Is 2016 Over Yet?

I'm trying really hard to throw a pity party for myself.

I came home to an astronomical medical bill from the whole kidney stone thing. And then more bills from the urologist, my bank, and Amazon. I got a call from someone I really can't deal with right now for a lot of reasons. I'm sick. The expectations of this day and the hopes for the coming year are weighing me down like stones on Giles Corey.

I'm listening to flipping Tracy Chapman, for crying out loud!

But I just can't keep it up. Well, okay, I could. But I really have no reason to. Because along with the bills, my mail included a couple of gifts from people just because they wanted to be a blessing. I have heat, a car, a place to live, awesome parents, great sisters, and a God who promised to be with me every step of the way.

This is such a hard time of year for so many people. We're coming down from a huge hit of endorphins and extreme emotions. We've spent too little or too much time with people we can easily love from a distance but with close proximity bring up old memories both good and bad. We probably expected too much out of the holiday, either in gifts or personal connections, and chances are we didn't get it. If we did, we discovered it doesn't really fill that void. And to top it all off, the weather either contributes to or isn't cooperating with our mood.

Welcome to the New Year Blues.



This is a momentary thing, I know. I'll figure out how to pay my medical bills. I'll stop buying stuff on Amazon for a while. I'll get rid of this cold. People will stop asking me about resolutions eventually. My friend will hopefully get better.

In the meantime, I'm relying on tried and true methods of distraction. And I'm leaning a little more heavily on God.

Happy New Year.

The Weekly Wrap-up: December 11-19, 2016

Well, then.

I didn't forget last week's wrap-up. I just knew I'd only be in two days this week, so I delayed it a bit. The end of the year is always full - finishing up last minute projects, clearing your desk so you don't come back to a mess, planning to do things better next year so you're not so stressed when your goals haven't been achieved...

You know, the usual.

It figures that my training would ramp up just as everything else is winding down. We finally decided to take me through an entire project from start to finish so I know all the steps and can document it for future production people. To that end, we're actually doing both Spanish and Portuguese. A lot of people use Spanish with the booklets, and we needed to update it, so that seems like a good place to start. Plus, they don't use a lot of odd characters or fonts. Makes life easier.

I'm glad I did these this year. I was looking back over my blog while writing my Christmas letter, and it really hit home that, while it doesn't always seem like it, I actually did accomplish a lot this year. You have to keep track of the little things because that's where the real change shows up. Sure, I still live in the same place, still no change in my relationship status, family is still around, but as I don't actually want any of those things to change, these are not bad things.

So. I may do another blog post before 2016 ends, but until then, I want to wish you a very merry Christmas! Be cool, everyone.

Strategic Retreat

Alrighty then. I promised a blog on the retreat. So here we go.

We actually went later this year than we have before. Typically, our retreat is the first weekend in December. We don't always go to the same place, but we usually go Thursday-Saturday. This year, we went a week and a day later. Not sure why, but it actually worked out really well for me. I was able to get out of town at a critical time.

Crossing into Kentucky

Sarah was my travel buddy and roommate

Our retreat this year was actually in another state. We went to General Butler State Park and Resort in Carrollton, Kentucky. I'd never been there before, and I was intrigued by the history of the place. Unfortunately, the Butler-Turpin homestead was closed for the season, but I did learn some interesting factoids about William O. Butler (who possibly had his portrait painter just copy Andrew Jackson's and make him less ruddy and wild) and the Butler clan as a whole. They really like that guy.

The resort, or lodge, is really nice.

Watch for deer!

Front lobby 

View from the porch

We arrived around 4 on Friday. I traveled with Mike and Pat Dragon. Mike is our assistant international director of ECC and my boss' boss. Pat helps run Dynamic Women in Missions and is a CMF for South Asia. We have a lot of fun together, though it took me a while to figure out Mike's personality. Sarah is better at that, but I think even she nearly drove him crazy as we went through Madison. If you've never been, Madison is a great little town right on the river. They have many shops and things to do. Sarah got a little excited, enough that Mike stopped at Dairy Queen across the river in order to get her to calm down. Speaking of, I discovered an amazing new blizzard flavor with graham crackers and peanut butter. Best thing ever!

We had dinner at 5:30 in the lodge restaurant. It was fairly obvious that we were in the south as the buffet menu included frog legs. I did not try them.

Nearly everyone was there by the time we started that evening around 7. We do a gift exchange every year, white elephant style, but classy. Mostly. My initial pick was stolen, so I ended up with a nice book about theology and doctrine. 

I learned how to play a new game that night. It's called Hand and Foot. Think Canasta, but not. We played until 10:45 at least. I'd say that's past my bedtime, but these days, it's really not. 

We didn't have to be in our meeting room until 9 Saturday, so naturally, I was up at 6:15. I survived, but only just. I should mention that to get to our room, we had to go outside. True, it was only about 25 feet, but that was just enough time to freeze a little. We also had to go outside to get to our rooms. 

We had a time of worship before each session. Our speaker was Rich Danzeisen, the executive director of international ministries. He's my boss' boss' boss' boss. His three kids led worship. 

Rich gave a very nice talk on Jesus as Prophet, Priest, and King. Since we are co-heirs with Christ, we also have these titles and the responsibilities that go with them. I found this quite interesting.

As part of the session, we played telecharades. Basically, we were given a phrase by table, and one person had to act it out for another while everyone else closed their eyes. The second person would act out what he'd seen for the third, and so on until the last person had to guess the phrase based on the acting. Needless to say, it broke down rather quickly. 

But we got some good laughs!

After lunch, we had some free time, which was absolutely spiffing. I decided to go for a bit of a walk as it's difficult to get steps when you're sitting all day. 

No, I should know better. I've seen enough trail maps to know that they are never accurate, and they underestimate distances. But I'm a trusting, naive sort. I went for the Wilderness Trail, a nice little 1 mile jaunt with a little loop. I should have known better when the first few hundred feet were directly down over rocks and tree roots. 

I liken it to the Bataan Death March. 

Found a nice little waterfall.

This was a common site along the trail.

Lots of these little ditches and gullies.

We found what was left of the Blair Witch.

Jim and Karen testing some local fauna.

The trail walk took a little more than an hour, and it was definitely more than a mile. My calves were aching for days after. But, I did get all my steps in. And then some. 

We had another session Saturday night. We had to do a skit that illustrates what it means to be a living sacrifice. 

I was there, and even I can't explain what's happening here.

Sunday was our last day in Kentucky. We finished up with our last session and then did something we did two years ago where everyone says a short prayer for everyone else. It was a nice ending. 

We left around 1 and made it back before most of the rain and snow came through. Overall, I had a lovely time, and I appreciated the chance to see the people I work with in a non-work setting. 

You learn a lot about them, believe me.

