We arrived home from our Pre-field Orientation (PFO) a little over a week ago, but this is the first real opportunity to focus on writing to catch everyone up to speed on how things went in Missouri. I already covered the first couple days of PFO in the last post, so I will do my best to cover the rest in this one.
Saying Good-bye
As I mentioned before, this was going to be the first time Polly spent significant chunks of multiple days away from Genevieve. The first Monday morning (June 11) was the first session and thus, the first time Polly had to say good-bye to the little one while we were there. You never know how most kids will do being released to a complete stranger while watching mama and dada walk away. Notice how I say "most" kids. You actually do know exactly how Genevieve will respond...with no issues. We handed her over to her "chief" Chief Ommack and said good-bye. One look at all the toys and she was off to the races. She didn't even notice us walk away. She just wanted to play. This was basically the theme of each time we dropped her off (after breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner). She did have a couple times strewn in where she wanted a hug from mama and dada first, but she was still happy to see Chief Ommack and happy to play.
Sleepless in Springfield
As suspected, Genevieve had a tough time napping and difficult time falling asleep. One night, she even stayed up until 11:30 pm. That's 3 1/2 hours after her normal bedtime. Add that to the fact that we were an hour behind and you will understand why she was pretty tired at times while we were there. She did improve as we went along. Near the end, she was wanting Polly and me to be next to her while she fell asleep which is unlike her. It wasn't until we got home that we discovered that Genevieve had picked up a virus and was not feeling well. Things made a lot more sense. Still, she was a good baby while we were out there.
Friends for Everyone
I had heard from numerous missionaries that it's common to make strong friendships while at PFO. And sure enough, it didn't long for Polly and me to make new friends. Some will be friends for life, without question. What was fun for us, however, was that we weren't the only ones developing friendships. Genevieve made quite a few new friends of her own. One little girl, Raeah is only 3 months younger and is also headed (with her parents and brother) to San Jose, Costa Rica. Then there is Daniel. He is only 2 months younger than Genevieve and they LOVED playing together. They would tackle each other and giggle. One day, when Daniel and his family was heading to breakfast (after he and Genevieve had played a little) I took Genevieve's hand to walk her back to the room. She started fussing and said, "No. No. Daniel. Daniel." It was so sweet. We felt so blessed to not only make new friends, but also with the quality of those friendships!
Regionally Speaking
The Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the first week was broken down by regions. Costa Rica falls in the Latin America & the Caribbean Region. This was our first introduction to our Regional Directors - Dick & Cynthia Nicholson and our Area Directors - Jay & Nancy Dickerson. We also met other great Area Directors and new missionaries. We went for dinner with the Nicholsons one night and had smoothies with the Dickersons the next. We enjoyed our conversations with both.
Second Sunday, Second Preaching Engagement
My friend Bobby called me on Friday to ask if we would be willing to come and share our hearts for Costa Rica and preach on Father's Day. Of course we were willing. We were obviously grateful for the opportunity and had a wonderful service. We then went over his parents house for a wonderful Father's Day lunch. It was very special to be able to spend the day with a family I have known for most of my life and love so much. In fact, we ended up having a delicious steak dinner with them (the parents) later that week. Such a simple thing, but we were so blessed by it.
Commissioned
We were commissioned as official AGWM Missionary Associates at a nice ceremony on Thursday, June 21st. We were so blessed by all the people praying for us and wishing us well. Earlier that night they had the Missionary Kid (MK) graduation. Genevieve was so cute and got her first trophy. She loved the program so much. Equally as important, we loved the program so much. That was a special day all around.
Hard to Say Goodbye
It was not easy saying goodbye to our newly established friends, but such is life. We are thankful for the technology that will allow us to maintain those friendships.
Dinner & Wisdom
That last Friday night, our friends Jon and Jen took us to our favorite Springfield Restaurant, Zio's. The we went over Jen's parent's house. Jen's parents are very well known missionaries in the AG and wonderful people. Her dad offered up some fatherly wisdom and gave Genevieve a Bible (as in the same one I was thinking of getting her earlier that day). We had some great fellowship. Jon and I stayed up a while catching up. It was a great night to end a great two weeks.
