Volunteers conference in Austria 2016
The joy of seeing each other again after a long time was great, when some of the former volunteers met again at the volunteers conference in Imst, Austria, which was being held a second time after last year.
From 15th to 17th of April 30 of the former volunteers came together in the "House of Life", having one experience in common: they all spent several months in Uganda in Vision for Africa a shorter or longer while ago, to serve and to help with the orphaned children. It didn't took long to find another thing in common, because almost everyone had fallen in love with Uganda so that they all had a challenging time finding their position and hearts back in Germany or Austria. That fact alone guaranteed enough old stories and memories to share!
The theme of the conference was: "The benefits of serving others", and even though the originally planned main speaker failed to attend the conference and the organizers had to improvise, it happened to be a wonderful weekend with happy faces, good inputs and great fellowship.
Mama Maria Prean talked about a life of fully trusting the Lord and how much He rewards our trust and full dedication and commitment if only we entrust Him daily our everything and rely only and fully on Him. Helena Stephan, a staff member of the House of Life shared about serving in the kingdom of God and how God sees and cherishes our obedience and the serving in minor tasks, in especially blessing the faithfulness in little things. Testimonies and sharing experiences with God encouraged and touched the audience obviously and gave all the glory to Jesus.
The worship times took everyone closer to God's heart, and the so-called "inner spring-cleaning" – a renewed intensive cleansing of the hearts, "decluttering" of self-pity and other emotional rubbish and a new focus on the Lord changed a lot in the blessed participants.
Of course there was a great exchange of experiences of the times in Uganda, and all were delighted, encouraged and enriched when making their way back home in the various directions. We are thankful to our God for the blessed weekend that newly united the two worlds Uganda and Austria/Germany at least in many European hearts that are beating for Africa!
