Preparing for Mission

The past couple of weeks have been full of many different things for me. I've begun seriously sitting down with the language, Creole, that they speak in Haiti. I have never tried to learn a language through computer programs in this way, so it has been interesting. It requires so much discipline to actually sit down and either go through flashcards in a computer program, practice pronunciation, or listen to sound files where you repeat words in Creole over and over. One minor problem that I have is that I studied spanish on and off for years in school. When I don't know a word in Creole, the spanish word pops up in my head, and sometimes I think I know the right word when I actually don't. Whoops. Hopefully this will diminish as I keep practicing.

One exciting thing for me is that I love learning. Sometimes I miss being in school, so this is an incredible opportunity for me to continue growing as a student, and learning some new things! However, I really think I will learn the most once I am thrown into the language and don't hear as much English around me daily.

Another thing that has been filling some of my time is getting to share and talk with people about what's coming next in Haiti. Every weekend at Covecrest, youth groups come for retreats. This past weekend, I was able to catch up with a youth minister we served with briefly in Atlanta this year. She expressed a desire to be involved in some way and excitement that her teens could put some faces to a mission like Haiti. It has been a huge blessing seeing people's excitement about this. I feel more than ever that mission really is a huge effort from the whole Church, and not just something that myself and a few other missionaries go off and do. We are so blessed by the phenomenal amount of encouragement and support around us. I hope that we can really do a good job of communicating the mission with the many people who want to be involved.

A couple of days ago, the new first-year missionaries arrived at Covecrest! There are fifteen of them - seven girls, and six guys. It is really exciting thinking about all the things they are going to be involved in for the next couple of years and how much work God is going to do in their hearts and through them. Please pray for them as they begin this journey!

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