SPLICE

The next three weeks at MTI were spent doing SPLICE. Again, this word is an acronym:

Spiritual 

Personal 

Lifestyle 

Interpersonal 

Culture 

Endure / Enjoy

It was a full on three weeks! Thankfully getting e.coli only led to me missing the first full day and a half.  I don't think I really knew what to expect going into the course but it was an incredible and transformative experience. Here's just a taster of what we looked at:

Spiritual - we spent time looking at our spiritual lives and how to continue to cultivate a strong relationship with God, even in the midst of stress, transition into a new culture and busy ministry.  This included looking at how to rest well and how to have Sabbaths and how crucial those are to our spiritual, and therefore ministry, vitality.

Personal - we all have values that we hold dear, that shape how we live, and some of those are good and even Biblical but some are simply cultural. We spent time identifying our values and how that may affect how we enter new cultures.  We also looked at how to manage stress and grief and loss.

Lifestyle - we looked at our life style choices, what transition into a new culture looks like, and team issues.

Interpersonal - this included looking at conflict and different ways different personalities approach and handle conflict.  This was incredibly practical and very informative!

Culture - how to enter a new culture, how to learn about culture, language acquisiton...

Endure / Enjoy - being a missionary is full of paradoxes.  There are things that are amazing and things that aren't so great.  At MTI we had a "pair of ducks" (say it quickly and you'll end up with "paradox") - a yay duck and a yuck duck.  It was great to be able to process the paradoxes we'll face and tools that we can use so we can endure, and even thrive, even with yucks.

As well as a lot of teaching on the above areas and more we spent time with a personal coach each week and every couple of days you would meet in with a group called your growth group to discuss some of the different topics we were learning about. I am so incredibly thankful for my time with my coach and for the wonderful women in my growth group.

There's going to be another post on the community of MTI itself but I left MTI after SPLICE knowing that every visa form and the money involved in paying for MTI was worth it.  The things I learnt at MTI, by God's grace, transformed me and will hopefully help me serve and live well in the Czech Republic.  

Thank you so much for your support as I went to and received training!