This week was the last week of classes for our lecture phase of the Children at Risk school. We had the amazing blessing of having Camille Bishop come and spend the week with us speaking to us on cross culture communication. She offered us a lifetime of working and living in different cultures. She shared with us her success stories and her failures. We looked at Kingdom culture, as well as Western and two-thirds world cultures. We talked about different proverbs from the different cultures of everyone in our class and were reminded how important it is to be culturally sensitive and to be willing to take the “one down position” when working with other people. We also were taught about the different levels of experiencing a culture and about culture shock.
The most impacting information for me was just really looking into why certain cultures behave or think in certain ways and how important it is to learn the history of a place to really understand the culture. It was also really impacting thinking about how you can go deeper into a culture and not just accept the surface level of a culture that you can experience at with your five senses. A new revelation that I discovered about God this week was learning about His plan for languages, community development, and how nations were created.
This weeks teachings brought out questions for me about the Rwandan culture. Such as: What is it going to be like really? What areas will I experience culture shock in while I am there? Amongst many others. I will get these questions answered as I spend the next 6 months in Rwanda and am able to experience it for myself as well as ask questions about their culture.
This week in the community… they have all started to blur together… I think this week was a good week. God showed Himself as the faithful provider that I know that He is and most of the issues with my bank worked out so that was an encouragement and such a blessing. I have continued to invest in my friends here, and am realizing how hard it will be to leave a lot of them behind. I learned this week again about how important communication is and how it is important to clarify that what you are communicating, is what the other person is hearing. This week I have also just been reminded so much of how much I love this community in Burtigny and especially the staff of this school. Saying goodbye is going to be hard, but I am getting so excited for Rwanda and everything God has in store for the team and for myself there, in Rwanda.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Week 10 Summary...
This week our speaker was Dave Swann. Dave used his lifetime of experience of development projects and proposal writing to help teach us about program planning. With Dave we looked at how important certain steps of creating a project and writing a proposal are. Some of the areas we looked at were, knowing the history of a place, knowing where you are at exactly, also known as point A and then setting a vision (point B) for the project and knowing exactly where you want to go. We continued on during the week to create a hypothetical plan for an African village based on what the greatest perceived needs were. We worked as teams of four and created a project proposal and then presented it to the rest of the class.
The most impacting information of the week for me was that I discovered that I actual love this kind of stuff. It made me so excited to try and think of ways to serve a community and improve their daily lives. Also just looking at what a huge project it would be, but it is actually doable. It is even possible to do these things in the areas of Canada that are in need. As the weeks go on, I am more and more getting a heart for the people of Canada and feel called to return to a province and work there. I love the different nations so much and it has been impacting to see the way I can love the nation I come from just as much. This all relates to the new understanding/revelation that I received this week. I can actually do this kind of work. I can be involved in community development and in fact I believe some of the ways I have been gifted are designed for that type of work.
This weeks teaching brought out the questions in me of how I might be involved in the future in the areas of community development and project planning. I will continue to seek answers for this question by listening to God’s voice and really seeking in prayer any opportunities that come up that He might have me be involved in.
Life in the community this week… I still really love all the people here. I don’t really like my work duty at all anymore, but I am trying to stay positive. I am so thankful that I only have 6 more meals to clean up! It will be a blessing to be done with it. I personally have just felt heavy this week, as well as last. Satan has been trying to get the best of me, and he is unfortunately winning a lot of days. I am really learning to trust God for the bank situation, since it is still not working out yet and time is getting very close to when I am supposed to be leaving for outreach. I am really going to miss Burtigny. I have realized this past week just how much I have come to love this community and the people here. It has been such a wonderful blessing on my last three months.
Next week our speaker is Camille Bishop. We will be talking about cross-cultural things. We will also be giving our teachings next week. It will be so nice to be done all of my assignments by the end of next week.
The most impacting information of the week for me was that I discovered that I actual love this kind of stuff. It made me so excited to try and think of ways to serve a community and improve their daily lives. Also just looking at what a huge project it would be, but it is actually doable. It is even possible to do these things in the areas of Canada that are in need. As the weeks go on, I am more and more getting a heart for the people of Canada and feel called to return to a province and work there. I love the different nations so much and it has been impacting to see the way I can love the nation I come from just as much. This all relates to the new understanding/revelation that I received this week. I can actually do this kind of work. I can be involved in community development and in fact I believe some of the ways I have been gifted are designed for that type of work.
