Snow in Upstate New York

This conference is always held at what the world calls Easter, but our being here has nothing to do with the celebration of Easter. Rita and I flew from our home in Upstate New York where we left over a foot of fresh March snow still covering the ground and mounds of snow banks lining our driveway. We flew first to Prague, arriving Wednesday March 28, and then leaving very early the next morning on Ryanair for England. We were accompanied by young Kristyna Klusonova, who will also be staying with us, wherever that will be.

Brother Kayode and his son, Joseph, came to pick us up at the Stanstead Airport, along with the three children of Dr. Eze, who are attending a university in Ireland. We were taken to the Walton-on-the-Naze, a seaside village on the east coast of England, where we were assigned our “cabin” in what we in the States would call something like a “trailer park”. These units are called caravans, but I call them a hybrid between a real full size mobile home and a camper. They are definitely too large to tow behind your car or pickup truck, and they are way too small and cramped/compact to try to live in permanently. Ours was a three bedroom and we found that Brother Ebere, from Africa, was to occupy the third bedroom. In the natural realm, England did not try to impress us favorably with her weather; as we would have left only remembering the constant rain and mud. Did I say mud? Yes, mud, mud, and more mud! The trailer “campground” was only about a 15-20-minute walk (about a mile) from the meeting hall, a rented Community Center, which served as an ideal place for the meetings.

Luton Meeting

As usual, this meeting was attended mostly by Nigerian brethren, some from London and her environs and some who had come all the way from Africa to attend. There were a few other Czech “brethren” and young Brother Josiah from Texas, managing the recording table. The meeting crowd ranged between 50 and 70 with a very good range of speakers. The Thursday evening meeting was mostly a prayer/praise and introduction session. On Friday, there were two meetings and I was asked to be the lead-off speaker for both meetings. The first meeting, I spoke of “Job’s Complaint”, recounting some of my own experiences 15 years ago when I nearly left the land of the living and how the Lord compared my complaining to Job’s. The second meeting, I spoke on “The Widow’s House”, in which Elijah was sent to her house, where all were miraculously fed by the hand of God for many days.

On Saturday, Brother Ebere spoke at the first and last of three meetings. I remember him speaking from 1 Thess. 5, “…but ye are not in darkness”. The afternoon meeting was given to Brother Tokes, a brother from the London fellowship, who challenged us to move on “Beyond Pentecost”.

On Sunday, our speaker at the first two meetings was brother Othniel, a Nigerian brother, who is currently serving with the UN, stationed in Sudan. Rita and I first met this man and his wife, Patience, in 2011 in Ghana, when they were living there. We were in transit from Sierra Leone to Ethiopia and had an overnight layover with Kenya Air; they graciously allowed us to stay the night at their home. He spoke first on “The Time of the People’s Visitation of God Is Near” and the coming great harvest of His kingdom. Then he spoke on “The Purpose of God” and the many things He takes us through.

Luton Prayer

The final speaker Sunday was Dr. Eze, a pediatrician who has a clinic for children in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He spoke about “Dying Daily”, on our identifying with Jesus Christ in His death and pressing on towards the mark of the high calling of God. Afterward, the elders prayed for anyone who had a need. There has been an excellence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in all of these meetings and a high quality of the spoken word. We are hearing comments that this conference is the best, since the missionary conference in 2012; that would make this the seventh one, a good number for perfection.

Our return to Prague was on Monday through the Stanstead Airport, which seems to be about 90% Ryanair. I don’t know when I have experienced more confusion, crowding and herding of human beings that I have at this airport; perhaps it was due to the early morning rush hour. Nevertheless, we made it to our gate on time (not much to spare) and the Lord brought us safely back to Prague, where Martin and Johanna were waiting to take us to Radek’s house, where we will begin our next two weeks in the Czech Republic. The Czech report will follow later.

God bless you and thank you for your prayers.
Mark and Rita Jantzi