Our conference is like family reunion. It is a chance to our larger family here in West Africa to gather together. What a large family we have! Our group consisted of members of our organization, pastors and leaders from the local church and other like minded believers with whom we partner. We are spread out over 5 countries and so we rarely get a chance to connect face to face. This past July was our family reunion! We gathered together for 6 days of wonderful fellowship. We heard from God’s word, we heard what God is doing from different team, we heard the struggles that people are facing, we prayed together, and our kids hung out together. As always it was full of blessings.
In addition, we had the added blessing of hosting the team that led the kids program. They were a team from one of our supporting churches. It was like another family reunion to connect with even more of the family we know and love. It was great to share our life with them, hear their stories and share a bit of our stories. They played games with our kids, brought us treats from our home country, and left better knowing how to pray for us during the time we are apart.
I came out of the time just amazed at how great family is. Whether it is with biological, adoptive, or spiritual families, family gatherings are so important. It is so important to see how everyone is doing, edify each other in the word and pray together. It is fun to see how diverse, unique, messy and beautiful each family can be. I was amazed at the diversity of our family her in West Africa and yet how that brings us so much beauty. We might have different backgrounds, ministries, cultures, experiences and languages, but yet together we are stronger. May God continue to help us love each other as we press on in the task before us and the grace to remember that we all carry the scars from the journey we are on.
Reminded me of our time (1988-90) in Haiti and the family conference at the beach. Patrick & I helped with the youth including Joel and his sisters. Things change but so much family & genuine fellowship stays the same.
Thanks for good pictures and blessings of the work.
You’ve expressed some beautiful thoughts here, very reflective and contemplative about family and relationships. As always your insight is a window into your character, a woman blessed by God and loved by so many
Keep up the good work Andi. Your letters, (blog, post or whatever you want to call them) are both inspirational and challenging.
One can never have or give too much love. It’s an ever expanding commodity. And family is a hard word to define because like love it can grow exponentially if you let it. What a blessing that is.
Thanks for your beautiful letter. I’ll be thinking on it for a while.