Here are some more photos.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: December 5-9, 2016

Oof.

What a week.

Why, during what should be the happiest time of year, does everyone give you four times the work you normally have and want it done in half the time they usually expect?

I think Monday may have been the only normal day. And I really only mean in the work sense, since this week has also been complicated by personal issues.

But work stuff first. We did two radio ads this week. No links yet, they aren't finished editing, but we recorded one for December and one for January. It's nice to be so far ahead, but really, if we didn't do the January one now, it would be well into 2017 before we had time.

The new portal for T&M is up and running! I'm thrilled with how it turned out. So is my boss, so that's good. Hopefully, it will be of great use to everyone and free up some time for us.

I'm working on getting out Christmas cards to everyone. It takes a while, and there's a deadline, but it's going well. You can expect yours anytime in the next few weeks. If it doesn't arrive, let me know, and I'll get you on the list.

We have our ECC retreat this weekend. I'll try to do a running post about it. It's a nice time of fellowship and spiritual growth.

Now for the personal stuff.

I'd appreciate prayer for a good friend of mine. I'm not going to get into everything, but she's made some very unwise choices that have deleterious effects on her and those involved. This has caused a great deal of anxiety for me. I'm also praying for wisdom as we move forward. There have been many sleepless nights.

I hope you know I appreciate and love all of you. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November 28 - December 2, 2016

I've never Britished as hard as I Britished today.

But more on that later.

If I didn't have ADD before this week, I would be inclined to believe I have it now. I have gone back and forth and between projects so many times, it ain't even funny. That should tell you a couple of things.

A) I have a ton of projects up in the air right now. Like, seriously. My to-do list could be a dollar store receipt.

2) Most of these projects are not capable of holding interest for long periods of time. So, so boring. Essential. But boring.

Quark) Holiday stress is upon us.

So.

I wrote a radio ad this week. We're still promoting the eight Christmas projects for OMS. Not sure if we'll end up using it, but we needed an idea springboard. I also need to work on one for January. We're promoting the SHEEP ministry. I need to get all of the baaad jokes out before I can take it seriously.

Have you ever read legalese? Contracts, agreements, loans, etc? (If you haven't, you really should.) Anyway, it's technical and important, and wording matters a lot. I'm trying to condense the T&M agreements, but it's hard to do that and make sure I have all of the pertinent details without the verbose language.

We're finally moving forward in a grand way on the landing page for T&M. This will be a great resource for everyone who comes into contact with our materials. It also frees us up from dealing with a lot of standard requests.

And our donation page is back up and running! Donations help us pay translators in order to move things along.

One of our big jobs is actually research. Wycliffe in particular has some really great resources for translation (naturally), so we interface with them and others in similar situations. We also have developers building new programs to aid in the translation process.

One of the programs we're trying to speed along is our CRM. (Oh, the acronyms are back.) CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Basically, it's how we optimize the way we interact with our constituents. Otherwise known as a database.

Theoretically, OMS is going to have one big CRM for the whole organization. This is optimal. But we've kinda been stuck up a creek without one, and it'll be another year at least until the new one is up and running. So we're trying out some free options. To that end, I've been working on compiling some records so we can test how things work.

Which brings me to my Britishness. Possibly Canadianish.

We have to assign particular codes to people so we know how they are classified. One such code is C-ZZZ. In speaking to our IT guy, I told him to classify certain people as "C Triple Zed."

Zed, of course, is how Britishers the world over pronounce the letter Z.

I didn't even think about it.

I'm such a nerd.

The Politics of Lamentations

433 years.

It seems like a long time, right? Four whole centuries of history and culture and ideas. It's certainly longer than the United States has been around as a country. I'm sure when Lincoln was saying 'four score and seven years,' he was wishing it was more like 'twenty-one score and three years.' At least there would be some meat on the country's bones, then.

But it's also a really short time when you're looking at the whole scope of history. (Even with a young Earth perspective.) That's potentially just four people living their lives in succession. It's not even half of England's existence.

To the author of Lamentations, it was too short a time by far.

See, 433 years (give or take a few) is how long the kingdom of Israel lasted. And yes, I know there was a civil war and then technically two kingdoms, but let's ignore that for a moment and just consider Jerusalem as the symbol of this idea of one united people, God's people.

It started out well. Ish. Saul brought them all together and then David brought them power and fame. Solomon really cemented the deal. People came from all over the known world in order to see what his secret was. Jerusalem was the place to be.

And then...

Then the kingdoms split. They were still individually powerful. Just not as powerful as they had been together. And of course, they alternated between fighting each other and fighting their neighbors. They went back and forth (Judah more than Israel) between following God and following their own depravity.

Then Israel ceased to exist. And Judah (and Jerusalem) were in a real pickle. Because if the existence of Israel had weakened them, it's non-existence was like a mortal wound.

Before too long, Judah was reduced to a city. Jerusalem was the last vanguard. But it was more like a prison for its inhabitants. And in 587 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar came along and left no stone unturned.

"How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave ... Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins."

In just 433 years, Jerusalem went from being the shining city on a hill to the dust beneath her enemies' feet.

There's probably a lesson to be learned, there.

I've been reading through the Bible this year. I'm not doing it chronologically or in book order. I'm reading a little of the Old Testament, a little of the New Testament, a little of Psalms, and a little of Proverbs. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition, sometimes. For example, I was reading Lamentations at the same time I was reading Hebrews.

Hebrews covers a lot of ground. Everyone remembers the 'by faith' chapter, but there are also many warnings about the dangers of falling away. So while I'm reading about faithful people and being told of the many pitfalls, I'm also reading about a city and people that didn't heed those same warnings made 500 years earlier.

And then you come to Lamentations 3. (Which I'd love to read in the original Hebrew, btw. It's an acrostic poem. Jeremiah was a very gifted individual.)

At first, it's more of the same. Lamentations is a lament, after all. (In Hebrew, the title sounds like a longsuffering sigh, apparently.) Jeremiah has just spent 52 chapters warning people about what was going to happen because of their sin. It's not even a warning to turn back. It's a reminder that they had their chance, they will be punished, and if they want anyone to be left after the city is conquered, they'd better shape up - only to be forced to sit back and watch all of the things he'd been talking about come to pass.

So yeah. He's been through a lot.

In fact, Jeremiah is literally at the end of his rope. "I remember my affliction and my wandering," he says, "the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." He says a few verses earlier that he'd forgotten any good thing that might have happened to him. This is a man who has been beaten down by his own, forced to record his city's destruction by his enemy, and he's nearing the end of his life. He reached bedrock and was forced to keep digging.

And yet...

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him'."

Hold up. He has hope? How? Everything these people have worked for is gone. No country, no home, they are literally slaves again. Everyone who was fawning over them before is now laughing in their face. What hope is there?

