PTM, pre-sessions

This week I'm in Ridgecrest, NC, right outside of beautiful Asheville, attending Barnabas International's Pastors To Missionaries conference. This is my second year attending, and I'm so incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to be back here again in the presence of so many whose hearts' desire is to serve missionaries with the goal of equipping and encouraging them so that they can be effective and vital in the battle. I arrived Monday for the pre-conference sessions(the conference officially started last night). I signed up for the Mon. and Tues. sessions on Debriefing, a topic which I think is so very important for missionaries. Yes, I've already been to a bit of debriefing training, but there are several different types of debriefing, and I think that the more training I receive from those who've done it for years, the better equipped I'll be to serve others.

Anyone remember this little turtle in transition??

The above picture is from a year and a half ago, when I went through the week of debriefing(DAR- Debriefing And Renewal) with Mission Training International and was personally debriefed. It was an extremely emotional, but highly effective time spent looking at many of the things I had experienced while living in Ukraine, and also discussing much of what I would be facing as I continued through my transition back to the States. This was one of the tools they used to help us identify where we were emotionally at that point. For me, I pictured myself as the turtle, carrying my home and all of my belongings with me, and though I knew that I would be serving in Member Care, there were many, many unknowns ahead of me(if you click on the picture, you can read some of the possible directions on the signpost).

We did this same exercise yesterday as we were looking at tools to use, and the woman leading the session suggested that those of us who had actually gone through DAR in the last two years do an update of our old drawings as an exercise to see where we are now as compared to then. I loved that idea, and this is what I came up with:

haha, awesome picture, right??

 So, though I'm still a turtle and still don't have my own home(it's still on my back, I guess), I do have a place to live and all of my bags are fully unpacked, for which I'm very thankful. And though I've still got lots of things vying for my time and energy, I feel good and centered in all of them. And I'm plugged in and operating from my local church body, which encourages and edifies me as I come and go. Plus, I'm no longer plodding along just trying to survive. I'm a speedy little turtle now- doing lots of good self care and taking care of my physical health. Doesn't this Turtle Anna look so much happier and healthier than poor little Turtle Anna going through transition?