It's another big Sunday night. Another one of those Sunday nights where I wonder if this is all reality- last week it was leaving for Stony Point, and tomorrow I'm flying to London and then Bahrain.
I arrived in Stony Point this past Sunday for YAV Orientation. All the YAVs (there's about 70 of us) are staying at a conference center up in the mountains of New York. It's been a great week. It's been a rich time together spending time with all of the other YAVs and making lots of new friends. This week was all about preparation and relationships-sharing with one another our fears & anxieties, learning, praying for one another.
We spent all week hearing from different facilitators on topics such as cultural competency, personality types & interactions (I'm ENFP in case you Meyers-Brigss fans are wondering), conflict resolution, and cultural sensitivity. We've discussed living in community, self-care while abroad, gender & race issues, and globalization, as well as a lot more. It's been a very full week-lots of information to process. I have been challenged by lots of what I've heard this week which was hard at first but I think that's a good thing. We also spend much time hearing the stories of former YAVs. In small groups, we reflected and shared how the week was going for us. We've spent some time in the Word through Bible study and in worship, where I got to help out by playing violin & singing, which was a treat because I thought I'd said goodbye to the violin for awhile.
But along with all of the sessions, we've also had some serious fun. :) Lots of games, late nights, talking, worship music-it's been enjoyable.
What crazy weather we had this week! Some of us felt the earthquake on Monday during our Cultural Competency training, and then before we knew it Hurrican Irene was headed our way! We spend time yesterday preparing for the storm-putting out sandbags, putting away outdoor furniture. The rain began yesterday-TONS of rain for hours! During the night, there was flooding in the conference center rooms and in the rooms where we're staying. Water leaked in through the ceiling in my room, and later down the walls. My poor roommate woke up sputtering and coughing from rainwater in her face-how awful! We moved her into a different room during the night, but I never got wet. We're all okay-lots of flights delayed and cancelled, though. We were all supposed to leave tomorrow for our various sites but some of us aren't leaving until Tuesday or Wednesday.
As of right now, our flights for today still seem to be set. So in a few hours after lots of goodbyes, we'll head for JFK airport where we'll fly overnight to London, and then to Bahrain, then to Cochin, India.
I'll keep you all posted during the travel. Please be praying for His travelling mercies, especially as things at the airports are crazy right now! We're leaving for the airport 6 hours before our flight! Pray also for the YAVs stuck here waiting for flights-though, honestly, we're all having so much fun together that no one is minding being delayed at all. :) It's amazing how much of a community we've become in just a few days.
So-leaving tomorrow. Ready or not, here we come! Will post on the way or once we've arrived!
Blessings & peace,
Claudia
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