Learning

The end of the semester was filled with classes that demanded a lot more work outside of class. They were all really great class, but it kept us very busy.

Teamwork- Believe it or not most missionaries who end up leaving the field, do so because they are unable to get a long with the team, leadership or organization they are working with. Being with New tribes adds additional challenges in this area, since a lot of teams are cross cultural. Missionaries are very good about making sure they understand the culture of the people they are working with, but not always the culture of the team they are on. This class focused on skills that can be used to help teams work successfully. I looked at how teams are formed, how we should view leadership, how to work with different cutlures, and how to understand single and married families. It was a very challenge, but insightful class.

Phoenetics- This has been our most hands on class. We had a group of 10 people in our class and everyday we would work one different sounds that could be present in the languages we would learn. We had homework everynight which often included recordings we needed to make of all the sounds we had done that day. By the end of the class my brain was full. When God confused the languages, He sure did a great job.

Partnership Developement- This class was a crash course on how to raise support. This is the first time that New Tribes has ever taught a course on this topic, even though they have missionaries that are yet to go to field because the can not raise enough support. Typically this is a dredded thing to talk about and do for missionaries, but this class really helped to change our prospective. We are not just finding financial supporters, but we are finding people who will partner in our ministry. It was a helpful class, although it is still and overwelming task to think about.