CAO - Day Two

First of all, let me just thank you all for caring enough to check this out and to be praying for me and encouraging me.  You're all so important and wonderful and it means a lot to know that I have such a strong and supportive group surrounding me.  God has definitely been showing me how blessed I am by the Body of Christ.  The past few weeks in particular.  So thank you!


Today was another wonderful day!  The first sign it would be a good day was that I woke up 3 hours later than I did yesterday! The second was the delicious breakfast.  It's always a bit of a mystery what the complimentary breakfast at a hotel will be like.  Lucky for us, our hotel has a wide variety of good breakfast food.  I got to eat with a family (two of the candidates and their son who are headed to India) and talk some more with them before the other came down and before Billy (our mobilizer and navigator for the day) came to pick us up and show us where the UWM offices are.


When we got to the offices, all of the candidates and all of the staff gathered in the president's office (which has been redecorated and rearranged into our conference room) and we had a devotional time.  It wasn't unexpected to start the day off in the Word and in prayer, but it was really cool and a great way to get us all focused and centered on the real reason that we are all here - because God brought us here and He's to be glorified.


After that was a presentation on the Vision and Values of UWM where we talked more in depth about their mission (to build God-delighting, People Surprising Churches Globally), their role in fulfilling that mission, the core strategies (which was a section I really enjoyed because it's so focused on equipping and facilitating nationals and coming along side the church that's here and helping them to reach out, disciple, and then plant their own churches), and the core values.  Then we talked about the different pathways that they use to send missionaries out which is everything from long-term teams, a 2 year track, theological education, business transformation, and of course, MK teachers.  Then we talked about where they serve and how the leadership is set up (which, while all very interesting to me, probably wouldn't make for a good blog read).  


That took up a big chunk of the morning and by the time we finished, it was time for lunch.  It was a really good time to sit back and process some of the information that had just been poured into us so quickly, but also a good chance to fellowship and meet some of the staff that didn't make it to dinner last night.  (Nelsons - one of the girls is a HUGE Nascar fan and her driver is Kyle Busch.  She was very excited to talk to me.) 


Schedule-wise, the afternoon was much more chill.  We had the whole afternoon and only 2 things to do.  A 30 minute consult with the counselor and an hour long UWM interview.  Naturally, while the time they took up wasn't quite as long, they were much more emotionally draining.


My psych review went fine, I'm glad to report.  He did talk about a personality profile I had to fill out.  I'm an "ISFJ" which means I'm cautions, reserved, quiet, and inwardly oriented (Introversion).  My perceptions of the work are realistic, grounded, and present-oriented (Sensing), and I use those facts and realities to make decisions that are interpersonally driven (Feeling).  I prefer to live my life in a structured, ordered, accountable manner (Judging).  


No argument from me.


Then he had to give his recommendations for me.  Luckily, I don't have to go to six months of counseling or through extensive training.  His recommendation was to read a bunch of books and to have a mentor assigned to me (which more than likely would've happened anyway) to help me adjust to life in Budapest.


Great!  Now I only had the UWM interview left.  I had about an hour and a half before mine was scheduled.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous.  Mostly, I think, because I had no idea what to expect.  I didn't know if it was going to be like a job interview or just sitting around talking.  So, not wanting to sit around and fret for an hour, I grabbed my Bible and headed outside ('twas nice and cool today - I sat outside at 1 PM and kept my sweater on!  Loved it!) and spent some time in the Word.  This is what I read: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" (Luke 12:25-26)  Appropriate, no?  God's timing in even the little things blow me away!


I headed back upstairs and they were ready for me within five minutes.  And of course, it was fine.  I briefly recapped how I found my way to UWM and ICSB and we talked about any worries I have about moving to another country, teaching my first year in another country, how I'm feeling about support raising, what my role will look like with the MK teachers and what it will look like with the church planting team, what most Europe teams are shooting for, etc.  It was very laid back and relaxed and once again, I left feeling comfortable and thoroughly enjoying the two people I'd just spent an hour chatting with.


There was a little down time after that and then we headed to another staffer's house for dinner.  More sweet time just to hang out, get to know one another, and fellowship.  The more time I spend with these people, the more I love them!  I feel very at peace around them and that in itself is such a blessing.


I'm very tired now.  A few of us were feeling wiped out.  I think it's a combination of still recovering from yesterday and an emotional exhaustion.  Tomorrow will probably be a lot like today, as will the rest of the week.  There's going to be a lot of information thrown at us the rest of the week.  Tomorrow we have "Appointment Review" talking about our appointment by UWM as missionaries, "Health Review" which speaks for itself, and "Training Maps" when they take all of the recommendations made by various people and make a list of all the different things that need to be done before we head out to the field.  And after lunch is 4 hours of "Finance and Human Resources" which seems kind of vague but which I'm thinking is code for "paperwork." :)


Again, thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement!  It's very much needed and felt!  I'm really enjoying myself and I'm looking forward to the next few days even if it's tons of paperwork!