It was a blessing to organise a youth conference for the second year in a row.
It was a two day event where we had around 70 people gathering information or giving advice how to 'survive' in such a busy and restless life.
This year we were focusing on resting. Our speakers were pastors, psychologist, entrepreneurs, musicians and also for the second year in a row, our archbishop. They were speaking about their own life experiences, biblical way of looking at resting, time management and psychology behind work stress and what should be the right work pace in order to be the most effective and healthy.
One thing that caught my attention was a point that was made in a panel discussion between archbishop, musician and entrepreneur. As it is everywhere, it's also really common in Estonia amongst churches to use people in variety of tasks, but there are never enough volunteers to do the tasks so those who are willing to do something end up doing way more, than they are capable. So the question was that why is it so, that when a volunteer is willing to give a finger, the church takes the entire hand... and even more. The answer turned out to be not at all what our planning team imagined it to be. This entrepreneur said all of a sudden, that this is the best way to go. He said that all that he has now, all that he can do now is because of church and because of the tasks that church was giving him. So he encouraged everyone to give as much input to church as much as they can, because it is a safe environment where to learn and try new things. So this is one example where we may make plans, but if we ask God to guide our thoughts, even better and more encouraging things turn out.
I could keep talking about the points, that were raised at the conference or all the information we got from there or the fellowship that we had, because these two days were full of all of it. But this article isn't about trying to rephrase the conference talks, but to give thanks to God for leading us and blessing us with such a wonderful conference!
Thanks also to all of you on the other side of the pond, who have been answering our prayers and worked as God's vessels on earth by making these events and our work a reality. We are especially thankful to Mount Calvary Lutheran Church of Excelsior and Alice Klement who supported the conference with their designated gift. I hope that you will continue to do so and that God may bless and repay you generously!
Mattias Haamer
Assistant to the President
Youth Conference 'The Juggler' main organiser
