Center for Intercultural Training
I just finished the last of four weeks of residential training at the Center for Intercultural Training in Union Mills, North Carolina. It was such a blessing to spend time there. Not only were we situated in the beautiful countryside of North Carolina, I have learned so much and feel so much more prepared for my time living in the Dominican Republic. I lived on a dorm hall with four other women who were also part of the training, and it was awesome to get to know them and share experiences as cross culture workers. Our cohort has a total of 25 individuals, partly couples (some with kids and some without) and partly singles, who are all transitioning over seas to be cross cultural workers. People are going all over the world— the DR, Guatemala, Thailand, Middle East, Europe, and many more places. I have learned so much from everyone here about their experiences moving abroad.
A day at CIT looks something like this: 1) wake up and read my Bible, 2) 8:30am learn from Heart of the Servant curriculum, 3) 9:30am Equipping lesson, 4) 12pm lunch break, 5) 1:15pm Equipping lesson continued, 6) 3:30pm dismissed for homework, time with cohort members, and then bedtime!
Our teaching came from two different curricula: Heart of the Servant and Equipping. During our Heart of the Servant lessons each morning, we explored the essential qualities and disciplines of a Christian who serves well overseas. It reminds me that I can never be successful in my job if I am not foremost focusing on what God is doing inside of me! Our Equipping course, which comprised most of our classroom time, focused on specific topics of working abroad such as avoiding being ethnocentric, team dynamics, conflict resolution, family and friends abroad, and self care.
While a lot of our class time was lecture-style learning from amazing facilitators who spent most of their lives serving abroad, we did have some awesome (and hilarious) simulations that we completed as a group. One quote from our learning with which I really resonate is:
”The book of Exodus is about God getting the Israelites out of Egypt. The book of Leviticus is about God getting Egypt out of the Israelites”
I feel like the past year has been God paving the way to get me out of the USA, while the past month learning at CIT was about how to start getting the USA out of me so that I might be able to successfully serve my brothers and sisters in the DR in a Christ centered, not American centered, way. Thank YOU for your generosity that allowed me to have this formative experience!!
