Training

Grieving the Losses

Thinking About God, Training, Transitions -

Today was a tough day here at Mission Training International. The module that we had this morning was about “grieving the losses” that we face as we leave for the mission field. There are so many losses that I haven’t even taken into account. The losses we discussed include loss of: safety, a stable home, competence, a support system, identity, and so on. These are things that I need to grieve because they are very real things in our lives that are getting left behind. Amy Carmichael was a woman who rescued hundreds of children from forced prostitution in India in the early 1900s. As she left England and headed to India, she wrote in her journal that as the ship sailed away “part of her heart was rended from […]

Hostage Situations, Blizzards, and Bloody Fingers

Training -

Wow, this week was pretty intense…so glad it’s the weekend and we have a chance to catch our breath! ***** spoiler alert! If you are ever planning on attending the SPLICE training at Mission Training International, don’t read the following paragraph as it will ruin part of your experience. On Wednesday, we had a crazy day here at Mission Training International. Our instructors had us in a simulation of a hostage situation to see how we reacted under extreme stress. It was so bizarre because we knew that it was a simulation, but the stress level was definitely high. They had us in the dark, in a storage container in the basement of the building. We were supposed to be hiding from rebel troops as we were missionaries trying to […]

Are Families Foundational to Christian Witness?

Crossing Cultures, Family, Thinking About God, Third Culture Kids, Training -

This question was posed to us during our training session yesterday. Everyone here is going into some kind of cross-cultural situation where they will be sharing Christ’s love with others. We were asked to respond to the following quote: “…a part of the power in communicating the Gospel is the manner in which the family relates within itself, showing love to one another in healthy ways and reaching from this core to love others outside. Thus, understanding and facilitating healthy psychological and spiritual development in families is of crucial importance for Christian witness.” (Dr. John Powell in his book “The Family in Mission) I must say that my initial reaction was that this right here is the hardest part, this is my lifelong struggle, this is where I need God’s […]

SPLICE

Training -

Today we started our next phase of pre-departure training with the SPLICE program here in Colorado. The focus of this is to prepare ourselves as individuals and families for cross-cultural adaptation. We are going into this with open minds as it promises to be a time of increased self-awareness and personal realization of our strengths and weaknesses together and as individuals. There are some new people who have arrived for this program and there is a pretty good number going to Latin American countries. The Dominican Republic, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, and Uruguay are some of the places where people are going. I’m really looking forward to hearing about other ministries going on and what God is up to in Latin America…should be a great three weeks!

Down time

Family, Training -

This weekend has been a “down weekend” for us. We are in between programs as our language / phonetics classes finished up on Friday and our cross culture training program starts on Monday. I had lunch with a good friend from Denver and then we hung out and played games last night as a family. Today we decided to go and have some fun at Pike Peak! It was amazingly beautiful! God’s creation is breath taking. We also had some time to climb a pretty decent sized mountain and Tori and Ian loved it! Needless to say Tori and Ian are wiped out. Here are some pictures…

Language is Ministry

Language Learning, Training -

So, I’m a little focused on all things having to do with learning language since we are at PILAT this week. That stands for Program in Language Acquisition Techniques. Basically, we are not learning to speak Spanish directly, but rather how to correct our accent and how to pull Spanish into our lives instead of having it pushed in during a structured academic time. We are trying to get in touch with our inner-child to try to be open to learning language the way that kids are only at an exaggerated adult pace. Learning a new language is something that I am dreading about moving to El Salvador. Or at least I have been until these last two weeks. Now I have a much more confident, positive outlook. But I […]

Phonetics Drills, Anyone?

Language Learning, Training -

We made it safely to Palmer Lake, Colorado and the kids did great in the car! We are just getting into our first week of Language Acquisition School. We aren’t exactly learning Spanish specifically, but we are learning tools that will help us to learn Spanish much more quickly once we arrive in El Salvador. So far, it has been pretty interesting. It’s been awhile since I’ve actually sat in a classroom, and being the “nerd” type I’m glad to be here! Today we did some phonetics drills and some other activities to show us various ways to learn languages. The biggest challenge of learning a language, and I think ultimately the biggest challenge of our move to El Salvador, is getting rid of our North American mindset. As Americans […]

25 Hours of Driving…

Training, Transitions -

Tomorrow we are leaving for Palmer Lake, Colorado. From Pittsburgh to Colorado is about 25 hours of driving time. I am not looking forward to this and I am honestly hoping that I survive. Moving to El Salvador may sound crazy, but spending 25 hours on the road with a 2 year old and a 4 year old is far crazier! Thankfully we have a DVD player, lots of snacks, and new toys from both Nanas. We are hoping that this will be a fun adventure for our family, and if you think of us this weekend, please pray that we are surviving!

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