MOTC

This morning I visited the local Church of Christ. I was kind of wanting to postpone this until school started and I could get a better idea of how many other student-aged members there were. This was made more difficult for me by my grandfather's intervention. One of the elders here at the local C.o.C. is Phllip Elliott, dear brother of the Gary Elliott, Ph.D., that we all know and love. My grandfather called Mr. Elliott, and had him make contact with me so that I was sure to know about the church here in town. Today I went for the first time, and enjoyed it very much. It had the close-knit feel that smaller churches often have, especially smaller churches outside the Bible belt, where Church of Christ members are probably more aware of their distinction from the surrounding population. Mr. Phillip Elliott preached, and did a good job. He is a Biology professor at the local regional college, Eastern Connecticut State University. He and Dr. Gary Elliott are very different. Phillip doesn't have that cowboy bravado of Gary - no full-quill ostritch boots here. And, I couldn't imagine this Elliott playfully flirting with Beth Hoofman. Then again, Mrs. Hoofman is also an example of Southern womanhood that one doesn't run across too much north of the mason-dixon line. Although everyone at the church was super friendly and made me feel welcome, there weren't any other students there at all. One of the elders was telling me that about five undergrads came off-and-on last year, and they were expecting a few graduate students that were moving from New York, former members of the Manhattan C.o.C. However, the only other twentysomethings there today were the new preacher and his wife, fresh from the graduate religion program at Abilene Christian University. To maintain healthy relations with my family, and because I would enjoy being there, I'll probably try to go to the local C.o.C. at least a few times a month; though, it would be better if there were some other grad students I could hobknob with.

School here at UConn starts tomorrow. I hope you guys have a good week as your programs start up as well.