Home Again
Naturally, Genevieve did not sleep until we were off the plane and on the ride back home from the airport. And I will tell you this, for as much as we loved our time in Springfield, we were happy to be home again.
Right Back at it
We came home on Saturday and relaxed a little while before going to bed. The next morning, we were right back at it again with a church service (Sturbridge, MA) which went well. That Sunday night, we had a party with our youth and I shared a little from my heart one last time before we prayed for each of them. It was a great way to end our time serving Calvary AG. But I'll share more about that next time.
I want to say thanks to everyone who prayed for us while we were at PFO in Missouri. Your prayers were greatly appreciated and incredibly efficient!
God bless,
Mike
Mike and Polly Brown - Missionaries to Bolivia
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Monday, July 2, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Deep Sigh
I don't know all the specifics of what the next couple weeks has in store, but I do know that I'm expecting things to be a little bit hectic. This is the two week stretch we both have and haven't been looking forward to all at the same time. It's time for MT/MR (formerly PFO).
MT/MR stands for Missionary Training/Missionary Renewal (formerly Pre-Field Orientation). Like most trainings in life, we anticipate to be bombarded with a lot more information than there is time to process it. We will have to be expert with working to pick out the gems. I don't say this to say that any will be useless. I just know from experience in life that you can quickly suffer from information overload if you try to take it all in at one. With all that said, I'm still really looking forward to the experience. Simply put, I like learning. Yep, I'm a nerd.
Beyond the actual training, there are some other elements that should be considered for this trip. I have listed the first 13 that came to mind below:
1. We needed new luggage in preparation for this trip. That extra money I made working all that overtime in Scottsdale, AZ was quite useful as luggage is not exactly the cheapest thing to buy, even when trying to keep it cheap. But, now we will have the luggage for additional trips we might make moving forward.
2. Packing is a time-consuming process. Let's face it, packing is not a quick thing. Thankfully, God blessed Polly with the gift of organization and time management. She began the packing process this past weekend. She is NOT a last minute packer. This leads to less stress that we will forget something.
3. It's inevitable that we will forget something. I know this sounds contradictory to what I just said, but if you read it carefully, you will see that I said there is less stress that we will forget something, not that we won't forget something. It is my experience that something is always forgotten while packing, regardless the time allotted. The hope is always that it's not an incredibly important item.
4. We will be leaving our house at 5 AM on Saturday to get to the airport with enough time to comfortably make it through security without risking missing our flight or at least reduce the stress associated with that possibility. This will mean adjusting Genevieve's schedule to get her up around 5 AM without her being a sleepy little Ms. Grumpypants.
5. This is the second time we will be flying with Genevieve, but we will also be traveling twice as this time around. We will be letting her run like crazy for our 2 hour layover in Chicago.
6. We will be visiting our old stomping grounds as MT/MR is being held at Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. This is the college that Polly and I each graduated from. We haven't been to Missouri since our friends Aaron and Jessica got married there two years ago. Interestingly enough, that was just after Polly and I had found out we were pregnant. What a difference those two years have made. But I haven't actually stayed at CBC since Polly was still a student there (2007). It will be nice hitting up a few of our old spots.
7. This is by far the longest Genevieve will ever be away from home and thus away from her routine and comfort zone. Genevieve never sleeps as well anywhere away from her own crib. It's hard to blame her as I'm not sure I ever sleep quite as well away from my own bed either. Still, it remains to be seen how well she'll do.
8. Polly has been a stay-at-home mom since the day Genevieve was born. I believe she has spent a grand total of 1 night away from Genevieve and only a few times has she been away from her for more than a couple hours. While in our classes during the week, Genevieve will be in what amounts to day care. This will test both Polly and Genevieve's resolve with regards to attachment issues. I, of course, am accustomed to this.
9. We will be out of our element with regard to food and exercise. We try to eat healthy and exercise regularly. Each will be challenged on this trip.
