Note #2 from Keegan

Hello all,

Looking forward to seeing everybody in a few days! Keegan is here in Queretaro with us now as we have a retreat planned in Amealco this weekend. This being the case we will be out of e-mail and phone touch today through Monday evening. Please e-mail Brock and Heather Hower if you have any last minute questions.

In preparation for conference Keegan asked me to encourage us all to be reading through parts of 1 Samuel chapter 16 through 2 Samuel chapter 2, especially focusing on David's relationships, and primarily his relationship with Jonathan.

See you soon!
Bryan

Note from Keegan

Greetings from Texas! Jon and I look forward to being with you in just a couple of weeks. My prayer is that each of you and your families are enjoying God’s blessings. Some of you may remember that the vision of Quest is “To encourage CAM missionaries to remain faithfully engaged in their pursuit of Christ-likeness.” “The pursuit of Christ-likeness is the process in which the believer, as God's beloved, is being transformed into the image of Christ for the glory of God and the sake of others." Our prayer is always that God will use us to create an environment that enables missionaries to experience God's redemptive power so that by His grace they come to live their full potential in Christ. We believe spiritual health necessitates the nurture of the whole person (physical/emotional, intellectual, relational and spiritual, Luke 2:52).

Our participation in this year’s conference will not convert the conference into a Quest event. Our goal is that of simply introducing some of the principles that characterized Quest events. I want to encourage each of you to be praying for God to use this year’s conference as a special blessing in the life of each of your team members. When we pray, God is free to work.

I want to also challenge you to come ready to work both as teams and individuals. It is in the context of teams that the most important learning will be done. I am the first to admit that it is always enjoyable to have someone come and share their personal experiences and insights from Scripture. However, I think we would all agree that there is great value in getting in the Word on a personal level and with peers to seek what God is saying and desires for our lives and ministries. The only downside to this approach is that it means you and I have to do the work rather than someone else. Experience tells us that the benefits far out weight the costs. Our goal will be to provide the tools and information that will enable you to effectively learn as teams and individuals.

Another goal for the conference has been to include time for a “personal retreat”. Some suggestions and tools will be provided for your use during this time. However, I want to encourage you to take this time and use it in whatever way God leads. It is a rare opportunity in the midst of life’s demands that we have the blessing of spending an extended time with the Lord. A second challenge I would extend to you is that this time be specifically focused on you and your relationship with God as opposed to using it for personal Bible study or ministry evaluation. Some of you may want to spend a part of the time alone and then a part of it with your spouse. If you have reading materials, journals, music that would enhance your ability to connect with and hear God, please bring them.

As I previously mentioned, a focus of Quest is that of nurturing the total person. In light of this commitment you will note that the Bajio team has worked to assure that there is plenty of time in the schedule for relaxation, fellowship and fun. I know that their goal is that you leave this time more fully energized physically, mentally, relationally and spiritually.

We look very forward to sharing these days with you. Please let me know if you have any questions.

In His grace,

Keegan

Conference Notes

We are just about one month away from conference!  Here are a few items for you to take note of:

1. Conference will begin on Wednesday, November 23 with check-in at 3:00 PM.  Our first session will start at 5:00 PM.  The conference will end on Saturday, November 26 with comida at 2:00 PM.

2. PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you would like to stay at the hotel an extra night on either end of the conference.  This would obviously be at your own expense, and you will be responsible to pay the hotel directly, although we will make the arrangements for you.  I would like to know by next Friday, October 28.

3. There will be a table game night on Thursday evening, so take your favorite table game along to play with somebody.

4. If you have an announcement that you would like to have made during conference, please get it to Brock Hower in writing either now or at conference.

5. We will have the famous conference give-away table(s) again this year, so take along anything you would like to pass along to others.  Anything that is leftover at the end of conference will be thrown out unless you take it back.

6. Would you like a table to promote or sell something at conference?  Please e-mail me and let me know.

7. We will NOT be having a "Family fun night" this year.  This year we have opted for a big-screen Thanksgiving Day football game, so come prepared to cheer for the Dallas Cowboys or Miami Dolphins!

Remember that all the conference information is being centralized on the conference blog, so if you have any questions please go there first:  http://camex2011.blogspot.com/

Please be praying that we will all have a safe trip to Fortín and that we might have a great conference together.

See you soon!

Bryan, for the 21 OHMS conference planning crew

Letter #2 concerning Snacks at Conference!

Hello,

Are you ready for Letter #2? We hope so, because here it is!

One important item we failed to mention in Letter #1 is that we plan to have PIES at conference again this year! And, since Thanksgiving Day is the first full day of conference, everyone can scarf down those pies right from the start! And you won't have to worry about how to keep them "fresh" until time to use them! So, any and all of you, if you'd like to bring a pie to share on Thanksgiving Day, it will be most welcome! We will plan to serve them after dinner on Thursday. We will let you know when and where.

Secondly, we've found that there is a bit of a problem this year! Many of us (and that includes me, Beth!) will be absent from conference this year, so that means there aren't really enough people to bring all the snacks we NEED (yes, NEED!)! So, we're wondering if some of you would be willing to bring two items?  Please write to Grace Becker about this,  since I (Beth) will be out of the country starting this coming Friday. If you accidentally write to me, I can always forward it to Grace!

A good number of you have already responded to Letter #1 and we want you to know we appreciate it so much! We have started making the list and will let you know as soon after October 8th as possible.

Thanks to each and all of you for helping make this a fun, delicious part of conference!

