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October Newsletter

SHANNON’S CORNER


October 2019

Autumn!  A season that marks a transition between summer and winter.  A season that represents ripeness and maturity such as the harvesting of crops, picking apples, and beauty such as the vibrant purples, reds, oranges and yellows that are displayed in nature that takes your breath away.  A season of letting go as the leaves fall off the trees and the temperatures drop.  A season representing preservation of life and its basic necessities as it offers a chance to reconnect.

Since leaving the states at the end of September I believe that I am walking through a very similar season of Autumn.  A season of transitioning from one aspect of ministry in the states to another here in the Dominican Republic.  My time of debrief prior to leaving the states was like the harvesting of a crop in seeing and reflecting on how God has used me and is still using me for the precious people group He has called me to serve here in the Dominican Republic.  But yet it offers the chance to reconnect with my fellow co-workers and church family in various ways. 

A goal I have is helping our missionaries to develop as an individual.  One way is through facilitating our annual evaluations with our missionaries.  It gives time for the missionary to pause and reflect upon what accomplishments he/she has done throughout the past year; where he/she would like to improve; and what are his/her goals for the coming year.  It’s an opportunity for the supervisor(s) to be able to speak into the missionary’s life regarding his/her strengths, continuing to strive for excellence and what goals the supervisor(s) has for the missionary in the coming year.  I should let you know that doing evaluations is really a new concept for our Dominican directors, so it is doing a lot of teaching in how to fill out the forms, the importance of doing the evaluations and even in facilitating how to go about doing the actual evaluation.

Being a facilitator is not as easy as it may seem.  Have you ever tried to organize a number
of different people’s schedules in order to be able to meet?  A piece of cake, right?  Not for me in some instances.  It has taken days with a lot of back and forth communication to come to a decision that works for all involved.  Some of my missionaries have a number of supervisors because of the many “jobs” that they do.  Making sure everyone has an opportunity to report.  When we gather for the meeting there are some things that are done before the meeting even begins.  You take time to greet one another, ask how the person is doing, make sure that everyone has a chair, and in some instances something to drink.  Then you are ready to start the process of the evaluation.  As a facilitator one of my main roles is to try to keep everyone on task as much as possible in order to finish the evaluation and not be meeting for longer than an hour.  Sounds easy, right?  But it’s not.  It takes finesse in knowing how to redirect everyone back on task but in a respectful manner that the person(s) feel like they have said what needed to be said.  This may all sound daunting, but it really has beneficial for all involved as well as bring unity within the team.

I’ve been busy in helping to organize and plan for Safe Place Ministry to come in November to spend time with our missionaries as well as our missionary retreat.  Please pray for this special time as we will be ministered too.

“There is a time for everything,
And a season for every activity
Under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise the Lord for sharing at various churches!
Praise the Lord for a very insightful debrief!
Praise the Lord for amazing conversations and quality time with family and friends!
Pray for visit from Safe Place Ministry November 10th-18th.
Pray for missionary retreat November 15th-17th. 
Pray for my spiritual life, specifically to be disciplined in my prayer life.
Pray for Nahomi, an intern at ANIJA leaving on November 3rd.

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