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him."

Oh. So our hope isn't in a city. It isn't in a government, our family, a job, weapon, food, exercise, a car.

No.

Our hope is in the Lord. We have hope when we seek him. Everything else is incidental.

That's not to say there won't be bad times. Of course there are. I can control exactly one person, myself, and even then, I'm not very good at it. Take a look at Adam and Eve if you doubt it. Sure, they were tempted. But it didn't take a lot to get them to abandon whatever common sense or fear of God they had for the chance to be something more. So yeah, we can screw things up by ourselves just fine. We can already see what happens when 7 billion people are working in their own self interest at the same time.

But regardless of what happens, whatever bedrock we hit, we have hope. "For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone."

That last verse threw me off for a bit. It's the classic 'why do bad things happen' question. I already answered part of it. But God is God, right? Why couldn't he just make things easier for everyone?

Well, ironically, because God is God. Because of who he is, there are certain rules to the universe that can't change. Peter tells us that God doesn't want anyone to perish, but because of who he is, he has to let it happen. We make a choice. If God changed the rules, he wouldn't be God, and there wouldn't by any reason to worship a god who is fickle and unreliable. I'm glad there are rules. It lets me know where I stand.

So no, he doesn't want there to be affliction and grief. But he'll allow it. He'll even cause it if there's a chance of us waking up and acknowledging his rightful place as ruler of the universe. As Jeremiah says, "Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?"

If Lamentations were being written in today's church culture, it would end with chapter 3. "Sure, lots of bad things have happened. We're at the end of the line. It could probably get worse, but we don't really see how. And we're not really sure how it could get better, either. But we know it will because God is with us. He has punished us for our sins, but even in doing so, he has shown compassion. He will lift us up once more, and he will wipe out our enemies. We will have vengeance on those who persecuted us! Happy days are here again!"

There's a clear plot line. We like things to be neatly sewn up with us rightly in our position of power, honor, and righteousness again.

Except Lamentations doesn't end with chapter 3. The fourth chapter, while still using poetic language, gets even more explicit about what has been lost.

Precious gems and jewelry? Tarnished. Scattered. Stolen.

Children? Starving. Helpless. Being eaten by their parents.

Public officials? Sticks. Dust. Unrecognizable.

Priests? Unclean. Dishonored. Outcasts.

Everything we held dear, everything we thought would always be true, every dream and hope we had for a future - all of it turned to ash. We thought we were hot stuff because God was on our side from the start. It didn't matter that we turned aside and pursued other gods. Surely God would still protect us. Why bother continuing to seek after him when we can simply trust that the foundation he laid will stand up to us constantly chipping away at it?





Are you picking up what I'm laying down?




Jeremiah finished up with a prayer. Does he still believe what he said back in chapter 3? Absolutely. But he has to deal with his current reality. He can't linger on a nebulous future he may never see in this life. Life for him at this moment is just really not good. "Joy has gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning."

There's this joke that Mark Lowry likes to tell about his favorite verse. He says that it is this: "And it came to pass..." That's it. It came. And then it passed. My sister says this to me all the time, but especially when things aren't going well. "It's going to pass! Things will get better."

And sure. I know that. Deep down, I am fully cognizant of this fact.

But before it passes, I have to live with it. I can't ignore the fact of what is for the hope of what will be. Because if I don't deal with why something is the way it is, the way things are is the way things will continue to be, and that future I'm counting on is going to start getting further and further away.

Which is when Jeremiah's last though should really start to worry us. He ends his prayer by asking God to "restore us to yourself ... that we may return." Awesome. Let's do that. "Renew our days as of old," right, with you so far, "unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure."

Oh. Well, crap.

Don't forget this critical point: God does not want us to perish. But it can happen. Whether by the firm dismissal of Truth or the slow attrition of time, we can absolutely come to a point of complete separation from God.

It's a sobering thought. It's the thought that is constantly in the back of my mind. I know, in theory, what separation from God means. I don't ever want to know it in practice. And I don't want that for others, either.

This is my reality. Because while I have hope, there are so many who don't. Everything I do works toward the goal of making my hope a reality for others even as they deal with this present darkness.

No one wants to live in the world of Lamentations. Jeremiah never wanted to have to write this book. But he did. And I think we're headed in that direction.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November 14-18, 2016

I didn't get sick this week! Whoooo!

Is it bad that this has become a celebratable achievement in my life?

Sadly, it didn't actually mean much, because I still missed an hour on Wednesday to go to the doc for follow-up. So the 'normal week' is still an elusive concept. I'm not going to blame it on the flu shot I got this year for the first time in forever. But come on. What else could it be?

So we're still doing app meetings in the mornings. I know, I know, we've been doing those forever. I just feel the need to mention it because it takes up a lot of time and energy for very little reward right now. But sometimes that's life.

We're working on putting together another English volume for T&M. Volumes are different from booklets because they are actually several booklets bound together. South Asia does this with the most commonly used booklets, and we thought it would be a good idea for English users. The problem is, the only English volume we have right now uses Indian art. It's not really a problem, it just isn't as culturally ubiquitous as it could be. And we store everything on a remote server, but I don't have access to everything on the server, so I can't change the art. And our main production person just travelled from the UK to Chile. So that slows things down a bit.

So what can I work on? Mostly Trello maintenance. Sorry if you don't use Trello, I'm going to get a little technical right now. I created a base language board that we can copy every time we start a new language. The problem is this: we keep changing the process. So every time I change the base board, I also have to update the languages that are in progress. It was fine when we only had six languages going. But now I have 27 boards to update. But I don't mind because I make them look pretty.

And I can assign labels to things any way I want to. 

I also discovered that I need to redo the landing page for T&M that I created. The icons don't show well on the internet, apparently. Whatever. I'm probably being gaslighted, but I don't actually mind creating a new page. And the new icons are still nice, so I'm cool with it. 

I've spent a lot of time singing about not being a chicken this week. This weekend, I'm doing a children's program for a mission conference at my parent's church in Huntington. Well, I'm leading it with a friend and fellow missionary. So we had to plan what we were going to do. Which involves singing about not being a chicken. You should totally come check it out if you're curious. We'll be an New Hope church all weekend. I may take embarrassing photos and post them on here. 

Next week is Thanksgiving. I'll still be at work through Wednesday, so I may still do this. Or I might write about Lamentations. It's anyone's guess, really. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November 7-11, 2016

I'm really hoping we're back on schedule with things. I sort of, finally, feel like I'm getting back in the swing of things.

Sort of.

I felt pretty productive Monday. I had a couple of good meetings about making sure everyone was on the same page with things. We have so many projects going that it's hard to keep track of who is doing what.

I was also able to get an email out to our T&M organizers asking for reports. I've been working on this for a couple of weeks, and I get to deal with the responses, so I'm glad it's out and producing more work for me. (Actually glad, there. No sarcasm.)