This weeks teaching brought out the questions in me of how I might be involved in the future in the areas of community development and project planning. I will continue to seek answers for this question by listening to God’s voice and really seeking in prayer any opportunities that come up that He might have me be involved in.
Life in the community this week… I still really love all the people here. I don’t really like my work duty at all anymore, but I am trying to stay positive. I am so thankful that I only have 6 more meals to clean up! It will be a blessing to be done with it. I personally have just felt heavy this week, as well as last. Satan has been trying to get the best of me, and he is unfortunately winning a lot of days. I am really learning to trust God for the bank situation, since it is still not working out yet and time is getting very close to when I am supposed to be leaving for outreach. I am really going to miss Burtigny. I have realized this past week just how much I have come to love this community and the people here. It has been such a wonderful blessing on my last three months.
Next week our speaker is Camille Bishop. We will be talking about cross-cultural things. We will also be giving our teachings next week. It will be so nice to be done all of my assignments by the end of next week.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Week 9 Summary...
This week our speakers were Ed Morales and Eva Spangler. Ed talked to us about Child Protection Policies and the ways that we should be careful when interacting with a child, especially as outreach is fast approaching. We also looked at with Ed, forms of abuse. We looked at physical abuse, sexually abuse, neglect, and emotional, physiological, or mental abuse. We also looked at stories of protection in the Bible and what protection involves in a Godly way. With Eva we got to do more wonderful art. We did two assignments with her this week. The first one being our hands filled with pictures and positive words that describe ourselves around it. The second assignment was drawing out 5 containers that represent different areas of our lives. We ended the week with a time of prayer and encouragement for one another.
The most impacting information for me this week was just the different prayers and words spoken to me and over me during our time of prayer on Thursday. A new understanding about God was through all the protection stories in the Bible and the specific and different ways that He protects His children. A revelation about myself that I received this week was the way that God looks at me. It is something that God and I have been talking about for a long time now, and with the time of prayer I was really encouraged. When Elin was talking about how she felt God really wanting me to hear that he was in love with me, and that I really needed to hear it and believe it, it really hit hard. Also with Jillian speaking of how God is just aching for me to let Him hold me, it really broke my heart because I know how much of a truth it is. I so often just want to be strong and deal with everything myself, and I know how much God just wants me to know that he knows that things hurt and that is ok, because He wants to be with me in the hurt.
This week’s teaching brought out the question of what type of child protection policies do the different ministries have in Rwanda and if they don’t have one in place how can we help them to instil one. I will get this question answered by doing research and asking questions especially once I am in Rwanda.
This week was a rough week in some ways. I have been so frustrated with the incompetence of my bank that my mind has been all over the place. I have found myself doubting often wither I should even go to Rwanda or not. Or if I should just return to somewhere in Canada and work in a ministry there for my field assignment. It has been hard even thinking about outreach being so soon when we have so much more work to do here first. I feel like I have not been turning to God this week as much as I need to in my everyday life. I have loved this community and it’s people and culture so much over the last 2 ½ months. It is hard to imagine leaving it in 18 days.
I am looking forward to the next two weeks of teachings and the final deadlines of all our assignments so that we can take a deep breathe finally and really be able to focus on going on outreach.
The most impacting information for me this week was just the different prayers and words spoken to me and over me during our time of prayer on Thursday. A new understanding about God was through all the protection stories in the Bible and the specific and different ways that He protects His children. A revelation about myself that I received this week was the way that God looks at me. It is something that God and I have been talking about for a long time now, and with the time of prayer I was really encouraged. When Elin was talking about how she felt God really wanting me to hear that he was in love with me, and that I really needed to hear it and believe it, it really hit hard. Also with Jillian speaking of how God is just aching for me to let Him hold me, it really broke my heart because I know how much of a truth it is. I so often just want to be strong and deal with everything myself, and I know how much God just wants me to know that he knows that things hurt and that is ok, because He wants to be with me in the hurt.
