We’re from Canada. And so are they….and they’re from Denmark and Deutschland, Holland and Hanoi, South Africa and the South, Myanmar and Minnesota, the United Kingdom and the United States. This is a multicultural place. We’re making global connections.
We’re making connections to our past. Years ago we wrote our masters’ theses on the Lao language (Linda) and Theravada Buddhism (Rick). Amazingly, both of these topics are quite relevant now.
We’re making connections to Scripture. Rick’s teaching on suffering (Phil 3) has connected with missionaries who have left family and friends, feel like perpetual “foreigners”, and live in risky situations. His teaching on peacemaking (Phil 4) was also received well.
We’re connecting with new people and ideas. We’ve had time to discuss Buddhism, gender issues, unreached people groups, and cross cultural challenges with leaders from the U.K., U.S. and Canada. We’ve been amazed by the “God at work” stories from missionaries.
Our connection to this conference is through Brian and Linda Crawford, whom we met at Heritage in 2013. Brian and Linda are the parents of our Resident Directors, D. J and Bethany Mudde. On May 21st they were back in Canada their daughter, Brianna’s wedding (who married another stellar Heritage grad—Caleb Hall).
The goal of all of this is to connect people to Jesus. We’ve participated in prayer times, hearing people calling on God (in different languages) for people groups across Southeast Asia. God is making “His house a place of prayer for all the peoples” (Is. 55:7) so that a “great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues [would] stand before the throne, [saying] salvation to our God who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb….Amen” (Revelation 7:9-11).
We’re already hoping that some of our students will want to make these kind of connections in the future. How about you? It’s been amazing to listen to the many ways that students, young parents and retirees abandoned their previous lives to come here. Come and join God’s global team; it’s a connection you won’t regret making!
Rick and Linda Reed 