T-Day/Feedback 101

T-Day -1  The last few days have left me unsure of what I'm actually doing.  Sending hat seems like a month in a hotel waiting for the first travel day to begin.  I've heard reports of flying through Dubai to Johannesburg, then busing the rest of the way to Dondo, Mozambique.

 T-Day 06:00  We are headed to the airport to board our first of many flights.  Headed to Johannesburg through Dubai, I've never been on a flight this long before so this should be interesting.

T-Day 22:00 local time 08:00  we have arrived in Dubai my backside is really sore and we are barely halfway...

T-Day +1  Flight time total 20 hours and so begins the bus ride.  I just spent the last hour waiting to depart I love Africa already.

T-Day +2 Our first night in Africa!  We are staying at a missionaries house.  The bus ride was 9 hours long with a 5 hour wait at the Mozambique/South Africa border to get our entrance visas.  

T-Day +3 The final bus ride has begun we have 1200km to go to reach our destination.  Departure time is 04:00 so rise and shine by 03:00.  

T-Day +3.5 Africa is amazing!  The scenery, the smells, the people I am so excited to see what comes next.  It doesn't feel real sometimes how can I be here driving through Mozambique going to share life and love people.  

T-Day +3.75 Here we are at Iris Ministries our base of operations in Dondo for our time in Mozambique.  Total travel time is 20 hours of flight time, 28 hours on the bus with 6 or more hours sitting around waiting for visas or any number of other things along the way.

My team is serving with at Kedesh, a boys home for orphans.  We will be helping with building housing, expanding the pond and a tree planting project they have going. 

Here we go, life on the mission field!

So a part of the World Race culture and mentality includes something known as feedback. Some people are not exactly fans of it and at times it's slightly awkward with a new group of people.  Yet the value I see in it is tremendous.

The idea behind feedback is to both affirm team mates with the good things they are doing and constructively point out areas that they could grow in.

Here is a few of the things that I have learned through feedback:
-I am a genuine person and share my heart but I am to critical of myself and need to look to the positive side of things more
-That at times I am present in mind but not in body.  That I need to pay closer attention and make more eye contact when people are talking to me.
-I have a gift using scripture to encourage others and should be willing to share it when the Lord leads me to.

So this is a few of the things that people have spoken into my life and I'm excited to see what else I will gain from living in this kind of community!  

What has your community spoken into your life recently?  Was it life giving?