In Christ,

Grace and Beth

Thanksgiving Day Football Game

Don't miss it!  Thanksgiving Day - 3:00 PM

Main conference room

AM Prayer & Coffee

We are looking forward to our AM prayer and coffee time again this year.  Please join us each morning from 6:45-7:30 in the main conference room for a good cup of coffee and time of prayer.  See you there!

                                                       ~ Rollie Smith

SNACKS

Grace Becker

Beth Hanna

San Juan del Rio, Queretaro

September 8, 2011

Greetings from San Juan del Rio!

It’s that time of year again, gang! Conference will be here before you know it! And of course you all know that Conference is spelled S N A C K S! At least the most important part of it! (Just kidding!)

We, along with a lot of help from all of you, are in charge of making the snacks happen this year. I (Beth) will be gone the two months of October and November, so will not be at conference this year, but will be helping Grace set it up and she will be the one in charge! We thought we’d get started early on planning for snacks for conference. If any of you WON’T be at conference this year, can you let us know right away? This is really, really important!

A change this year in the snack-time is this: The children will have a separate snack time. The “adult” snack time will include the teens.

We are asking each of you to help make this conference a great time of fellowship, fun and of course LOTS OF FOOD! As in years past, we will provide snacks each morning, at around 10:30. Please have your snack in the snack area right after breakfast on the day indicated. It’s preferable that you NOT bring it before that time, as things tend to pile up and it causes a lot of confusion. Be sure the food you bring is ready to serve (in a serving container such as a basket, bowl, plate, etc. with a serving utensil if needed). PLEASE MARK ALL YOUR ITEMS WITH YOUR NAME. We will provide coffee (regular and decaf), hot chocolate, tea and drinking water. We ask that everyone bring ONE box of juice (of whatever flavor you’d like) and 1 2-liter bottle of soft drink. We will NOT have access to a refrigerator, so you will need to bring your cooler to store cold items.

We are giving you the opportunity again this year to let us know if you have a preference as to what you would like to bring. Some prefer to bake their snack, others prefer to buy). Let us know your preference ASAP, preferably BEFORE October 8^th. After that time we will assign items. Please understand that if everyone writes back wanting to bring the same thing, we will assign on a first-answer-first-serve basis! We are in charge of snacks and will assign 2 more women to help in setting up, serving and cleaning up the snacks. We’ll let you know specifically who later on when we know who all will be at conference.

If you have dietary needs, please feel free to bring snacks you are able to eat. We’re sorry we are unable to accommodate all the special needs.

Here are the different categories:

MUFFINS/BREADS – muffins, bagels, doughnuts - 2 dozen

FINGER FRUITS – apples, oranges, nectarines, plums, tangerines, pears, grapes are good. Bananas are OK, but don’t do well through the week. Fruit needs to be cut up and on platters, bowls, plates or Tupperware. If you would like to bring a sweet dip that would be great too. We will have two fruit plates at each snack time.

VEGGIE TRAY – Avocado, bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, celery, cucumbers, jicama, tomatoes - whatever you like! We will have two veggie trays at each snack time.

CHEESE/CRACKERS/CHEESEBALLS – Any pre-cut cheese and crackers are fine. And don’t forget the cheeseballs! CAMers LOVE cheese balls! Peanut butter to accompany crackers is fine also. There will be two of these offered at each snack time.

COOKIES – Can be homemade or store bought. Bars may also be substituted - 4 dozen

SALTY/SWEET SNACKS – trail mix, popcorn, chips, pretzels, granola bars, peanuts, nut mixes, any type of salty snack you can think of. In the past some have brought sweet snacks as well – chocolate or candies of some kind.

I know this is a lot to take in right now, especially for any first-timers, but remember, it IS an important part of conference. There is always good fellowship to be had around the table. Thank you so much for your part in making that fellowship happen and thank you for getting back to us soon!

Love in Christ,

Grace Becker

Beth Hanna

Conference Details

Dates:  Wednesday, November 23 through Saturday, November 26
Times:  Registration will begin at 3:00 PM and the first session will begin at 5:00 PM.  The conference will finish with comida on Saturday
Place:  Hotel Fortin de las Flores in Fortín, Veracruz where the conference has been held the last four years*
Theme:  Becoming a Christ-like Community of Lifelong Learners
Speakers:  Keegan & Terry Williamson and Jon & Jan Edwards
Topics:  

• Holistic Development and Care
• Life of Jonathan and David - Impact of Biblical Relationships
• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing

Special optional activities: 

• Game night
• Ladies craft time
• Thanksgiving dinner
• Thanksgiving football game - Dallas Cowboys vs Miami Dolphins
• Bonsai tree museum tour 
• Movie night

*Please e-mail Bryan Smith if you need directions on how to get to the hotel.

Theme and Speakers

Our theme this year is the Quest retreat theme - "Becoming a Christ-like Community of Lifelong Learners".  Some have had the opportunity to attend a Quest conference either in Texas or here in Mexico, but many have not had that opportunity.  This year we decided merge our annual fellowship conference with a Quest conference and invite Keegan and Terry Williamson and Jon and Jan Edwards as our speakers.  We think this will work well, and are looking forward to it.  The themes that will be covered are the following:

Holistic Development and Care
Life of Jonathan and David - Impact of Biblical Relationships
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing


There will also be some time allotted for a personal spiritual retreat on one of the mornings.  Beyond this we are looking forward to special times of worship and our traditional celebration of the Lord's Supper together.


Please be praying that the Lord would use this conference in our lives for His honor and glory. 

Welcome to the conference blog

We are moving closer to conference and looking forward to being together again! As the conference dates approach we will be using this blog to post conference announcements and information. Stay tuned for updates, and please begin praying that God will use this conference in our lives for His honor and glory.