The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 25-28, 2017

This was an amazingly quiet week. Pretty much everyone else was attending the CMF seminar over at Community Church of Greenwood. I was able to go over a couple of times to hear reports, but for the most part, I was alone in the ECC hallway.

It was really nice.

Really helpful, too, because I needed some quiet to work on French. There were a lot of little issues with the files, and I needed to concentrate. I was hoping French wouldn't take so long, but it's that constant battle between being thorough and getting product out. The less we do now, the more we have to do in proof stage. And always, you'll notice something in a later book that makes you go back to see if it was a problem in earlier books.

Oh well. I'm nearly done. Just the SAG left to finish up next week.

We had two good chapels this week. Thursday's was really intense. We had a healing service after our speaker was finished. I don't have a lot of experience with these. I agree in theory, I suppose, but I've seen too many televangelist shysters to be 100% on board. Maybe it's a faith thing? Or maybe my hang-ups with prayer factor in. Either way, I'm not opposed to healing services. It just didn't feel overly inclusive.

Didn't mean to take the rabbit trail.

That's really it for the week. It was a short one because I spent Monday driving back and running some weekday errands I'd been putting off. The break was nice.

Especially because I have a feeling that May will be crazy.

Yay.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 17-20, 2017

You may have noticed that this was a short week for me.

I deserved it.

Monday morning, I ended up in 3 solid hours of meetings. They were mostly good, things that needed to be discussed, but still. No one likes 3 hours of sitting.

I was also having internet trouble. Not sure why my computer did this, but the ethernet conked out, and I wasn't able to access wifi. So that slowed things down even further. I do 90% of my work on the computer, and while I can do some of it without internet, I needed to access the FTP, which requires a network connection. So that sidelined me and left me feeling quite cantankerous. I did my best not to inflict it on anyone, but I'm not sure I succeeded.

Finally, I was able to start finalizing French booklets. And there were a lot of problems. Still are; I'm not done. I think I made it through two booklets in two days because there were so many issues.

One piece of good news is that our Annual Reports arrived! I helped edit and compile this year's report of our 2016 activities. If you'd like a copy, please let me know. I'm not sending them out like I did last year. Postage being what it is and all.

Now Thursday... Thursday was our annual Spring Work Day. And work we did. I spent the morning raking and bagging leaves from the ditch in front of our building. That was fun. Then in the afternoon, I was on the crew assigned to cleaning the fellowship hall. For me, this largely amounted to mopping and buffing the floors. First time I've ever used a floor buffer. The power may have gone to my head.

I'll spare you the photo of the bruise I got from dealing with a rogue bludger. I mean buffer.
And no, I didn't know what color the t-shirts were going to be before I wore those pants. 

Here's the fearless crew that cleaned the fellowship hall. Christner, on the left, is probably the only one you don't know. (I call her that because she calls me Hollopeter. We're not up to first names yet.) I'm not sure why they keep putting Foster, Lori, and I on the same team for things.
It's like they have no sense of history at all. 

I'm taking Friday and next Monday off so I can do some funding and home stuff with my parents. It will be nice to have a break.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 10-13, 2017

Tagalog is done!

For those of you who have been pronouncing it like those Girl Scout cookies, you are quite mistaken.

TUH

GAHL

UGG (like the boot)

Got it? Good.

It's a short week as we obviously won't be in tomorrow. But I had just enough time to finish up the last few tweaks to the Tagalog files, work on a new prayer letter (should be in your hands within a couple weeks), do some chapel singing, and work on the newest iteration of the landing page.

I need to go back to making notes about what I do every day. It's hard to remember at the end of the week. Even if it is a short week.

Maybe I just have a bad memory.

One thing I do remember is how awesome Jesus is. 2,000 years ago, he gave us an incredible gift - access to the Father. This is not something you want to miss out on. If you stumbled across this blog because you Googled Ugg and Google's algorithms somehow ended up here, and you don't know about the gift of salvation that Jesus is offering freely, please find a local church this Sunday. I guarantee there will be convenient service times somewhere, and I guarantee they'll be waiting for you.

