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April Newsletter

SHANNON’S CORNER
April 2019

In the midst of a busy season God has given me time where I have been able to find rest and refreshment in various ways.  It may look different or feel different for each of us but how important and necessary it is to find these times in our lives.  My rest and refreshment came in a variety of ways recently.  What joy it is as I pushed a number of kids on four different swings and the laughter and fun that they had while swinging.  It brought back many beautiful memories of the many, many times of pushing kids in the USA and in Peru.  The simple pleasure of being a kid again when playing with kids and the creativity that comes out in play.

God refreshed my soul at our women’s retreat in Cabarete.  A weekend of diving deep in God’s word learning more about prayer and fasting.  God challenged me in both of these areas in my life because apart from Him, I can do nothing.  God is my source of life and I need to long and anticipate not only being in His presence but also for His return.  It was also a weekend of celebration as we celebrated two bridal showers and one baby shower.

Spending a few precious days with family was also a breath of refreshment.  Since I do
not get to see them often I do treasure my time with them and try to make the most of it.  Having great conversation, laughter, playing, watching movies, eating amazing food, and doing activities together were just some of what I did during our visit.  It was also great to be able to spend Easter in the states.  I have missed being able to sing familiar Easter hymns about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I was in the states for a week of member care training led by Safe Place Ministry at the Common Ground Farm and Retreat in eastern Pennsylvania.  What a beautiful site!  The farm is nestled in the valley between the Appalachian Mountains with a babbling crick running through one part of the property and two ponds. There are cabins around the farm which is where we stayed that used to be various buildings converted into beautiful, quaint sleeping quarters.  Spring has come to the farm as many of the trees were budding and some have their leaves. The beautiful spring flowers are blooming and their lovely fragrances filling the air.

I stayed in the pond cabin, which was lovely and quaint.  My favorite part of my day was sitting by the pond listening to the choir of bullfrogs and various birds singing while watching the geese swim, the turtles sitting on a branch sticking out of the pond and seeing some of the fish swimming.  The tranquility of the pond was so very restful and refreshing to my mind, body and soul. My time at the pond became something I longed for each morning no matter how cold it was because it was a special time I had with my Creator in His creation.

Four of my colleagues who also serve in member care joined me in this training.  It was an intense week as a lot of information was discussed.  Part of the training was on what is member care to help us all understand its uniqueness and separateness from human resources yet how they both go hand in hand. It is like a set of train tracks. You cannot have only one set of rails to carry the load of the train.  You need both rails running parallel to one another to share the load of the train it carries.

Safe Place taught us the need for debriefing and how to go about debriefing a person, couple or family.  We were taught crisis intervention stress debrief, which is like psychological first aid after a pretty traumatic event.  It is stopping the “bleeding” until the person(s) are able to receive more appropriate care.  We discussed the five R’s of transition and how to help those in transition. We discussed the need and purpose for a sabbatical and how it should be implemented.  Safe Place gave our group time to sit and discuss how we can implement what we are learning in Kids Alive.

I came away from the training with a number of take aways. One take away is that I would like to learn more about how to be a debriefer.  As the facilitators were talking about debriefing it was something that really resonated with me deeply.  Another take away was to be on the lookout for a Dominican who I could mentor to be a member care person for our national staff.  A great take away is for our Kids Alive member care team has grown stronger due to this training and the resources we were given to become more united and equipped with the tools we need to do this job well.

PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise the Lord for an amazing Women’s Retreat!
Praise the Lord for Robin’s visit!
Praise the Lord for the training I received from Safe Place Ministry!
Praise the Lord for visiting family!
Pray for our Directors Retreat May 17th– 19th.
Pray for the training and orientation of our summer interns.
Pray for my spiritual life, I am intentional in spending time with God in both prayer and fasting.

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