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Debrief Retreat for First-Term Missionaries

On the evening of February 25th to the evening of February 26th, I hosted our first debrief retreat for our first-term missionaries.  There are nine adults who fit into this category of a first-termer.  If you do not know what a first-termer is then let me explain it.  A missionary signs a contract or covenant to serve in a capacity for one year, two years or a three year term initially with an organization prior to becoming a long-term missionary.

This idea for a debrief retreat was birthed at the Missio Nexus Conference I attended last fall in the workshop called, The Crucible for the First-Term.  The guest speaker near the end of her presentation shared how it would help support and encourage the first-term missionaries to have a debrief time set aside during that first-term.  Having various missionaries at various stages in the first-term is also healthy for them to share with others struggling in the first-term what they have learned.

My hope and prayers was for us here in the Dominican Republic to create an environment of support, encouragement, a safe place to share struggles and challenges and self-reflection and evaluation.  But also, as well as a time of renewal in God's Word.

The 24 hours was focused around Psalm 23 as the Lord is our Shepherd.

The various sessions we discussed:

  • Stress Management
  • Retraining the Brain & Building Behavioral Reinforcements
  • Dominican Republic Culture by Victor Herrera the president of Vida para Ninos (KAI DR)
  • Grieving the Losses
  • Maintaining and Promoting Spiritual Formation
    Stressors:  Daily Hassles
Stressors:  Situational Factors

Losses & Feelings

Fears & Hopes

I enjoyed two different activities that we did together, one with two different colores of play dough.  One color represented USA culture and the other color represented DR culture.  They were to show how well acclimated to the two cultures they are with the play dough.  The group shared why they made what they made and what it represented in their lives.  The other activity, the group was to draw how they were feeling now.  We did not have time for everyone to share but many showed their pictures they drew and explained to the group how they were feeling and the significance of their drawing.

As I was planning for this debrief the one thing the Lord gave to me was to set up prayer stations using Psalm 23.  One reason was to give our missionaries time with our Lord because sometimes we can get busy and not spend as much time as we would like to.  Another reason is because we learned in CIT that there are 12 ways to communicate and the best communicators are more with our senses.  The last 90 minutes of our time the group passed through five prayer stations as they felt led.
  • "I AM" - (Exodus 3:13-15; John 8:58) 
    • Who does God says he is to you during this past year?  
    • What name has God given you to call him throughout this past year?
  • Rest.  Be Still - (Matthew 11:28; Psalm 91:1; Psalm 46:10a; Exodus 14:14; Psalm 23:2)
    • Rest.  Take deep breaths to clear your mind from distractions
    • Rest.  Visualize or imagine your favorite place
    • Invite Jesus to come and be with you there
  • False Beliefs - (Psalm 23:3b; Proverbs 13:5a; Ephesians 4:25)
    • On the body printout
      • Choose a color, write what lies you believe that people say about you and draw a line to the area of the body where you feel it.
      • Choose another color, write what lies you believe about yourself and draw a line to the area of your body where you feel it.
      • Invite the Holy Spirit to speak truth into these lies
        • Using a red color, write what truth the Holy Spirit gives you
        • On a note card, write that truth down and place the note care where you will see it on a daily basis to remember God's truth to you.
  • Healing and Restoration - (Psalm 23:3a; Colossians 1:20; Colossians 2:14-15; Psalm 51:12a)
    • Bring your wounds and hurts to the cross to receive healing and restoration
      • Invite the Holy Spirit to identify a wound or hurt in your life
      • Take a band-aide, write on it your wound or hurt
      • When you are ready place that band-aide on the cross
      • Thank the Lord for his healing in your life!
      • Embrace the Victory of the Cross!
  • Communion - (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
    • Are you in right relationship with God?
    • Are you in a right relationship with your fellow man?
    • When you are ready, partake of the Lord's supper.
  • Blessings & Gratitudes & Praises - (Psalm 23:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; Proverbs 10:6a; Psalm 150:6)
    • Take a post-it and write one blessing, praise or gratitude per post-it
    • Place it on the Blessings Wall
    • Take time to Praise and Thank our Lord for what He has done for you

Thank you for all your prayers!  May you receive the Lord's blessing through this retreat.

Working with play dough

Working with play dough

Victor talking about Dominican Culture

Drawing feelings

Drawing feelings

Healing & Restoration

False Beliefs

Blessings Wall

Communion

"I AM"

Prayer time

Rest.  Be Still.

False Beliefs

Healing & Restoration

Comments

  1. kairos ichabod timesMarch 3, 2018 at 6:49 AM

    How exciting to me. I was thinking king about when I set up multisensory prayer stations. I have not done it for a long time. Thank you for doing that with the missionaries. What a blessing. Thank you for sharing. Love you. Alice Jean

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 3, 2018 at 7:25 AM

    Certainly this process was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The only way to deal with the lies we have believed is to replace them with God's truth.

    ReplyDelete

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