This week’s teaching brought out the question of what type of child protection policies do the different ministries have in Rwanda and if they don’t have one in place how can we help them to instil one. I will get this question answered by doing research and asking questions especially once I am in Rwanda.
This week was a rough week in some ways. I have been so frustrated with the incompetence of my bank that my mind has been all over the place. I have found myself doubting often wither I should even go to Rwanda or not. Or if I should just return to somewhere in Canada and work in a ministry there for my field assignment. It has been hard even thinking about outreach being so soon when we have so much more work to do here first. I feel like I have not been turning to God this week as much as I need to in my everyday life. I have loved this community and it’s people and culture so much over the last 2 ½ months. It is hard to imagine leaving it in 18 days.
I am looking forward to the next two weeks of teachings and the final deadlines of all our assignments so that we can take a deep breathe finally and really be able to focus on going on outreach.
Strength Finders "I am" Paper...
Last week everyone in my class took the Strength Finders test online. Our assignment then was to write a paper on our top 5 strengths. Here is my paper...
My top 5 strengths are Includer, Belief, Empathy, Developer, and Responsibility. For me these all make perfect sense to me and I can definitely identify with them all. Upon reflecting on them, I am thinking about how many of them have been developed so strongly out of past hurts and they really are strong ways that God is using those painful experiences and turning them into strengths and developing me even more in the ways that he had hardwired in me already anyways.
I can see the way being an includer affects my life in many ways. When I was younger I used to make sure all my stuffed animals were on my bed to sleep because I didn’t want them feeling left out. Even now in stores I would be more likely to buy something that is damaged in the packaging because I know most people won’t buy it, and I don’t want that object “to feel left out” by not being bought. I can remember in situations walking through a forest and picking up leaves. I always ended up picking up a lot of them because I didn’t want any of the to “feel” like they weren’t beautiful enough to be picked up. I can see it in the way I relate to people as well. I love making people feel welcome and accepted and even loved. I don’t like hurting people and so I go out of my way to like everyone and get to know everyone, and I especially pursue the people who are off to the side. I definitely identify with the fact includers feel being left out more painfully. I think that feeling left out and not wanted around when I was younger has made the desire in me to include everyone even stronger as I have gotten older.
Belief affects my life in many ways especially in the decisions I make. I choose to hold myself to high standards of my values and it affects the things I do, ways I treat people and my thought process. I identify especially with needing to do a work that matters. If my job title doesn’t really matter then I make sure my time there and my relationships with the people at work matter. My beliefs makes me do things I normally wouldn’t do, putting myself at risk for the sake of others, and taking major steps of faith. Since my core foundations of where I stand in my beliefs are pretty solid it makes me easy to trust and people tend to open up to me and share with me their struggles even when they know my beliefs will go against what they are saying.
Empathy is definitely something that affects my everyday life. My mom likes to say that I should work at a funeral home because I would be good with the grieving families and I am ok being around dead people. I am able to very quickly pick up on people’s feelings and can usually identify with their emotions very easily. Other people are drawn to me during times of hardship, because I am usually able to listen, care, feel their pain and offer appropriate words of wisdom. Knowing what to say, when (discernment) is something I continually seek God’s direction for. The funny thing about empathy is I am very selective of who I let into my life in this way. This is something I have been on a journey about for the last two years especially.
I am a developer in many ways. I absolutely love recognizing the potential in a person, and “fighting” for them to work towards becoming that person. I can identify strongly where it reads “Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.” My sister always comments on this part of my personality, that I love being friends with people who are “needy” and that I can “help”. It is cool to see that this might just be a way that I was meant to be and that God has specific purposes for me being a developer.
My fifth strength according to Strengths Finders is responsibility. There are specific areas that I can identify where responsibility affects my life. I don’t like disappointing people by not doing something, and have often not said no when I needed to. I often feel like I should take things on and do them myself. I feel honoured that people look at me as dependable and able to accomplish things. I notice that I am less responsible when it comes to following thru on things that my mom asks me to do, and I really want to work on that at home. When Celia said, “If someone doesn’t follow thru on the commitment to a responsibility person then they will have trouble trusting them or asking them to do it again.” I definitely identified with it. I find that once a person breaks my trust in a significant way or doesn’t do something they said they would do that I thought of as important then I struggle with giving my trust out to them again.
