Missions Conference

I love the PCA.

This week is our missions conference. It is a most wonderful time for our church and I love it. Wednesday Night the missions committee has supper with the missionaries and their host families in a home. This year ,as we have done for the past few years ,we will be at the home of Jan and Jeff. This is the highlight of the conference for me. It is an intimate setting and lots of sharing from the heart goes on here. I believe if more folks knew how wonderful this meal was they would be standing in line to be the initial hosts for a missionary.

Thursday and Friday we have meeting at church that begin with supper. Our main speaker this year is Dr Medeiros. He is from RTS Jackson, MS. I believe he teaches missions.

Saturday the women have a breakfast with the female missionaries sharing what is going on right now in their hearts and lives ( this is my second favorite event) and the men have a lunch
with the men sharing the same. Our breakfast will be at the Hilton and I am sure the food will be yummy but the men this year will have an amazing meal. Dan B is from a farm family in Minnesota. He is cooking the men a meal from his growing up days. He takes a big metal milk can and first he puts in ears of corn, next is all manner of veggies and on top of that are sausages. He puts enough water to cover the corn. He puts the milk can on a grid over an open fire. The sausages season the veggies as the corn is steamed. My mouth is watering as I write this.

Sunday we will hear from our missionaries in Sunday School and Dr Medeiros will preach during the church service. We will have a special treat during our service as Jim and Ellen will speak for a few minutes. They have been missionaries supported by our church for over 20 years. They are off their current field now as Ellen battles cancer.

My job on the missions committee is to find housing and meals during the day for the missionaries while they are here. Usually we have a main speaker and maybe three other missionaries. This year we have a main speaker and SEVEN missionaries. I about fainted when I realized the numbers I'd be dealing with this year. But why? Me of little faith. God has provided for them all. My job is like a big puzzle and I have to fit all these pieces together. The problem is most of the pieces are people and that can get dicey. I usually get my feelings hurt every which of way but thankfully KimT makes sense of it all and tells me not to take things so personal .

One of the many reasons I love the PCA is the smallness of it. About six or seven years ago our main speaker was Julian Russell. He came with his whole family. He has a son named Andrew too. The two Andrew's had a good visit and even played pingpong while they watched some March Madness basketball. This year at my Andrew's church in Valdosta, Ga the main speaker is none other than Julian Russell. Andrew can't wait to renew his friendship with Mr. Russell and ask about his buddy Andrew Russell. How cool is that?!?