In his name the nations will put their hope.

The verse that was the theme for the week was Matthew 12:21 "In his name the nations will put their hope."

I forgot to mentions that Saturday night we had the pleasure of listen to a song by Shia Linne. His lyrics were amazing and he was so kind to put up the lyrics on a screen so that the "ebonically" challenged could follow him.



I had a chance to visit the Honduras booth and meet Erin Pettengill. She talked about her work in Honduras, the kind of training she got, and some of the stories she has of living in Honduras. I loved meeting her. Someday it would be neat to go visit her in Honduras God willing.

Also on Saturday night I went to the gym. I meet a girl who was also going to the conference and we started talking about our experiences. As we shared parts of our testimony, I just felt my heart filled once again with how awesome is our God. It is so encouraging to share similar experiences with people and see how God is carried you both through.

I think now I can start on Sunday. We had a wonderful breakfast. I meet a woman named Rita who was a former nurse. She talked about how she and her husband, a doctor, had served in different places. She told me how in Haiti she had delivered a baby all by herself and how she had feed AIDS babies in africa because all the nurses had given up on the babies as they were going to die anyway.

Before this weekend I have always shied away from AIDS. It's a scary disease and one that is often mishandled. But this is also one where many of the things that I enjoy about nursing have opportunity to be done. I love teaching people how to manage illnesses. I love teaching about preventing complications. I love helping people get control of their illnesses so they can help others. God is softening my heart towards these people.

Then I went to seminar on Thriving In Ministry Beyond Your Comfort Zone. Two women, both missionaries in South Africa shared part of their testimonies. One of the women felt she wasn't very good with children, but she ended up teaching in them in a school. The other woman spoke of how she started teaching bible at a school in a shanty town. "I heard the words come out of my mouth and listened to myself say, 'Can I teach bible at your school?" Having had some of those experiences where God speaks and I hear Him coming out of my mouth, but I can't stop it I felt akin to this woman.

I then went to a seminar on Engaging the Dragon: Church Planting Contextualized in East Asia. The testimonies of how God is working in a very closed part of the world was powerful. One of the sugestions that spoke to me was to invite international students into your home. Have them over for coffee, your child's play, or family event. They often do not see any of the United States except their apartment where they live and their college campus. In the seminar they said that 1/4 of students who come to the US become Christians white they are here. What power is that and how can we ignore it?

Rev. Joe Novenson closed the convention a reminder that as Christians we have a a stunning identity, we have a stunning cause, and we have a stunning behavior. He used Proverbs 11:30 and he used this story:

An elderly man was returning home from work one day. He was a little over weight and didn't walk very fast. He like to sometimes take a shortcut through a park. It was getting late and the sun was starting to go down. As he is walking through the park he hear's something. He stops and listens. It sounds muffled and like someone is scared and it is coming from some bushes. In a few seconds a few thought enter his mind,'Should I ignore it? Should I go get help? Will it be too late if I go get someone? What can I do? I'm not fit enough to be of any use?' But he hears the muffled, frightened sound again, so through the bushes he plunges. He sees a man raping a woman. The old man jumps on the back of the rapist, yelling in his ear. The rapist so stunned flees the scene. The woman not being able to tell old attacker from a new one starts screaming and backing up into the trees. The old man trying to comfort her says,"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Are you alright?" The woman then says,"Daddy?" The old man had saved his own daughter.

We are in a world where sin is thrust into our lives and harms us on every side. As we minister to the world we may have the opportunity to hear someone say as we point them to our Heavenly Father,"Daddy?"

Proverbs 11:30 (Today's New International Version)

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and those who win souls are wise.