Life Intensified

Hi everyone!

I hope you've been enjoying Jessica's vlogs!  As you might have picked up from those brief snippets of Training Center life, we've been very busy.  My intern team leader once referred to the internship as "life intensified", because we're cramming a year's worth of activity, learning, and growth into half that time.  That means these past couple weeks, while they've flown by so fast, also feel like a few months. :)

Amidst rehearsals, programs, saying goodbye to one PREP team and hello to a brand new one, I've been learning quite a bit!  One skill I've been exercising is being present in the moment--the choice to, for example, spend a fun evening connecting with my teammates instead of spending time on the computer.  Thus...no blog post for a week or two! :)

Here's a progress report, briefly skimming over life as an intern:

• Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals!  We're well on our way to developing the presentations we'll be using on our fall tour, and we've gotten several opportunities to present those for guests and other Training Center residents.  We've gotten very good at pulling together an hour-long program with a day's notice. 
• Tracks!  We've all started crafting the labs that our students will participate in during the conferences. I am super happy to be working with my good friend and fellow team member, Bethany, to lead Track Connect.  This track is for returning students ages 13-15.  It's been great combining our ideas to come up with an epic track. :)
• Fun!  Even though we've been getting a lot of stuff done, we've also had time for fun.  Every Sunday, we go to a generous neighbor's pool.  We also have regular game nights, and time to just chill and talk with each other.  I'm reminded of how much I appreciate this grace-filled, encouraging community.  

Until next time! 

~AnneMarie

And the Second Week is a Wrap!

Hey friends!

Here's a vlog showing some of the things we did during the second half of last week. One of the things you will see is an activity that Christa and I created and led during the Peacemaking day with Mrs. Lee. Basically, we started two teams off with different perspectives on their goal and then debriefed the different outcomes. Our goal was to give people a memorable way to remember "You see what you seek". Our approach and perspective on conflict determines much of the outcome.

It was so much fun having friends from home here to share in the Summer Institute experience!
Things are going swimmingly. Thank you for your encouragement!

Much love,
Jessica

Vlog #2

Hi friends!

We're into our second week here at the Summer Institute. I hope you enjoy this vlog! I had some help with filming this year, so video credits to Deanna and Mister Wendell.

One thing I am very excited about this week is that my brother Jason and my friend Hannah arrived for a week of Media PREP!

~Jessica

Video Blog!

Hey everyone! This is Jessica. 

I've put together a video blog of some of the team's thoughts and my thoughts about our first few days here. It's hard for me to believe it's only been three and a half days because we have done so much and been so productive.

As we've brainstormed as a team, I've realized more of what teamwork looks like. Instead of thinking that my idea is the best, or looking for one perfect idea, I've come to see that we need all our ideas to create the best outcome. Think of a painting. You need the bigger structural strokes, but you also need all the little details. This is how our team should work. We need all our ideas to create our masterpiece. 

I hope you enjoy the vlog!

From Murfreesboro,

Jessica

It's Begun!

Hi everyone!  It's AnneMarie.  After many months of anticipation, we arrived at the Institute for Cultural Communicator's (ICC's) Training Center in Tennessee this past Monday!  I, for one, am super excited to be starting this adventure at last.

These first few days have been pretty busy.  Here are some of the quick highlights:

• Fun team-building challenges when we first arrived.  These ranged anywhere from changing a tire on a 12 passenger van, checking said van's oil, and unloading all our luggage (in 20 minutes, with no guys on the team being allowed to touch the car and no one being allowed to touch their own luggage) all the way to creating a team worship presentation (in 20 minutes, without being able to use any personal pronouns while speaking). 
• Beginning work on team presentations.  Yes, the very same presentations we'll be presenting at every fall conference are already well under construction!  
• Painting boxes.  ICC has 6 core values: peacemaking, innovation, transformation, mentoring, community, and cultural communication.  We also have symbols and colors for each of our core values, and to create some bright and meaningful atmosphere we've been painting and stenciling boxes with those logos.  It's a great, fun activity to do together as a team. 

 That's a very, very skeletal list of all we've been doing so far.  It's all been great, and I've learned so much already.  However, one of the very first things that we did upon arrival was very striking to me.  We turned off our cell phones, handed them in to our team leader, and (temporarily) forgot all about texting and Instagram...for three days.

It was actually really funny seeing how everyone dealt with this change.  For the first day and a half, people were reflexively reaching for their pockets to check their phones (and panicking for a millisecond when they encountered an empty pocket...not that I did that or anything...).

But by day two, this compulsory phone checking began to disappear.  We actually started to appreciate how enjoyable it is not to be constantly tied to a cell phone.  In fact, when we finally did get our phones back earlier today, I realized that I don't need to rely on my technology as much as I thought I did.  Through the brief phone hiatus, I (and I think it's safe to say, we as a team) rediscovered the value of connecting with the people right in front of us.  There's something really freeing about being able to focus all your attention on a task or conversation.  After this, I know that when needed, I can make the choice to set distractions aside and focus on the experience of the moment.  

That being said, I'm happy to have my cell phone back now. :)

Be looking for a video blog from Jessica soon!

Until next time,
~AnneMarie