FPO- Weeks 5&6

And yes, I thought the same thing- where has the time gone? Seems like we just got here, and now we are staring at the last two weeks of FPO! Also, we are only 1 month from loading all we can onto an airplane and heading out to South Asia for the next 3 years. It seemed like so long ago, but now it's right around the corner. I know that I echo many people's thoughts here when I say that we are ready to be there now! The excitement is building, but let us also be focused on the One who is sending us, Jesus.

Week 5 was our security contingency training, which all I can say about it- intense, but very necessary! Thank you to those that came in for 6 days and put us through a lot of needed information for those who travel overseas. I wish that some of our short term mission volunteers could go through this training as well.

Week 6 involved learning about bible storying. It was a full two day session that taught us how to put the bible into understandable stories for those who are oral cultures, or non-literates. We have been practicing this technique all last week and will continue in our small groups to practice storying more this week. We also learned T4T (Training for Trainers). This is a method that I have seen in practice in South Asia, and it works very well with CPM. It is a training method where you train trainers to be trainers of trainers. (Say that three times fast, and then do your best train whistle imitation!) It is an exponential method of training where you start with one group of 4, then each of the 4 goes out and shares with 4 more people, then each of those shares with 4. Each of the origional 4 is still being trained, but they are taught to train those they have shared with what they have just learned, and so on. If you draw this out on a piece of paper, you very quickly will have many trainees training other trainees. These obviously are all small groups, and what they are being trained in is the gospel and how to share it, your testimony and how to train others. It was very interesting, and I am anxious to get started in my own T4t.

We wrapped up the week with a field trip to Washington D.C. A two hour bus ride, followed by a trek through the city to witness to the many different people groups there. With all that there was, we ran out of time to do all that we could, but we made it to several different sites, all the while riding the subway to and fro, eating at a South Asian restaurant, and engaging in conversation with and praying over a couple of people, one a homeless man, the other a lady who was born in Trinidad waiting for her bus. With the short time we were there, we felt we didn't have much time to do everything we wanted.

That is pretty much it for now. Pray that we stay focused on the Lord, and not just on the end of our orientation, which is 16 days away, but who's counting?