Rest in Christ
I was privileged to spend the past week in Punta Cana with my fellow LAC missionaries and their families. You guessed it - our annual regional conference! We united around the theme "Rest in Christ" and the words of Exodus 33:14:
Our times of worship, keynote Bible study, women's activities, and more spoke to one of my greatest struggles on the field: rest (as I blog at 10:30 pm...). Together, we unpacked God resting from His work of creation, Sabbath rest, renewing and "rest"oring our whole selves, the eternal rest with Christ that awaits us, and respecting our teammates' days of rest.
My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.
If THIS doesn't look like the start of a restful week, I don't know what does.
Each year, we bring together a short-term team to provide childcare for our ~50 missionary kids. Some of the volunteers were friends or family members of missionaries, others were connected to FORO congregations, and still others found the opportunity on the LCMS website.
The childcare volunteers, including my sister Kara, second from left, introducing themselves to the group.
The setup for Matins, our morning business session, Bible study, and Vespers.
In the afternoons, the room was partitioned off into different spaces for men and women. The women were blessed by Deac. Heidi Goehmann! Each of us received a copy of Casting Stones; the Friday women's "play group" I'm a part of will start going through it together via Zoom in September.
SO many individuals, ladies' groups, and congregations generously showered the LAC ladies with gifts (many of which were handmade and/or personalized), notes of encouragement, craft supplies, and snacks. If that's you, THANK YOU! Here, we're holding bags, emblazoned with the theme verse, that came stuffed with colored pencils, watercolors, mug rugs, potholders, and magnets.
Decoupage clipboards! I hung mine next to my fridge to put my grocery list on.
Fun photo op on an epic afternoon beach walk with Heidi.
Love my fellow Unofficial Encouragement Team ladies ❤!
Nothing that I do - including the 2-day regional team meeting following the conference - feels like work. It's really an ideal situation but also a potentially detrimental one. As I enter my second year on the field, I continue to meditate on the importance of rest. I'm thankful for a few days in a place that made it pretty easy to rest, but also thankful to be safely back in Santiago doing what I do. I'm looking forward to numerous visitors that'll be passing through before the end of the month, and, long-term, to helping improve upon the conference experience as I take on a larger role in the planning and execution of it in 2020.
It's [past] my rest time :) Until next time, blessings!
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