Ignite Our Hearts that we may have a burning fire in our hearts to continue serving God, that we have a burning desire to be His hands and feet, spreading the gospel in our own community through outreach evangelism. Ignite our hearts that we may hear Him calling us to renew our faith and our walk with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Over 50 Hmong women from California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin along with a few young girls gathered together at Camp Wakonda in Wisconsin from August 10th to August 13th 2023 AHA Women’s Ministry’s first Prayer & Revival Conference. We were blessed by pastors and elders who graciously volunteered to cook our meals and help with the AV systems for the duration of the conference. The theme of our prayer & revival conference was “Ignite Our Hearts: it was our goal to give a spiritual boost to those in attendance and encourage them to learn about outreach, and the power of having a prayer life.
We were blessed to have our two special guest speakers, Mrs. Julia O’Carey and Miss Tara Vang and Pastor Rachan and his wife from Thailand, join us. During this 4-day event, we spent time catching up with old friends, made new friends, witnessed a baptism, and participated in the Lord’s banquet. We spent the first day of our conference in a song activity praising God for all the seasons in our lives, listening to testimonies and special songs from our sisters-in-Christ. We learned about outreach evangelism, why it’s important, and how to do outreach from our guest speaker Tara Vang. We learned about a Christian man’s ideal woman and the characteristics of a Godly woman from Pastor Rachan and his wife, Pranee.
On the second day, our guest speaker Tara Vang and sister Blia Xiong taught us about practical evangelism and gave us some hands-on training. Tara and our pastors and elders in attendance, along with a few women, drove an hour from the campsite to do some outreach to the Hmong community in Milwaukee, WI. The attendees who stayed behind were given an opportunity to have a panel discussion with pastors’ wives and women who have been in the faith more than 20 years about their struggles and how they overcame obstacles in their spiritual journey. We ended our evening listening to more testimonies from our outreach team about their experience and singing songs of praises.
On the third day, our guest speaker Julia O’Carey taught us about the power of prayer. We learned that God loves us, forgives, and has compassion towards us. He is the righteous Father who is always faithful, strong, and courageous. God is willing to answer our prayers when we unite in prayer. Julia led us on an amazing and powerful gathering to praise, confess, ask, and thank God for blessing us and answering our prayers. What an uplifting experience it was to pray for each other! Following that, we walked down to the lake where we witnessed one of our young daughters surrender her life to Jesus in baptism. We ended our evening with fellowship activities with the ladies creating friendship bracelets for a sister, learning about health remedies, learning about self-care, and setting goals for our personal ministries.
On our last day of the conference, our attendees received an invitation to the Lord’s banquet. The banquet was filled with melodious music, a golden stair to heaven backdrop, walkways leading up to the golden stair lined with lamps. Each attending guest was greeted by angels at the door and led to the golden stair by angels where they were greeted and given crowns. As the guests walked towards the front to receive their crowns, some shed tears of joy and some were beaming from ear to ear. Those who had received their crown were led to a seat with crackers and juice, which represented the body of Christ and His blood. Following the crowning of our attendees, a crown was given to young children in attendance and the pastors and elders who attended. The ministry officers welcomed the guests with scripture and a poem from the Father who is awaiting His daughter’s return home. The women were then given a gift bag filled with a friendship bracelet and small card with an encouraging message made by another sister. The women were encouraged to keep in touch and pray for the woman from whom they received the friendship bracelet.
Our conference ended on such a high note. The women were truly blessed by the conference and felt it was a much-needed renewal of their faith. The women felt that it was beneficial to their faith and want to continue the conference for many more years. The event helped them draw closer to God. We are truly grateful to ASAP Ministries and NAD for their support in our efforts to bring our dream to fruition.
Hmong Ministries