This year, the North region organized
the annual missionary conference for OMF Thailand (each of the 5 regions takes
turns so we only need to do it once every 5 years). Unfortunately, with the number
of our missionaries in the North declining by more than half over the last 3 years and most of the remaining
missionaries on home assignment, we were down to just 3 who would actually be at
conference (including myself and my wife!).
Praise God that so many people from other regions helped. It was great example of partnership in
action, which was the theme of the conference.
There appeared to be a fierce spiritual
battle before the conference with the main conference speaker’s family and one
of workshop presenters affected with various difficulties and illnesses. 1 and half hours before the first session the
main amp died and with 5 minutes to go the connection between the computer and
the data projector failed and refused to reconnect. We
asked for prayer on the facebook prayer event which we had set up for the
conference. Praise God that both the amp
and connection were restored in time for the first session. We only lost the connect between the computer
and data project in the final 5 minutes of the first session when it was time
for announcements. One of the privileges
of running conference is that you see the ways in which God answers prayer.
We are thankful to God for the
great children’s and youth program volunteers who came from Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States, South Africa and Switzerland . He answered prayer in this area
too. Early February, things were looking
bleak with only one volunteer confirmed to help at conference when we need at least 15. Then the idea came to post a video on facebook calling for volunteers which really raised the profile of the need and started the flow of inquiries. In the end with had 24 volunteers and we even had to turn people away!
Conference is an important time,
especially for those missionaries living in remote places to be refreshed,
trained and encouraged. For many
missionary children, it is the highlight of their year. We are so thankful to God’s for all that he did through this year’s conference.
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