Three down and three to go. In my last post I shared 3 activities (Networking, Training and Sharing Resources) that I'm involved with as WGM's Compassionate Ministries Coordinator. Today I'll talk about three more activities with examples from what I've been doing the past month or so.
Coaching is . . . .
Coaching is . . . .
. . . . supporting a learner in achieving a specific personal or professional goal. This is something I'm dabbling in and that I hope to learn more about.
Meet Mary Hermiz. She went to Tenwek in 1986 and I was her very first housemate and we have been friends ever since. In this picture she is serving cake to Tenwek leaders along with a Tenwek Community Health Staff member who graduated from the Tenwek School of Nursing.
She is older (by a bit) and wiser than me and she was an excellent role model to me and many others.
She retired as Principal of the Tenwek School of Nursing a few years ago and in retirement she's looking for a new challenge. Before going to Tenwek she worked in Papua New Guinea and I think you leave your heart wherever God first sends you. She has been back several times and God is showing her opportunities. Opportunities for the medical work that she was involved in many years ago, opportunities for the body of believers, and opportunities for the WGM'ers. Mary wants to champion these opportunities! She is getting more training - remember the CoramDeo online training I talked about in my last post - she's doing it. She's even doing the extra credit exercises! CHE training - she just attended her 2nd training and took the PNG Field Director with her.
By now you may be saying, "So what do you have to do with any of this. Sounds like Mary is a pretty sharp tack." She is sharp! But transformational development is slightly outside the realm that Mary has worked in. So she's coming to me and asking questions. We talk on the phone, we skype, we email and we met in person with the PNG team back in February. I don't know all the answers to her questions but I am figuring out what it means to be a coach while Mary is figuring out what it means to champion a people group and ministry.
Meet Mary Hermiz. She went to Tenwek in 1986 and I was her very first housemate and we have been friends ever since. In this picture she is serving cake to Tenwek leaders along with a Tenwek Community Health Staff member who graduated from the Tenwek School of Nursing.
She is older (by a bit) and wiser than me and she was an excellent role model to me and many others.
She retired as Principal of the Tenwek School of Nursing a few years ago and in retirement she's looking for a new challenge. Before going to Tenwek she worked in Papua New Guinea and I think you leave your heart wherever God first sends you. She has been back several times and God is showing her opportunities. Opportunities for the medical work that she was involved in many years ago, opportunities for the body of believers, and opportunities for the WGM'ers. Mary wants to champion these opportunities! She is getting more training - remember the CoramDeo online training I talked about in my last post - she's doing it. She's even doing the extra credit exercises! CHE training - she just attended her 2nd training and took the PNG Field Director with her.
By now you may be saying, "So what do you have to do with any of this. Sounds like Mary is a pretty sharp tack." She is sharp! But transformational development is slightly outside the realm that Mary has worked in. So she's coming to me and asking questions. We talk on the phone, we skype, we email and we met in person with the PNG team back in February. I don't know all the answers to her questions but I am figuring out what it means to be a coach while Mary is figuring out what it means to champion a people group and ministry.
The WGM Papua New Guinea team with Mary during our February meeting
Consulting:
Earlier this year I was asked to join former Tenwek staff, Dr. Mark and Kim Freije, and another couple on a trip to Asia. We visited a variety of people and organizations and my goal was to assess whether there were opportunities for WGM.
Although I'm a picky eater, when it comes to foods I can't identify, I agreed to go and see how WGM could be involved. Not normally a fan of fast food I found myself at the door to McDonald's more that week than during a 6 month Homeland Assignment!
Food aside, my meetings with the local people have led me to believe that there are opportunities for WGM! And people, everywhere. All in one place. The cities are HUGE!
Although I'm a picky eater, when it comes to foods I can't identify, I agreed to go and see how WGM could be involved. Not normally a fan of fast food I found myself at the door to McDonald's more that week than during a 6 month Homeland Assignment!
Food aside, my meetings with the local people have led me to believe that there are opportunities for WGM! And people, everywhere. All in one place. The cities are HUGE!
Although I saw very modern cities and of course modern restaurants (does it get more modern than McDonalds?) the people are enslaved by lies their culture is teaching them. What opportunities to share truth and dispel the lies. (That actually is true for every country out there.) Hopefully you'll be hearing more on this in the months to come.
A bonus of this trip was to get to visit with WGM MK's Nick and Denise & Josh and their 3 adorable girls who are working in this part of the world.
Hooray for WGM family around the world!
Enabling:
Enablers get a bad rap in today's world but not all enabling is bad, right? For instance, enabling people to fulfill their call to serve the needy. Almost 3 years ago I met Jen and Todd via email before they traveled to Tenwek Hospital where they were going to spend 2 years. Jen, an educator, is not medical and was looking for how to get involved. She has a heart for the South Sudanese so she was introduced to me. Within a month of their arrival in Kenya Jen and I were off to South Sudan and I introduced her to several of our partners. She immediately connected with the team in Nyinbule and had the gifts to meet a training need they had.
Over the past 2 years Jen has made 7 trips to Nyinbule and has used Community Health Empowerment and other tools to train children, teachers and teens. The unstable security situation prevented her from making even more trips.
Todd, a general surgeon, learned how to do cataract surgery and volunteered on one of our Cataract Clinics as well as led a Surgery Clinic in South Sudan.
I'm happy to enable people who come to serve with WGM to reach out and use their gifts. In March I said goodbye to Jen and Todd as they left Kenya but I hope our paths continue to cross and mingle in the future as we continue reaching out to the needy.
So . . . this is what I've been up to. In order to see people, communities and Nations transformed into all that God has for them I will be connecting with WGM missionarys and volunteers in order to coach, consult, enable, facilitate training, share resources and network. Pray for me please! This is certainly a God-sized task.
Enablers get a bad rap in today's world but not all enabling is bad, right? For instance, enabling people to fulfill their call to serve the needy. Almost 3 years ago I met Jen and Todd via email before they traveled to Tenwek Hospital where they were going to spend 2 years. Jen, an educator, is not medical and was looking for how to get involved. She has a heart for the South Sudanese so she was introduced to me. Within a month of their arrival in Kenya Jen and I were off to South Sudan and I introduced her to several of our partners. She immediately connected with the team in Nyinbule and had the gifts to meet a training need they had.
Over the past 2 years Jen has made 7 trips to Nyinbule and has used Community Health Empowerment and other tools to train children, teachers and teens. The unstable security situation prevented her from making even more trips.
Todd, a general surgeon, learned how to do cataract surgery and volunteered on one of our Cataract Clinics as well as led a Surgery Clinic in South Sudan.
So . . . this is what I've been up to. In order to see people, communities and Nations transformed into all that God has for them I will be connecting with WGM missionarys and volunteers in order to coach, consult, enable, facilitate training, share resources and network. Pray for me please! This is certainly a God-sized task.
