Training in the windy city
Greetings from Chicago!! I must say that the city lives up to its name. Yesterday when we toured downtown it was quite windy so I got to sport the windblown look for the evening. Chicago also has great older buildings, amazing deep dish pizza and a gorgeous sky line! I took a ton of pictures and really enjoyed being a tourist for the day. I'll post some of them when I have some more time.
Training here at TEAM headquarters in Wheaton has been fairly intense. We have breakfast at 7:15 and start sessions at 8 a.m. Its a pretty non-stop day. Really relevant info for the most part though. We've learned lots of good safety travel tips, what to expect if a TEAMserve missionary gets kidnapped, how to avoid being pick pocketed, etc. I don't think I'll have to worry about the kidnapping stuff but there is a gal going to Eastern Asia so that stuff is relevant. Also learned about TEAMs history as an organization, what to be aware of as far as knowing our own expectations, the best approaches to sharing faith cross culturally and so forth. Its really quite unreal to sit across the table with people your age and be discussing urban street smarts because, well, we need to know how to handle ourselves. Its not just a subject of general interest or for entertainments sake its about surviving and being safe. I'm not trying to be dramatic its just that I don't think I've ever experienced such relevant classroom learning. Sure makes you pay attention.
I'm loving the group I'm training with. What fantastic people!! At times the team building lessons and time spent with others gets to be a bit much but I feel so blessed to have met the people I have. There's Jacob, whose 19 and a total character, he's headed to Taiwan as is Victoria a fellow English major from Alabama. Michelle and Trista are going to Zimbabwe and several others are going to Japan. Trista and I met on the flight from Salt Lake city to Chicago. Her and I got to talk and pray with this really sweet Mormon lady who sat next to us. Trista is from Aberdeen Washington and she's going to Zimbabwe to work in an orphanage.
All that said training is almost over. I fly to London tomorrow and I'll arrive in Prague on Saturday. So tonight is my last night in North America. Please pray for smooth connections and good sleep. Sleep has really been an issue lately. I haven't been able to fall asleep until midnight or 1 o clock. At the moment I'm running on like 15 hours of sleep in 72 hours. This has me quite concerned since I'm really not at my best when sleep deprived and it can mean I get emotional easily (which is not fun).
I'll be doing two weeks of training when I arrive and apparently some intense language training is scheduled. Prayers about that would be appreciated too. Not sure if I mentioned what I'll be doing my first week of camp. I'll be teaching the 10-13 year olds and helping out with craft time in the afternoons. I'm looking forward to it! Kind of freaking out about leaving my familiar English speaking world behind (only a few more hours) but totally pumped too. I know this will teach me trust and dependence in a whole new way.
Love to you all!
Training here at TEAM headquarters in Wheaton has been fairly intense. We have breakfast at 7:15 and start sessions at 8 a.m. Its a pretty non-stop day. Really relevant info for the most part though. We've learned lots of good safety travel tips, what to expect if a TEAMserve missionary gets kidnapped, how to avoid being pick pocketed, etc. I don't think I'll have to worry about the kidnapping stuff but there is a gal going to Eastern Asia so that stuff is relevant. Also learned about TEAMs history as an organization, what to be aware of as far as knowing our own expectations, the best approaches to sharing faith cross culturally and so forth. Its really quite unreal to sit across the table with people your age and be discussing urban street smarts because, well, we need to know how to handle ourselves. Its not just a subject of general interest or for entertainments sake its about surviving and being safe. I'm not trying to be dramatic its just that I don't think I've ever experienced such relevant classroom learning. Sure makes you pay attention.
I'm loving the group I'm training with. What fantastic people!! At times the team building lessons and time spent with others gets to be a bit much but I feel so blessed to have met the people I have. There's Jacob, whose 19 and a total character, he's headed to Taiwan as is Victoria a fellow English major from Alabama. Michelle and Trista are going to Zimbabwe and several others are going to Japan. Trista and I met on the flight from Salt Lake city to Chicago. Her and I got to talk and pray with this really sweet Mormon lady who sat next to us. Trista is from Aberdeen Washington and she's going to Zimbabwe to work in an orphanage.
All that said training is almost over. I fly to London tomorrow and I'll arrive in Prague on Saturday. So tonight is my last night in North America. Please pray for smooth connections and good sleep. Sleep has really been an issue lately. I haven't been able to fall asleep until midnight or 1 o clock. At the moment I'm running on like 15 hours of sleep in 72 hours. This has me quite concerned since I'm really not at my best when sleep deprived and it can mean I get emotional easily (which is not fun).
I'll be doing two weeks of training when I arrive and apparently some intense language training is scheduled. Prayers about that would be appreciated too. Not sure if I mentioned what I'll be doing my first week of camp. I'll be teaching the 10-13 year olds and helping out with craft time in the afternoons. I'm looking forward to it! Kind of freaking out about leaving my familiar English speaking world behind (only a few more hours) but totally pumped too. I know this will teach me trust and dependence in a whole new way.
Love to you all!
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