Of course, then I was out again on Tuesday. Sick as a dog Monday night, and definitely in no shape to do much of anything except lie around watching episodes of "Murder, She Wrote."

I was back on Wednesday, though not 100%. Which was just as well, because the toughest thing I had to do was upgrade my computer. We use so many programs for T&M, and we all have to make sure we're using the same software at the same version. So I spent some time upgrading the virtual machine, installing a newer version of Office, and all the fun little things that come along with having a Mac for hardware and Windows for the VM OS - making sure everyone talks to each other and gets along.

In the midst of that, we managed to write and record a new radio spot for our Christmas giving projects. If I've figured out how to embed it properly, you can listen to it below.



Veronica and I had a 2.5 hour chat Thursday about the process of things and future training. I also got to crack open Hindi. I did a little for the project this summer, but now we're moving forward on the rest of the project. It's such a fun language, and I have no idea how to read it, but it's just nice to look at.

Today saw a follow-up meeting to one from Monday. We're getting more of the team on board with some project managing programs that are really going to help us with collaboration in the future. I think it'll be really good for us. Yay for communication!

My part of Hindi is now done, and I need to work on the language in the agreements to make sure it's understandable and reflects how things operate now. And I need to fix about 30 Trello boards. Communication is great. Except when you change the base board, you have to change all of the boards in progress as well.

Seriously, though. I think I need to do a juice cleanse or something. My body hates me right now. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 24 - November 4, 2016

Well, then.

As you may have noticed, this one is covering two weeks. The reasons for that will become readily apparent. Because I'm about to tell you.

Last week, I was debilitated by a three-day migraine. I had to leave Thursday morning to try to sleep some of it off, which sort of worked. The headache wasn't really gone until Friday morning.

This week, as you'll know if you've been following me on Facebook, I was out two days because of a completely unexpected and unwelcome passenger in my kidney.

Lemme tell ya - ain't no pain like it in the universe.

So yeah. Not sure I can even remember what happened last week. It's a bit of a fog. I'm pretty sure I ran some test files. I definitely remember extended meetings about various things.

This week was quite the same. We had a good meeting yesterday (International Sandwich Day) about future training and how we're going to organize things.

Oh! Last week, I had a rousing discussion about databases. I really, really like databases. I'm weird that way. Seriously, though, we need one. Like, a lot.

Anyway.

Sorry, guys. I wish I had more for you. But I was either dazed or on drugs.

Things will be better next week.

I promise.

In Pursuit of Cold, Hard Truth

I'm not sure how to write about this. In a lot of ways, this will be the most personal thing I've written on here in a long time. But at the same time, it's really not personal at all. It's a pretty common thing that a lot of people have had to deal with in a lot of different ways. But it revealed some things about myself that I hadn't confronted in a while.

That's too cryptic. Look, the situation was this: I lost some money last week.

Here's how it happened.

On Tuesday, I was given cash by a friend for some work I'd done for them. This is always nice. It's supplemental income, nothing I count on, but a good bonus. I used some of it to pay another friend for work they'd done for me. I put the rest in my pocket.

Or on my desk.

Or in a drawer.

I didn't really think about it again until I was on my way home from work. It takes about a minute and a half to walk from the office to my apartment. I pretty much always use the same route. That day, I was carrying my usual stuff (phone, iPad, water bottle) and a bag of fabric and a dress. On the way, I remember thinking that I needed to put the cash in my box. (I have a saving system kind of like Dave Ramsay's envelopes, except nothing at all like it.)

Naturally, as is the way of things, I didn't think about it once I stepped through the door of my apartment. I had to try on the dress, plug electronics in, start dinner, get ready for exercise class - all the little things you do when there's a lot on your mind and you just go through the routine of life. Tuesday was already a bad day, and I just wanted to forget about stuff for a bit.

You're probably wondering why there's so much detail. Well, for the next five days, I agonized over every move I made on Tuesday. I worked it over in my mind, questioning everything I thought I remembered.

See, on Wednesday, I happened to think about that money. I couldn't remember putting it in my box, and I figured I should probably do that before I lost it. (Ha.) So I checked the key tray where I deposit stuff when I get home every day.

No cash.

I checked the couch, which is another depository.

No cash.

Piano keyboard. (Because who actually plays it when it functions much better as yet another shelf?)

No cash.

Well, duh, I obviously left it in the pockets of the pants I was wearing Tuesday.

No cash.

No, seriously, check again.

No cash.

Well, did I really put it in my pocket? I could have put it in my desk at work after paying my friend.

No cash.

At this point, it was raining, I was wet, and I was irritable. Could I have dropped it on my way home? No way to check in the dark and rain, and besides, it had already been a full day. Maybe I dropped it outside my apartment?

And here's where the story gets a little weird, because when I went to ask my neighbors about it, I found myself oddly reluctant to tell anyone I had lost this money. I felt I couldn't say anything to the whole building because the person who had given it to me also lived there. What would she say when she found out I lost the money she had given me for helping her? Is she going to question my stewardship abilities? My cleaning habits?

So I limited it to my immediate neighbors. But I couldn't let them know that I was really worried about this. That it was a huge issue involving a not-inconsiderable amount of money. So I kept my email light and airy. Just a vague inquiry.

And then I agonized about telling my family. We tell each other pretty much everything, but I was concerned about how it would come across. Are they going to think I'm asking them to send money to cover the loss? Am I actually telling them in the hope that they do that? What is my motivation in passing along this news?

You might be thinking that these are weird questions to ask. But for me, they make all the sense in the world. See, when I was younger, I was pretty manipulative. Nothing malicious (mostly), but I knew there were certain things I could do or say or imply that would bring about a result in my favor. And I struggled with this for a long time.

See, manipulation is a lot like lying. And it can get so deep and twisted that you start to believe your own manipulations are truth. I'm ashamed to say that I did this to my mom most often. We had a weird dynamic when I was younger, and manipulation would almost always work for reasons I won't get into.

I stopped the manipulation somewhere during high school. I was growing in my faith, and I knew that it was neither right nor healthy to keep doing this. I apologized to my mom, and we're better than we've ever been before.

But the impulse is still there. To imply that things are worse than they are in order to get more sympathy. To mention a missed opportunity in order to garner an invitation to an event. To moan about losing something in order to get a gift of said item.

I can usually ignore the impulse. But I always have to question my motives when I talk about certain things. I have to say no to things I want because it feels too much like a manipulation to get them. I had to learn how to ask for things I needed directly, and I had to learn how to take no as an answer.

Isn't it interesting how life lessons come in all shapes and sizes?

I ended up telling my sister on Wednesday. I felt I needed to tell someone, and she was most likely to offer what I really needed (empathy, prayer) instead of what I wanted (a bailout, pity party).

