Training #2

We finished our second training. After worship and devotions which we always start with, we talked about the history of South Africa, the our special special guest Kathi Winter shared about HIV/AIDs in Orange County and we learned a lot about the disease, it's effects and the current treatments.  We talked about defining moments which everyone will be sharing at the next team social.  We split into groups and spent some time planning for the trip and also watch a clip from the movie Closer Walk.

Our next meeting is a team social on November 5th, then we will be serving together as a team at Powerhouse Church in Watts.

We finally got a team photo.

This week's memory verses.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1


For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

January 2011 Training #1

We had or first (formal) training this weekend.  We spent time in prayer and worship, had an ice breaker event, learned about our Core team of leaders and went over the team covenant.  Trip coaches and roles were assigned and discussed.  Everyone will need to return their skills assessments so we can begin to work with Bridges Of Hope on how to use each individual.  We also watched the movie Dear Francis and had some discussion.  Having spent time in Africa and having allowed kids to put questions in an anonymous box has always been heart breaking and extremely hard.  There are hard ships kids face that are heart breaking and unimaginable. This movie is a great example of how hard these trips can be emotionally and is a good way to prepare so our teams are a little less broken when things like these come up and more able to respond to the kids.

Our memorization verse for the next training week is.

Submit yourselves, then , to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:7-8

Community Gathering - Skype Night

Our monthly community event this month was a Skype night with the students at Bridges Academy. We all gathered at 7:30 at Matt and Kristy's and started the conference at 9pm.  That's still pretty early in South Africa, but the students are eager to communicate and it is always amazing to spend some time at the Academy even if it is through a Skype chat.

First (unofficial) training

Since we are behind on the trainings due to the team selection process taking longer than expected we decided to have our first training for as many people who could make it and than meet individually for those who couldn't.

We covered immunizations, trip safety, travel plans, how much work is expected and did some ice breakers so people could get to know one another.  The first training is always a little overwhelming and this one was no different. Just a lot of information to get through and not necessarily a lot of fun.