CTEN ORIENTATION-TEXAS

In December you may remember I joined the new ministry team of CTEN (Commission to Every Nation). God was faithful to open this door not only to find a supporting organization but 1 that is grounded on caring for, loving on, praying for and encouraging each missionary individually to fulfill their individual ministry call. That alone is huge but they also make it easy for you my faithful supporters to donate and make tax deductible donations and help me with donor communication...appreciation...and fundraising by printing and sending out my paper mailings for me. I just got back from attending orientation in Texas at CTEN headquarters June 14-17th. These 3 days were full of helpful and informative information but more importantly 3 days surrounded by godly, mission minded leaders full of wisdom and ready to share from experience and love. I can confidently say God has not only been PRESENT and FAITHFUL through this season of transition but has chosen to BLESS me personally and Bless my ministries as well.

I got to do orientation with 24 amazing missionaries serving in 12 different countries. I was not aware that there are 600 missionaries in my CTEN family serving in 58 countries! We received a resource binder and had 3 days of all day trainings and classes. I learned ALOT and am so thankful for the opportunity to be there. They fed us extremely well...I don't think I have ever ate so much in 3 days. The only downfall was they froze me out with the air conditioner. Even with jeans and 2 layer of longs sleeves I was still freezing! 

 I am so thankful for the opportunity to finally meet my Pastoral care couple Dick and Berdie Johnson in person and put a face to their voices and months of email and phone interaction. I feel so blessed to have them walking alongside me in my ministry. They are a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and have huge caring and compassionate hearts. 

Dick and Berdie

The other missionaries at the training serving in my region
& who have Dick & Berdie as their pastoral care couple as well. 

One evening I got to share dinner and fellowship with 2 other families serving in Haiti. It was so wonderful to meet both of these couples and hear about their ministries in Haiti. Also got to meet the newest missionary in Haiti (a 1 week old little cute!)

Meet Naomi. She was my roomie for the first 3 nights of the CTEN orientation. It was a such a joy to get to know her and to hear about her calling to Romania! That nervous moment I stepped off the plane unsure of the 2 strangers I was meeting up with only knowing that they were both CTEN missionaries. Within the first 5 minutes of conversation with Naomi I knew we were going to be alright! After rooming together for 3 nights & are unusually quick bonding over my crazy rash...lol I am pretty confident to stay we will remain friends. I am so thankful for Facebook and the ability to stay in contact and keep up with each others ministries that way.

Thursday evening after the session of orientation which was the sending out commissioning. I got to go visit some of my brothers friends who had stored a 50lb bag of supplies my brother had carried down to Texas for me a few weeks ago when he went down for a wedding. Naomi, Colleen and I were so blessed that they asked us to stay for dinner. It was the best Steak I have maybe ever had and for desert delicious ice cream. The best part of the evening though was the company. We were joined at dinner by another missionary couple and their 3 kids who will be staying at the Williams house for the next 2.5 months. We had a wonderful evening of conversations all sharing about the work we are doing in the countries we are serving in. A huge thank you to the Williams for opening their house up and providing a wonderful meal and fellowship. 

On Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to take a few minutes and explore a few sites in San Antonio including The Alamo and the River Walk. So thankfully I was able to do this with Colleen. Colleen is a missionary serving in Cambodia. 

 I played the packing game under new conditions... Texas style in a hotel room. I took the Rental car to Walmart and did supply shopping. It was so challenging to guess when you had 210lbs of supplies! I bought a cheap scale to help me play the packing game. After 3 hours of shopping... 2 hours of de-packaging everything...and 3 hours of playing the packing game to get everything to fit and balance weight... I am happy to say everything but 3 items made it in the bags!!! :-) Most challenging packing job yet... Well Texas it was fun but short...Met many new brothers and sisters in Christ