Article March 28, 2011 Issue

From Iraq to the US— A story of association travel

By Jan Kielpinski

I have always been grateful for my association, and especially for clear guidance on the need to attend the association meetings. Sometimes getting there has been a bit of a challenge, but I’ve always managed, and the spiritual rewards of doing so have been great. I thought it might be interesting for readers to hear about my trip to association a couple of years ago. I offer this in the hope that it might serve as an example of what can be accomplished when we refuse to let animal magnetism—the belief in a power apart from God—prevent us from being loyal participants in our Christian Science associations.

I knew it was right for me to be at association, and I intended to be there. I also knew that nothing could prevent me from being there. I held to those ideas whenever I thought of association and as I was making my travel plans. These involved several different flights and adhering to a tight schedule.

At that time I was serving with the United States government in Iraq, working from an Army base near Tikrit. Because of the security situation, the only way to travel from the base to any place where commercial air transportation was available was by military aircraft. Those flights tended to be irregular, they usually left in the middle of the night, and they involved a lot of waiting. 