Institute of World Missions

After a week of traveling -- filled with friends, fun, packing, and of course, a few rough times -- we are happy to be settling in at Mission Institute.  We will stay here for 3 weeks, attending classes with other missionaries.  They provide childcare, and thankfully both kids enjoyed it today!  We have really enjoyed meeting so many other missionaries!  There are 46 adults and 26 kids, representing many different countries and ages.  There are people from Mexico, Norway, Africa, Pakistan, the USA, Canada, Europe...headed to Egypt, India, Philippines, Africa, Mexico, America...   Some people have never gone out as missionaries before; others have already been serving at a mission post for 27 years!  (And we are very excited to learn from them!)  Since the only ones I knew who were going to attend were doctors, I thought the room would be full of M.D.'s, but it turns out that we're in the minority.  There are people here for all sorts of positions!  Adventist Disaster Relief Agency (ADRA), communications, teachers at various universities or seminaries, Information Technology, support staff, and so on.  Some of us are still waiting to see exactly what God has in mind for us--and I bet all of us will be a little surprised by it when we get there!  Whatever our position (employed by the church or not!), God has called us to cross-cultural missions, and we are here to learn to serve Him better.  So I had better quit blogging and start working on homework, because we're back in school, with reading and writing assignments and due dates to meet!