Happy Easter.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 3-7, 2017

Oi. I'm going to try to sum up everything about this week, but it's going to be a challenge. First, because it's been a crazy, crazy week. Second, I'm in a bit of a fog. I've had a headache since yesterday.

Now then. Portuguese es finito. Woohoo! Now I'm on to a language I haven't done yet, Tagalog. It's an interesting one. Tagalog is mainly spoken in the Philippines, so there's a lot of words in English. The trick is figuring out which ones are intentional and which are not. Fortunately, all I have to do is log each case for the translator to double check. It's another long language, though. Trying to find room for everything can tax even my creativity. But I shall persevere!

Speaking of persevering - ECC was in charge of our April prayer rally on Wednesday. Fortunately, I didn't have to do much planning. But as it stood, many of our ECC peeps were out of the office this week. So I did have a few parts to play. I think we did a good job. And I suppose it would be hard to get prayer wrong. (I'm only sort of being serious.)

Lots of meetings this week. I have to scrap the new landing page I was working on. C'est la vie. I honestly don't even remember what all the meetings were about. I was here, I was there ... does anyone truly know where they are?

Seriously. Head. Hurts.

I'm working on a personal funding video. Not sure what it will look like. Any suggestions? I also took a prayer card photo. I'm the backup to the backup these days, so I don't get many, but I like keeping my toe in the water.

We had a webinar about retirement yesterday. Logically, I know I should be paying attention. But in reality, it seems really far away, or like something that will never happen. Honestly, it feels a little like gambling (which, incidentally, is partly why the Amish do not pay into Social Security).

Anyway. A lot happened this week. I'll continue with Tagalog next week. And hopefully my headache will be gone by then. 

The Missionary Question

Sweet butter crumpets.

There's a link under there, in case you were wondering. Please, take a few moments to read that post, and then come on back, because I have a few things to say.

...

I assume you've read it. Depending on your background, you probably had a few different reactions to it. Believe me, I've heard them all. I'm interested in your thoughts.

But I'm going to focus on my own experiences with this for a few minutes. Possibly longer. There's a lot rolling around in my head right now. I'm going to get very personal. I intend to share some things that I don't usually because they may not fit in with your idea of what a missionary should think or say. It's not that I've never felt these things before. It's just that I've always felt the need to censor myself on certain things. There's a voice in my head that is always reminding me, "If people really knew you'd thought these things, if people knew these things had happened, if people really knew... They'd never support you."

So we're going to test that out.

Do you know the #1 question I get asked when I share in churches? It doesn't matter if it's before or after I've spoken. I will inevitably get this question: So where are you going?

Short answer: I'm not. I'm a missionary who lives in the U.S.

Long answer: Why do I have to be going somewhere? I'm going to Greenwood, Indiana, where I live. Does that count? There's a whole building there full of people who have both gone and not gone to places other than the United States. We have the same goals as people who have "gone" somewhere. Or do you want to know about the short-term trips I've been on? I can make them sound like they were longer. More involved. Can I skip this question and talk about the people who use the materials I create? They live in places like Peru and India. In fact, they've lived in Peru and India their entire lives. Why does the work they do in their home country count for more than the work I do in my home country?

Except I can't say that. It's antagonistic. I can't tell people I work behind-the-scenes because that is apparently code for "not a real missionary." I catch myself distinguishing between homeland missionaries and field missionaries. Field missionaries come here all the time and thank us for the work we do in supporting them. And I appreciate that. I just don't know a lot of other people who do.

Field missionaries go to churches and tell dynamic stories about all the people they've led to Christ. I go to churches and tell people about the field missionaries who led people to Christ using the materials I created on my computer. Somehow, being just that little bit removed from the action makes what I do less than.

I try to make up for it. I tell people less about how I spend my time and more about the impact T&M has on countries around the world. Have I been to these countries? Some of them, sure. But mainly as an observer. Sometimes as a trainer. For some, it's been years and had nothing to do with OMS. And I haven't been out of this country since 2013. That hurts my soul.

