Back by Popular Demand...

or maybe just the demand of the only person who has actually read any of these...it's all for you now Steve.

February 17, 2004

I know that most of you have never heard of SonScape. It is a nonprofit, christian organization based out of Winter Park Colorado. Their focus for many years has been on bringing in ministers and their wives and doing intensive counseling sessions with up to five couples at a time. These couples do not know eachother, but spend much of their time in a group setting. They each have their own one-on-one time, which is actually two-on-two (each couple with the facilitators, Larry and Barb Magnusen.) They talk about the couples' score on the Myers-Briggs Test, and the Taylor-Johnson Test, and help couples cope with things from their past, and how to deal with old feelings in the furure. Phillip and Laura Shero, one of the missonary couple in Mbale, went to SonScape to go through a counseling session a few years ago. They had been in Uganda for two years, and the life here was really eating at them emotionally. They were contemplating leaving the mission field until they went to SonScape. The Sheros had such a positive experiencethere that they have been trying to bring the SonScape team to Mbale ever since.

Last week, they finally succeeded. Larry and Barb, and their two youngest children, Luke (20) and Hillary (17), were here in Mbale to work with our team. It was the organizations first trip on the mission field. The man who ran it before Larry took over, talked about doing this for 10 years, but never took the initiative. Larry decided to try it out to see if it would work on the field. Kind of a "field test" if you will. They spent a week in Mbarara, Western Uganda, before making the 8 hour trip East to see us. Before they arrived, we all took the Myers-Briggs, and the Taylor-Johnson. It was very interesting to find out about our personalities on the MB test. Not only were we the first missionary group to go through this counseling, but we were the first "group" ever. Like I already stated, they work with individual ministers and their wives. They do not work with actual church groups.

As soon as they got here, we dove right on into one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and Long Ranger meetings. (Long Rangers are the team members other than teachers and interns. THey are the ones who are here for the long haul.) My first one-on-one meeting came right before our second team meeting. I already knew my score from the MB test. That one you score yourself. The TJ test however was still a mystery. We talked about how I was feeling about my stay here so far, and what it was like to pick up and move on such short notice. Upon seeing the results of my MB test, they were not surprised by how comfortable I felt here, and with the quick nature of my decision to come. In fact, on their first night here, they knew that one of us had only been here for a few weeks. (By one of us, I mean one of the two teachers.) THey expected to be able to tell right away which one of us was the newby. Much to their surprise, I had already hit it off so well with the kids, and felt so comfortable with the group, that they had no idea which one of us had only been here for 6 weeks, and which had been here for 6 months.

I was very impressed during my session at how closely the could pinpoint the cause of so many negative scores on the TJ test. When they found a couple of areas that concerned them, as they do on every TJ, they knew exactly what questions to ask to get me talking about what they wanted me to. For example, there were places on my test that they thought needed improvement, and they asked what it was like growing up, what was school like, and, tell us about your life. All of these questions were very generic, but I somehow ended up on the subject that explained why I scored so low on the test. This was so amazing and insightful to me. It really opened up my eyes to why I react to things the way that I do, and why other people don't see things the way that I do.

I will share a few parts of my test score with you guys. The first letter of the MB test is either an E or an I (extravert or intravert). I'm sure that you guys will all be shocked to find out that I scored 100% Extrovert. I did not answer one single question introvertly. (Is that a word?) The second letter of the test is either S or N (sensing or intuitive). I again scored very much an N. I only answered 2 out of 24 questions with an S. This means that I look far into the future. I like to come up with the idea, but I don't like to be the one to carry them out. I'm the Big Idea person. Ns are usually the daydreamers, the people who have a hard time sitting still and who can't concentrate for long periods of time. (There's a shocker huh?!? I mean, whoever knew me to be the type of person who couldn't sit still or concentrate? I mean really!!!) The third letter is either T of F (thinking or feeling). This letter has to do with the way you make decisions. THinking would be based on facts, feeling would be based on how it will effect you and others around you. Anyone care to guess what I scored? I'm sure you will be surprised to find out that I scored 100% F. The last letters are J and P (judging and perceiving). These scores of mine were a lot closer than the rest, almost even with eachother in fact. Judging means that you plan everything, and follow a strict schedule. Perceiving is more spontaneous, fly by the seat of your pants.

As I talked to Larry and Barb over the course of the week, it became more and more clear to me as to what my personality is, and how it effects the people around me. In the Long Ranger sessions, they talked more about group dynamics and how each personality type thinks. This helped me to understand why communication was off between certain individuals, and why sometimes it seems to take so long to make what should be a simple decision. When half of your group goes purely on facts, and the other half has to determine how it will effect the whole community, it makes it hard to get anything done. I can see a real change in the way people communicate now, and they understand their own personalities more in relation to that of the other people on the team. This has really helped the team dynamic.

SonScape is not a Church of CHrist organization. It is simply a Christian organization. THey aim to minister to ministers. These poeple spend their whole lives helping other poeple, and rarely get the chance to be rejuvinated. That's what SonScape does. 4 out of 10 of the poeple they help would not have returned to the ministry without this experience. I recommend it to anyone who spends their life serving others. I think it is a great opportunity to not only better group dunamics, but to also help you understand yourself a little bit better.

This is me and Ashley, the other teacher after a session with SonScape.