Oh, Happiness...

Wow!  What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been!  July was filled with a four-week training called CROSS-training.  This is Cultural, Relational, Organizational, Strategic, and Spiritual training that all missionaries go through when they start serving with One Mission.

Our group was made up of eleven missionaries from all different places and levels of experience.  I’m so thankful for the group God put together!  The other new missionaries were from Canada, Australia, the U.K., and the U.S., and we are all serving in various roles now in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific.  

I’m so glad that one of the families is still here this week and next for a church planting training!  It’s great to have the extra time with them and to not have to say goodbye to everyone at once.  One of the women in our group- Jessica, will be staying here at headquarters, too.  It’s been so fun to get to know her more, and we’re both serving in the communications department, so we had our first day together Monday!  

Things are going so well.  I’m thankful for the ways God provided over the last month in showing me more about his love.  I’ve been learning a lot about transparency and that God accepts me where I am and how I am.  Shouldn’t be a new concept, huh?  But I’m thankful there’s grace for me to learn this even as a missionary.

Getting a deeper understanding of this was my favorite part of training, but to give you an idea of what we did all month, here are some other highlights:

Talking with David Long, president of One Mission, about God’s love and grace; outside of the box, creative worship time; learning how my strengths, weaknesses, and desires are purposeful in ministry; learning about Every Community for Christ and church planting movements; seeing the hearts of the staff; laughing, crying, praying, and laughing some more.

The title of this post is from a David Crowder song one of our leaders shared with us during our last day of training.   “Oh, happiness, there’s grace enough for us and the whole human race…”

David & Lori Long had us over for dinner during our first week.

These sweet women are from the U.S. and all serving in Asia for the next year.

David & Joshua are from Australia; this is their first game of cornhole.

Joshua's first baseball game.

"There is no room in love for fear.  Well-formed love banishes fear.  Since fear is crippling, a fearful life -- fear of death, fear of judgment-- is one not yet fully formed in love."  1 John 4:18 (MSG)

Beka