All week, I thought about the missing money. I looked for it on the sidewalks, in the grass, I checked my pockets fifteen more times. I deep-cleaned my apartment on Saturday thinking it had fallen in a crack somewhere.

No cash.

By this time, I was pretty resigned to having lost it for good. And I had to confront another issue: if I pray about this, what am I actually praying for? If I pray to find it and do, is this proof prayer works like a magical vending machine? What do I learn if I get what I want just by praying about it? If I pray to find it and don't, is it proof that prayer doesn't actually work at all? What good is prayer if you can't use it on the small stuff? If I don't pray about it at all, do I not have faith that God can move anthills as well as mountains?

Hope, as it turns out, is pretty hard to kill. Even as I was praying that the money would be a blessing to the person who'd found it, I was still hoping that that person would be me. I thought maybe it ended up in the lost and found, even though I wasn't sure we even had one. I didn't want to put out a company-wide notice for fear of sounding pathetic and inviting comment I didn't need or want. But I did stop by the building across from mine and asked if anyone had happened to find a 'small' sum of cash.

Finally, Saturday evening, with my apartment clean and all possible hiding places thoroughly searched, I concluded that the money was truly gone. I wasn't going to think about it any longer.

I did tell my mom about it, though. I was straightforward. I told her I was disappointed, but that I had accepted that it was gone. I had no expectations for anything but sympathy and an admonishment to keep an eye on things a little better next time. You know what she said?

"I'm going to pray that you find it."

Like it was just that simple. Like I hadn't been agonizing over whether missing money was something I should be praying about. Like I hadn't been questioning my own motivations and desires.

"You need this money. And I believe God will do this for you."

What do you say to that? 'Sorry, no, I've already decided this is not something to be selfish about. I'm going to accept the lesson and move on. Thanks anyway.'

No. My mother said she believed. And I wasn't going to stand in her way.

Sunday morning, there were doubts. But the sermon was about hope. The pastor said something that suddenly struck me right where I needed it.

(To paraphrase) "After the stock market crash in 1929; after the bombing of Pearl Harbor; after the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Cold War, 9/11, and after November 8 - God was and always will be on the throne. He has never not been in control. And we know that hope in him is never in vain."

Sure, it was about politics, but I can take a hint. All right, God. I get it. You're in control. Whatever happens.

Sunday night, I did laundry. As I pulled clothes from the washer to go into the dryer, I noticed something plastered to the wall of the machine.

Yep. You guessed it.

I had laundered my money.

First thing I did was talk to God. "Okay. You win. I was wrong. You were right. Thank you."

Then I called my mom.

"Didn't I tell you?" she said. "I knew you'd find it."

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 17-21, 2016

I'd like this week to be wiped from the annals of history.

I can't say that I've never been more frustrated. I have. And it's not like it was anything huge. Lots of small stuff, really.

It all just came at once, you know? Work stuff, home stuff, friend stuff...

Whatever. It's done. Friday has arrived.

Most of my week was spent working to get a new letter out. (In retrospect, that's probably part of the reason this week was so horrible. Spiritual warfare at its finest, eh?) You should all be getting my newest prayer card soon. If you don't get one, give me a call.

We've also been doing a lot of test files. It's exciting because that means we're kicking off a lot of new language projects.

I also spent two hours verifying the 378 million opportunities ECC committed to in the next 10 years for the One Billion Vision. We were pleased to figure out that it was more like 400 million. So that's cool.

I'm not sure what else to tell you. I just feel off this week. We're definitely trending down, so yeah.

Prayers are appreciated.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 10-14, 2016

Not gonna lie.

Today, I wanted to throw something. Something that would shatter into a thousand pieces and leave evidence of chaos and destruction.

Or this:


But I didn't. Because I'm an adult. And adult who is a responsible, Christian woman. And also because that would probably get me fired. And I wasn't frustrated with my job. I was frustrated with my computer. Because it was stupid and not working. And files were corrupted. Like it lived on the streets.

I'm better now.

The rest of this week has actually been fairly pleasant. We had our staff briefing on Monday, during which we were reminded to wear our name tags for security purposes. I'm hit or miss on that, honestly. I know who I am and that I'm not (much of) a security threat. It's nice that leadership is thinking about these things, though.

There are two booklets in our series that we tend to split up for ease of use, and I learned how we do that this week. It's a fairly simple process, but there are a lot of fiddly bits you have to remember. Once I had it down, I created the entry in the training manual.

I got my flu shot on Tuesday! I'm not sure that merits an exclamation point, but I get 200 points in our wellness program for doing that, so I count it a win. I only mention it because it was on company time and on company property. It's totally normal for your arm to continue hurting three days later, right?

Chapels this week were fun. KyungMin, one half of our Korean couple working at HQ, gave us a history lesson about OMS' work in Korea. I found it quite fascinating. And then Alecia Bonson, who interned here a few years ago (and who I've mentioned on my blog), spoke about her time in South Korea this summer doing Adventures in English. She's fun and quirky, and we get along well.

So. My project today.

I've mentioned test files before, right? We have to make sure that what the translator sends us is faithfully represented by the files we output. It's an involved process, but it usually runs pretty well.

Except today it didn't.

Fortunately, it really wasn't my fault. Just the quirks of computers, corrupted files, and general cantankerousness. But after fifteen combinations of files, one person talking at me through the computer, and one person talking at me in the office, I was not in the best of dispositions.

So I had Foster put up some art I've been meaning to put up for a while now.

Doesn't that look nice? I bought them in Thailand waaaaay back and had them framed, but I didn't have a place in my apartment. 

Here's hoping the weekend doesn't bring quite as much frustration. Or maybe I will just break something in a legal and non-threatening manner. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 4-7, 2016

Welcome back, everyone!

I feel like I need three or four blog posts to cover everything I did on my week off. I was all over the place. I was up, I was down, there was fire, there was rain ... seriously. Suffice to say, I had a really great time, met awesome people, spent time with family, spent a lot of time in a car, and just genuinely had a fantastic experience.

Then I came back to work.

:D

Actually, this week was decent. I always come back to a lot of stuff, but it felt more manageable this time for some reason. I don't think I've caught up on email yet, but I'm not sure anyone ever can unless they spend all day with it.

I was still traveling back Monday, so I didn't get to the office until Tuesday. Immediately, I started back into the project I was working on before. I had to finalize a few more Estonian booklets, which is always fun. There are some really interesting words that stand out.

Apparently, Princess Leia was actually from Estonia, not Alderaan.

We had a prayer rally scheduled this week, but because the day happened to be the same one when Franklin Graham was coming with his Decision 2016 tour to Indianapolis. Someone donated a bus to get us all downtown, and we actually left around 9:30 and didn't get back until 2:00. It was a nice time, nothing I've never heard before, and a lot about his dad. I think it would be hard to live in the shadow of Billy Graham for your entire life, but I think he's done an admirable job.

