Trail to Hope

SPLICE, week one

Posted by Sarah , Saturday, October 22, 2011 8:31 PM

What an amazing adventure this month has been!  God has been so good to us.

For those of you who can't keep up with our life and where are and where we're headed (don't worry, we can't either!), here's a little list:

We moved all of our belongings except 3 suitcases and a few carry-on sized bags into storage on October 4 and drove to Spokane, where we spent the next week participating in Foothills Community Church's missions conference.  It would be an understatement to say that we were so blessed and encouraged by this time there!

Then back to Seattle on October 14, where we enjoyed a day and a half with my family.  Then on October 16, we got our two girls on a plane (a serious feat of trusting in God!) and flew to Colorado.  We had been generously given two guest tickets from a pilot friend, which meant we were flying standby.  I was anxious, but we got right on the first flight of the morning and were in Denver by 11 am mountain time!  We spent the night in Denver before driving down to Palmer Lake, which is outside of Colorado Springs, for our three week missions training at MTI (Missions Training International).  The training we are participating in is called SPLICE (an acronym for the different areas covered:  Spiritual, Personal, Lifestyle, Interpersonal, Cultural, and Endurance/Enjoyment).

It is hard to describe just what we are doing at SPLICE but I should really make an effort.  We spend the mornings and afternoons in training, under teachers who have significant experience in cross-cultural missions and/or missionary care.  The insight they are blessed with is amazing and I can't imagine going on the field without this specific preparation.  It is a holistic approach to teaching and has a strong emphasis on community building - in part to develop close relationships with like-minded Christians going to many places in the world - and in part to help us put into practice things we are learning about ourselves, communication, bearing up under stress, conflict management, and more.

It is a great joy to spend so much time with these new friends who are preparing to move around the world in service of our great King.  There are people here going to so many different countries but we all have the same goal and same mission.  Thank you, Lord, for the many gifts you have given your children to minister to so many places in the world!