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This conference brings together families, high school students,
young adults, career folk, and older adults for a week of Bible
study and mission focus with active and retired missionaries sharing
in a variety of venues. It may be the only Presbyterian (or certainly
the largest, with over 1000 in attendance) conference that has
a specific focus on the missionary task and vocation. We went
as part of a large group of PC(USA) missionaries who had daily
sessions with a small group of high school students for the mission
study hour. We went with trepidation, feeling like a couple of
"oldies," but found this generation of high schoolers
to be exciting, serious, fun, and a joy to share with about faith
and following Christ, maybe even to the ends of the earth. It
was a wonderful opportunity, as we shared some of our own stories,
to recall and celebrate God’s call in our lives over the
years, God’s faithfulness to us and to churches in Kenya
and Ethiopia, and our joy at being able to bless and be blessed
by the faith and love of Christians in different places around
this world.
We returned from Pennsylvania to Louisville for the annual mission
sharing conference where PC(USA) mission personnel who are in
the U.S. for some months of rest, study, and interpretation in
churches, gather for a week of refreshment and reconnection. It
was a great week with a great group of about 45 people, including
12 children, who have been serving with churches and other agencies
in ministry in Brazil, Thailand, Croatia, Japan, China, Malawi,
Kenya, Egypt, Mexico, Haiti, and Russia. We think missionaries
are wonderful people, but maybe we’re biased!
Our part in the week was to help plan and coordinate worship
services and to share sessions on spiritual reflection and spiritual
disciplines. We were able to share some of our studies in Christian
spirituality in the doctor of ministry program we are currently
pursuing. The time was brief and so we selected the two themes
of "Learning to Listen" (reflections on types of prayer)
and "Making Sense in a Crazy World" (disciplines of
journaling, the daily examen, and keeping Sabbath) and gave time
for folks to go off and try out one of the selected practices.
It is amazing what happens when we stop and take time just to
be with God and listen to God and let God do with us whatever
God chooses, even if only for 20 minutes.
These past months as we have been in touch with PC(USA) mission
folk and sharing in these conferences, we are confirmed in the
growing awareness of the need for good and intentional member
care of missionaries. We can’t say the stresses and strains
of mission service and living are greater today than in different
eras, but we know there are many individuals and families who
will be better able to serve and serve longer when they are well
supported by the church, by mission committees, by praying members
and by family and friends here in the U.S.
We know from our years in Kenya and Ethiopia and even now as
we have been here in the U.S. these past two years in study, mission
interpretation, and supportive service, that the prayers, support,
and encouragement of friends, family, and church groups are vital
to what we are doing and the ministry of which we are a part.
We covet your prayers, interest, and love for ourselves and for
those with whom we serve around the world. It is no small thing
to love someone in Jesus’ name with a letter, a prayer, a
phone call, an e-mail, a visit, when possible.
Perhaps in another letter we can share more of the anniversary
celebrations that took place in South West Bethel Synod in Ethiopia
the beginning of July. We were unable to attend but have heard
wonderful, glorious stories of the event celebrating the coming
of the gospel to that part of Ethiopia 50 years ago. We have word
pictures of thousands of people trekking down from the mountains
and up from the rivers, coming together singing in their own tongues
and styles and rejoicing with one another that they are one in
Christ and are witnesses to the gospel. We praise God for God’s
faithfulness over these decades and we thank God for the faithful
people who even today are taking the loving and saving message
of the gospel to neighbors and strangers for the love of Christ
in southwest Ethiopia.
In celebration of a love that is powerful and real,
Anne & John Wheeler-Waddell
Missionaries in Residence
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