I am not sure it is possible to describe for you what life is like here at the International Learning Center. It would be easy for us to write every day about the things that we did or the topics that we studied and that would give you a glimpse of what life was like here. But to know what Field Personnel Orientation is really like you would have to experience it. So, I am going to try my best to describe what it is really like to live here.
ILC is located outside of Richmond, VA on what used to be a sprawling farm. We are surrounded by a small pond, woods and fields filled with cows. It is hot here. Dang hot. And that comes from somebody who has lived in Florida for the past 10 years! Though, I must admit, this week has been cooler. The high today was only in the low 90s. All 400 of us (kids included) live together in a closed community. While some people have cars and it is possible to borrow one of the ILC vans, we are encouraged to stay on campus with the exceptions of nights and weekends. While visitors are allowed, they are not permitted to stay overnight. What this means is that in the short time we have been here we have all inherited an "instant family." The kids call the adults "Aunt" and "Uncle" and while we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, living communally makes you pretty dang close! In many ways the atmosphere here reminds me a lot of college with the major difference being that we have people here from newborns to senior citizens.
Tonight I spent several hours with my friend "R". He is a retired firefighter from one of the states whose football teams got beat this past weekend and he has a love for witnessing to people about Jesus like few that I have ever met. He will be serving in the Central & Eastern Europe region, the same as Kellye and I. "R" and I spent the evening in the great room of my quad working on his computer. As we were finishing with his computer (and the plate of cookies that Kellye fixed for us) we were joined by "M" who is going to one of the countries that we do not talk about out loud. "M" is a recent college graduate and is serving as a Journeyman. He and I love to tell stories, play cards and laugh together and he has become an adopted member of our family. Anyway, it is nearly 11pm here and we just finished socializing for the night.
Speaking of adopted family members, we have also "adopted" several of the JourneyGirls (recent college graduates) who have befriended Sarah Beth. In actuality, we see very little of our children. Tonight John-John played video games with the older boys in the quad across the sidewalk. Hannah spent the evening with her group of friends in the quad two doors down and Sarah Beth went to Wal-Mart with the JourneyGirls. But the thing about communal living is that tomorrow all of the kids may wind up here at our quad with all of their friends. (More about that in a bit.) We all know each others' kids and we look out for all of them. It very much reminds me of the quote, "It takes a village to raise a child." We really are more like a small village than we are anything else. And even our village is made up of smaller parts. The two main buildings on campus are the cafeteria and the Global Center. Both are located relatively in the middle of campus. Those of us on one side of the campus tend to fellowship with one another in the evenings while the other side of campus tends to do the same.
Recreation also brings us together as a family. We do not have televisions in our quads and consequently most evenings are spent fellowshipping with each other or watching the kids on the playground. Each evening some folks get together for basketball, football or soccer. Others go for walks around campus or up to the main road and back, but usually we are all engaged in some kind of group activity. It is not uncommon for a Phase-10 game to break out in the great room of our quad. Last night after church we had about 20 people in our quad telling stories and eating goodies while in the quad across from us there were about 30 children (ages 5 to 15) having a fellowship of their own. For an extrovert like me, this life is not bad and I never get tired of hanging out with people, telling stories and laughing and crying together. But for an introvert like Kellye this life is starting to wear a little thin as we enter our fifth week of training.
Oh, and I didn't even mention cafeteria food. While we are grateful that Southern Baptists have provided us with three meals a day, eating together in the cafeteria day in and day out can become a chore in and of itself. In fact, this weekend several of us "escaped" to town and had lunch at Pizza Hut. mmmmmmmmmmmm Even I will admit that the food has been pretty good while we have been here. But "leftover weekends" can be a little much for me. Example: This weekend we had leftover turkey and gravy. Which would have been fine, but we didn't have turkey this past week. :-(
I am sure that Kellye will write more about this and post a few photos of her own, but tonight Hannah and her friends entertained us with a concert from their musical group, "Top Rockers." There were about 35 people (adults and children) who showed up for their concert in the neighboring quad. They sang and danced, played guitar and even got both "M" and "R" to get up and dance with them! It was much fun and Kellye will describe more about the night in her posting.
I hope that gives you a little bit more of an idea of what life here is like. For the most part we enjoy it, but after four weeks here we are all eager to complete our training and get to the field.
Orientation continues to go well and we have what will be an emotionally exhausting 6-day week ahead of us. (We didn't get off today for Labor Day because that is "an American holiday" and we have classes from 8-5 this Saturday.)
We love each of you and miss you already. Thanks for reading.
Blessings,
Marc
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