Week 3 Summary: Team Building

First off, the speaker for week 3, Tim Pratt, is one of the most amazing guys I've ever met. He just gets you jazzed about working together to serve the Lord!
Here are the only notes we took that week:

5 Dysfunctions of a Team:
- absense of trust
- fear of conflict
- lack of commitment
- avoidance of accountability
- inattention to results

> Team members who trust one another learn to be comfortable being open, even exposed to one another about their failures, weaknesses, even fears. >> Predicted on the simple and practical idea that people who aren't afraid to admit the truth about themselves (vulnerable) can be trusted.

Mostly, week 3 consisted of late night taco runs with Tim, team building excerises in the mornings, and lots of beach football!

Tim is the founder and CEO of an organization called Orphan Relief and Rescue. His main offices are in Liberia, but he has been slowly working his way around Africa. At the time I knew I felt a calling to do a ministry similar to his, but Tim challenged me to really sit down with God and just ask him what my next step in His plan for me is. He encouraged me to maybe join him and a team into Benin for a few months this next year, and to get a feel for the ministry. Definitely some kind of calling there...

Week 2 Summary: Father Heart

Although the speaker during week 2 could probably put the boogie man to sleep with his soothing *cough* * cough* voice, his message was powerful. Maybe even convicting. He spoke on our personal relationship with God.. or lack thereof. Being human, our minds constantly grasp 'formulas' to accomplish tasks, but God is SO different! He doesn't want us to use formulas with him; He wants a relationship with us. We tend to grasp things in a formula sense such as 1+3=4, but God doesn't work that way. We have a big test coming up, "Oh God, help me remember the topic!" BAM! A plus. Really? Is that what we see God as?! Then next time your stuck in traffic, raise your staff in the air.. it worked for Moses and the Red Sea, right? WRONG! A formula is US telling GOD what to do. Going to church, singing on stage, carrying around a Bible, all of it is useless if it's only because we're christians and that's what we're supposed to do! I'd venture to say that there are people in indigenous tribes who have never been to a church, never read a Bible, and probable never heard the name 'Jesus' who have a more intimate relationship with our Creator than some of the pastors in America. Intimacy, Love, Relationship! The opposite of love is not hate... it's self-centeredness. We can't get so caught up in logistics and rules of church that we forget what God really wants! What he created us for! A RELATIONSHIP. It's not about how we compare to others in the Body of Christ. It's not about the formula of going to church every Sunday in order to fulfill your own sense of spiritual satisfaction. That's religion. Religion is not a relationship. Jesus even spent 3 years of his years on Earth unraveling all of the rules and regulations that the pharisees had created. They were ALL formulas! Ways to 'please' God. But all they were really doing was pleasing themselves. We need to die to ourselves.
Yes, week 2 was convicting...

Week 1 Summary: Getting the feel for things

I'll never forget arriving at the Ensenada base. I had been here before (this past summer for mission adventures), but I still had no idea what to expect. I suppose it was better that way... I've learned that expectations can create disappointment. Anyway, I had that anxious feeling in my stomach. The one you get before a big game or a job interview... or meeting your new roomies... That's what week one was all about. We, all 31 of us students, started out by making false first impressions, rendering judgements, and basically sizing everyone up. It wasn't until week three that we were able to truly see each other's true colors, but that comes later. Week 1 went by fast though. No problems, no speaker, no classes. Mostly just discovering the rules of the base and getting to know the people we were about to spend the next 5 months with. I have built so many amazing, genuine - no, authentic, friendships these past weeks; it's hard to believe I've only known these people for a little over a month! But once again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Recently...

So it is now week 5 in my Discipleship Training School (DTS) here in Ensenada, Mexico. Yes, it took me 5 long weeks to start this blog, but here I am; finally.

I would love to go back and describe each of the past weeks in detail, but I think I'll keep it to the major stuff, ya know? Highlightable topics and experiences. You'll have to excuse my lack of explanation, but so much has happened in the past month that it's almost overwhelming to look back and try to describe all the emotions, obstacles, achievements, ups, and downs! It's been truly amazing though. I'll do my best to fill you in on the experiences...