Urbana

Now for the post I've been working towards all day...our time at Urbana. I know that this has very little to do with Micah, other than to mention that he definatly enjoyed his time alone with his two grandmas. As many of you know, Ryan and I took a week off and headed out to St. Louis to attend the Urbana missions conference. This is a conference that is held every three years. Ryan and I have both attended the past four conferences. This year was our second year representing Teen Missions at this conference. We had an amazing time!! This year the conference was moved to St. Louis. The new venue was awesome!! We stayed much warmer since the convention center & assembly hall were connected (no more cold days trudging across campus).

We left Tuesday morning, December 26th, to head out to St. Louis. We spent the first evening with Paul & Kathryn Dixon (they are long time friends of my family). We had an awesome time visiting & catching up. We then spent Dec. 27-31st at the conference. Our mornings were spent listing to an amazing speaker offer an expository look at the book of Ephesians. Our afternoons were spent at our booth talking with individuals who were interested in Teen Missions. We were amazed at how many Former Team Members stopped by our both. We counted over 100 FTM's. We had an FTM reunion one afternoon. I was responsible for the no-bake cookies & lukewarm koolaid (you would probably only appreciate this if you've gone on a team). After the first day I decided to make this poster for the FTM's to sign.

We had a great young team of volunteers working the booth. Two staff members were there, Stephen & Trish Taylor, plus another volunteer leader, Ann.

We were touched by the youth who attended this conference. It seemed apparent to us that they were very missions & ministry focused. We continue to pray that the Lord will guide & direct their decisions for the future.

A highlight of our time was the opportunity to hear Rick Warren speak. I was afraid that what he was going to share would be a lot like his book. But I was very plesantly surprised when he began to dig deep and confront everyone there on their committment to serving the Lord. Ryan and I both noted his comment encouraging the youth to serve God, "Wherever, Whenever & Whatever!!" It was great.

Ryan and I really enjoyed our time in St. Louis. We were pleased when our housing options fell through & we had the opportunity to spend the whole week with Paul & Kathryn. We also enjoyed our morning exploring Downtown St. Louis & visiting with missionary friends which we haven't caught up with in a while. We missed not having Micah with us...although we were so busy it wasn't that bad :-) We would really encourage any of you to consider attending the next Urbana conference (in 2009) it will definatly challenge you!!

Here are some cool pics from our sightseeing trip: