It's March. And more often than not, I still wake up to snow on the ground.
I'm not a fan.
Ah, well. That's life. It's been a lovely week otherwise, actually. It started out with some trepidation. We got an email at the end of last week that we would be having "An Honest Conversation About Money" on Monday after the staff briefing. None of us were quite sure what we'd be up against. But it was okay. All about funding, and how everyone is in a similar boat, albeit differing in how they boarded. We got some interesting numbers. Homeland missionaries take an average 19% salary reduction. In fact, 81 of the 123 people who work here take some kind of salary reduction. In some cases, it's much more than 19%.
I am one of those people who takes a salary reduction. I can't really afford to, but if I didn't, whatever reserve I have built up would be gone in two months. It's not something I normally advertise, but we're being honest here, right? Anyway, we all need to put some more focus on funding. And I'm going to work on it throughout the year. I just have to figure out how.
We did get a nice gem in the middle of the meeting. Carl Walton got up to talk about a recent deputation trip, and he shared a photo from when they were first starting out.
I was highly amused.
Oh! Nearly forgot that I was volunteered to take part in a simple visual demonstration of how people feel when asking or being asked for money.
In case you can't tell, that's my 'incredulous/nervous laughter' face. As in, please stop asking me for money. I don't have any.
The rest of Monday was spent recovering from the AHCAM. (What? We abbreviate everything else around here.) And working on Korean. It's a fairly easy language, but it has some tricky bits to it. And it's hard to extrapolate the rules of a language when you only know one and it's not the one in which you're working. But I did actually finish the job in four days, which might be a personal record for this particular stage. But there were only five booklets, and like I said, Korean is easy. Next week, I start on four groups of Hakha Chin. Decidedly less easy.
We only had one chapel this week as we were celebrating Founder's Day. Founders' Day? The Day of the Founders? Whatever. They did a Jeopardy-style game with facts about the founders. I was not on a team, but I really should have been. In the first round at least, there were really only six possible answers to the questions. Once you figured that out, you could start to narrow things down. But I am apparently one of the few people who thinks this way.
I'm just kidding. That sounds mean. It was a fun and different thing to do.
Another fun and different thing for the week was being asked to record a song that someone connected to OMS wrote. I'm still not entirely sure what it's for (little fuzzy on the details), but it was nice to be asked, and it's a lovely little song. Hopefully, we did the recording justice. I was fighting off a cold, so who knows? You can listen to it on Soundcloud by clicking on this blue bit.
I was having some computer issues this week with connecting to our file storage site. Not sure why, but it caused a few headaches and delays. And we're still having discussions about file names. My brain can't quite catch on to the logic of the naming system. It has its own logic, and I can psych myself out of any naming convention if I think about it for too long. It's an annoying trait, even more so because I do everything else correctly, but when you name a file wrong, it reflects on the rest of your work. Apparently. It's incredibly frustrating.
Also frustrating:
We're getting new windows. That part is fine. I'm sure they'll be lovely. But the noise and dust while they do is not lovely. Lots of drilling, banging, fear of falling debris, etc. Not sure when they'll get around to my little window, but I plan to be well out of the way when they do.
This isn't really a work thing, but I got the chance to go see Les Misérables at the Murat Theatre in Indy on Thursday night. A friend had an extra ticket and invited me. It was such a great night! I love the show, firstly, and I was hard-pressed not to sing along with the cast. But also, it was just so nice to get out of the Greenwood bubble and feed on some culture. I need to do more of that. If only it didn't cost so much money!
Finally, I had another new experience today. Many of our regularly scheduled receptionists and stand-ins were out or busy, so I covered the front desk for an hour. It's a little daunting. There are lots of dos and don'ts, and people can ask weird questions that you have no idea how to answer. But I think I did all right. And it was nice to be upstairs looking at sunshine for a change.
So, I know we already have several photos. But the official Pic of the Week is this:
It's pie! In honor of Pi Day (3/14), a dear friend brought me a pie. I was overjoyed. I work with good people.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
I'm not a fan.
Ah, well. That's life. It's been a lovely week otherwise, actually. It started out with some trepidation. We got an email at the end of last week that we would be having "An Honest Conversation About Money" on Monday after the staff briefing. None of us were quite sure what we'd be up against. But it was okay. All about funding, and how everyone is in a similar boat, albeit differing in how they boarded. We got some interesting numbers. Homeland missionaries take an average 19% salary reduction. In fact, 81 of the 123 people who work here take some kind of salary reduction. In some cases, it's much more than 19%.
I am one of those people who takes a salary reduction. I can't really afford to, but if I didn't, whatever reserve I have built up would be gone in two months. It's not something I normally advertise, but we're being honest here, right? Anyway, we all need to put some more focus on funding. And I'm going to work on it throughout the year. I just have to figure out how.
We did get a nice gem in the middle of the meeting. Carl Walton got up to talk about a recent deputation trip, and he shared a photo from when they were first starting out.
I was highly amused.
Oh! Nearly forgot that I was volunteered to take part in a simple visual demonstration of how people feel when asking or being asked for money.
The rest of Monday was spent recovering from the AHCAM. (What? We abbreviate everything else around here.) And working on Korean. It's a fairly easy language, but it has some tricky bits to it. And it's hard to extrapolate the rules of a language when you only know one and it's not the one in which you're working. But I did actually finish the job in four days, which might be a personal record for this particular stage. But there were only five booklets, and like I said, Korean is easy. Next week, I start on four groups of Hakha Chin. Decidedly less easy.
We only had one chapel this week as we were celebrating Founder's Day. Founders' Day? The Day of the Founders? Whatever. They did a Jeopardy-style game with facts about the founders. I was not on a team, but I really should have been. In the first round at least, there were really only six possible answers to the questions. Once you figured that out, you could start to narrow things down. But I am apparently one of the few people who thinks this way.
I'm just kidding. That sounds mean. It was a fun and different thing to do.
Another fun and different thing for the week was being asked to record a song that someone connected to OMS wrote. I'm still not entirely sure what it's for (little fuzzy on the details), but it was nice to be asked, and it's a lovely little song. Hopefully, we did the recording justice. I was fighting off a cold, so who knows? You can listen to it on Soundcloud by clicking on this blue bit.
I was having some computer issues this week with connecting to our file storage site. Not sure why, but it caused a few headaches and delays. And we're still having discussions about file names. My brain can't quite catch on to the logic of the naming system. It has its own logic, and I can psych myself out of any naming convention if I think about it for too long. It's an annoying trait, even more so because I do everything else correctly, but when you name a file wrong, it reflects on the rest of your work. Apparently. It's incredibly frustrating.
Also frustrating:
We're getting new windows. That part is fine. I'm sure they'll be lovely. But the noise and dust while they do is not lovely. Lots of drilling, banging, fear of falling debris, etc. Not sure when they'll get around to my little window, but I plan to be well out of the way when they do.
This isn't really a work thing, but I got the chance to go see Les Misérables at the Murat Theatre in Indy on Thursday night. A friend had an extra ticket and invited me. It was such a great night! I love the show, firstly, and I was hard-pressed not to sing along with the cast. But also, it was just so nice to get out of the Greenwood bubble and feed on some culture. I need to do more of that. If only it didn't cost so much money!
Finally, I had another new experience today. Many of our regularly scheduled receptionists and stand-ins were out or busy, so I covered the front desk for an hour. It's a little daunting. There are lots of dos and don'ts, and people can ask weird questions that you have no idea how to answer. But I think I did all right. And it was nice to be upstairs looking at sunshine for a change.
So, I know we already have several photos. But the official Pic of the Week is this:
It's pie! In honor of Pi Day (3/14), a dear friend brought me a pie. I was overjoyed. I work with good people.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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