Ok so last Saturday when I arrived, so did most of the other newbies. There were about 10 of us. It was all a little confusing at first but here’s how it works. All new people go through a training program at OM Lifehope, called Toolkit. Lifehope is the specific branch of Operation Mobilization that I’ll be working with for the next 2 months. The facility is here in Halesowen, UK about 45min outside of Birmingham. It’s a cute small town, and everything I could need, including a subsidiary of Walmart is within walking distance. J
So, it breaks down like this. Most of the newbies are here in the UK for 4 months. (I’m an exception I’m only here for 2 months). So they give us the title GA-4. GA stands for Global Action, and the number represents how long you’ll be staying with OM. During our Toolkit last week, there were also 2 more Toolkits going on, with GA-8 and GA-12. Now there are lots of different programs and lengths of time you can be with OM, so some of my new friends here are on the 2 year plan, and some may just be here for as little as 6 weeks. But every 4 weeks everyone descends on the base and gets more training. So the longer you’re here the more training you get. As you can imagine, it was kinda crazy last Sunday evening when this place went from like 15 people to about 35 over the course of 2 hours!!!
After a week of Toolkit training, which involves bible study, team building exercises and sleep deprivation, everyone is divided up into teams. Each team then moves off the base (except for my team) to another city where they partner with a local church for outreach ministry. The idea is that we help that church in any outreach…so kids, youth, homeless, drug-addicts, etc. etc. This is where it gets really interesting. Each team is made up of people from around the world. We all speak English, but for most it’s a second language. Each team lives in a rented house, they cook together, clean together, pray together and do EVERYTHING together for 4 weeks. They may take over existing ministries at their local church or they might start new ones. Then they come back to the base for more training and it starts over again. You may be in the same team the whole time, or depending on circumstances you might get re-assigned.
I’m on the team that will live on base in Halesowen, UK. So no more moving for me until mid-July! Woohoo. There are pros and cons to this living situation. The pros, I don’t have to move again, I get all my meals provided if I wish and spending money for meals if I don’t, AND access to all the amenities here including the library, internet, DVDs, and laundry. The library is good because they give us homework, and part of it is a GIANT cultural project due in July. Yuck. The con is this: the UK has really weird laws regarding kitchens, so none of us are allowed to cook. Yeah. That part sucks. We have a lovely man named Trever who is our full-time cook. He provides one hot meal a day and keeps lunch meat, cereal and fruit around for the other meals. This is wonderful, BUT I do kind of get tired of eating the same thing everyday. However I’ve been told that we get food money if we aren’t eating on base, AND it’s the church’s responsibility to find people to host you for at least 1 meal a day if you are too busy or far to make it back to base/team house. Oh yeah. The other con is that there are several rules for living on base, nothing major just like camp rules, like a curfew and quiet time, that sort of thing. No biggie.
Today is Memorial Day for you, but a Bank Holiday for England. So, we had a day off cause the church didn’t need us today. SO, I got to rest and update this blog. And I needed it. J
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