Success in Santa Susanna...

What a full and fruitful week! I've just arrived back in Malaga after a busy week with the Spanish language coach trainees in the FOCOS (foundational coaching skills) programme. This intensive onsite coaching workshop was the middle part of a one-year training course that equips Christians to disciple or support others in their personal growth by using the skills of "life coaching" - a conversational model that involves learning to listen well and to use great questions to help the client or coachee make measurable progress in different areas of their life or work.

Until now, the onsite workshop has been held every February at the leadership retreat centre in Alhaurín. With the closing of the retreat centre last summer, we needed to find a new location and that's how we ended up this year at a pleasant campsite in the holiday town of Santa Susanna, on the Costa Brava some 60 kilometres north of Barcelona. The sixteen trainees had been receiving personal coaching since last October, and now they arrived from Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil and many regions of Spain to learn and practise the skills needed to offer coaching to others.

The daily schedule was very busy. We were up before sunrise (beautiful sunrises over the Mediterranean - see photo below) and the schedule of teaching, coaching demonstrations and practice times extended throughout the day and into the evening - of course, with the typical long Spanish lunch break (when some of the participants went out to walk on the beach, relax a bit and reflect on what they'd been learning.) The weather was cold in the mornings and evenings, but pleasantly sunny and breezy during the lunch break.

We were two trainers (Patti and myself) throughout the week, but we also had some "volunteers"(three trainees who completed last year's FOCOS and who have been coaching for a full year now.) They helped us observe the new trainees in action, as well as giving morning devotionals and leading the evening communion times. At the end of each evening, we debriefed the day with these volunteers, and sometimes had time to join the trainees for after-dark board games, before all heading to bed to get some rest before the next day began.

Midweek, we took the group on an excursion to Barcelona (a 90 minute trip in train and metro/ underground.) Some opted to visit Camp Nou football ground, home of the world famous Barcelona team, while most of the group opted to visit the iconic Sagrada Familia church in the centre of Barcelona. Dinner in a nearby restaurant allowed all the South Americans to sample a traditional Spanish menu of salad and paella with a glass of sangría. The outing allowed the participants to relax and renew their strength for the second half of the training week.

As we wrapped up the onsite on Friday afternoon, we took a short time to evaluate the week and to make video recordings of testimonies from the trainees. The testimonies were mind-blowing for me. This had been a quieter group with more introverts than in previous years. Suddenly, as we asked for feedback, people who hadn't so obviously been showing great excitement and enthusiasm throughout the week began to give incredible testimonies about how the coaching and the onsite workshop had changed their lives. Many shed tears as they explained how the week - as they were coached by their peers - had helped them find solutions and hope for situations that had seemed impossible to them. They also spoke of how encouraged they were to see that their own skills and understanding had developed throughout those intensive five days. When we concluded with a time of thank-yous, the trainees were falling over each other to affirm the trainers and the volunteers for all we had invested to make the week a success.

Spanish FOCOS is the only time in the year that I have to teach in Spanish for a whole week, and I sometimes feel a bit ambivalent about that. Hearing such moving testimonies of changed lives and excitement for the future makes it all worthwhile, and we could only conclude by giving all the thanks and all the credit to the Lord.