Cross Training

A week ago, as Melissa and I drove to Greenwood, Indiana to begin Cross Training, we had a little conversation about what was to come:

     "Why in the world would OMS require three weeks of training before we head to the field?"
     "I know.  Surely they could boil all the relevant info down to two weeks.  We have so much to do at home to prepare to leave.  I bet they could cover the important stuff in a WEEK if they tried."
     "Didn't they talk about doing this online in the future?  THAT would be a good idea."
     "At least we are only 45 minutes from home so we can get things done in the evenings and on the weekends..."

Now? It's one week later ... and after spending two quick days at home over the weekend, we are RARING to go back to training (even though the To Do List has not grown significantly smaller).  Major league flip-flop in attitude.

For a couple of reasons:

1)  We met another family bound for Haiti, the Heckmans, of whose existence (I have to admit) I was only vaguely aware beforehand.  They will be living and working on the campus of Emmaus Biblical Seminary - where I hope to do some English tutoring and, eventually, English classroom instruction. 

Phil will be helping with maintenance around the campus and Emily will be focused on teaching youth ministry courses and developing a student life program.  They have two great kids: Ethan just turned 13 (not quite a year older than Caleb) and Haylie is 11 (just like Hannah!).

Our boys enjoying some frozen yogurt with Ethan

Emily keeps a blog and described what a blessing it has been for us adults and the kids to get to know each other this week, and she said it so well that I can take the easy way out and simply link to her blog right HERE.  ;-)

2) By and large, the classroom time has been very worthwhile and important stuff.  And it's plenty compacted already.  It feels like information is flying at us at high speed, so I would hate to see what would happen to my head if the leadership condensed the material down to two weeks!  We've talked through material from personality assessments to spiritual warfare to tropical diseases.

3) And finally, it is just good and refreshing to our spirits to be with like-minded people in college campus-like surroundings while processing this big, big move coming up for our family.  Plus, it's like a big prayer bath for these three weeks- and you can't beat that!

A beautiful basket of goodies waiting for us in our apartment - from our prayer partners for the week, the Dragons! 

A sign on the wall at OMS headquarters...

 

Speaking of prayer, we know many of you are praying for us as well and we appreciate it so very much!  A couple of prayer requests if you are willing to lift us before the Lord:
* In about an hour I go to show our house to a prospective renter.  We STILL do not have the house issue sorted  out and we leave in less than a month!
* Our kids need extra prayer as the next few weeks will hold some tough, tough realities for them.
* We are still far from being fully funded.  While we have enough to get us on the field, we have some fears about how far our monthly budget will stretch once we are there. 

If you have not yet joined our support team, but you've felt God's nudging, NOW would be an awesome time to let us know!  The One Mission Society website can walk you through the process RIGHT HERE.  We would be eternally grateful to partner with you for the sake of Christ's Kingdom in Haiti!