We had a special chapel on Thursday because our partners from the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church were here. The General Superintendent gave a very nice talk about how there are three types of people in the world: those who live to survive, those who live to succeed, and those who live to serve. I really enjoyed what he had to say. 

Friday seems to be a training day, and today was no exception. But it was good. I learned a lot, and we were able to clear up some things that I hadn't understood about the whole process of production. 

But I'm ready for the weekend...

The Weekly Wrap-Up: September 19-23, 2016

Did you know you can make forms in Google Drive? I sort of maybe had a general idea that it was possible.

Now I've made six. I told you before that the landing page would inevitably change, and sure enough, I made a few more changes this week, mostly with the forms. Instead of creating separate web pages for the various contact points, I just made forms that people can fill out. It's really nice to do it this way, actually, because the responses go directly to the contact email address, which I'm already manning. Womaning. Overseeing.

Anyway, I showed my progress to our Information Services guy, and he told me he liked my work. He doesn't just tell people that if he doesn't think it, so I'm quite happy with that result. Just a few more tweaks, I think.

I also brainstormed, proofed, and recorded a new radio ad. That all came together in about two days. Please don't think that this is normal. We got lucky this time because the idea just sparked, and I used some personal experience to inform the opening, which segued nicely into the rest. You can listen to that here.

Finally, I received some files from our London friend to work on. I'm finalizing the first Estonian proof. Estonian looks very Dutch or German, so it's actually pretty easy to do. No crazy characters or weird spacing. It'll still take me a while, but it means we're finally moving forward with translations.

Also, it would stand to reason that, in the week I have a ton of stuff to do that requires incredible concentration, I would get interrupted a million times with impromptu meetings. Go figure.

I'll be off next week, so unless I do another rambling post about dodgy doctrine (that's catchy!), you won't hear from me for a bit.

Hüvasti 

John Wesley and Prayer: Lunacy or Perfection?

"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer."

Take a long hard gander at that. Really read it. Ruminate on it. Mull it over.

I certainly did. And I didn't like it at all.

Now I'm not going to tell you where I found this quote (OMS), nor how often I see it (all the time). But I was curious about its origin, because surely such an inflammatory statement had to be heretical, or at the very least, misquoted.

You know what I found? You know who the miscreant is?

John Wesley.

Sweet baby Jesus in the manger.

Now I like John Wesley as much as the next Protestant. You can't say a bad word about him (especially when you work for a holiness mission agency.)

But I had to wonder if even he had overstepped his bounds a little with this statement.

I did what I always do when I come across something suspect. I Googled it. A lot. Here's what I found:

• Just about every Wesleyan thing (college, church, mission) has this quote on their website. Usually without qualification or corresponding text, other than to say that prayer is very important.

• A few books have quoted Wesley, again to emphasize the importance of prayer. They usually mention that Wesley spent two hours a day or more in persistent prayer.

• A Methodist church in Iowa produced a 14-page document on the proper posture, type, wording, time, and place of prayer.

• One link sent me to a page written by someone at serveOK.org, which I figured had something to do with Oklahoma, but I thought also might be the slacker's response to missions. We'll serve, but only OK. Also, they offered me free decals, but when I clicked the link, they said too many people had ordered them.

Okay.

• I knew Patheos wouldn't fail me, and sure enough, on the atheist channel I saw an article entitled "Nothing Fails Like Prayer."

It's possible we've moved a bit too far in the other direction. (Incidentally, if you get curious and decide to read the article, let me know what conclusions you come to. I know how I'd answer him, but I'm curious about your own experiences with this kind of argument.)

Finally, I found something that offered context for the quote. It comes from "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection," written by Wesley somewhere between 1725 and 1777.

I skimmed through the document and found much of interest. (Notably that Wesley apparently did not  originally like the term Methodist.) Honestly, the thing is long, and it takes a while before he says the above quote. He includes a lot of hymns, too. I think it's supposed to be like the Methodist Manifesto.

Anyway, his main gist is that it's totally possible for Christians to achieve perfection in this life. He defines perfection as "loving God with all our heart, and mind, and soul" and that this means any "inward sin is taken away."

(I happen to agree with Wesley that it's possible to achieve perfection in this life. However, like him I also believe that few, if any, have actually done this.)

Finally, we get to the infamous quote. (Which actually reads "God does nothing but in response to prayer." Is it very different? No. But I believe in accuracy.) I was not assuaged by what I read. It wasn't an error.

Here's what he says immediately before: "God hardly gives his Spirit even to those whom he has established in grace, if they do not pray for it on all occasions, not only once, but many times."

And immediately after: "Even they who have been converted to God without praying for it themselves, (which exceeding rare,) were not without the prayers of others. Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer."

Wow.

Confession time: I may have blurted out "This man is a lunatic!" in the middle of the office.

I'm trying not to be derailed by those statements. I think they are utterly wrong, and I have no idea what he was thinking when he wrote them, but this post is about prayer, so he's getting a pass.

I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, here. I'm trying to remember that he wrote/lived in a different time, that he doesn't really define what he means by prayer, and that I may actually be way off base here.

I'll also be the first to admit that I have a tenuous relationship with prayer. I tend to think the benefit is to the pray-er more than the pray-ee. I'm less inclined to see a direct link between my prayer and the subsequent action. I try to attribute those actions to their actual source, which is God.

Do I think God prompts us to pray for certain things? Yes. In His time, when He's ready to move, He puts things on people's hearts so that they are prepared for the work ahead.

Do I also think God tells us to stop praying for things? Yes. And we would do well to listen. A 'no' is still an answer, and we can waste a lot of time chasing after things that are never going to happen.

Wesley obviously believed prayer was important. I mentioned that this quote is mainly used next to a subsequent sentence about him praying for two hours every day. And I can't really argue about prayer being important. It's mentioned a lot in the Bible, Jesus taught how us to pray, and he told us to do it without ceasing.

But I think people can overemphasize the power of prayer. It becomes a work, something we have to do to be saved, and that is totally contrary to the Christian faith. There are so many times I have to bite my tongue before I say something that will undoubtedly get me in trouble.

I just can't get behind the idea that it is our prayers that prompt God to act, and that without them, He can do nothing. Because that's what I think is implied in this quote. I refuse to limit God that way. He does what He wills, whether we've prayed for it or not. His actions are not contingent on my faith.

(Rabbit trail: This was a storyline on Stargate: SG-1. These aliens had created a religion and had enslaved millions of people because their powers were fed by people. So the more people who believed, the more powerful they became, and the more people they could enslave. Actually, I think this was the plot of the TV movie about Merlin, too. And now I've totally lost you.)

