It’s been several weeks since the year started and it’s time that we reconvened with our new staff to see how they’re doing. The last time the core of this group came together like this was when we met for the first time in New York as they were preparing to make their way here.
We had a great time sharing and hearing and giving them a bit more information about what’s happening in the year to come.
Well, it wasn’t exactly the plan, but I was thrown in to leading several important events and situations over the last couple of weeks. I was eventually going to get to do these things anyway, but it wasn’t supposed to be for another 3 months. The person who is training me had an emergency that sent him back to the States for 2 weeks. There were quite a few things that happened during those two weeks, not the least of which was organizing our team meeting.
The team meeting is a chance for all the team to get together for the purpose of unity and/or sharing vision. I was really thankful to everyone who helped me pull the meeting together.
(Sorry, we didn’t get a better shot.)
Another huge event was a seminar that we hold annually to help prepare the staff who will be moving back to their home countries in the coming year. This is such an important conference. We know firsthand what’s it’s like to move back from living overseas and how you can really feel like a fish out of water. The biggest part of this conference for me was the logistics and coordination of the day. Thankfully, there were a ton of people who were able to help out and the day went off great.
Some other unexpected things happened as well during the week, including three different staff children being rushed to the hospital for different reasons: a seizure, a scary fall, and a dog bite to the face requiring stitches. My role here is to be able to help out in crisis situations like these whether through emotional support or coordinating medical attention/transportation or an evacuation from the country if needed. In these cases, the children were rushed to a nearby hospital and I provided support and followup.
This past month has been a reaffirming month for us. We feel confident that He has led us here to be a support to this wonderful team who are doing doing great things.