in the Chillos Valley, which is one of the two big valleys that surround Quito, the capital of Ecuador. There were several talks and a workshop and Saturday night was dedicated to socializing which provided many opportunities for people to interact with one another and make new friendships. Together the group decided that Guayaquil will be the city for the next national conference in 2018.
Visitors to the conference included Andres Ramirez from Colombia, Agustin Arellano from Mexico and Nelida Oliver from Argentina. Nelida has lived most of her life in Ecuador and is a prolific worker for the dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book.
The Chillos Valley Group has been particularly active in the last couple of years under the leadership of Efrain Vivanco, who travelled with many members to the Latin American Conference in Bogota in 2016. They have organized a Urantia Book booth at the book fair in Ecuador this year and initiated the National Conference as well as the creation of a new Urantia Association for Ecuador.
Wilson Leon from Colombia, who is the Latin American Continental Coordinator of Urantia Association International, was invited to hold a workshop to discuss details about the creation of the new Urantia Association. A meeting was held at the end of the conference for the reading and approval of the Association’s Charter & Bylaws and elections were held for the new Governing Board. Sandra Naranjo from Guayaquil was elected President and the relevant paperwork for affiliation was submitted to the Membership Committee of the Urantia Association International for review.