Ironically (is this actual irony or am I being American and not getting the concept of irony?), I'm going to leave you with a verse about prayer. This is one I fully support and practice as often as I can.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

The Weekly Wrap-Up: September 12-16, 2016

I feel very accomplished this week.

I love weeks like that.

On Monday and Tuesday, I was able to upload new files without watermarks to our download app. If it sounds like something I've done before, you're partially correct. A few weeks ago, I was securing ESP files. ESP stands for something really technical, but really just means the single page files instead of booklet-style pages. We don't let people print those (not sure why, and I've asked, but I'm not dying on that hill), so we have to securify them.

This week, I had to do something similar to the A4 and Letter size booklet files. These we do need to print, but we also need to make sure nothing can be changed in the file. So I created the macro to process them as a batch without any help! (Seriously, it's the little things in life.) Macros make life easier, but there were still hundreds of files, so it took some time to securify them, upload, and zip them up.

I'm also working on the new landing page for T&M. This is something I've been working on for a while in the background while I learned the program, but I felt I had a pretty good grasp of things, so I gave it a whirl.

Not bad, if I do say so myself. There are still a lot of things that need to be sorted, but this is the first thing people will see in the future when they are introduced to T&M (minus the yellow lightning boxes), so it has to be pretty. I imagine it will change quite a bit in the future, but I think it's a decent first effort. 

That pretty much took the rest of the week. I'm good. But I'm also thorough. Good work takes time. 

I'm doing double duty today. My mom is in town running a garage sale for some folks on campus, including me. She's a lovely lady, so I'm making sure she has everything she needs. 

Because I'm a good daughter. 

Fifteen Years Ago

I was fifteen, a sophomore at Lakewood Park Christian School. We had just switched periods, either from homeroom to first or first to second. I was settling in for one of my favorite classes, history with Mr. Weaver.

There was a delay. This was before cell phones were a ubiquitous device, but there was still a current of something in the room. "Did you hear...?" Some parents were pulling kids out of school. Finally, Mr. Weaver came in and said that something had happened in New York. I can't remember what he said exactly.

Everyone ended up in the cafeteria. The technically-minded kids were working on the TV to get reception. I think both planes had crashed into the towers by then. We got it working in time to see the plane hit the Pentagon. We watched everything burn, people jumping out of windows, ash and smoke billowing in great plumes.

Then the south tower fell.

It was quiet in the cafeteria. Everyone was straining to hear the TV. Some whispered to their friends. I was sitting with Christine. She asked me what this would mean.

I honestly didn't know. I told her something about how the towers held a lot of economic power, but I really had no clue. This was unheard of. Nothing like this had ever happened before. What would it mean?

The north tower fell. There was a hole in the sky, Manhattan was an island of dust. There were rumors of other planes that had been hijacked, as it was now clear that this was definitely a deliberate act. At some point, we heard a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.

There was a fifth plane missing. Then there wasn't. People were streaming across bridges. Boats filled the harbors.

The videos just kept playing.

I think we must have dismissed early that day. I can't imagine we would have gotten anything done. I remember my dad picking me up. He was very calm. He said there would be a war for sure. He said he needed to get gas, but it would probably be a madhouse.

He was right. There were long lines at every station. The price had shot up. I remember being irrationally angry with everyone else. My dad actually needed gas that day. He wasn't just doing it because he was scared.

I watched TV the rest of the day. My mom was at work. I don't remember if my dad watched with me or not.

I was reminded of the Oklahoma City bombing. That was my only frame of reference. Except no one could get close enough to where the towers were to really see anything.

Another building collapsed later in the day. That night, President Bush gave an address.

I was reading the transcript of it the other day. I can't remember any of it. I was in a fog. All I could think was that nothing would ever be the same again.

Memory is a funny thing. There are things that stand out clearly. Some things I can infer based on those memories and the logical course of events. When I think about life before September 11, 2001, it seems almost wrong. I remember my sister sitting with us at the gate before we went to Jamaica. But surely not, because people can't sit at the gate if they don't have a ticket now. I remember news broadcasts that said little to nothing about things happening anywhere but in the U.S. I remember watching planes in the sky and not having a worm of doubt in my mind about whether or not they'd reach their intended destination.

The months that followed have similar flashes of stark memories surrounded by fog. My mom had to fly somewhere shortly after the attack. Our car was searched going into the airport parking lot. Police were everywhere. We had to watch her go through security alone (with her shoes on!) and wonder if she'd make it back.

A few weeks later, a plane crashed in Queens. I listened to the news in the yearbook room and prayed that it wasn't another attack.

For weeks after, I would hear Enya's Only Time on the radio. It was interspersed with broadcasts of the event. I've never been able to find a copy of that. I can't listen to the song now without thinking of it.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, a boy in the school died in an ATV accident. I can't remember at all when it happened. I don't know if it was before the attack, shortly after, or months later. I just remember that I had been friends with the boy's sister. We sat next to each other in Geometry and joked around. She was a year below me. After her brother died, I felt it was important that I go to the viewing to support her. My dad drove me there and waited in the car. I went in on my own, and when she saw me, she hugged me. And she held on for what seemed like hours. We didn't say anything. We just hugged. As we drove home, I remember looking out the window and crying. I didn't see much of her after that. I didn't know what to say.

A year later, we had a concert of sorts at the WWII museum in town. It was a remembrance gathering, a chance for people to prove they hadn't been beaten. For some reason, I was asked to sing with the kids from LPCS. We sang "For Such a Time As This." I did the verses. They sang the chorus. It was a big event. I had no idea at the time. I was terrified I'd forget the words. I haven't sung that song since.

Ultimately, I was proved right. Nothing was ever the same.

I developed a kind of mental block regarding 9/11. First off, I hated calling it that. It was September 11th. (I hated when people called it 911. Still do.) I avoided video or photos of it, but I saved every newspaper for a week following the attack. I bought the LIFE magazine issue about it. I bought both movies that were eventually made, and I never watched them. After YouTube became a thing, I had a depressive episode (not because of a video-sharing site) and binged every video I could find about the attack. I watched the towers fall for hours. I created a playlist, and I've never watched it since then, but I can't bring myself to delete it.

I feel like I was there, but at the same time, I feel like I have no right to be so upset or moved by everything. I live in Indiana. No one wants to attack Indiana. I'd been to New York once, but it hadn't meant anything. I thought it was a noisy, crowded place.

We went to New York later for our senior trip. Two and a half years after the attack. We spent a morning at the site. I remember looking at it and trying to figure out how such large buildings fit into that itty bitty space. It was giant hole in the ground, fenced off. The surrounding buildings still had damage in places. There was a church just down the street. I couldn't reconcile the two images in my head.

