March 13th to the 17th!

This week has been amazing. Our teacher/speaker was Mrs. Robin Thompson. She is an african american woman from the United States. She was teaching on team building, but she taught it in a very unique way. Her approach was that we need to deal with ourselves and our own issues before we can ever be a valuable member of a team. Her whole theme was "Beyond the Mirror", which basically meant to look beyond the immediate. To dive deeper and see things how God really sees things, such as ourselves and others. Monday was an incredible day. We did an exercise where we had to answer five questions adn then for each of the answers we had to give three adjectives to describe our answer. For example the first question was what is your favourite color? And then we had to give three words to describe our answer. After we had given all of our answers to these seemingly simple questions we found out that there was a deeper meaning to all of the answers that we gave. Going along with the first example that I was using, the three words we used to describe our favourite color was really describing how we view ourselves. And for me this really matched up with the answers that I gave. It was incredible. That first day Robin also spoke prophetic words to each of the students. She told me that I'm scared of how God is going to use my leadership abilities. Which is incredibly true. Even last week i had been struggling with just wanting to follow along with others instead of tapping into the gift that God has given me. So that was just a confirmation for me that I do need to use taht ability taht I have, and that God has a purpose for me which includes being a leader. Then on Wednesday Robin felt that she wasn't supposed to talk and that others had things that they should share. Many people went up and shared about their lives...their struggles and hardships and all that has brought them to the point that they are at now. It was very emotional and empowering. After everyone shared we prayed for them. Some people were VERY open and honest and shared alot of personal things. Which really brought us close as a group. It was incredible to experience. This week we also learned very basic things such as dealing with other team members and different personalities. And seeing how different people's point of views or perspectives can change a situation. It was a great week. I learned alot and we are alot tighter as a group of students and staff!
I also got a chance to play soccer (football as they call it here) yesterday with the guys from the comunity. Once again they were all quite impressed that a white girl could keep up with them. And i think that they were talking about me, but i didn't understand everything that tehy said because it was in Patois. I also scraped up my knee really really badly, because the field needs more grass and less gravel!!!! So Jermaine won't let me play tomorrow morning with the guys again until my leg is healed properly. And he's right!!!!
I'm also going out tonight for my birthday. I don't knwo what we're doing, it's a surprise. But also tomorrow Jermaine is taking me to go swim with the dolphins! It should be a great time!
Thanks for all of your prayers. Continue to pray for me. Blessings, Kristen