Orientation

It's hard to believe that my team has been here for a week already!

Here is a picture of Team Chile on day 1:

(Kirsten, Jean, myself, Clayton, and Jeffrey)

This week has been jam-packed with sessions, get-to-know-you activities, orientation to policies, good discussions and fun times. We've been learning about the book of Matthew, the leadership of David "A Tale of Three Kings"), worship, cultivating intimacy with God, and prayer.

Between our sessions, we've also had a great time just enjoying eachother. On our first day, the teams competed in the 2nd annual REACH OLYMPICS. We competed in displays of enthusiasm, team attire, a 3-legged obstacle race (Kirsten rocked it - competing 3 times!), Bible skis (the prophets of Baal), a newspaper fashion show (Clay took one for the team by allowing us to make him a Chilean dress), charades, a Fear Factor-style eating race (Jean and Jeff even put down baby food and Spam respectively), and team cheers. We are proud to report that Team Chile (CHI CHI CHI! LE LE LE! or Ch-ch-ch-CHILE! [to the tune of the ChiaPet commercials]) took home 1st place!

On Wednesday, the teams hit the streets of inner-city Columbus to complete the Prayer Challenge, in which we look for opportunities to pray for anything and everything (people we meet, places we pass by (churches, government buildings, bus stops, etc.). God placed some really great people in our path, and we were challenged in some great ways. It was a good opportunity for us to reach out to Columbus, but also to see how our team would work together in outreach. We also did a LOT of walking - a taste of things to come.

Just a few days ago, all of the staff and team leaders disguised themselves (pretty dramatically, too), and were hiding at the Easton mall. The unsuspecting REACHers were then told that we had been captured and were in need of finding. They were then told to approach us saying, "Shiver me timbers, ye land lover! Give me your number!"

Yesterday, our team met one of our Columbus outreaches for the first time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays (and maybe even Wednesdays), we will be visiting a nearby trailer park that has an 80% Hispanic population. A local church owns a trailer there, that provides after-school homework help. We will be working with the kids to help them with their homework, as well as general English skills.

Today we're helping with a fundraiser for the RIC at a local Sweetcorn Festival.

We have a busy week planned, but we're all excited about what God has in store for us.

I feel very blessed to have the team that I have been given. We are all eager to learn, and be stretched, and to see where this adventure will take us.

Hasta luego!