I don't know that I'll ever get over it. I don't know that I'll ever fully understand how I feel about it. I don't know that I'll ever remember everything about that day. I don't know that I'll ever be able to see a photo or video without flinching (and they are everywhere, and show up at unexpected moments). I don't know that I'll ever be able to watch the movies. I doubt I'll ever get rid of them, though.

I pray that it never happens again. And I know that it probably will. If it does, I don't know if it will affect me the same way. Recent events have numbed me to the point of apathy. More people died? That's terrible. What should we do for lunch?

I don't want to feel that way. But I'm tired of living in a broken world. I'm tired of feeling like nothing we do changes anything.

I don't have a nice way to end this. Like all things, it just...

Is. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: September 7-9, 2016

Short week.

Not gonna lie.

I like short weeks.

This week felt even shorter than it would normally. Sure, we got Monday off for Labor Day. And I took Tuesday off for the drive back and to take care of some things you can't do on weekends. But Wednesday was the half day of prayer, so automatically, that's another three hours that isn't spent working. (Sure, prayer is part of our work. A big part. But it's hard to see things being accomplished.)

I was going to use Wednesday afternoon to get caught up with email and the usual maintenance stuff on regular projects. But then I got called into a meeting last-minute. Not a last-minute meeting, mind. This was a regularly scheduled program. I just wasn't scheduled to be in it until five minutes before it started. Unlike many meetings, I felt that this one actually accomplished something. Which is good, because it lasted three hours. I stayed late to make sure some of the more pressing stuff would be done.

I finally cleared out the jetsam Thursday morning before I went to a Lunch & Learn meeting. It's exactly what it sounds like: we eat lunch and learn things. Specifically, we were learning more about the Grip-Birkman personality report. Not sure if I've mentioned this before. It's a personality test that all OMS applicants take. It's not a psych test or anything, and it's more in-depth than Meyers-Briggs or others. I took a course last year on how to coach someone through their report. I find it fascinating, and you really learn a lot about yourself. Maybe I'll do a post about it and explain some of the more interesting facets of my personality.

Anyway, immediately after that, I helped Carolyn with the church history stuff again. It's Orientation week, and we had ten-ish people here learning about OMS and how we operate. Once again, I drew the timeline while she gave the presentation. I still don't know why as I still can't draw. But I have fun. And I sneak in pop culture references.

I worked on an interesting project yesterday. I was trying to determine the exact number of countries in which T&M is used. This is not an easy task as the whole point of T&M is to pass it on, and we've trained several mission agencies that work in many different countries. But I can approximate based on correspondence, license agreements, partnerships, and such. 

I was surprised at the results. Sure, we bat around the "more than 40 countries" language, but I didn't realize that it was more like 87. I can confidently state that you will find Train & Multiply materials in at least 87 countries. And it's not just the ones we always hear about. 

Of course, there were 226 countries on that list. Way I see it, we've got 139 countries left.

Will you help?

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 29 - September 1, 2016

This has been a weird week, though more for personal reasons than professional. I've felt very off kilter. It's a good phrase, that. Off kilter. I wonder where it came from.

::a little sleuthing later::

Apparently, you can also use the phrase 'out of kilter.' Kilter, of course, means good form, order, spirits or condition. I guess no one uses it in a positive manner anymore. As for its origin, no one seems to know, though most agree it has nothing to do with Scotsmen.

I have a great desire to describe good things as 'in kilter' now.

Anyway.

Like I said. Weird week. I was without hot water for much of it. My water heater decided to burn out, once with little fanfare, and a second time with a nice little POP and scorch marks. I was boiling water in order to do dishes, though I thought it best to not do that for washing hair. Cold showers are mighty unpleasant.

I had a huge headache Tuesday and Wednesday. Bordering on migraine territory, which meant I had to fight not to throw up.

I guess that could throw me off my game.

Anyway, we spent a lot of time on the app this week. We have a really great useable product. Now we need to market it. (And stop changing things!) I'm really proud of what we've created, though. I hope lots of people use this.

I processed more test files. Yay! Once approved, we can move forward with languages. It's nice to actually get this part of the job. I think back to two years ago when I started working with ECC, and I had no idea what I was in for! I thought I'd never learn the process, but here we are! I have more to learn, true, but I know enough that we can start divvying up the workload.

We had a seminar today on possible new tech for us. I learned a lot, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's another couple of years before we see it implemented. (If stakeholders decide to go this route.) I wish it wasn't so, but money talks in missions. The more money, the more we can do. I think we steward funds pretty well at OMS, but it's disheartening to see a really great idea die because we have no way to fund it. (Or missionaries leave because they have no more funding.)

Ah, well.

I'm writing this on Thursday this week because I am outta here for the weekend! Woohoo! I have a lot of vacation time left, and I intend to use it well. Have an excellent weekend, and enjoy your day off!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 22-26, 2016

Well, then.

I've discovered another benefit for doing these. They help convince me that I'm not actually living the same week over again.

It's not that I think I'm living in a Groundhog Day situation. I just tend to do a lot of the same things every week, and I can see myself believing that there really isn't any variety to life.

"But surely," you would say to me, "your evenings should be full of variety; certainly enough to convince you that life is indeed moving forward and you're not stuck in a time loop."

To which I would reply: "Umm ... sometimes I watch episodes of Star Trek: Voyager instead of West Wing."

Moving on.

It's Outreach week! We're doing two versions now, remember, one print and one online. Although, the first part of the online version is the same as the print version, but still - the workload doesn't really change for proofreaders. The focus is on India for this issue, which is exciting because Train & Multiply gets a huge shout out from our India training in June. People in India have really embraced T&M, which is great, but also means more work for us. There are 1,652 officially recognized languages in India. Only about 150 have a sizeable population that speaks them, and there are 22 official languages. We've translated about four. I imagine we could spend a year just on Indian languages alone and still have plenty of work.

Speaking of languages, I counted up how many active projects we have going on right now. We use Trello for tracking (which if you haven't heard of it, it's a great program), and we have 25 open boards. Maybe half of those are going right now. For the rest, we've received requests, but we're still working out translators or fonts or something else is preventing us from starting. There's a lot to consider when translating something.

For example, the other thing I worked on this week is the test file. I talked about this last week, but this week I had to write up the process so that I can train others how to do this. It's a fairly simple process, but I ended up with roughly 18 steps before it's completed. And that's just when everything goes right!

We had a big discussion this week about what we do with materials people need from us. It's a real hassle to handle individual requests for information. We're trying to figure out how to get everything in one place, but only give access to people who need it.

Anyway, that discussion is by no means resolved. We figured out we needed to hire at least two more people, so that's something. Trouble is, it takes so long for people to fund, what do we do in the meantime?

So I guess this week was actually quite varied. Maybe it's just Fridays that seem the same. Or neverending. I'm ready to go home.

One more hour.