The Ivory Journey: Training!

So today was day 2 of training in Littleton, CO. at the WorldVenture headquarters. Colorado is gorgeous! We can see the Rockies from our windows, but the sad part is we haven't had much time to just go outside. Our days are filled with seminars and lecture, which have been great and overwhelming at the same time.

WorldVenture's lobby

Sunday, after two fairly short flights, I arrived in Colorado. I found my way to the baggage claim and somehow managed to carry all my belongings (i'm convinced God gave me momentary super human strength!). I found 2 of my fellow journeyer and we caught a shuttle to the headquarters. We found Jason there and the other 6 journeyers arrived a few hours later.

This was such a surreal experience- just meeting everyone! Every 10 minutes or so (without fail) you would hear one of us saying, "I can't believe we're actually here!". It felt like we were in a dream. This adventure that we had all been looking forward to was actually beginning.

Our kitchen area

The conference room we've been living in

Monday morning we started bright and early and jumped straight into orientation. Lectures and tours and talks galore, on culture, rest, and personality tests! I have to admit, Monday was difficult for me. I felt so overwhelmed! I kept thinking, "What am I getting myself into?!" Here we are, 10 strangers, who will eventually be a close community and source of support, but we are just trying to get to know each other. Such a surreal day. Monday felt like an eternity! I was really struggling with missing the familiar, which I know will be a struggle at different times over the next year.

Roommate CJ and my stuff exploded!

Today was different- and I'm so thankful! I felt calmed and a peace about where we were going. Our lectures today were on heavier matters: culture shock, spiritual warfare, conflict, moral purity, language, and the President of WorldVenture came to talk with us, but somehow it all felt assuring. We're all getting to know each other and I'm really looking forward to serving with these awesome people. Everyone is different, but there are so many similarities. We're spending a lot of time figuring out how God made us, our personalities, how we respond to stress, what fills us up... the list goes on and on. Today was really just fun! BUT we were all anxious to get outside. Keeping 10 adventurous young people in a conference room for hours on end made us all a little loopy. Tonight we got to take the train into Denver and have dinner and our last big dose of American culture. There was a lot of laughter as we were all able to let loose and enjoy/brave the cold weather! The wind was FREEZING- I mean, we all packed for tropical climate! Now we're all gathered in our little living room area watching The Prince of Egypt.