African School of Missions Assignment: Debrief

Purpose: To determine everyone's thoughts, experiences, and opinions of their Outtatown year through debrief.

Hypothesis: If there is the right combination of rest, relaxation, recreation and good food, then the time spent at ASM doing debrief will be amazing.

Materials:
- 30 Outtatown students
- 4 Outtatown leaders
- 1 bus driver
- 34+++ bags of luggage
- 2 tennis courts
- 1 soccer field
- 1 swimming pool
- many hangout areas
- 6+ decks of cards
- 34 chairs for debrief sessions
- constant supplies of hot tea
- lots of good food

Procedure:
1.  Arrive at ASM after leaving Swaziland
2.  Unload bags into rooms of 4
3.  Attend the best breakfasts of all of South Africa.  One day people had the option of sleeping in and missing breakfast, but strangely enough, not many people did.
4.  Listen to students talk about their Outtatown year.  Each student shared for 15-20 minutes, followed by a time of encouragement and prayer.  Every student was well prepared and everyone really enjoyed listening to the stories and insights from the year.
5.  Allow time for euchre.  In Swaziland, Hugo and Mark started a euchre tournament and many games were played at ASM.  There were 13 teams in all and some of the games were very exciting and nerve-wracking as only 8 playoff spots were available.  The winner is yet to be determined.
6.  Allow time for recreation.  There seemed to always be someone in the tennis courts or in the pool.  It was great to have space to play ulitmate, soccer or sit by a fire at night.
7.  Make sure that there are some new experiences.  For example, I'm sure it was new for many girls when they found a monkey in the hallway outside their rooms.

Discussion/Conclusion: The time at ASM was a great bonding time.  We had some well deserved rest and spent a lot of time enjoying being with each other.  It was great to start the debrief process, as this year has been full of new, surprising, fun and challenging experiences.  We had time to kick back and enjoy God's creation through our surroundings.  One night there was a beautiful and powerful lightning storm that has us all in awe!  I know that I speak on behalf of many when I say that Outtatown is so amazing.  The places we go are all so unique.  Even though our time is quickly drawing to an end, we still have had fun together during the last days.

Written by: Megan