I, Jocelyn am excited about my new role has Learning and Development Coordinator at MAFC. I had a great time being able to sit through our Candidate Orientation and see 4 new families accepted into the MAFC team. It was such an awesome time to spend with these new MAFers. Let me introduce you, from left to right we have Liz and Zak Stauffer, Jonathan and Melissa Neudorf, Whitney Schmidt, and Emma and Reuben Vermeulen. Click on their names to visit their missionary page and read a little bit about who they are.
The purpose of the Candidate Orientation week is for the candidates to get to know MAFC better and for MAFC to get to know them. Joining MAF is a discernment process and we all want to make sure that we are following God's path in joining MAF.
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They also have the chance to get the know the support team here at Home office, learning names, knowing who to email, understanding policy etc. A big part of their learning includes a intense course in ministry partnership. It is important when leaving to their field assignment that they have an amazing support group surrounding them prayerfully and financially.
However, the main purpose of their time here is to really understand the heart of the mission and vision of MAF to use Aviation and Technology to reach the isolated, and how they are going to be a part of that.
There is lots of hard things about becoming a missionary but if we truly understand the WHY of what we are doing then many of those things become much more bearable. The next Candidate Orientation class could be coming through as soon as next spring and coordinating that training will be my responsibility. Karen (who is the MP coordinator here at MAFC) has been responsible for the last 5 years for organizing the training, she has not only organized the week but also taught the ministry partnership training.I am really excited lift some of that load off of her by organizing the week so that she can just focus on teaching the candidates about how to raise ministry support. It is so much fun to be able to work with other Missionaries to make sure that they are fully equipped for the task ahead of them! I am so excited for the next Candidate Orientation to really be involved in the organizing and equipping of our staff.