Missionary Training International (MTI) Day 1 & 2

On our first day of training at MTI I can already tell it's going to be a great experience! They spent the day giving us an overview of what they will be covering the next 3 weeks. The name of the program is SPLICE, with each letter representing an area they cover. The areas are Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyle, Interpersonal, Cultural and Endurance/Enjoy. Their goal is to give us tools to deal with cross cultural conflict and stress so that we will be more aware of how to deal with it once in the field. Here are some thoughts that stuck out for me today...

* I have chosen to go into exile
* We usually think perfect means without flaw, but we learned it also means "functions as it was designed". So in our walk with Jesus we achieve levels of perfection as we follow Him and attempt to function as God has designed us.
* MTI staff sees us as "Perfect Pilgirms Parading by Faith to Paradise through the Land of Paradox".
* Need to learn to live in a larger story than our circumstance.

Day 2
We mostly talked about Personal Values today. We learned our values seem deeply right to us and when violated seem deeply wrong. We rated a list of values as to how important they are to us and then talked about the ones we rated the highest and whether we thought they would be met in the field. We also talked about how to decide what values we can and can not compromise on. They showed us a diagram of circles coming out from the center and the center circle is most important and represents "Biblical Absolutes" that we can not compromise, then the next circle out represents "Conscience Values", then "Cultural, Traditional, Organizational Values" and the last circle out is "Personal Values". The idea was that the further out the value falls, the more flexible we probably need to be about it. We ended the day doing skits that showed some conflicts that may come up in the field and talked about how we might deal with them. They explained that there are no hard and fast answers they can give the these issues but they are trying the get us more self aware of our values and beliefs and how they might be viewed by other cultures...interesting stuff!!

Christmas Letter

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas!!

As I sit down to write this Christmas letter and reflect upon all the blessings experienced this year; I contrast it with the heart-wrenching stories I have been reading about children in South Africa. I begin to wonder if we aren’t blessed in this life so we can be a blessing to others.…..

It was a blessing to attend Candidate School in January – an awesome week of meeting fellow overseas missionaries and the fabulous YFC World Outreach staff! Then being accepted as an YFC missionary…because there are an estimated 13 million orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa (area below the Sahara Desert)….

Connecting with so many of you and being overwhelmed by your love and support, because only together can we make a difference for the 1000 more children orphaned in South Africa each month….

YFC Summer Institute – a time to reconnect with missionaries from Candidate School and meet new ones – one, Rita Usher, who will be joining me in Cape Town – and learning more about YFC and how they do youth ministry…because there are children heading households looking for hope for the future….

Selling my house in 5 days …because there are children living alone and on the streets….

Sponsorship from my two “home” churches – Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Washington, IA….because children are turning to the sex trade to get money for school fees or food to eat….

Even the totaling of my car turned out to be a blessing – my Uncle Don is letting me borrow one of his cars so I don’t have to buy a car AND the insurance company paid me MORE than I could have sold it for….because there are villages in Africa entirely populated by children….

These stories are why I must go! God has made it heavy on my heart!! And I hope you will join me by pledging your support today! Many of you have helped me exceed the goal for upfront expenses and over 80% of the monthly pledge needs are met thanks to you! Just $300 more in pledges per month and we’re on our way to restoring hope to these children! One-time and repeated yearly donations are also much appreciated! When you think about all the ways you are blessed this Christmas season, please also say a prayer for the forgotten children in Africa and consider what you can do to help! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this ministry so far; I thank God for you every day!

Much love and blessings to you!

Bobbi