I can't talk about how I miss my family. My parents live two hours away. I have regular(ish) phone contact with my sisters. What is there to miss? I can't say that I missed my grandmother's funeral because of work. Because I was dealing with some pretty serious problems with my job. That I was about to not have a job, and I had interviews and meetings, and it didn't matter that I was still in the States - I couldn't make it happen. (In fact, it might have been easier to go if I'd been out of the country. I know. It's weird, but true.)

I have family that doesn't support what I do. I have family that doesn't really know what I do. I have family that doesn't like it when I ask for money. I also have family that supports me unconditionally. It runs the gamut.

All of this runs through my head every time I write a prayer letter or plan a supporter event or go speak in churches. I try to guess what people are thinking when they hear me. I'm trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but all too often, that seems to me to be people who really don't know what I do, don't care, and don't really believe that what I do counts as missionary work.

I'm sorry about that. I'll try to think better of you.

But I also have to stop making excuses for myself. I have to stop thinking of myself as less than.

I am a missionary.

I was called by God to this position and this place.

I'm good at what I do.

My job is vital in this ministry.

My salary comes through donations made by people who either believe in me or in this ministry.

I can't force people into either category. They have to follow God's leading (or not) to support me.

Side note: I made a deal with God when I first became a missionary. You can argue the theology of that all you want, but I felt like God was telling me that it was okay to put out a fleece. (Personally, I think Gideon was mostly a chump. But he followed through on what the fleece was telling him to do. And I can do no less.)

My fleece was pretty simple. As long as there were funds in my account, I would stay with OMS. That was my sign that God wanted me to stick around. Simple, right?

Twice now I have been miraculously kept in the OMS family. The first time, my account was $10,000 in deficit. Seems like a pretty obvious sign of being released, right? I didn't just give up. I spent a summer doing fundraising. I gave it my all. And I raised slightly more than it cost to travel that summer. I was ready to go. I didn't want to. But a deal's a deal. But then I got a job offer from someone at OMS to help set up a new project. I literally left OMS on Friday and started back the following Tuesday (it was Labor Day weekend).

I knew I had a job for at least 8 months. That stretched to 11. And then for a month, I had no job. I was ready to leave OMS at that point. I wanted to. But I didn't feel like God was releasing me. And I kept showing him my rapidly emptying bank account. We had a deal! But God sent me to ECC.

True, I get a stipend from ECC. They needed someone to fill this position, and they needed that person right away. But I knew going in that the stipend would only last so long. It'll be gone soon. And to stay at OMS, I have to make up the difference.

Slightly less than half of my monthly requirements come in through donations right now. The rest will come from a small cushion in my support account. That's what I'm trying to raise when I speak at churches.

Whew. I wasn't sure I was going to make it back around to my original point.

This is all stuff I don't tell people. I don't know if people even want to know these things. I don't mind people knowing. But it feels like I'm trying to guilt people into giving. Please help the poor missionary! Yet it's the reality of being a missionary. We don't do this job to be rich. But being not poor would be nice, too.

Look, it's no secret that 'going somewhere' ups your missionary cred. And believe me, if I was called to serve in another country, I'd go. I have no doubt I'd get a lot of new supporters. But I'm called to be here. Do I believe God will provide? Yes. But I'm also human. I worry. I have doubts. I think about the magical formula of what will make people interested in giving to support my ministry. I downplay the nine hours I spend on my computer every day working with InDesign files (and agonizing over blog posts). I mention the possibility of trips to Israel and the Philippines as evidence that I'm actually going to do something as a missionary.

You know, I use that verse the article mentioned a lot when I speak in churches. Romans 12 and I are like this. I try to be subtle in pointing out that I'm just as much of a missionary as those guys with pictures of cute children and huts in Africa.

I may look different.

But I'm exactly what God called me to be.

Would you like to support my ministry with OMS? You can follow this link for handy-dandy online giving. Or you can leave a comment for more information.

You can also hear more of my particular brand of wit and wisdom May 21 at OMS in Greenwood, Indiana. I'll be giving an up close and personal view of what my missionary journey looks like. You can comment or email for more info on that, too.