We had the most wonderful time for 2 1/2 weeks in Paraguay and Brazil. Our main purpose was to attend the Mennonite World Conference Assembly 15. Every day was a learning day. I would say that the greatest highlight of the assembly itself was just being together with 6000 Anabaptist/Mennonite people from around the world.
It was meeting friends from home and friends from other parts of the world that we had not seen for some time. It was the experience of not having English as the main language, but Spanish. We had to wear headphones in all the sessions in order to hear the translation into English. This helped us to understrand what is like for so many people who come to Canada and need help to understand anything. This brought to my mind an experience I had when I was pastor at the Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver. I remember sitting so many times in the context of our Refugee Food Bank and hearing people speaking Spanish but not understanding it. For these people it was a relief to be able to be with people of their language. But, in the real world on the street, all these people would have to learn "my" language to function in "my" country.
Being present to hear stories of the activities of the global Anabaptist church over the past 6 years was a real privilege. We also heard representatives of many of the world communions of other churches. I was blest to hear the representative of the World Lutheran Federation speak of their preparations to officially acknowledge that their persecution of the early Anabaptists in the 16th century was wrong. The theme "Come together in the way of Jesus Christ" was addressed from many angles each day with sermons and stories from around the world.
I was particularly blest when I learned from friends in the Chaco (in the community of Loma Plata), that they watched the live stream of the conference sessions on their TV each evening of the conference.
It was meeting new people for another part of the world and hearing their story, such as the choir from Zimbabwe. Here in the picture, they were singing on the outdoor stage in the Global Village area behind the main convention centre. While they were waiting for their turn on the stage, Diane struck up a most interesting conversation with one of the choir members (English is the international language spoken in Zimbabwe).
Later, back in Canada, I found out from a Dutch friend in the Black Creek Mennonite Church on Vancouver Island, that the women of the Dutch Mennonite Church raised money for the last number of years in order to sponsor the choir from Zimbabwe to go the the Mennonite World Conference. When I showed this picture in my sharing in her congregation a couple of weeks ago, she was so blest.
The assembly itself was held in this amazing new church building. I say "new" because it wasn't even finished. It is a building that seats 10,000 people. One year ago, the leaders of the congregation that will worship here said that the building will not be ready for the Mennonite Conference. The organisers said that it must be ready, because we have no other venue. The Mennonites in Paraguay provided up to 200 workers to help them complete the building. While it was fully usable for our purposes, when one looked up in the expansive front entrance, the drywall on the 2nd floor was only taped and had not yet been painted. Also, in talking with one of the worship team members, he said that the speakers were being mounted in the sancturay while they were practicing underneath on the stage. He said that the first full sound check for the system was also the sound check for the world conference - only the day before the assembly began. Praise the Lord - it was ready just on time!!
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