Day 231: RBWT

Every year we host approximately 600-650 recruits to Khowst as they are here for basic training. The official title of this training evolution is Regional Basic Warrior Training or RBWT. My role in all this is to coordinate the first aid training for the 600+ soldiers which was done in conjunction with my all-star Afghan medics. In the picture below, you see Mohammad Ayub, probably my best-trained medic, teaching the first aid class to the recruits. My US medics and I just hang in the back, and we provide teaching tips on request. The whole class was taught in Dari so I'm assuming that it was medical stuff they were talking about.


As I was watching the training class, with Ayub on a makeshift concrete platform for a stage and 600+ soldiers attentively gathered around him in a horseshoe formation...it reminded me of an outdoor church setting. The moment that I took the picture posted above, for a moment I realized how much I missed being in the calm serenity of a quiet Sabbath at church. Thankfully, the Lord has remained abundantly good on this deployment as I have had several avenues and opportunities to share my faith and encourage others through the study of the Bible. Initially, a lack of the formalized church experience had me worried...no lesson study, sermon, special music, song service...no POTLUCK :( but being out here made me realize that church isn't about the building or even fellow members...it's about a real, personal, life-altering relationship with a living God who wants his children to experience "church" all day, every day through communion with him.

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction." II Timothy 4:2 NIV