I believe that my strengths of Includer, Belief, Empathy, Developer, and Responsibility are ways that God has created me and He will use them for His glory and honour and for the purposes He has on my life. I am excited to see how I am able to walk these strengths out in my life, both now and in the future.
My top 5 strengths are Includer, Belief, Empathy, Developer, and Responsibility. For me these all make perfect sense to me and I can definitely identify with them all. Upon reflecting on them, I am thinking about how many of them have been developed so strongly out of past hurts and they really are strong ways that God is using those painful experiences and turning them into strengths and developing me even more in the ways that he had hardwired in me already anyways.
I can see the way being an includer affects my life in many ways. When I was younger I used to make sure all my stuffed animals were on my bed to sleep because I didn’t want them feeling left out. Even now in stores I would be more likely to buy something that is damaged in the packaging because I know most people won’t buy it, and I don’t want that object “to feel left out” by not being bought. I can remember in situations walking through a forest and picking up leaves. I always ended up picking up a lot of them because I didn’t want any of the to “feel” like they weren’t beautiful enough to be picked up. I can see it in the way I relate to people as well. I love making people feel welcome and accepted and even loved. I don’t like hurting people and so I go out of my way to like everyone and get to know everyone, and I especially pursue the people who are off to the side. I definitely identify with the fact includers feel being left out more painfully. I think that feeling left out and not wanted around when I was younger has made the desire in me to include everyone even stronger as I have gotten older.
Belief affects my life in many ways especially in the decisions I make. I choose to hold myself to high standards of my values and it affects the things I do, ways I treat people and my thought process. I identify especially with needing to do a work that matters. If my job title doesn’t really matter then I make sure my time there and my relationships with the people at work matter. My beliefs makes me do things I normally wouldn’t do, putting myself at risk for the sake of others, and taking major steps of faith. Since my core foundations of where I stand in my beliefs are pretty solid it makes me easy to trust and people tend to open up to me and share with me their struggles even when they know my beliefs will go against what they are saying.
Empathy is definitely something that affects my everyday life. My mom likes to say that I should work at a funeral home because I would be good with the grieving families and I am ok being around dead people. I am able to very quickly pick up on people’s feelings and can usually identify with their emotions very easily. Other people are drawn to me during times of hardship, because I am usually able to listen, care, feel their pain and offer appropriate words of wisdom. Knowing what to say, when (discernment) is something I continually seek God’s direction for. The funny thing about empathy is I am very selective of who I let into my life in this way. This is something I have been on a journey about for the last two years especially.
I am a developer in many ways. I absolutely love recognizing the potential in a person, and “fighting” for them to work towards becoming that person. I can identify strongly where it reads “Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.” My sister always comments on this part of my personality, that I love being friends with people who are “needy” and that I can “help”. It is cool to see that this might just be a way that I was meant to be and that God has specific purposes for me being a developer.
My fifth strength according to Strengths Finders is responsibility. There are specific areas that I can identify where responsibility affects my life. I don’t like disappointing people by not doing something, and have often not said no when I needed to. I often feel like I should take things on and do them myself. I feel honoured that people look at me as dependable and able to accomplish things. I notice that I am less responsible when it comes to following thru on things that my mom asks me to do, and I really want to work on that at home. When Celia said, “If someone doesn’t follow thru on the commitment to a responsibility person then they will have trouble trusting them or asking them to do it again.” I definitely identified with it. I find that once a person breaks my trust in a significant way or doesn’t do something they said they would do that I thought of as important then I struggle with giving my trust out to them again.
I believe that my strengths of Includer, Belief, Empathy, Developer, and Responsibility are ways that God has created me and He will use them for His glory and honour and for the purposes He has on my life. I am excited to see how I am able to walk these strengths out in my life, both now and in the future.
The Student...
At the beginning of my course here we were given a handout stating what our school leaders hopes for us to become at the end of the school were. We were given the assignment last week of personalizing it by looking at what we have learned and where we are at. Here is mine...
