Heading Out!

Oh man! Training is officially over in the states, and we are leaving in....7 hours for the airport! My flights will take me from Denver, to DC, to Brussels, and then I'll be landing in Abidjan at 9:30pm their time on Friday night - that means like 12:30pm in Fresno.

Training was a whirlwind of intensity! So much info crammed into 3 days, I'm feeling a bit mentally spent! It was a lot of fun, and so very informative as well. The way God has been bonding us journeyers together as a family has been amazing, I can't wait to see how we will relate to one another in a year's time! I've been learning SO much about Ivorian culture, and how we can assimilate into that culture. They have so many huge differences from us, I know that God is going to be stretching me so much! I can't wait though, I welcome the difficulty! The hardest part for me is going to be conflict resolution. It is a very shame based society, unlike the guilt based system in the USA. I'm so used to direct confrontation when there is a problem between me and another individual....but in Cote d'Ivoire, problems and conflicts between individuals are handled as a community. Everybody knows each others business, and the sense of privacy is very different than in Western culture. Also, I need to learn not to cross my legs in public. Feet are considered "dirty" and therefore it is offensive to point them at someone.

I am going to Cote d'Ivoire feeling much more prepared to face the struggles that await. God has been doing a lot in my heart here in Colorado, and that goes for everyone in the team. Journey Corps is such a new program, and this first team (10 of us) are going to be the trailblazers. These "tracts" of ministry that are offered - we are going to be playing a big part in creating, developing, and growing those. Until WorldVenture see's how successful JC is, the amount of access to experts in certain areas is going to be limited. The experiences that this first group of journeyers has is going to shape Journey Corps for later groups, and is also going to provide WorldVenture with a lot of resources for better promoting JC to people stateside. WorldVenture has a vision of having Journey Corps operations all around the world in the next several years. I like to think of Journey Corps as the Peace Corps, but with Jesus in charge, so basically it's way way better and way way different lol. And way way smaller of course (for now), but I really see Journey Corps growing into a much larger ministry in the next few years.

Training has been an arduous time for my brain, but it's been great. Colorado has also been great. Super beautiful, dry and windy, and not a ton to do in Littleton. My skin is incredibly dry here. I'm using lotion all the time to keep the snowing down! The best part of this week has been community. The community I experienced this week was SO amazing, and it's been a lot of fun being in a different part of the country. The only disappointment really concerning Colorado is that I cant hit anyone for Colorado plates being out of state!

I am looking forward to more blogs, I hope you are enjoying my updates! Maybe I'll throw down a little update at Brussels Airport...

PS

I shaved my beard! I got tired of how dry my skin on my face is getting here, so I want to put some lotion on my chin but I cant get it through my thick beard! Seriously, it was getting pretty beastly the last several days, I hadn't shaved in like 6 weeks! I'm going to grow my beard back out as soon as I get to Cote d'Ivoire though...I prefer the look more than shaved. Here is a picture of me having fun mid-shave. I can't believe how red my facial hair is!