On April 14th, we loaded up our family, drove to Charlotte, then flew to Denver, Colorado for 2 weeks of training with our mission board, WorldVenture. The kids were so excited to fly on an airplane although Gabe informed us that he didn't need an airplane but that he would put on his cape and fly there himself.
We learned all about the crazy and unpredictable weather of Colorado; it snowed 3 times while we were there! On the days it didn't snow, we were able to wear a light jacket and play outside. The altitude also affected the kids and their asthma; we ended up taking Eden to the ER so she could receive more breathing treatments and a prescription steroid.
While we were in trainings, the kids attended "Kids' Club." A great program geared toward Third Culture Kids. They met a lot of kids from all over the US, they met Ted, a huge bear, who travels a lot and they learned all about the things he needs to put in his suitcase when he travels. They were taught how to taste different foods and to politely put it down if they don't like it and they made passports and traveled all over the office to have different people stamp and sign their little booklets.
We visited the Colorado Train Museum and learned about a lot of different trains. We also visited some new friends at their hotel and had fun swimming.
The highlight of the trip was the New Missionary Celebration Service in which all 10 new missionary units gave a 3 minutes speech about themselves and the work they will be doing. After the speeches, we heard an encouraging message from WorldVenture's president and received certificates of appointment.
Our mentors, George and Deena Jackson, traveled to Colorado for trainings and the ceremony. We were able to spend some time with our field leader, Rodger, and we got to know new teammates, the Sass', who are heading to Malawi.
As we left Colorado we felt encouraged, reassured that this is God's plan for our family, and excited to begin the 2 year time clock to the mission field. So what's next? The rest of 2013 includes a 12 day trip to Mozambique, another training in Colorado, and then we really begin the journey of developing prayer and financial partners to take this journey with us. God is good and we are blessed to be in this process.