Trisha…
~ Is becoming a trained, life-long advocate for Children at Risk; learning to articulate the cause, especially including for children who are forgotten, abused, and trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
~ Understands importance and desires to have more practice in showing hospitality and celebrating and honouring people.
~ Desires to be aware of international current events in all spheres that affect the lives of children, and continues to pursue a greater understanding of the different areas of Children at Risk.
~ Has an understanding of the different areas of Children at Risk, and is growing in wisdom, prophetic gifts, apostolic calling, and knowledge in practical solutions to these areas.
~ Has understanding of God’s value of the child and His plan for normal child and family development.
~ Desires to understand the Biblical principles for developing a ministry to Children at Risk.
~ Is cultivating an awareness of a wide range of programs, ministries, networks, and resources.
~ Wants to become more familiar with international children’s rights and child protection laws.
~ Is praying about being a volunteer in YWAM and thinking of a strategy to put in place to financially sustain that mission.
~ Is working towards being prepared to face physical, emotional and spiritual challenges while working with children at risk.
~ Is passionate about Jesus, understanding the importance of committing herself to an intimate relationship with God, knowing that real love for children comes out of a relationship with Jesus and a desire to see the Kingdom of God walked out in my life.
~ Is able to articulate a personal Biblical worldview and has a determination not to live in a “dichotomy”.
~ Desires to know how to use assessment and evaluation tools to assess a child’s needs to a greater understanding.
~ Is full of hope and able to believe God for impossible things for all children.
~ Understands the importance of multiplication and has the skills and commitment to disciple and be discipled cross-culturally, by following where God leads.
~ Understands there is a battle and wants to be involved daily in spiritual warfare and intercession.
~ Has discovered various opportunities, schools to take and teams to join to continue working with Children at Risk.
~ Is equipped for the field:
* Is able to adjust to and appreciate cultural differences.
* Is developing an understanding of who God is in relationship to man’s disappointment, injustice, hopelessness and poverty and is able to bring hope because of this understanding.
* Is able to be an agent of change.
* Is a creative thinker.
* Can bring about resolution to conflict and understands the importance and the implications of working on a team.
* Has a basic understanding of development issues including global economic issues.
* Has basic tools for working with children in the realms of education, healthcare and counselling (including hygiene, art, preschool activities, child development, etc.).
* Is prepared for language acquisition.
Trisha…
~ Is becoming a trained, life-long advocate for Children at Risk; learning to articulate the cause, especially including for children who are forgotten, abused, and trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
~ Understands importance and desires to have more practice in showing hospitality and celebrating and honouring people.
~ Desires to be aware of international current events in all spheres that affect the lives of children, and continues to pursue a greater understanding of the different areas of Children at Risk.
~ Has an understanding of the different areas of Children at Risk, and is growing in wisdom, prophetic gifts, apostolic calling, and knowledge in practical solutions to these areas.
~ Has understanding of God’s value of the child and His plan for normal child and family development.
~ Desires to understand the Biblical principles for developing a ministry to Children at Risk.
~ Is cultivating an awareness of a wide range of programs, ministries, networks, and resources.
~ Wants to become more familiar with international children’s rights and child protection laws.
~ Is praying about being a volunteer in YWAM and thinking of a strategy to put in place to financially sustain that mission.
~ Is working towards being prepared to face physical, emotional and spiritual challenges while working with children at risk.
~ Is passionate about Jesus, understanding the importance of committing herself to an intimate relationship with God, knowing that real love for children comes out of a relationship with Jesus and a desire to see the Kingdom of God walked out in my life.
~ Is able to articulate a personal Biblical worldview and has a determination not to live in a “dichotomy”.
~ Desires to know how to use assessment and evaluation tools to assess a child’s needs to a greater understanding.
~ Is full of hope and able to believe God for impossible things for all children.
~ Understands the importance of multiplication and has the skills and commitment to disciple and be discipled cross-culturally, by following where God leads.
~ Understands there is a battle and wants to be involved daily in spiritual warfare and intercession.
~ Has discovered various opportunities, schools to take and teams to join to continue working with Children at Risk.
