AIM Orientation and Rafikis

Earlier this month I went to my AIM orientation in Peachtree City, GA and it was great!

It was exciting to finally get to meet the AIM staff whom I’ve been emailing back and forth with the past few months. Finally got to put a face to the name!  They’ve been so helpful and I am also so thankful for the orientation they planned for us! I loved getting to learn more about AIM and the organization’s bigger vision and structure. It’s a lot bigger than I thought, with sending offices all over the world! One morning, we got to join the staff in their morning prayer for an unreached people group. Also, on our last day they had a luncheon for us and at the end the entire staff sang their own special version of “Edelweiss” to send us off. They are the best!

Even though orientation was only two days, they managed to pack a lot in! We always opened with worship. The seminars were a range of different topics including why we go on missions, spiritual warfare, cultural lessons, preparing to share our own stories, and logistics like banking, travel, and setting up a blog. Although there was a lot to take in, it never felt tiring or overwhelming and I’m thankful for the time and care that Stephanie, Rachel, and Ryan put into planning for us!

Savannah, Holly, Whitney, Peter, Brittany, Emily, Lean at AIM Orientation!

One of the best parts was getting to meet the other short-term missionaries! We didn’t know each other going into it and we’re not going to the same place or doing the same things, but it was awesome to see the kind of instant bond that goes into knowing that we all love the same God and want to serve Him and love others in Africa. There are eight of us total, going to Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, and Madagascar. It was really comforting getting to know each other, sharing our excitements and fears, our struggles and praises, asking each other questions. It is a comfort just knowing that we’re all in the same boat and are not alone in what we’ve been thinking/feeling regarding our upcoming missions trips. One of the girls was actually heading out that weekend, and on our last night we all got to pray for her!

“Rafiki” means “friend” in Swahili and in a few days we all became rafikis forever :)

Nagishot village from above

Hard at work

From the skies

Some local villagers

Hello soon, Nagishot!