This past week we spent at the ECHO (Education Concerns for Hunger Organization) Conference in Florida. We had attended this conference 4 years ago as we travelled to Bolivia and we now returning after four years of experience.
Living in a foreign country has its challenges and we have been suffering from cultural fatigue for the past few months. We were wondering what we were doing in Bolivia, if we were effective, if we should move on -- what should be we do?
Coming here was not without its challenges, also. I booked the trip in September.We planned to go to Iowa and Minnesota to visit Jake's family and attend a wedding and then fly on the the ECHO conference in Florida. The night before we left I checked the computer for a receipt for the trip but saw instead that all our flights were cancelled -- and there was no receipt. After a late night trip to the airport, we spent hours on two computers trying to arrange flights. Finally, we put one on hold at a price that was far beyond our means and our credit card limit. The next morning we were the first in line at the American Airlines counter and were told that the prices had changed -- they had gone up. However, by combining our flights the agent was able to get us a flight for a semi reasonable rate -- one that would fit on the credit card! Words could not express the gratitude we felt as we made the final arrangements and boarded the plane.
Whenever I come to a conference I am curious about the attendees. The firs
t surprise was to find that there were six people at this conference associated with out little rural church way out in Alberta, Canada, attending a little known conference in Florida. Ad is a missionary in Haiti sponsored by our church, Jake and I are still members of WoodyNook, Andrew's girlfriend attends that church as does David and his family. It was great to spend time with people with similar ideas and to have the 'in' on the ECHO farm.
But that was not all. EFCCM is not a large organization either. The attendee list contained two delegates, Melvin and Priscilla from the Ukraine associated with EFCCM. One of the speakers, a former ECHO intern,Angela.
and her husband have recently joined the EFCCM team as well.
The conference was a real blessing. It re-invigorated us, gave us a renewed perspective on what we are doing, gave us ideas for change, and gave us the support from fellow delegates. The devotions and singing were especially meaningful and many tears were shed. We feel blessed as we head back to Bolivia. Thank you, ECHO.
I encourage all those who read this to check out the ECHO link on our blog.
Living in a foreign country has its challenges and we have been suffering from cultural fatigue for the past few months. We were wondering what we were doing in Bolivia, if we were effective, if we should move on -- what should be we do?
Coming here was not without its challenges, also. I booked the trip in September.We planned to go to Iowa and Minnesota to visit Jake's family and attend a wedding and then fly on the the ECHO conference in Florida. The night before we left I checked the computer for a receipt for the trip but saw instead that all our flights were cancelled -- and there was no receipt. After a late night trip to the airport, we spent hours on two computers trying to arrange flights. Finally, we put one on hold at a price that was far beyond our means and our credit card limit. The next morning we were the first in line at the American Airlines counter and were told that the prices had changed -- they had gone up. However, by combining our flights the agent was able to get us a flight for a semi reasonable rate -- one that would fit on the credit card! Words could not express the gratitude we felt as we made the final arrangements and boarded the plane.
Whenever I come to a conference I am curious about the attendees. The firs
t surprise was to find that there were six people at this conference associated with out little rural church way out in Alberta, Canada, attending a little known conference in Florida. Ad is a missionary in Haiti sponsored by our church, Jake and I are still members of WoodyNook, Andrew's girlfriend attends that church as does David and his family. It was great to spend time with people with similar ideas and to have the 'in' on the ECHO farm.But that was not all. EFCCM is not a large organization either. The attendee list contained two delegates, Melvin and Priscilla from the Ukraine associated with EFCCM. One of the speakers, a former ECHO intern,Angela.
and her husband have recently joined the EFCCM team as well.The conference was a real blessing. It re-invigorated us, gave us a renewed perspective on what we are doing, gave us ideas for change, and gave us the support from fellow delegates. The devotions and singing were especially meaningful and many tears were shed. We feel blessed as we head back to Bolivia. Thank you, ECHO.
I encourage all those who read this to check out the ECHO link on our blog.
6 comments:
Jake and Marg,
I should have gone to your blog before I wrote my letter. I'm glad the conference was such an encouragement for you. I hope you receive my letter as encouragement as well ... Norman
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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