New Staff Training

I've been here in Daytona Beach, FL for New Staff Training for less than a week and there's already so much to say. It is very overwhelming right now to say the least. 


The first most overwhelming thing is the schedule itself. Its 5 weeks long. The first week has been full of cru curriculum kind of things. The mission, vision, history, where we're going as a movement, target areas, priority areas, strategy, and all sorts of things like that. Starting on Sunday and continuing for the next 2 weeks we have IBS (Institute of Biblical Studies) classes or seminary classes. On the first day here we received a huge stack of books and about 300+ pages of notes we'll need for the two weeks. Then we'll have finals (yes! I said finals, I thought I was done with school). The last week and a half is full of training on how to develop Ministry Partners or supporters.


The other really thing thats hard is the timing of my transition. I just graduated less than a month ago, which was me graduating early. No one else here has done that I believe. Of the 70-ish people here about half are married and a little over half have already served for 1-2 years on a US campus or on STINT overseas. With all of that its easy to walk into this with feelings of inadequacy or insecurity about my age and experience. Those feelings are starting to fade and I am very grateful for that. I know that God has given me every tool I need for this and it is EXACTLY where I am supposed to be.


The amount of people here is general is a lot to take in. I love getting to know and meeting new people, but generally in smaller groups, and most of the things we do are in such large groups that its hard for me. We have these groups called "lifegroups" were we can talk about everything, from our past to how we're doing with everything here, and I really enjoyed my time with mine!


Overall, I'm excited! I know it may not seem that way because I just talked about everything I'm struggling with BUT I feel so reaffirmed that I am truly supposed to be here! I will write more later but I wanted to update y'all!


In Christ,
Amanda

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."
1 Timothy 4:12