We've just started a new series here at CIT for Effective Teams and Team Leaders. We looked at our personal relational style, what we expect to have in a working team, how to work toward interdependence, and what the foundation of a mission team should be - namely that we should model our approach after the Holy Trinity.
This triune nature of God exemplifies several aspects of an effective mission team. We find in Scripture that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share in the creativity, purpose, rejoicing, giving tasks. Each Person of the Trinity has a specific role. They do not operate in isolation, rather there is constant communion. Similarly, the Church with its many members has a specific role in working out our salvation.
Ineffective teams tend to be self-centered because of spiritual immaturity, conflict, and lack of vision. Whether one is task-oriented or people-oriented, a common goal is critical for unity and purpose to be established. We are neither a "Big Happy Family", nor "Reggued Individualists." We rely on the gifts the Holy Spirit has endowed each team member with to complete an interdependent team.
All this is to say that we hope to establish mutually beneficial relationships with our fellow teammates and nationals to have a "We" centered group, not a "Me" centered group.

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As mayors of CIT this week we thought it would be culturally appropriate to have our special activity to be karaoke. We bought a mic with some songs for $15, rented a couple of karaoke DVDs from Netflix, and borrowed a VeggieTales disc to kick things off. It turned out far better than we expected. We'd never done it before, but we quickly discovered that there are some hams among us. Some talented and not-so-talented folks took the stage for the fun and laughs. Best Duo Performance goes to Jeff and Rob for singing House of the Rising Sun. Best Veggie song goes to Ellissa for her rendition of Modern Major General, and best family performance goes to Brett and Maria for doing Celebration. Everyone also brought their favorite homemade dessert to share and we rocked the student center until 10pm.

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We had dinner with my folks and Brenda, Rusty, and baby Grace (missionaries to Japan). There was lots of homemade goodness including Weiling's special stuffed peppers, Brenda's corn and mac-n-cheese. As we've come to learn, missions is more about relationships than anything else and we've certainly enjoyed getting to know the Carneys. Please pray that their support raising would be expedited and that they are embraced by their team in Hokkaido.

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As part of our language acquisition training program, we got to work with a language helper for 5 sessions. I chose Russian to study to practice the various techniques such as Look-n-Listen, LAPS, TPRs, and more. My mom even got to participate in one of the sessions. Here we have Mary (missionary to Kosovo), Natasha (Russian language helper), Jeff (missionary to Tajikistan), me, and Bryan (missionary to Russia). By starting with several related objects and naming them in Russian, we quickly moved into complex sentences with different verb tenses, pronouns, and times of day. It was a very engaging and fun-filled exercise designed to enable us to be in control of our own language learning program once we get to Japan.

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Aaron celebrated his 5th birthday (June 27) whilst I ushered in my 36th year. It was nice to have my parents here for the week to join in the festivities. I got an 8GB thumb drive that I had my eye on for a while and also some handy magnetic strips to put on the back of our prayer cards. Aaron got an assortment of mini-Transformer toys and some of Grand Dad's homemade cherry ice cream with Grandma's homemade angel food cake with fruit filling. And what would a birthday be without Burger King for dinner to Have It My Way?

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We took the parental units north to Linville Falls where we walked a few trails and had fun taking pictures.

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Today we learned about Learning Styles and how it is not necessarily related to personality or gender. I am a high 'Concrete Random' learner which means that I'm likely to ask questions like "How much of this is really necessary?" and I like to be challenged. I don't like routine and I tend to be a multi-tasker and adventurous. Weiling is a 'Concrete Sequential' learner and that means she prefers routine, facts, and is stable and dependable. She can be a perfectionist and is not much for change. As with the DISC profile, these Mind Styles translate into something tangible we can use to integrate into a foreign culture in addition to knowing how to relate with others on the field. It also demonstrates that our children are not necessarily clones of us and are unique in their own way. We should allow them to be engaged in their areas of learning styles as well.

The rabbits here are ginormous.

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Each Sunday we venture to visit a different church in the neighboring towns. Today we opted for Round Hill Baptist Church. It was walking distance from where we're staying and their website was clean and recently updated, so we thought it would be a good chance to visit. Sunday school was at 10 and Worship at 11. The kids had their own Bible study while we went with the adults. Class lasted about 20 minutes and there wasn't much discussion about the Hebrews 1:1-4 passages we read. During the worship hour we sang three traditional hymns of which only Nothing But the Blood did I recognize. One of the younger guys sang a solo of a toe-tappin country song entitled Long Black Train which everyone enjoyed. The sermon was given by visiting Rev Charles who filled in for regular pastor who was away at an uncle's funeral. Rev Charles gave us a primer on the history of Union Mills and that it used to be called Crab Tree Gap. This area spawned the lumber industry and thus Union Mills came to be. This particular church grew out of the call to "Survey the people" to fill a need, then "be ready to plant". That's not too different from what we're trying to do in Japan. Rev Charles expounded on the meaning of two important words in Scripture - AMEN and HALLELUJAH. He also drew the connection to how our worship should mirror the book of Revelation. Rev Charles served in the military and flew over Hiroshima following the tragedies that ended World War II. He agrees that Japan has a harvest ripe for evangelism through missions. I reckon no visit to a Baptist church would be complete without a Sunday afternoon luncheon and my favorite sweet tea. The LORD is good!

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Fridays are nice not only because class gets out early, but because we get to hear one another's life stories during Heart of the Missionary time. Like a small group, these sessions are an opportunity to go beyond the surface relationship and see the struggles and the triumphs of God's people in the mission. We fully expect that there will be tears during these sessions because there are many hardships that missionaries go through both on and off the field. We are a fallen race and all of us fall short of the glory of God. Nevertheless, it is in His righteousness that we put our faith and hope.

Following lunch, an expedition was commissioned of the back 20 acres of the CIT property. A narrow trail wanders through the forest as children take turns fighting over who gets to be the leader. NOTE - missionary kids are really no different than regular children.

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The clouds parted and the sun shone on our second day of training at CIT. After an opening time focused on the Biblical foundation of the Gospel and its significance in keeping us energized while we're on the field, we spent the remainder of our training looking at the results from our DISC personality assessments. Not only is understanding your own personality important for knowing why you do the things you do, but it's critical in knowing how to deal with other people - especially on the field with team mates and the nationals we are trying to reach. I learned that it's okay to be a driven, demanding, and decisive personality - but everything in moderation is best. Not everyone responds to criticism the same way, and not everyone is motivated by the same things. Personalities can change over time depending on circumstances. Conflict resolution can best be achieved by knowing who you're dealing with and how to find common ground. After class, we spent time checking email, taking pictures and playing by the pool.

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Our first day of training at the Center for Intercultural Training was jam-packed with stuff to do. We started the day with a basic orientation, followed by focusing on how we were called into mission service. Following lunch we participated in small group sessions called Heart of the Missionary. This gave us a chance to get to know others on a more personal level, and, as it turns out, everyone in our group will be going to Asian countries to serve. After HOM time, we split up into teams for a massive scavenger hunt that spanned the entire Rutherfordton county. We now know where every Dollar General, Family Dollar, Mighty Dollar, and Wal-mart store is. We can even tell you what's playing at the movie theater, the name of the lake in front of the community college, and the number of baseball diamonds at the Crestview park behind the hospital. That said, Union Mills isn't exactly in the middle of nowhere, but it isn't too far away from it. The entire day it rained and was fairly chilly. For the locals, this was a blessing as it hasn't rained here in ages.

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