The 15th Meeting of Spanish Urantia Book readers was held 28th April to 1st May, 2016 in the Hotel Conde Duque in Bilbao (Basque Country, Northern Spain), close to the famous Guggenheim Museum. Until then, meetings of Urantia Book readers were never held in that part of the country, so it was time to compensate for this absence. And it was a good decision, indeed!
We were almost 40 people coming from almost every corner of the country. As in the last meeting, we had the pleasure to be with Antonio Schefer, who came from the Netherlands representing Urantia Association International. Thank you for coming, Antonio!
We repeated the same the 3 night/4 day formula as we did last meeting, since it’s really appreciated by the attendees (one more day means more enjoyment). The theme of this meeting was “The Way Home: the Ascension Career,” and its purpose was to talk about all the aspects of the ascending mortal career, as it is stated in The Urantia Book.
On this occasion, different formats were used: presentations which lasted approximately 30 minutes; along with 3-people presentations, each one lasting about ten minutes. We also had a workshop and a roundtable with one moderator and four participants. The Spanish Association is not very fond of monotony!
These are the presentations that we enjoyed in this meeting:
- “A Quick View on the Ascension Career,” by Jaime Marco
- “Inner Aids,” by Ginés Avilés
- “Outer Aids,” by Víctor Izquierdo
- “Physical and Material Aids,” by José Manuel Duarte
- “Free will,” by Carmelo Martínez
An open and lively discussion would start right after each presentation. The workshop was about Paper 112 (Personality Survival), and it was facilitated by Eduardo Altuzarra.
The roundtable was moderated by Mariano Pérez. The main theme was “The Meaning of the Ascension Plan,” and the participants were Miguel Bustos, Ismael Gracia, Paula Requejo, and Ana María García. This activity was recorded and you can watch it here in case you are interested.
We also had the opportunity to enjoy two extra activities that allowed us to fraternize even more: the first one was a brief excursion to Artxanda, a hill which offers a great view of Bilbao. The second one was a walk along the Nervion River, which ended with a wonderful time eating “pintxos” (the “tapas” of the Basque Country) and drinking beer and wine.
But the activities of our meeting didn’t stop here. Every night spontaneous discussions arose, and we got engaged in conversations until very late in the evening. It’s our particular way to enjoy each other’s company!
On Sunday, we had an open assembly of the Spanish Urantia Association, where the board explained the activities done in 2015. In addition, there was a change in the board of the Spanish Association: Ismael Gracia left his position as Secretary, and Miguel Bustos took his place. It was also decided that the President and the Treasurer will be vacating their positions in 2018, so the board will be partially changed every two years.
After Sunday lunch, it was the time to say goodbye, which is the saddest part of all, but we all came back home with our spiritual batteries fully charged, and looking forward to attending the meeting of the next year!
Olga López
Urantia Association of Spain