By J. Rafisura — Junior Warden
Brethren, our first Stated dinner/meeting since the lockdown about a year and a half ago was a blast! We counted over 60 brothers and guests. As usual, dinner was great! Kitchen crew, officers and brothers, marched in coordinated fashion serving appetizers, main courses and desserts.
It has been a while and the excitement was palpable. Pandemic stories, new adventures and pass-times while on lockdown -all shared in tables full of food and drinks. The social gathering was a feast to behold with “inch-thick” prime rib, (personally picked, seasoned and grilled to perfection by Uncle Roy and his crew) as the main course! The spirit of brotherhood and camaraderie always feels wonderful with good food and a variety of colored drinks – red, white, pink and what not. You can hear everyone sharing stories and catching up with each other. Such a sight to behold!
Two weeks after that momentous Stated Meeting on July 1, we broke the drought of degree conferrals as we had our premier 1st Degree conferral on our newest Bro. Randy Lehman. It was an honor to sit in the East as we welcome Bro. Lehman into our fraternity. All the officers and our new officer’s coach had been working so hard to shake off our rustiness in ritual and ceremony skills after a very long lay-off. After that event, I was so glad that we were able to pull a solemn, smooth and meaningful ceremony, preserving all the traditions and teachings that Freemasons hold so dear.
Following the degree conferral, we were treated with a stellar performance during the examination of Br. Ozzie Ghani and his coach, Wor. Lyman Penning. Bro. Ozzie, everyone can tell the amount of work that was you put in to your paper and your proficiency.
Randy and Ozzie, lets will move forward together to continue our quest to seek further light in this wonderful Craft. Lifelong lessons await and more mysteries to be uncover upon your qualification, at the proper place, and in due time.