A capsule of some of the training we received at the MTC, I wanted to report on:
From Theriot....family services therapist. He holds up a notebook. We see the back of the notebook that is black and the other side is facing him. He asks: 'what color is this notebook?'
'Black'
He says, no it's white. He then describes the side he sees which is white with the writing of such and such.
Is one right and the other wrong? No, it's just different perspectives. The notebook was both black and white depending on which viewpoint you had. So both were right, both were wrong. Same with disagreements and same with opinions, etc. Especially when it comes to your companion, you need to remember that we are right AND we are wrong, it just depends on your perspective! I loved the object lesson.
Again with his notebook, he put it directly in front of his face. When thinking of your inadequacies we sometimes let them eclipse everything else going on, just like when we put a notebook in front of our faces. We see nothing but our weaknesses. Put them down! Put the notebook down in your lap. A bigger picture. More accurate. Never allow your inadequacies eclipse everything. Keep the big picture.
You want to let someone know you care? You talk 1/3 of the time and they talk 2/3 of the time! Smile and listen. You create an atmosphere of caring. Be very slow to give advice. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. The goal in our mission? One to one connection. Impact the life of one person.
With our spouse we are supposed to take time at the end of our day and give each other 5 min to share our emotions of the day. Not what we did, but what we felt. Each one gets 5 min of uninterrupted time to share.
-empathetic
-listen
-never blame, ever!
Then he showed a video from youtube called 'the nail'.....worth watching if you haven't already seen it.
We loved his presentation. This was just one morning course.
Others were great too. It's not all fun and games and there was a lot to learn: PDW (project development worksheet) and CDW (CHAS development worksheet). There is the LDS Charities totem pole: ICC (in country coordinators or better know as 'boots on the ground'...BOTG???) that's us...and at the bottom of that totem pole by the way. In that totem pole there are directors and managers and specialists in the field. There are directors and managers and technical specialists in SLC. And yes, the ICC are still at the bottom of both poles, and quite delighted to be there by the way!!!
There are Major Global initiatives as opposed to Area initiatives and ER (emergency relief to sustain life) as well as HUM (humanitarian, which has the sustained long term perspective and long term poverty alleviation). There is an aid spectrum (Relief, Recovery, Development) There are partnerships. There are Resettlement Agencies. There are objectives and outcomes to be evaluated. There are member Welfare Projects.
There was a course in legal requirements. There is an ALC (Area Legal Counsel). There are residency and work permits and registration with the Government. There are model written agreements to use and customize. We even had a course on purifying water and using filters and proper plastics to maintain clean water.
Did you get some of those acronyms? PDW, CDW, CHAS, MI, AI, ER, HUM, ALC...
You get the idea. It's huge. It's well organized. There are thousands of volunteers as well as paid employees. The church takes the mandate to relieve suffering and care for the poor (powerless and no hope, not specific to material things) and the needy of all nationalities and religions, very seriously. Very, very seriously and they do something about it. This was drilled into your head: the first principle of aid is RESPECT. Become a servant of the local people.
I felt the need to write down just a brief description of some of the training we had in SLC. This coming week we receive even more intense training for our specific job here in Italy. As I said, I get the feeling that right now is the calm before the storm.
From Theriot....family services therapist. He holds up a notebook. We see the back of the notebook that is black and the other side is facing him. He asks: 'what color is this notebook?'
'Black'
He says, no it's white. He then describes the side he sees which is white with the writing of such and such.
Is one right and the other wrong? No, it's just different perspectives. The notebook was both black and white depending on which viewpoint you had. So both were right, both were wrong. Same with disagreements and same with opinions, etc. Especially when it comes to your companion, you need to remember that we are right AND we are wrong, it just depends on your perspective! I loved the object lesson.
Again with his notebook, he put it directly in front of his face. When thinking of your inadequacies we sometimes let them eclipse everything else going on, just like when we put a notebook in front of our faces. We see nothing but our weaknesses. Put them down! Put the notebook down in your lap. A bigger picture. More accurate. Never allow your inadequacies eclipse everything. Keep the big picture.
You want to let someone know you care? You talk 1/3 of the time and they talk 2/3 of the time! Smile and listen. You create an atmosphere of caring. Be very slow to give advice. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. The goal in our mission? One to one connection. Impact the life of one person.
With our spouse we are supposed to take time at the end of our day and give each other 5 min to share our emotions of the day. Not what we did, but what we felt. Each one gets 5 min of uninterrupted time to share.
-empathetic
-listen
-never blame, ever!
Then he showed a video from youtube called 'the nail'.....worth watching if you haven't already seen it.
We loved his presentation. This was just one morning course.
Others were great too. It's not all fun and games and there was a lot to learn: PDW (project development worksheet) and CDW (CHAS development worksheet). There is the LDS Charities totem pole: ICC (in country coordinators or better know as 'boots on the ground'...BOTG???) that's us...and at the bottom of that totem pole by the way. In that totem pole there are directors and managers and specialists in the field. There are directors and managers and technical specialists in SLC. And yes, the ICC are still at the bottom of both poles, and quite delighted to be there by the way!!!
There are Major Global initiatives as opposed to Area initiatives and ER (emergency relief to sustain life) as well as HUM (humanitarian, which has the sustained long term perspective and long term poverty alleviation). There is an aid spectrum (Relief, Recovery, Development) There are partnerships. There are Resettlement Agencies. There are objectives and outcomes to be evaluated. There are member Welfare Projects.
There was a course in legal requirements. There is an ALC (Area Legal Counsel). There are residency and work permits and registration with the Government. There are model written agreements to use and customize. We even had a course on purifying water and using filters and proper plastics to maintain clean water.
Did you get some of those acronyms? PDW, CDW, CHAS, MI, AI, ER, HUM, ALC...
You get the idea. It's huge. It's well organized. There are thousands of volunteers as well as paid employees. The church takes the mandate to relieve suffering and care for the poor (powerless and no hope, not specific to material things) and the needy of all nationalities and religions, very seriously. Very, very seriously and they do something about it. This was drilled into your head: the first principle of aid is RESPECT. Become a servant of the local people.
I felt the need to write down just a brief description of some of the training we had in SLC. This coming week we receive even more intense training for our specific job here in Italy. As I said, I get the feeling that right now is the calm before the storm.
Ah, good ol' family services. They do have some amazing therapists on their payroll! Good luck keeping all of those acronyms straight!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing some of what you learned at the MTC. Great advice for sure!
ReplyDeleteReally good advice! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete