We're Almost There!

Sorry about not updating this lately. But I didn't want to bore you with excessive blog updates on how my classes are going. So I'll probably break it up into two updates for these two weeks of classes.

There is a lot to learn in these 2 weeks! This is how a typical day is for me here at the RescueNet training. I wake up at 6:30 AM and take a shower, making sure not to touch anything, especially the ground with my bare feet, since the YWAM base opens up the showers to the homeless to use. Ick. We eat breakfast together at 7:00 and just hang out. Then classes start out with team/leadership training and worship for an hour. We then have different subjects for different days. And these classes go from about 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM with a few short breaks here and there! So it's just non-stop learning.

While we're here, there's a Discipleship training school going on as well. So it's nice to be able to go from hanging with people from RescueNet to people from the DTS who are more my age. So definitely a blessing!

So far, these are the subjects that we have gone over:
1. What is RescueNet
2. Christian Response to Crisis
3. Disaster Preparedness
4. Radio Communication
5. First Response Medicine (2 days)
6. Search & Rescue
7. Fire Suppression

Coming up:
Disaster Psychology
Disaster Child Care
Field awareness, Landmine awareness, Hostage Conduct
Team Organisation (Field Command)
Guidelines

So as you can see, there's a lot to cover in 2 weeks! As I write this, we have the nominated best fire chief in California talking to us about fire suppression!

Personally, I'm really tired. Not getting enough sleep plus all this learning just adds up. I think all the team is feeling the effects as well. The past few days we have started going into scenarios. These are supposed to put us into real life situations and force us to work as a team and put into practice what we have learned. For example, we had a bunch of the DTS kids volunteer to become victims. The proctors do all the make up and tell them what's wrong with them and pretty much create a multiple casualty incident (MCI). I was the leader on this last one for my team of 6. So we put into practice what we learned from search and rescue, to radio communications, and first response medicine. And it gets intense! But I love it! I love being overwhelmed in these situations and realizing what we can do better to make it all work. Out of everyone here, I'm one of the most learned in these areas. And I've found that I like to take control and do a very good job with telling others what to do in these situations and teaching them.

I have less than a week before we pack up and head off to Haiti! Then the good stuff will happen. I've talked with my leader, and asked if I could spend extra time in the clinics while I'm down there so that I can get as much experience as possible. I'll update this one more time before I leave. Pray for me and my team.

Thanks y'all,
Paul