By Simon Hammerling
I love attending missions conferences for several reasons, and Mission ConneXion Northwest in particular. First, Jesus promises us His presence. He says that wherever there are two or three gathered in His name, He’ll be right among them. Wherever His spirit is present, lives are changed. I also love seeing so many young people that are in the service of our Lord. I love to stroll around, hearing peoples’ stories and asking advice from the older generation that has been serving our Lord overseas.
A few days before the most recent Mission ConneXion conference, I swung by Bill MacLeod’s office just to say Hi. A day later, Bill sent me an e-mail asking if I could help out with recording some of the workshops. Since I love to help out wherever I can, I agreed. Before the conference, I had already picked out the workshops that I wanted to attend. I figured I could go to those, and listen and record them but that’s not quite the way it happened. Workshops were assigned to me; ones which I would not normally have chosen. But this way, I had the chance to sit in on sessions that I would not have attended. I am always very curious what God is doing in other countries but I sometimes forget our own neighborhood.
This recording assignment had me attend workshops held by ministries within Portland, the city where I currently live. I was able to learn much more about what God is doing right in my own backyard. During that time, he showed me that there are so many other ministries going on and made me appreciate the people in those various ministries more than I already do. Jesus once again showed me what will happen when I make myself available. HE will broaden my horizons. HE will get me thinking outside the box and change my focus.
My heart was full of praise as I went home that night with a lot of information in my hands but also in my head. On my way home I thought, “I want to make myself available again … to You LORD, Your will be done!” And I prayed in my heart for all the people that went home like me: I prayed that all of those people, with their hands, heads and hearts full of information, would allow Jesus to lead their lives. There is nothing greater than knowing that we are part of His kingdom!
Simon Hammerling is originally from Germany. From 2002 till 2012, he worked for Pacific Mission Aviation as an aircraft mechanic in the islands of Micronesia . He is currently living in the US, earning his pilot’s license and gaining work experience so he can return and serve the Lord in the islands of Micronesia again.
