Training

We have been home now for just over a week and I still think I am processing all we learned. We both loved training! We came away from it with a better understanding of International Teams and of ourselves.
Our first week of training was probably the hardest for me. We started at 8 am, had lunch with everyone from 12 to 1:30 and then went back to class til 4:45pm. The training was great, but it was a lot of sitting at a desk.
The second and third weeks we had more interactive classes.
Our classes consisted of
The Vision and Mission of International Teams
Finance classes
Personality profiles
Working in Teams
Our Strengths and how to use them in our teams
Cross cultural studies
Spiritual gifts
Lifemap-looking where we have been and who we are in Christ.

There are so many classes that we took, but these are just the highlights. We also did studying on different religions and how to witness to different religions. We went to an Islamic Mosque and a Hindu Temple. These experiences were both very interesting. It felt odd to be in a prayer service with the Muslim people, but there devotion to Allah is something. The Hindu temple was beautiful. It was hand crafted in India and put together here. It has no metal holding it together. It is so hard to discribe, but it was something to see. It felt more like a museum than a place of worship.

One of my favorite things of training was being with people going in so many directions. The places represented were - India, Spain, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, and more. It was interesting to here how God had worked in everyones life to bring them to the place where they are to serve. We all had different places where God had called us and we all had different ways that we were going to be serving. It was amazing to all of us how we all fit the places we were going. God is so amazing! He knows every detail of everyones lives. We must continue to walk forward in faith on whatever path he places us. He knows the beginning from the end.
We would eat dinner together with eachother almost every night. Not all together, but we would break into small groups at our apartments. We lived in a cozy three bedroom apartment and it had a large table so we could share our meals. One night a couple made Indian food for everyone. It was soooo good. (He had lived in India as a child and his parents still live there.) We also had a Ukrainian dish for dinner one evening.
Our days were filled with sweet fellowship. We prayed together, laughed together, worshipped together and cried together. One evening we assembled in the community living room and had prayer time. It was so good to bring before God all our praise and requests.
At training we also met one of our teammates that will be going to Uganda. She is amazing!! (love you Karen) It was so good for my kids to meet another of our team members. They fell in love with her to and we are so thankful to have her on our team.

There is so much more I need to write about, but I think I will call it a night and write about other things that we have going on later.