~ Is equipped for the field:
* Is able to adjust to and appreciate cultural differences.
* Is developing an understanding of who God is in relationship to man’s disappointment, injustice, hopelessness and poverty and is able to bring hope because of this understanding.
* Is able to be an agent of change.
* Is a creative thinker.
* Can bring about resolution to conflict and understands the importance and the implications of working on a team.
* Has a basic understanding of development issues including global economic issues.
* Has basic tools for working with children in the realms of education, healthcare and counselling (including hygiene, art, preschool activities, child development, etc.).
* Is prepared for language acquisition.
"I believe..."
One of our assignments here was to write a paper stating what we believe about God, His character and nature, as it relates to children, children at risk, etc. Here is a copy of mine...
I believe in a triune God who exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. I believe that God forgives and loved us so much that He was willing to become flesh in the form of His son, Jesus Christ and come to earth, born from a virgin called Mary, to be crucified and experience death on the cross. I believe that He bore the sins of the world with Him on the cross.
I believe that God is the creator of the entire universe, from all the galaxies, to the animals, to the plants, to every human being. I believe in a God who loves His children equally and unconditionally, with no regard to sex, gender, or nationality and has planned their days before they even came to being. I believe in a God who knows every hair on His children’s heads and has a plan and a purpose for each of the lives He has created.
I believe that God sees every tear His children cry and cares and feels their pain more then we can even fathom. I believe that there is no “bad” situation that God will not use and redeem in some way so that good may come out of pain. I believe that God intensely loves being in relationships with us and loves when we use our freewill, that He gave us, to choose Him.
I believe that God loves justice and hates injustice. I believe that He sees the unjust acts of the world and will hold the people committing those unjust acts accountable. I believe that God is as faithful to the blessings as He is to the curses. I believe that God longs for us, His children to “choose life because the inequity is pursuing us.” I believe that at times God does allow suffering in the world, and that we as humans will never be able to understand the reason behind it, and that has to be ok, because we need to trust that “we know the one who knows, and since He knows then that is enough.”
I believe that God is extremely aware of, cares about the needs of, and loves the widows, orphans, and the poor, the sick, needy and the alien. I believe that God is powerful, big and strong enough to affect all of those hurting lives and that He wants to use us in that specific mission to care for these often forgotten about groups of people.
I believe that God is a good God, who can be trusted with my heart and every situation and thing in my life. I believe that God’s favourite title for himself is Father and His children being in relationship with Him and drawing others into relationship with Him bring Him some of His greatest joy. I believe that every person on earth matters to God and that to Him, not one of them is missing from His sight. I believe that God is someone who I can love fully and passionately and He takes great delight in me and loves when I love Him.
I believe in a triune God who exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. I believe that God forgives and loved us so much that He was willing to become flesh in the form of His son, Jesus Christ and come to earth, born from a virgin called Mary, to be crucified and experience death on the cross. I believe that He bore the sins of the world with Him on the cross.
I believe that God is the creator of the entire universe, from all the galaxies, to the animals, to the plants, to every human being. I believe in a God who loves His children equally and unconditionally, with no regard to sex, gender, or nationality and has planned their days before they even came to being. I believe in a God who knows every hair on His children’s heads and has a plan and a purpose for each of the lives He has created.
I believe that God sees every tear His children cry and cares and feels their pain more then we can even fathom. I believe that there is no “bad” situation that God will not use and redeem in some way so that good may come out of pain. I believe that God intensely loves being in relationships with us and loves when we use our freewill, that He gave us, to choose Him.
I believe that God loves justice and hates injustice. I believe that He sees the unjust acts of the world and will hold the people committing those unjust acts accountable. I believe that God is as faithful to the blessings as He is to the curses. I believe that God longs for us, His children to “choose life because the inequity is pursuing us.” I believe that at times God does allow suffering in the world, and that we as humans will never be able to understand the reason behind it, and that has to be ok, because we need to trust that “we know the one who knows, and since He knows then that is enough.”
I believe that God is extremely aware of, cares about the needs of, and loves the widows, orphans, and the poor, the sick, needy and the alien. I believe that God is powerful, big and strong enough to affect all of those hurting lives and that He wants to use us in that specific mission to care for these often forgotten about groups of people.
