Simple Living

For part of the missionary training we had 9 days of what they called Simple Living.  Simple Living is anything but simple.  We had houses that the team built, (mainly for sleeping) built from poles and plastic/tarps out in the woods, and then a common kitchen area with our team. 

Our team was the e-linc team we’ve had for the two years of school.  E-linc stands for Equipping through listening, interacting, nurturing and challenging.  Simple living did a good job of bringing us to the ends of ourselves, and showing us how we react to very stressful situations.  It was a time of pointing us to God for strength and wisdom. 

We faced nights that got down to 28 degrees, snow, two warmer days reaching all the way to 80 degrees, and found a tick on Elena one day and one on Judah the next day, there were hard rains for a couple of days, high winds and tornado warnings.   During the days there were classes on practical things we may need as missionaries such as how to use chainsaws, butcher chickens and pigs, how to use a twin tub washer, knife sharpening (that Hector taught), two stroke motors, knots, motorcycles, slabbing, shelter building etc. 

We learned lots from the classes and even more from the team, about how to work together, be willing to ask and receive help, important things teams will need to communicate about to function well, and being willing to be real and awkward and communicate and respond well to the hard things such as how others actions are hurting us.  We had great times of fellowship around the camp fire, and the kids had a blast playing in the woods and with their friends.  It was a very valuable time, and we are so thankful for it.  To see more pictures from this time click here.