The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 22-26, 2017

Whew! What a week. I feel like I've been through the wringer, with barely anything to show for it. My time got eaten by some strange monster, and I really can't tell you how, outside of the regular work and more meetings. And I'm going through some stuff. But I'll deal. I always do.

The open house on Sunday was lovely. Small, but I think that allowed me to answer some more specific questions. As always, I'm happy to entertain anyone who would like a tour of my domain. Feel free to visit, I'd love to see you!

So, first thing - I forgot to add the radio link, so here 'tis. It's a little cheeky, which of course means I love it. 

Portuguese all the way, this week. I took group five from mere translation to proof files, which was no easy feat as there were loads of issues. Not sure if it's a translation issue or if the templates have problems, so that will be fun to sort out. 

Also adding to the stress, and something for which I would appreciate prayer, is that my boss went to the hospital on Tuesday with chest pains. He ended up having a stent put in one artery. Along with the uncertainty of his condition came the realization that there are a lot of things he does that the rest of us do not know how to do. 

I want to really emphasize the need for prayer. We knew going into the billion.global vision that there would be extreme opposition. We flat out told Satan we were going after one billion people for Jesus. I'm not surprised we've experienced a lot of physical/mental/emotional crises. We're not backing down. In fact, we're doubling down in Jesus. I hope you will join us.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

Yes, that's the video I've been teasing about for weeks. I hope you enjoyed it.

Someone called me the "smart person in the corner" this week. That could probably go on a business card.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 15-19, 2017

Have you ever had 1,000 wasps whirling around your head, following your every move, locking onto you as you walk in slow motion down the street, desperately trying to avoid eye contact and the inevitable dive bomb as your life flashes before your eyes and you realize just how many bad haircuts you actually had over the years, and only a few of them were your fault because taking the advice of someone you trust does not constitute a binding contract of taking the blame for acting on their suggestions, no matter what that loser says.

...

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah. Drones.

See it up there? That little white hovercraft of death? Yeah, apparently drones can lock onto specific people now. I became one such person earlier this week when we had to do more filming for the funding video (which you'll see Sunday if you come to the open house).

Seriously, though, it's really weird to be followed around by a drone that is filming you and not look or react to it. More proof I could never cut it in Hollywood, I suppose. "Act casual around the death machine" would probably turn into me giggling uncontrollably.

I sang again for chapel on Tuesday. My hand is blurry because I was trying to keep track of the time signature. It's hard to enforce it with just a piano, especially when you're singing a well-known song like "Be Thou My Vision." I learned some kickin' new harmonies for it, though.

Aside from a quick side trip to Chick-Fil-A for a drink I can't actually drink-

... it was free, don't judge me. Anyway, aside from that, I've been working on Portuguese most of the week. I'm in group 5, taking it from formatting to proof stage. It's quite a bit of work, but also quite fun. Lots of speech bubbles doing weird things.

I also took a space journey this week. Apparently, members of a team can answer all these questions about a hypothetical space journey in order to determine how everyone works in a team. Like a personality assessment, I suppose. I like these things, I really do, but they hardly ever have an option I'm 100% on board with. I guess that tells you a lot about me already. But I scored high on integrity, so that's good.

Overall, it was a good week. I'll see you on the flip side. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 8-12, 2017

Alas and alack, another week has past.

"Time passes so slowly if you are unaware of it and so quickly if you are aware of it." - Marc Bolan

That's neither here nor there. I'm just being pretentious.

Anyway. Regular meetings on Monday morning. I'm resigned to them, I think. They are mostly useful, and Sarah and I can commiserate when they are not, so it's really a win-win for me.

On Monday afternoon, I did something a bit different. I've commissioned a new video to aid in my funding efforts. This will hopefully debut during the open house here at OMS, so if you weren't planning on coming before, this will no doubt incentivize you.

In fact, as I type this, my cameraman is filming me typing away industriously. Say hello, Michael.

I finally finished finalizing group 3 of Hindi and created proof files. I'm now starting on group 5 of Portuguese. I know, I know what you're thinking - Portuguese? Again?

Yes. We're making great progress, speeding right along. It's a good thing.

I also did some voice recording for our latest radio ad, which I will post when it is approved. I think it's fun. It highlights One Mission Kids, which is also the subject of the latest issue of Outreach magazine.

Finally, on Wednesday I attended the funeral for Phil Chandler, the gentleman I mentioned last week. It was a lovely service, and it served to hit home just how much Phil did around here. Phil spent his life in service of God and others. He's a real inspiration.

I'm not sure people would say such nice things about me at my own funeral. But I'd be dead, so I wouldn't care.

Anyway. I told you last week I'm a little weird about death, right?

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 1-5, 2017

Parlez vous Francais?

Non?

Good, because French was so five days ago.

Well, okay. I finished French on Tuesday.

Same difference.

While I waited for a new project to come down the pipeline, I worked on some outside stuff. I created a mockup of hopefully the final iteration of the new landing page. Caught up on documentation of processes and progress. The us yuge yuzh... I don't know how to spell what my brain is wanting to say. The usual stuff.

Ugh.

So boring.

Anyway, my next project is an old friend. Hindi! We've progressed to the third group, and I'm so excited to search for lone ranger Hindi periods.

It's those stick-looking things. That indicates the end of a sentence in Hindi, but they often get wrapped to the next line. I don't actually know if that's a problem in this language, but it looks weird to me, so I fix it. Along with everything else. 

Finally, this week, we lost a member of our OMS family. It's been coming for a while, but I don't think anyone expected it this soon. Phil has been with OMS pretty much forever. He's practically an institution around here. So we're all a little subdued. 

I'm really bad with death. Perhaps another time, after copious amounts of alcohol, I can expand upon that. In the meantime, we appreciate your prayers.