Week 7 was Holy Spirit week, in which we learned all about the Holy Spirit. Where he (not it) is described in the Bible, how he is represented, and what he does. We learned about the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, spiritual ministries and calls, and cool stuff like that. The speaker was Olu Robbin-Coker, a really cool guy from Sierra Leone.
on week 8, we learned about the Kingdom of God (or, as it is referred to in Matthew, the Kingdom of Heaven). Basically, the Kingdom is essentially what Christians (not just missionaries!) are supposed to try to bring about in the world, with God's help and guidance. The kingdom covers all areas of society and life (see Matt. 13:33), but will not be fully realized until Christ comes again, though we can work (with God) to try and bring it partially about now.
The speaker was a German who had been doing missionary work in Asia.
Week 9, we learned about Missions. the History, purposes, goals, and techniques. The speaker was Chris Child, a British guy who was a missionary in Malawi for 11 years. Ône of the things that he taught was that missionaries cannot just talk about Jesus's salvation. They also need to help build the foundation of the people's faith with the values and principles about God in the old testament, so the people can hold onto their faith.
in the first half of week 10, we learned about Spiritual Warfare, again from Chris Child. We learned about the attacks of the enemy, and how to keep faith and hope in the midst of them.
in the second half of week 10, and the first half of week 11, we learned about Stewardship, from Stephan Schmid, a base staff member. He talked about being a good steward of your money, your gifts, your relationships, and your time (that's one I need to work on).
the second half of week 11, we learned about Leadership. We learned the characteristics of a good leader, and different styles of leadership.
Week 12, we didn't really have any lectures. It was mostly consumed by preparing for the outreach in Kenya, cleaning the base up, and packing for christmas break. we did take a nice team picture:
On thursday, we all said tearful goodbyes, and each went our separate ways for a week of Christmas break (the 20th to the 28th).
