A Magical first Week...

This was an absolutly wonderful first week! Wednesday at work we were told that Thursday was goign to be deemed "A Magical Day at Rapport." With it came discounted leadership classes and a whole lot of fun!!! Thursday when we walked into work the entire office was transformed into a Disney play land! My office was inside of Cinderella's castle for the day and the energy was amazing! Each team in the office had a theme and dressed up for it! We had ninja's, indians, beach goers, "bling bling," and my team (Team Disney). My team wore matching clothes and mickey ears for teh day! As if that weren't enough to generate some excitment, the company had brought in a "Starbucks truck" for the parking lot to get starbucks coffee all morning long, braekfast and lunch were brought in from restaraunts, treats were served all day long, cash prizes were given out, music filled the office, and it truly was a magical day at Rapport! Our goal for the day was to get $300,000 worth of people into leadership classes in one day! A very worthy goal as the highest sale day in Rapport history was $200,000! The insentive for the day grew as we found out after reaching this goal, our CEO would take the entire company to Disneyland for 2 days!!!!!!! At the end of the day we all rounded up to find our sales for the day were $386,000!!! So...WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!!!

I can't even begin to explain the amount of passion and enthusiasm that was flowing through the office on Thursday! But what was extremely awesome about the entire day was that it wasn't about making money for anyone. The reason each of these people come into work each day is becuase they are truly passionate about what they do and what this company stands for. Becuase of the push for the day...over 400 people will be attending the amazing leadership breakthrough courses! It may sound ridiculous (as I read back over that), as it's just leadership development...but after seeing how much of an impact these programs are making in people's lives my passion for "this whole leadership thing" really has grown to a new level! But even more so, what was truly magical about that day was that at the end of the day as the team came together to find if we had really done what was deemed "impossible" there was an overflow of personal growth that happened at the same time. We all gathered around as Michael (CEO) asked everybody "What did YOU learn today? How do YOU feel? Where are YOU growing personally?" It is awesome to work for a company that isnt' just about making dollars (although it's important) but makes sure that the workers are growing and being impacted in their personal lives.

This company works more as a family than anything else. Everyday at 3:30 we have a meeting in which we share where we are all at individually, how we are growing, how we can encourage others to grow. People talk about everythign from their faith to their families. What I really do appreciate about Rapport is that it's not about changing people into identical mini rapport people, but about taking people to their own next level and making you a better version of yourself. They have this thought of whatever you do, whatever you believe, be the best at it! And becuase I'm a Christian... they fully support me being the best Christian I can be! And to get that from work and from my co-workers is truly awesome! I can tell a new level of growth happening in my life. Not only am I growing into this new crazy adult (which is all sorts of weird haha) I am also growing much deeper in my identity in Christ.

Aiding in that entire process is the church I have started to attend (Hope Baptist Church). Tuesday Night I went to a young adult Bible study where I encountered about 35-40 young adults (19-24). It was an awesome time and they really made me feel welcome! We had a large group devotional and then split up into small groups to dig into a lesson. Afterwards there was a BBQ and I really got to meet a lot of people! One of the girls is pickign me up to go to church tonight (saturday night service) and then I'm goign to a BBQ at one of the girls' houses. I'm also goign back in the morning to help in the Pre-School dept.

After much praying, thought, and processing I can raelly feel confident that this is where God has lead me to! I dont know for how long or for exactly what purpose, but I do know that I'm where I'm supposed to be. And because of that alone, I wouldn't wish myself to be anywhere else! Please continue to be praying for me as I continue to find an apartment in the area to live in after my company housing is up. I have recieved many cards of encouragment, emails, and phone calls...thank you so much for your constant thought and prayers :)

<3 Vanessa