We just wanted to again express our thanks for those of you who helped us make the journey to Portugal. We were truly blessed through our experience, learned a ton, grew a lot and were able to share an amazing experience with a group of amazing young people. Here is a letter we received from ABWE (the organization that we went with):
Dear Friends at West Park,
I am writing to make you aware of the impact of your lavish service of our families at the Western European regional conference. As you know, this once-every-three-year event is designed to encourage these faithful workers who labor in one of our most difficult mission fields. They are often depleted spiritually and emotionally in the long battle of evangelism and church planting. Your sacrifice in being willing to come and work for our youth as well as those who supported you resulted in a huge encouragement to both our youth and parents.
I am including a link (SUPER AWESOME SHORT MOVIE YOU SHOULD WATCH) so you can receive a visual glimpse of the five days we had together. (We are also sending a thank you DVD with this letter.) The youth and children you see enjoying themselves in the DVD are almost universally involved in a small work so this conference presents a unique opportunity to get together with other MKs and enjoy fellowship and a program just for them. The training and speakers are chosen with the special needs of the adults in mind as well. Following are two comments from our missionaries and one from a national partner that will help you understand the impact of your investment for the cause of Christ in the lives of these workers.
Missionary comments:
“Our mission's All-Western European conference was an absolute blessing to us… Our kids can't stop talking about the great time they had with other missionary kids their own age. We were privileged to sit under great preaching and enjoy great fellowship with our fellow western-European missionary friends. God knew how much we needed this time that was a healing time for us as well as a great motivator to refuel us for the task of spreading the gospel in this difficult but needy continent.”“…the training sessions, worship, preaching, and fellowship (and yes, food!) - The Conference was a slice of heaven for us, very refreshing and uplifting!”
National partner comment:
“We had a truly amazing week in so many ways ... the warmth and acceptance from the people there was just lovely. The meetings were a huge benefit; spiritually we were motivated and at the same time challenged in our own walk these last few months and as a church. The kids loved it; Skye made some friends very quickly and Eoghan enjoyed the kids club, too. Shay enjoyed it after the initial day but soon got into the swing of it and even Lachlan by the end of the week had stopped screaming when we dropped him off but was giving the leaders high 5's Lol! So it was the first time I've ever been to a conference and actually got to relax child free and enjoy hearing and learning! It really was a week that God spoke to us and we're so grateful for it.
May the Lord Himself bless and encourage you as you have encouraged us.Yours for the Lord of the Harvest,
Jack Shiflett
Area Director for Europe and the Middle East – ABWE
jack@abwe.org
Office +1(717) 909-2391
Feel free to check out the link that’s included in the letter. It is a great compilation of all that went on during our week in Portugal.
No comments:
Post a Comment