Mark 5 Ministries

Greater Europe Mission invited the Mark 5 Ministries technology team, of which we are a part, to attend their all-Europe Missionary Conference in Willingen, Germany.  M5M has been a part of the GEM conferences for 6 years.  This was Craig, II, 4th year and Mary’s 2nd year. Missionaries frequently live in areas where easy access to computer repair and maintenance is not available. This is where our team comes in. Our team formed up at the airport in Amsterdam on August 1 and together we flew to Berlin.

 This year will be the 25th anniversary of tearing down the Berlin Wall. We spent two days in Berlin becoming aware of all that this has meant for a nation that was divided, brother from brother, family from family. The history that Berlin holds in over 775 years is amazing and yet sobering. 

 On Monday, August 4, we took 4 train rides to get to Willingen, where the conference at the Sauerland Stern Hotel was held again this year.  It was a beautiful train ride with quaint towns and train depots.  It was so green in the mountains and reminded us of Oregon in the spring.

 When we arrived in our tech room, it was already set up for us and ready for us to serve the missionaries.  There were 2 stations where the missionaries could come in to check their email.  We had an intake desk to help the missionaries fill out paperwork to let us know what problems they were having with their computer or what they wanted us to focus on.

 The tech room opened at 7am every morning and closed between 9-10pm each night.  We ate in shifts, so someone was always there if a missionary came in and needed help.  In addition to their computers, we had missionaries walk in with questions or issues regarding their phones, iPads and tablets.  Additionally, a couple of team members did one-on-one training with some of the missionaries. The team helped over 90 missionaries with technology related problems.

 We received this note from the President of GEM, Henry Deneen: “Thanks to you all for blessing our GEM family incredibly during Annual Conference. We are all grateful for the sacrifice of your time, energy, and resources and truly appreciate your humble, gentle spirits as you facilitated all that took place during the week. I trust you were richly blessed as well and that you know how your efforts encouraged, enriched, and deepened our walks with Christ.  One of our colleagues said that he had never seen a team like yours blessing a mission family and he was deeply appreciative of the work you were doing. I echo those sentiments.”

 We are thankful to the Lord for the amazing team members He brought together, for the safe travel, for the missionaries we could help and interact with, and for all those who have supported us in prayer and with finances.  We had many missionaries thank our team over and over again and say how grateful they were that Mark 5 Ministries could come to the conference.  To God be the glory!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zqX8Xhwfts

 Thank you and God bless you all.

 --Mary & Craig Pruitt, II