10. MT/MR costs money (obviously). We're praying and believing that we have sufficient funds to cover these expenses.
11. Speaking of money, I have to remember to coordinate of few of our bills and such while we're gone. Life doesn't stop just because we go away.
12. Because we have ties to Springfield, MO, we have a number of friends out there. We are hoping to connect with as many as we reasonably can. This will include Genevieve as she will have a play date her friends J and A Barratt.
13. We will be speaking at a church the day after we arrive back. So much for easing our way back into things :)
I'm sure there are other things to consider, but prayer for all these to go well would be greatly appreciated!
God bless,
Mike
MT/MR stands for Missionary Training/Missionary Renewal (formerly Pre-Field Orientation). Like most trainings in life, we anticipate to be bombarded with a lot more information than there is time to process it. We will have to be expert with working to pick out the gems. I don't say this to say that any will be useless. I just know from experience in life that you can quickly suffer from information overload if you try to take it all in at one. With all that said, I'm still really looking forward to the experience. Simply put, I like learning. Yep, I'm a nerd.
Beyond the actual training, there are some other elements that should be considered for this trip. I have listed the first 13 that came to mind below:
1. We needed new luggage in preparation for this trip. That extra money I made working all that overtime in Scottsdale, AZ was quite useful as luggage is not exactly the cheapest thing to buy, even when trying to keep it cheap. But, now we will have the luggage for additional trips we might make moving forward.
2. Packing is a time-consuming process. Let's face it, packing is not a quick thing. Thankfully, God blessed Polly with the gift of organization and time management. She began the packing process this past weekend. She is NOT a last minute packer. This leads to less stress that we will forget something.
3. It's inevitable that we will forget something. I know this sounds contradictory to what I just said, but if you read it carefully, you will see that I said there is less stress that we will forget something, not that we won't forget something. It is my experience that something is always forgotten while packing, regardless the time allotted. The hope is always that it's not an incredibly important item.
4. We will be leaving our house at 5 AM on Saturday to get to the airport with enough time to comfortably make it through security without risking missing our flight or at least reduce the stress associated with that possibility. This will mean adjusting Genevieve's schedule to get her up around 5 AM without her being a sleepy little Ms. Grumpypants.
5. This is the second time we will be flying with Genevieve, but we will also be traveling twice as this time around. We will be letting her run like crazy for our 2 hour layover in Chicago.
6. We will be visiting our old stomping grounds as MT/MR is being held at Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. This is the college that Polly and I each graduated from. We haven't been to Missouri since our friends Aaron and Jessica got married there two years ago. Interestingly enough, that was just after Polly and I had found out we were pregnant. What a difference those two years have made. But I haven't actually stayed at CBC since Polly was still a student there (2007). It will be nice hitting up a few of our old spots.
7. This is by far the longest Genevieve will ever be away from home and thus away from her routine and comfort zone. Genevieve never sleeps as well anywhere away from her own crib. It's hard to blame her as I'm not sure I ever sleep quite as well away from my own bed either. Still, it remains to be seen how well she'll do.
8. Polly has been a stay-at-home mom since the day Genevieve was born. I believe she has spent a grand total of 1 night away from Genevieve and only a few times has she been away from her for more than a couple hours. While in our classes during the week, Genevieve will be in what amounts to day care. This will test both Polly and Genevieve's resolve with regards to attachment issues. I, of course, am accustomed to this.
9. We will be out of our element with regard to food and exercise. We try to eat healthy and exercise regularly. Each will be challenged on this trip.
10. MT/MR costs money (obviously). We're praying and believing that we have sufficient funds to cover these expenses.
11. Speaking of money, I have to remember to coordinate of few of our bills and such while we're gone. Life doesn't stop just because we go away.
12. Because we have ties to Springfield, MO, we have a number of friends out there. We are hoping to connect with as many as we reasonably can. This will include Genevieve as she will have a play date her friends J and A Barratt.
13. We will be speaking at a church the day after we arrive back. So much for easing our way back into things :)
I'm sure there are other things to consider, but prayer for all these to go well would be greatly appreciated!
God bless,
Mike
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