orientation in colorado springs

such a blessing

I am finally getting around to closing my time in Colorado Springs so that 

I can get into my time in India - which has been crazy already!

Disclaimer, if this post is more detailed than you care to read, 

please forgive me and tune into the next one. It may only be interesting to family.

So, orientation was fantastic! There were probably 30-ish interns who have since been sent out around the globe to do their work in their respective offices. We stayed in a beautiful place where we had all of our meals and talks and most activities except for all of our active outings! All the interns got to take different personality/gifts assessments.

Katie - an ADPi sister :)

First, before arriving we took an assessment via Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. I learned that my top five strengths from a huuuuge list are: Strategic thinking and creative problem solving, that I am a developer who enjoys helping those around me grow, someone who values individualization or the unique qualities in those around me, an achiever which is just stamina and work ethic, and finally positive thinking! I was pretty overjoyed to find that these strengths are innate in me, especially when we started exploring different philosophies and research on effective personality development. Studies have shown that individuals have the most room for growth in areas where they already show strength or skill rather than trying to cultivate areas of weakness. I am so excited to try to grow and develop in these areas throughout my internship and beyond. 

our second hike

We then did a personality assessment and I found out that I am an 'Ic' personality type. Which I thought was a pretty neat. It is basically a less-common combination of outgoing, extroverted risk-taker meets cautious, detail-oriented planner. I'm interested to see how I see that play out while I am in India and excited to see how God challenges me in these traits.

love these sassy pals: Meggie (Uganda) and Katie (C. Springs)

Lastly, we talked about our spiritual gifts, which I was particularly nervous about because I have only ever had minimal exposure to gifts of the Spirit and typically only in a capacity that made me slightly uncomfortable. I found out that my main spiritual gift is Craftsmanship - which is so exciting because I have always longed for that gift as I have seen it in people I look up to! Some of my other gifts included Administration (I was super suprised that this is listed as a spiritual gift), Leadership and Mercy. 

we are ready to climb!

All of these inventories and tests were so interesting and fun but it felt sort of strange to spend so much time throughout the week on seemingly egocentric exercises. We then discussed how important it is to identify who it is that God designed us uniquely to be and understand the gifts and strengths He gave us so that we can be used to our full potential both individually and as His body of followers. Aha! Now it made sense.

the girl knows how to laugh

We did tons of stuff in that week: ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, two hikes, team building, sharing testimonies, and there was SO much togetherness. It was really difficult to say goodbye and it's even strange now to imagine all of my new friends in slightly different but basically the same position I am in at this very moment. It's an incredible sense of community even though we are all so far apart. After our last night of worship together, we helped each other melt a piece of climbing rope around our wrists so that we would have a physical reminder of each other, our time together, and our unified vision once we were all separated.

whole group on an old dam

bracelet making