January Training Block

I have returned back from my first Training Block and start my project this week. I have just put my photos from this on the web-site. We didn’t have too much free time, but we used all that we could to do some tourist-type stuff in the area. It was very gorgeous.

The training was very good and quite intense. I was mentally and physically worn out within the first few days. I will put some specific info about some of the training stuff below, but I will first talk a bit about some of the fun stuff we did. There were 27 of us… I was the oldest, there was one 25 year old, one 24, and the rest were 21 or younger. It was good getting to know everyone. I felt quite a bit older, but several of the younger ones were calling me their “big sister” by the end of the two weeks, so that was nice.

We were in a dorm-type facility right on the beach in Simon’s Town. It was absolutely beautiful, as you’ll see in the pictures… the beach was great and the water was very clear. We had some friends around… penguins. They would just hang out on the beach with us, which was quite adorable. They were so cute when they would walk!

We had the weekend off between the two-week training, so we actually went to three different services at three different churches. Two were youth services (Friday night at The Bay and Sunday night at Heldeberg) and one regular service (Sunday morning at Simon’s Bay). These are all three NFI churches. It was so great to get to visit some different churches, as I probably won’t get a lot of opportunity to do that when I’m more involved at Jubilee.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the mall. Jac (who is head of NFI South Africa) let me drive his car with eight girls… it was quite packed and was a fun experience to drive. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. They drive on the opposite side of the street, so that was a first for me. It was also a manual transmission… which I can drive, but it’s been awhile.

I have also seen some US stores here, which I heard that I wouldn’t see. They have McDonalds, KFC, Shell, Seven 11, MAC (that one really surprised me!), Guess and several others. No Starbucks though – that’s one I would love to have around!!!

Most of the coffee here in instant coffee, which I’m starting to get used to… as hard as that may seem!

I am doing pretty well emotionally. I have my moments, of course. Part of me feels like I’ve been on vacation and it’s time to come home. However, I am really excited to start my project and see what life will be like here.

I am a bit concerned about the transportation part of things. I have to depend on others to pick me up and take me home. Taxis are not like they are in the U.S… it’s a 15-minute walk to get a taxi, which is basically a large van full of many people and the van has it’s standard stops. It’s not safe to walk to a taxi from here by yourself and it’s definitely not safe to be on one by yourself. About six of us experienced this together on the way to training block. There are five of us living here, three of which are FYPs, and Destiny is about a two-minute walk from here, so the four of us will hopefully be figuring out the transportation together.

Here’s a little bit more details from the actual classes:

Counseling and Listening Skills. This was a very intense course on crisis counseling. We had a test at the end, and, for those of us that passed, are now certified to do this type of counseling. It was very intense, but Gill was a great teacher and helped us in making this practical. I studied and ended up getting a 100% on the test – that’s not like me. ☺ However, I know that it’s much different when it’s on paper versus an actual person. I hope to get to use some of these skills here and I imagine I will be able to at Beauty for Ashes.

God’s Story and God’s Word. I really enjoy both of these classes. Dave Adams is one of the pastors at Jubilee and he taught both of these. We actually did a brief overview of the entire Bible… it was incredibly intense, somewhat overwhelming, but very enjoyable.

Working with Your Money, Stewardship and Leadership. Jac taught these three courses and I really enjoyed them, as well. The titles of the courses show exactly what he talked about… he didn’t get too specific with managing money, but talked about how to manage all that we’ve been given in a God-glorifying, giving way.

Church History. Lex taught this course. It was great… intense, as the rest of them. I really enjoyed Lex and got to talk to him a little over lunch-time to catch up with some of the stuff going on in Columbia. He said that they would have me over and we could get out all of their old pictures and go through them together.

This Great Salvation. This was an excellent course. Sean talked about evangelism and how to do this in a manner which is effective in getting people interested and open. It was great for me. It still scares me to do this, but hopefully I will get the opportunity to do this here and become more comfortable in it. He focused more on just talking to people that we randomly meet when we’re out and about. He also got pretty theological on some stuff… which is harder for me.

Worship and Prophetic Ministry. That was pretty awesome. ☺

Assignments. Last, but not least, we got a list of assignments that will be due in April. I have three essays I have to write – one on God’s Story, one on Church History and one on This Great Salvation. I also received a book, “Bible Doctrine”, and I have to read two chapters and answer the questions at the end of the chapters, as well as read one other chapter and journal on this. I also have to work out a budget and write down all my goals for this year and review these with my project leader. Lastly, I have to fill out a report and send it to Jac and Megan each month. I was told that if I spend about two hours a week on all of this, I should have it all done by the time it’s due… which is the April training block (the first two weeks of April).

This is quite long! I love all of you and miss you!