MTS according to Rae

We were privileged to be allowed to attend the Missionary Training Seminar put on by Asian Baptist Clearing house a few weeks ago. It was a five day training week, held at a camp a couple of hours from Manila. All in all it was a good experience, and I'm glad we went, but it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine believe me!

Cliff and I heard about this week of intense training, and asked if there was any way that we could attend. We were "accepted" so to speak, and were allowed to audit as many classes as we wanted, but were also asked to help in the kitchen.

It worked out pretty well, we helped in the kitchen after breakfast and supper, and were still able to go to all the classes that we wanted.  Most of the classes were applicable to us, even though we're not going into foreign missions.

Some of our favorite classes were:
Doing Deputaion
Husband and Wife Relationships
Church Planting
Missionary Finances

I personally especially liked the class for couple's, it was really insightful and interesting. I liked most of the classes, there were a few that wouldn't apply to us, but that was OK.

The whole week was good training for us, and it was nice to get away from the city for a few days. We had an OK room, but it had it's own bathroom which was nice.  We had evenings and a long lunch hour to spend together, so we read and played games, and spent some time talking with the other missionary couples.  That was very encouraging and uplifting, especially getting to talk to the American missionaries!  How we've missed non-broken English conversation!  It was a nice getaway. 

Now for the unpleasant part.  I don't like Filipino food, and I especially don't like how it's prepared. Food hygiene has not hit the Philippines yet.  Cross-contamination and dirty work surfaces are quite common, and the kitchen we were working in did not have hot water.  Coming from my catering background, I was not happy, but it's their culture and I can't change it. I didn't eat much that week though. Other than the food it was a good week, and I'm glad we went.