Wednesday morning we arrived in the training room only to be ordered into two separate groups (husbands and wives were separated), told not to speak to each other and brought down to the basement of the facility. There my group (of 14) was ordered into a large cardboard box and told to stay there and await instructions. We all crammed into the box. We spent the next part of the morning in there, listening to our radio, trying to coordinate with the other group for escape, all the while the sounds of gunfire ricocheted around us. Towards the end we had to select first two, then two more of our group for execution. Several in the group sobbed as we heard gunshots (blanks) just outside our box . . . . . . shortly after that the ordeal ended.

We all knew this was a simulation from the get go, nevertheless we were asked to fully immerse ourselves in it and for most of us it brought up lots of feelings and emotions. This was the culmination of two days of conflict resolution training - - - after our hostage situation we were brought together to debrief the situation and the conflicts between individuals that developed during our captivity.

Never a dull moment here. Each day I find myself crying - God continuing to break me open in ways that are painful but important. This is not easy. It’s definitely not fun. But we are grateful that God has gifted the staff here to know how to help prepare us for the intensity of international missions. And we are so thankful for the community of fellow pre-field missionaries who join us in this experience.