Global Workers retreat

On the opening night I sat with Nancy and Cailin Germo at dinner.

Carol Freeman and I got to hear a little about Patty's most recent trip to Uganda and Kenya.

Last week our family flew out of Richmond, Virginia to Minneapolis, to participate in the Bethany Global workers  (missionary) retreat. Each year all the missionaries that are in the States come together to pray and worship, fellowship and attend sessions that are applicable to this specific calling from God. Here is a list of the sessions: 

"Stress and weariness in your journey " 

"Biblical perspective on Grief"

"Member Care, Resilience, and Transition"

"Processing missionary loss"

I appreciated the topics that were discussed and received applicable resources. Jason and I had a chance to share our experiences and it was fascinating to listen to all the stories others had to share. We got to hear about a couple who takes prayer teams into the middle east to prepare the "soil" in that region. We also gleaned from a couple who just reached the 50 year mark of serving the Lord in Brazil. The work started in Brazil in 1960- this was Bethany's first launch of Bethany missionaries. Although we just entered into year 15 on the field and see that as a significant milestone- it seems like nothing compared to 50 years! Originally their efforts were to share the gospel. A missions school was started and currently Brazil is a sending nation to other countries. That is our hope some day- that we would no longer be needed because nationals are strong in the faith and able to preach the gospel to their neighbors. This same couple has  written many Christian songs in Portuguese and we praise God for this unique gifting He has given them. They sang some of these songs one evening with their daughter 

While we were in different meetings each day, our daughters had a check in with Theresa and lots of time to hang out with their friends that they have on the Bethany campus. They wanted to stay out as late as possible (as late as we would allow) with these friends and finished the week very sad to say goodbye. It amazes me that God provides these relationships for them in such a short amount of time.

Theresa and her daughter, Rachel, doing some debriefing with the Witt girls. 

Jason giving an encouragement to the Bethany students.

That's my hubby.

Worship at the Blessing House.

Laying hands and praying over Jason.

Laying hands and praying over me.

Look at how cute this living room is.

A different angle of the room.

Girls having a picnic lunch with their friends. 

That's my hubby fixing the light for the projector. 

Missionaries in Brazil for 50 years,  singing with their youngest daughter. 

Sharing some stories about what God is doing in Gtown.