SMC Goes to Amsterdam, the MCE Conference
The annual Master’s conference in Amsterdam was intense – yet not in a negative way at all. On the contrary, I truly enjoyed the entire event and even lodging in a rocking botel, which I, having the tendency to motion sickness, could hardly consider as a lovable cradle.
However, the conference itself turned my heart upside down merely positively. Assuming the speakers hadn’t been spying on every second of my year, they surely were used by God to touch my life and everything in it. Among other applicable matters, I felt encouraged in choosing to use the slingshot that I already have in my hand, and to run against my giants bearing in mind the victories my faithful God has given before.
Also, in addition to the very relevant teachings, the conference provided an incredible chance to meet both God through the true time of devotion, and new as well as old friends during the moments spent in a huge group of Master’s students – incredible people from countless corners of our continent and even beyond its borders. All in all, I found the three days as guests of MCAN surely refreshing and life giving not just for the present but for the future, too.
Hanna Hiltunen, SMC 3rd year
My time at the MCE conference was great. It was my first time there and I got to meet with so many people with the same heart and passion for God as me. It was a good opportunity to connect with the other programs in Europe and make new friends. One of my favorite parts of the conference was the second day in the evening meeting. We were worshiping and I just felt God tell me to bow down in His presence so I did and it was like I could just see His throne in all His majesty. It was truly amazing to have a glance at the God we serve. The fusion of everyone there was immense. We had a cool time of worship in one of the breaks, where the same song was being sung in 5 different languages! How awesome is God! I can’t wait for next year now.
SMC 1st Year, Faith Oti
I was so blessed to have the opportunity to go to the Master’s Commission Europe conference in Amsterdam, first of all because I knew that God was going to do something amazing at the conference. Second of all I was excited to meet other students that are doing Master’s Commission programmes in other places around the world. During the conference I learned quite a lot of things about the other programmes around the world, and God is slowly helping me get rid of a big giant that I have in my life and that is doubt! I can honestly say (without a doubt!) that there wasn’t one bit of the conference I didn’t enjoy, because I enjoyed everything about the conference! The worship was fantastic and so anointed, the speakers challenged me and it was full of amazing people that I will never forget! Shereen Sinjab, SMC 1st year
MCE conference was an absolutely brilliant experience. It was great to go to Amsterdam to meet up with old friends, to make some new and of course to meet with God. We had an opportunity to listen to what God had to say through the people who know the best what Master's is about and what it is like, who know what we are going through. It was a great time when God placed several challenges before me that I need to keep up with now when the emotion of the conference has cooled down. It was very inspirational to see the heart and the passion of the different Master's directors and staff members, the passion they have for us and the passion they have for a changed Europe. Over all, it was a fantastic time of fusion with God and His people.Kadri Kadastik, SMC 2nd year
Fusion !!! What a pure, dead brilliant time! I went with the prayer, God change me, I desire to be different coming out than go in, and all I can say is, thats what happened! I have no idea what the change is other than my heart has been opened to a deeper passion and my eyes opened to a bigger vision. I believe if i can be as bold to say that i almost had an Elijah vision, in that I saw myself, my sin, my worthlessness and I cried, then hallelujah I saw Christ my saviour, fit for the job at hand, and then coming back to SMC I have seen a world, and I have heard my father’s commission .. GO! Furthermore I met many amazing people with the same vision, the same passion, people that we need around us to stir us up and just call our friends. Finally the last thing that made my soul cry with joy, is that MCE conference, found the inner Scotland. We had a ceilidh and I don't know how many people I heard with phony scottish accents and ginger hair and tartan caps, but it made my heart rejoice! One Europe with God and Scotland in her heart! It's a beautiful thing!David Gillies, SMC 2nd year
The Thrilling Conclusion to Jordan's Adventure in Amsterdam.I would like to preface this with an apology, I was meant to have a blog up about some of this stuff a long time ago, I even wrote it up, but then I ended up being so incredibly busy with things that you're about to read about that I literally didn't touch a computer for around a week. With that in mind however here we go.At the end of my last blog about my time in MCAN, preparations for the Master’s Commission Europe Conference (which I will from now refer to as the 'MCE Conference') was about to go into full swing. Hanna and Nolan Taratino, who head up all the MCE head office business arrived with a vision, a vision that was going to take loads of work to complete. The first thing that we really got into for conference prep was a hip hop style dance routine, that for some unknown reason I got roped into. So there I was with my two left feet, being told to move my body in ways that felt un-natural and frightening. Combine that with a few stunts that could have very well ended in death and I was entirely out of my comfort zone, but hey that's what I came to Amsterdam for in the first place, to do something fresh. This dance was no easy task for anyone, the first three days we probably spent 5-6 hours of learning it, and we still weren't all the way there. After the first three days of hardcore dancing some of the manlier work needed done, scaffolding needed constructed, boards needed drilled, wood needed cut, the sort of hard labour that comes much appreciated after the mental drain of three days of dancing takes on you. I'm entirely happy to mindlessly drill a whole in the wall if it means I don't have to spin around on my heels and do a back flip. It was slow going but as it went on we could slowly see the pieces forming and falling into place. Whenever we weren't doing some sort of heavy lifting we were on friendship bracelet duty, taking something like 4-5 days to complete the 130 hand made friendship bracelets for every MCE Conference attendee. The Monday before the conference started much appreciated reinforcements showed up. MC Remix, a team of Master’s students from Fort Smith, Arkansas arrived. Despite their jet-lag I think they were probably more cognative than we all were at this point, and with the extra hands everything went up incredibly quickly, and suddenly the church looked fantastic. Giant draped cloth hanging from the ceiling, impressive looking scaffolding framing the stage for some of the band members to perform from, professional lighting. It was beautiful, seeing what had become a labour of love turn out so fantastically. I think the best part of the whole experience though was seeing how well the team held up during the conference prep, with such long days often working 9am-midnight you would expect people to start getting short with each other. But I think entirely on the back of some fantastic morning prayer we got through the whole thing with minimal insanity.Wednesday everything kicked off, all the MC's began to show up, and in the middle of the day I got thrown into another drama with something like an hour to learn it. The MC Remix crew needed one extra person to operate the legs for this crazy drama with loads of blacklights and stuff, it looked really cool, but I'm not really certain how to describe it. Anyhoodles, I think thus far I've failed to mention the theme of the conference, Fusion. I really don't think that a more fitting theme could have been chosen, having all of the Master’s in Europe come together under a single roof was amazing. Seeing friendships grow and connections be made that I know will last a life time is the greatest part of the entire experience for me. I've been back from Amsterdam now for two weeks and I'm still dissapointed every morning that I wake up and all the great friends that I made and got to hang out with while I was there aren't around.Coming away from the whole thing though I had an absolutely amazing time, the experiences that I had while I was there are ones that I will remember forever, as well as the growth that being somewhere new and fresh really brings.Jordan Nygren, SMC 2nd year
