This year I had the privilege of helping plan and organize our family conference here in Kinshasa.
Wednesday night we had supper at MPH (thanks Cindy!!) and we were supposed to do a talent show but I double booked it with our Ladies/ Mens night so we did not have time to do it. But the ladies night went great :-). We had a small baby shower for Vanessa Clairmont (who left right after the conference in preperation to have her baby ) and painted our toe nails :-), thanks Mary and Tasha for all your hard work. And from what I heard from Kevin Spann the guys 'talked about their feeling' haha... but I heard it was very good.
Charlie stuck around till Monday; it was good to have some time to ourselves to visit with him, though we were sad his wife Cindy was not able to come (thanks for all the gifts Cindy!). He was also able to continue conversations with different families that were started during the conference and then Monday was even able to go and see the hanger before his flight out.
When we were home last time we had asked Nicks missions professor from Bible College if he would be interested in coming to be our speaker. Charlie McCordic and his wife Cindy where missionaries in Chad and have been consistently close to MAF families through the years.
We also had an awesome couple come from the States, Steve and Laurie Patee. They are advocates of MAF and they came to help look after our kids while the adults were busy. Steve and Laurie came a few days ahead of time and they were able to go on a flight with Nick, see the office and even do a bit of shopping with Randy and Vanessa. We are so thankful for them because they were able to bring many treats for our adults and children alike. Everyone felt so blessed by their presence at this conference. A special shout out to Lydia who helped Laurie take care of our kids during the conference.
Sandy Francis, Andew McAllister and a few people from IPCK's choir came to lead us in worship for the week. It was a blessing to have them and they did such an amazing job.
The Confence was held at Tasok and Jody and Sandy were gracious enough to let us use their rooms! We had 2 sessions with Charlie Monday and Tuesday and then in the afternoon had a optional computer class with Randy Clairmont and then played softball and Volleyball together.
Monday evening we all went to Mama Cs; a nice restaurant in our neighbourhood. During supper we gave out some certificates reconizing 4 of our couples for being with MAF for 10, 20, 25 and 30 years.
Tuesday night we had a Date night. Emily Hochstetler and the entire Hochetetler family decorated their house and helped us cook up a romantic Spaghetti supper. Our teenagers, Lydia, Nicholas and Daniel served us supper. They did such an awesome job and it was so fun to see them serve everyone.
Wednesday we had our all Staff day, where we included our National staff, their spouses and their children. Only some where able to bring their families but we had a great time hearing a message from Charlie, then playing and eating together. Kevin Spann did a great job is putting together a team building activity. It was very cool to see very one working together, and learning about how communication is essential.
Wednesday night we had supper at MPH (thanks Cindy!!) and we were supposed to do a talent show but I double booked it with our Ladies/ Mens night so we did not have time to do it. But the ladies night went great :-). We had a small baby shower for Vanessa Clairmont (who left right after the conference in preperation to have her baby ) and painted our toe nails :-), thanks Mary and Tasha for all your hard work. And from what I heard from Kevin Spann the guys 'talked about their feeling' haha... but I heard it was very good.
Tursday the guys had a tech day, which was full of talking about airplane stuff, the future of MAF in Congo and where MAF as a whole is going. I think they could have talked for an entire 2 days but I think that they accomplished a lot in the time they had.
Charlie stuck around till Monday; it was good to have some time to ourselves to visit with him, though we were sad his wife Cindy was not able to come (thanks for all the gifts Cindy!). He was also able to continue conversations with different families that were started during the conference and then Monday was even able to go and see the hanger before his flight out.
Sorry, I feel like this blog post is one big name drop, but there were just so many people that helped out. None of us could have done it alone and though it was hard work we all worked together to make it a really awesome time.
Thanks for everyone who prayed for us during the conference and we hope that next year will be ever better :-)