Jeff Raifsnider
MDI Contributor
Lead GEL, Pacific Region Legacy Discovery 2024
With four Legacy Discovery Weekends (LD’s) scheduled for this fall in North America, it becomes clear that supporting the LD takes commitment.
Preparation for our September 13 LD began in May. Our various teams include Event Management, Enrollment, Kitchen Team, Logistics, Production Team, Registration, Procurement, Site Management, and Training Team. The Training Team goes through its own training over 12 weeks, with weekly calls and one all-day training day. Despite the commitment required, there has been excellent retention on our teams and great new men coming on every year.
What We Provide
The men of the Training Team usually are not professional trainers. We have a great deal in common with our participants in that we are working to become the best men that we can be and endeavor to serve others to make a better world. However, we make no claim to specialized knowledge, other than our own training. So, the personal transformations and occasional seeming miracles that come out of participation in the LD are the direct result of the work and effort that the participants put into their own development.
Our Training Team leads the participants through a sequence of thoughtfully designed exercises, in a magnificent, wooded environment that our Production Team and other teams make available for this great event. We hold the space for our participants to create their own transformation, through the shared wisdom of men.
Benefits For Those on Production
Conversations about the LD Weekend often describe the great benefits for the participants, but there are also great benefits for the men who make these weekends possible. Six Training Team members and the Production Team Manager and Registration Manager of the Pacific Region’s 2024 LD reveal what they got out their LD’s and what they are getting from being on the teams that support the LD.
What I Got From My LD
“What I got from the LD is a sense of Purpose and a Clear Legacy. I also got my Core Values. I was a man wandering through life and wondering why I never reached my potential. I was very self-absorbed without knowing it. Having a purpose makes me excited about waking up every morning. I love going to work and love giving back to society. I am in a great mood most of the time. Having a clear purpose and legacy has made my life exciting.” ~ Swami Varadan, Training Team
“From my LD Weekend I discovered the value of having a Purpose and what I would like my Legacy to be. I discovered some barriers that I allowed to hold me back. I got relationships with men.” ~ Steve Runzo, Training Team
“I’ve discovered my Legacy and crafted a new Purpose and now lead an intentional life.” ~ Miguel Enriquez, Training Team Manager
“I acquired tools for use when I am in a rut and need to recalibrate. I’ve learned to leave resentments behind, of others and of myself.” ~ Cameron Williams, Training Team Manager
“What I got out of my LD was the tools to reexamine my Purpose and Legacy as needed. I faced my shadows and can more easily recognize them to reassess my behavior and to switch to a more mature behavior. Honestly, I got more out of my LD than from the Sterling Men’s Weekend and got a better value for the money spent.” ~ Fred Coburn, Training Team
“From my LD I got a deeper connection with my emotions. I was able to feel more anger, pain, and forgive people who had hurt me in the past. I feel gratitude towards my father. I deeply understand what kind of man he is and what he did for me and our family.” ~ Parth Chandak, Training Team
“I got that I had been living my life very recklessly and selfishly. I had to transform myself for my daughters and their futures.” ~ Kraig Beale, Production Team Manager
“The Legacy Discovery Weekend gave me a clear understanding of my values, purpose, and vision for how to create a Legacy of my own.” ~ Ramon Talley, LD Registration Manager
What I Got From Being on a Team Supporting the LD
“What I’ve gotten out of being on the LD Training Team is a deep appreciation of what goes into a course production, a deepening on the course material, training our team to produce a course, and fulfilling on the mission of MDI in causing greatness.” ~ Miguel Enriquez, Training Team Manager
“I’ve gotten an immense amount of self-confidence and self-respect. A greater familiarity of the tools and the technology of the LD and when and how to leverage them. Specifically deepening my ability to pursue excellence and not be paralyzed by perfectionism and trusting myself to do so consistently.” ~ Cameron Williams, Training Team Manager
“What I get out of being on the Training Team is knowing I get the opportunity to be a part of changing men’s lives. Being a father to a special-needs son won’t give me that opportunity for my son, but if all I can do is help another man’s son, I’ll take it.” ~ Fred Coburn, Training Team
“Operating at a high level with the rest of the team and seeing a team of men dedicated to the service of others and our communities. Diving deep inside myself into finding my own strengths and weaknesses, not only as a Magician but all four archetypes. I am more self-aware. Teaching is the best way of learning.” ~ Parth Chandak, Training Team
“I’ve learned experienced collaboration and cooperation with the men on this team. I’ve learned what men are capable of producing when men are in alignment with a common cause and purposeful intention. I’ve discussed areas in my life I can improve on.” ~ Steve Runzo, Training Team
“I’m committed to creating safe men, who are warriors of service, who serve their families and their communities selflessly.” ~ Kraig Beale, Production Team Manager
“In service of this year’s weekend, I have grown to trust men I have never met and to believe in the power and process of delivering a men’s weekend.” ~ Ramon Talley, LD Registration Manager