August 2007: Exploring SF & Finished Exams!

17 August 2007

Time has flown by here very quickly. Karen and I cannot believe that its already been more than a month since we arrived in SF. Most of our time has been taken up with our graduate final exams, which are now fully done! We have received our marks for marketing and both Karen and I did extremely well in the course. We are now waiting to hear back from our Finance course. We are so thrilled to have had this opportunity to study further, and it's been absolutely invaluable to us! (Yes, it's been definitely worth the hard work!!) We look forward to seeing how we can use our new skills and education and what job opportunities come forth.

Last weekend we celebrated the end of our Graduate studies by going to San Francisco (A.K.A "The City"). Little did we know that the Summer is a horrible time to drive into the city. We tried to go to Fisherman’s Wharf, but there was no parking in the whole city! (Mental Note: Ride bicycles rather!) Only after we talked to some of local residents/friends did we find out about some secret spots to park. I guess that will be for another weekend to do. We did, however, drive a little out of the city and parked near a yacht club, where there was a windsurfing competition on the go. People from San Francisco are very active - which we love. There are always people riding their bikes, or doing some or other outdoor sport. We are also fortunate that we live right next to a large "nature reserve" and still need to explore the hikes around us. Opposite the Yacht club there was an intriguing building. The Palace of the Arts Exploratorium, is a building that really feels out of place in San Francisco. It is a type of place you'd expect in Europe. It is really beautiful architecture!

Afterward we went to see the Golden Gate Bridge, for the first time. After crossing it there was a place on the right to get out and take photos. There is a lot to explore in SF and Karen and I are really taking our time to see all the sites. Apparently the best time to see SF is in late August and September. There are few tourists and the weather is great.

The Golden Gate Bridge was amazing! A really impressive engineering feat. We had to get ourselves away from the crowds of Tourists, so we drove through the Marin valley on the far side of the bridge to get a better view of the Bridge. We took some wonderful Photo's.

We have been driving into The City at least once a week, because we do rep consultant training there. A rep Alumni, who lives on Hyde, opens her apartment up to trainees every week. Its a wonderfully central location, with Old Trolley's buzzing by and we always go for a quick exploritary walk when we go. We often climb up the old stairways from Tiia's apartment onto the roof and look over the city. It's an amazing view from up there!

We are half way through the rēp training and have booked our tickets to South Africa! We are so excited! We will be both consulting business in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. The "business consulting" is based on biblical principles as well as business "best practices", so it's really exciting to see how God is involved in Business and how He is repurposing businesses. We are hearing of "marketplace miracles" everyday, and it is amazing to hear how "we may try to seperate Church and Business; but we cannot seperate God from Business!". We will be leaving for South Africa on September 18th and be back in the Bay Area, SF only in the first part of November. We are so happy that we've been able to organise this Venture, and we thank those for their financial & prayer support to make this all happen. We are still currently unsalaried, however, we hope to explore creative options to raise funds/support. One positive development is that I have a wedding I’m photographing on Nov 10th, which is a good opportunity.
There is a lot to get done before we leave for South Africa. Karen and I feel like we’ve got a lot to learn while we are here, but we’re coming into The Institute with a lot of fresh ideas with the freedom to implement them. I’ve found my role being very much a creative one. Its good blend of business strategy, leadership and processes, mixed with creativity, art and marketing. The focus has been action. I feel that I’ve got a lot of head knowledge and I’m looking forward to implementation. Karen has taken over the finances and the bookeeping for rep and The Equip Foundation. We are probably even more excited about our opportunities to consult companies here in the Silicon Valley, and abroad. We are also hoping to be more involved in the Leadership workshops and seminars that The Institute offers business clients around the world.

We hope that you enjoy the pictures, and we’ll be in touch shortly. If you would like to learn more about the organisations we are working with, and consider partnering with us please go to:

http://www.repurposing.biz/ (rep: Venture consulting)
http://inst.net/ (The Institute: Business consulting & Lemon Leadership Workshops)

May God continue to bless you,
Brandon Dubé