01 Feb Part 1: In Thailand at the Global Ministries Staff Summit

The Global Ministries Summit was held January 20-24 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Persons serving fulltime with Global Ministries or as nontraditional staff were invited, and all of their expenses were covered. Altogether, 28 persons, eight of them children, attended.

• Jeff Bleijerveld, director of Global Ministries.
• Donna Hollopeter, associate director of Global Ministries.
• Frank Y, associate director of Global Ministries.
• Brian and Lynette Magnus, from Guelph, Ontario.
• David and Melissa Kline, and three children, from Macau
• Jeff and April Dice, and three children, nontraditional staff serving part of the year in Nicaragua.
• Galen and Maritta Fiedler, and two children, nontraditional staff serving in Germany.
• Jennifer Blandin, from Macau.
• Bryan and Emily Gerlach, appointed to begin a new ministry in Thailand later in 2013.
• Jessica Hollopeter, nontraditional sojourn staff serving with One Mission Society in Indiana.
• Miriam, Jana, Anne, and Jenaya, serving in undisclosed locations.
• Rev. Yiu, superintendent of Hong Kong Conference.
• Carol Chan, the missions director from Hong Kong Conference.

They all met at the Phowaldol Resort on the outskirts of Chiang Rai, a city of 200,000 people in northern Thailand on the border with Myanmar.

The speaker was Brian Magnus, bishop of the United Brethren Church in Canada. Brian also chairs the International Executive Committee, and presides at sessions of the international General Conference. He spoke five times to the group in Thailand. Since everyone spoke English, no translating was needed.

Jeff Bleijerveld, director of Global Ministries, and associate director Donna Hollopeter sat down a few days after returning to talk about the event, beginning with the question, “Why Thailand?”

Jeff Bleijerveld: Much of our staff is already located in Asia, so it served well as the gathering point. It also kept expenses low. We stayed at this very nice hotel for about $35 per night, per person. It was a wonderful resort with individual cottages, so even families with children had a two-floor cottage. It was very comfortable.

Frank was the organizer and did a lot of the planning. A lot of credit also goes to Peggy Sell, our administrative assistant at the time, who handled a lot of the logistical work. We originally planned that Peggy would join us. It’s always a challenge with people coming from different places, and arranging transportation to from the airport.

For some of our staff, being treated to a vacation in Thailand was different, and some even felt uncomfortable explaining it to supporters. But most were very grateful for the opportunity to meet each other, to step away from ministry, and to be refreshed spiritually.

Donna Hollopeter: Most everybody arrived by Saturday night. The Dice family didn’t arrive until Sunday, so they missed the visit to the mountain churches on Sunday, as did the Fiedlers.

Jeff: The Fiedlers were delayed two full days because of a variety of things—ice storms in Germany which shut down the autobahns, bad weather at Heathrow airport in London, and then a minor strike with Thai Airways. But they made it for two days of the meetings.

Of all of the Global Ministries families, the Fiedlers have probably been under the most pressure and stress. Maritta’s father has been fighting cancer for many years. He had just come home from the hospital; after they returned to Germany, he went back into the hospital and is now in a coma. They really appreciated the event. They did plan to stay two additional days to relax and spend time as a family.

Sessions with Brian

Donna: Brian Magnus did a phenomenal job. He took five characters from the Old Testament and talked about their lives, their character qualities—good and bad—and the impact that they had on the lives of other people. Then he asked us to consider how our lives and character qualities impact others positively or negatively, and how we reflect Christ.

Jeff: We deliberated beforehand whether this was a time for building up and encouragement and spiritual challenge, or a time to talk shop and strategize for the future. We decided we couldn’t do both well, so we would focus on missionary care. Brian and Lynette Magnus are both natural encouragers.

Everybody seemed very eager to get to know each other. They stayed up and played card games together. There was no sense of cliques.

Donna: We began each session with devotions, and with praise and worship. They all commented on how much they enjoyed worshiping together. During the sessions, they were very careful to mix up who they sat with, so they could have conversations with people they didn’t necessarily know well.

Jeff: Brian and Lynette celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last June, so they built into the trip an additional week. They went to Chiang Mai, a larger city about two-and-a-half hours to the southwest. It’s known for its zoo with panda bears, and its ancient waterway built into the city. They wanted to take some time to enjoy and relax before going back.

Donna: They were trying to decide how to get to Chiang Mai, and decided to take a bus. There were three levels of ticketing. Brian thought, “This is special, so I’ll take the most expensive ticket.” Which was equal to $10.

Jeff: Again and again, as you run through the numbers, you realize, this is really affordable.

The Children at the Global Ministries Summit

Donna: Three families brought children. David and Melissa Kline have three young children, Jeff and April Dice brought their four children, and Galen and Maritta Fiedler (from Germany) brought their two children.

The kids were very good. Even though they hadn’t met before, the younger kids very quickly developed relationships with each other. You’d see them walking down the pathways, arm in arm. It was neat to see.

Jeff: The hotel staff were fabulous. They even provided childcare. The lady in charge of childcare remarked how well behaved our children were, that they weren’t “naughty,” as she put it. She got one day a week off, and it fell on the day we left. Yet she came to the hotel all day just to say goodbye to the children.

Donna: The families with children banded together to buy gifts for the childcare providers, who said that had never happened before—nobody else had thanked them or given them gifts for taking care of their children.

Miriam said she had forgotten some of the issues families deal with on a regular basis, like trying to coordinate naps for kids along with all the activities planned. She kept remembering how it was when their boys were younger. With a family, there are a whole lot of other dynamics that single missionaries don’t have to deal with, whether you are on the field or at a rest-and-relaxation place like this.