I believe that God is a good God, who can be trusted with my heart and every situation and thing in my life. I believe that God’s favourite title for himself is Father and His children being in relationship with Him and drawing others into relationship with Him bring Him some of His greatest joy. I believe that every person on earth matters to God and that to Him, not one of them is missing from His sight. I believe that God is someone who I can love fully and passionately and He takes great delight in me and loves when I love Him.
Week 8 Summary...
This past week our speaker was Matt Rawlins. Matt took us back to the foundations of our faith and we looked at the nature and character of God. Matt took us through views of the stars and the galaxies and we looked at how amazing our creative God is and how much he loves us. From Matt’s teachings we concentrated on how God is big and God is good. This week we also were taught by Matt’s wife, Ceclia, on StrengthsFinders. Ceclia and Matt both taught us about how our biggest strengths can also be our greatest weakness. My top five strengths from the StrengthsFinders test were Inculder, Belief, Empathy, Development and Responsibility.
The most impacting information me this week is hard to pick. The different discussions about StrengthsFinders were amazing and very helpful. Every single second of Matt’s teachings were very good. I especially loved the day we looked at the stars because I already love them and love meeting with God under them but the teaching that Matt gave us made it even more real and awe inspiring. Also impacting for me was how our greatest strengths can be our greatest weakness and what that means for me. I was also impacted during our talk on how do we decide something’s value and what do we filter everything through.
One of the new understandings and revelations I received this week again how to do with the lies I haven believed and worked through in my life. As well as how I really to value other people and their needs before mine own and I need to really work that out better and seek God in that area. These are also the areas that this week teaching brought out in me. What would it look like if I learned to love and value myself more? What areas do I need to continue to seek God for an understanding of why I think what I think and what filter am I putting my value system through? I will continue to seek God for answers to these questions.
This week in the community was weird in a lot of ways. Work duty time continues to be good and I love the friends I have made on the base. Rwanda is really setting in and the fact that it is only 3 ½ weeks away is overwhelming. The amount of work due this upcoming Monday has also been overwhelming. I have not gotten nearly enough sleep this past week since I was staying up late to make sure as much work as I could possibly finish did end up completed. I am glad worked so hard this week though because not having a ton of work this weekend has been worth it. I have absolutely loved being with some of my DTS friends this weekend and I have gotten to see the Zurich area of Switzerland, which has been a huge blessing.
This week, Matt’s teachings have really begun to sink in and I am really learning and taking in that “God is big. And God is good.” I am looking forward to this upcoming week and everything God has in store for us.
The most impacting information me this week is hard to pick. The different discussions about StrengthsFinders were amazing and very helpful. Every single second of Matt’s teachings were very good. I especially loved the day we looked at the stars because I already love them and love meeting with God under them but the teaching that Matt gave us made it even more real and awe inspiring. Also impacting for me was how our greatest strengths can be our greatest weakness and what that means for me. I was also impacted during our talk on how do we decide something’s value and what do we filter everything through.
One of the new understandings and revelations I received this week again how to do with the lies I haven believed and worked through in my life. As well as how I really to value other people and their needs before mine own and I need to really work that out better and seek God in that area. These are also the areas that this week teaching brought out in me. What would it look like if I learned to love and value myself more? What areas do I need to continue to seek God for an understanding of why I think what I think and what filter am I putting my value system through? I will continue to seek God for answers to these questions.
This week in the community was weird in a lot of ways. Work duty time continues to be good and I love the friends I have made on the base. Rwanda is really setting in and the fact that it is only 3 ½ weeks away is overwhelming. The amount of work due this upcoming Monday has also been overwhelming. I have not gotten nearly enough sleep this past week since I was staying up late to make sure as much work as I could possibly finish did end up completed. I am glad worked so hard this week though because not having a ton of work this weekend has been worth it. I have absolutely loved being with some of my DTS friends this weekend and I have gotten to see the Zurich area of Switzerland, which has been a huge blessing.
This week, Matt’s teachings have really begun to sink in and I am really learning and taking in that “God is big. And God is good.” I am looking forward to this upcoming week and everything God has in store for us.
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