26 Jun Michigan Missions Conference

About 60 people attended a one-day missions conference held Saturday, June 23, at the Carson City Campground in Carson City, Mich. The event was designed for persons from United Brethren churches in Michigan. This is the second year for the event.

A number of people spoke on behalf of missions. They included:

• April Dice and her son, Camden, who spoke about their ministry in Nicaragua. Camden told about the baseball team which played and ministered in Nicaragua in January 2012.
• Global Ministries director Jeff Bleijerveld.
• Donna Hollopeter, associate director of Global Ministries.
• Several former missionaries in Sierra Leone, including Julie Burkett, Nancy N’Gele, and Lee and Beth Palmer.
• Former Macau missionaries Pauline Gibbs and Carlson and Naomi Becker.
• Sally Hock-Harrison, from West Windsor UB (Dimondale, Mich.) represented a fund which provides scholarships to teens wanting to do short-term missions work. Several recipients of scholarships spoke about their experiences.

Ted Beck, a representative of Samaritan’s Purse who attends East Washington UB church in Ashley, Mich., told about his church’s success with Operation Christmas Child. The number of shoeboxes collected each year has continued multiplying, leading to a collection of 10,000 shoeboxes in 2011. He told of trips to flea markets and other events, looking for items for the shoeboxes, and coming away with contacts for persons who donated items or sold them for, say, a penny each.