In the Midst of Training
Written by Michael Babienco on Friday, August 3, 2018
Fundraising Update
First, happy news: I am pleased to announce that as of July 31, 2018, my fundraising and support-team building for my year of service with Adventist Frontier Missions is complete! This is reflected both on the AFM website and on my personal website. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm still amazed at the way God provided the funds for this next year, and I am grateful to each and every one of you for your support. Thank you!
This means that I will be able to launch to the field ASAP after training. So without further ado...
AFM Training
Training started a few weeks ago on July 22 up in Michigan at AFM's training facility, which is located fairly close to Andrews University. We're currently in the latter part of week 2 of training, and it has been really crazy, to say the least. So far, I've:
- Sat in over 45 hours of classes
- Met more than 25 other student, short-term, and career missionaries who are also in training right now (there are ~20 student and short-term missionaries)
- Gone on the infamous AFM Crucible, which is just about as intense and exhausting as the name implies
- Learned about a multitude of topics including, but not limited to: spiritual warfare (deliverance ministries), world views, mental models, discipleship, ministering to people of different cultures, how to be part of a team & why some teams are disfunctional, how to approach disagreements, the "three buckets" illustration for deciding what is really important for salvation, the foundations for mission service, and more! Basically, all the things that I'll need to know when in the field.
- Gone in-depth on a variety of Bible passages that have something to do with cross-cultural missions
- Heard countless mission stories from the people who actually experienced them
- Held at least one meaningful, life-changing conversation with an experienced missionary
- Learned to study the Bible in ways that can be used with people who have no or little Bible knowledge
- Eaten durian ice cream, sak sak (think of something that has the consistency and look of mucus -- you can't Google this), hobo soup-something-or-the-other, and other interesting cultural foods
- Learned a couple words in Portuguese (there are 5 people here from AFM Brazil)
- Taught one of those people from Brazil the different English words for parts of a car
- Helped prepare for and clean up after a pretty good variety of meals with the other student/short-term missionaries
- Played trombone with a (slowly growing!) mini-orchestra of other people here during worship each morning
- Taken two trips to the beach with the rest of the group
- Played a few games of pickle ball
- Told enough jokes and other puns to power a small clown car
- Established myself as the computer nerd
And I'm not even halfway through training! I don't have a ton of pictures at this point, but I'm hoping to have some more in a future email. I'm currently sitting in the lobby of Mission Inn, where all the student/short-term missionaries are staying, and there's a quartet sitting nearby singing their hearts out in prep for worship tomorrow. The group of people who are here are all pretty wonderful, and I'm sure that I am making friendships that will last a lifetime. The things I'm learning here are enhancing my spiritual life, and they will help me serve people better when I go overseas.
Communicating with Cambodia
I've had the opportunity to talk with AFM personnel over at the school in Cambodia twice now via the phone. The first time I spoke with them to assist them with an Office licensing issue they were dealing with, and just yesterday I spoke with another career missionary to talk about some packing logistics. From my conversations with them, I've learned that my computing skills are very much needed at the school for a variety of reasons. There are literally jobs at the school that need to get done that are waiting for me to arrive to tackle them! I'm really blessed to be able to go serve there for a year and help out in an area where I'm needed. Thank you again for providing me with this opportunity and for supporting the mission to the unreached!
Launching to Cambodia
My requested departure date from the states is August 28 or 29 for an arrival in Cambodia on August 30. Since all my fundraising is in, it looks that's when I'll be departing! I am already moved out of my apartment in Tennessee, so I am essentially already packed and ready to go. The last day of training is August 18, so I won't have long in between training and launching. The current potential issue there could be any delays in obtaining a visa or other issues like that, but right now I am still shooting to leave on August 28. That's less than a month -- a slightly terrifying concept!
Thanks for reading!