The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 26-30, 2017

I'm awesome.

I know, I know, I'm tooting my own horn. But really, if I don't do it, who will?

Seriously, though, I was able to finish my bit of Hakha Chin by Tuesday, which is good, because they'll be training in it in two weeks.

Nothing like getting the job at the last minute, eh?

(Happens quite a bit, actually.)

Instead of going straight back to Portuguese, I took the time to write my latest prayer letter. I really hope people appreciate these. They are hard to write. Sometimes, it's hard to condense everything that has happened into short, meaningful blurbs. Sometimes, it's equally hard to stretch an uneventful period into an interesting, adjective-infested essay.

And don't get me started on pictures.

But it's important. For many, it's the only thing they'll see out of me for the next two months.

Alas, I did start working on Portuguese again. But sporadically, as there are many other smaller projects to be done.

All of which wreak havoc on my ADD.

Anyway, it's a short one, I know. There just aren't enough adjectives in the world to make this week any more interesting.

(Incidentally, I've also been preparing for the UB Conference that is rapidly approaching. If you'll be attending, please make a special effort to come visit me at the OMS booth.)

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 19-23, 2017

So normally I take notes on what I'm doing in any given day during the week. You wouldn't think it would be hard to remember what I did all week - but it is. I blame the fact that I was dropped on my head as a baby. (Which I was; or rather, I was bounced off a bed onto the floor. Thanks, Jen.)

I'm going to do my best.

I continued on with Portuguese for most of Monday and Tuesday. I really don't like doing multiple groups at a time because it feels like you'll never finish. But sometimes it's good because you're doing the same thing on multiple files. It would be more annoying to go back and forth between languages and stages of production.

I had to pause Portuguese when Hakha Chin came down the pipeline. It's a higher priority as there's a training event coming up. Now it's not Haka like the dance--



Though that would be awesome. (I generally don't see those unless I'm watching New Zealand rugby, and that is always a delight. You should go YouTube the All Blacks sometime.)

Anyway, Chin is of course a language in Myanmar (and a people group), and Hakha Chin is one dialect that is used by the folks we train.

So I'm finalizing the first group. Which is taking a long time because HC is another language that uses twenty words where English uses ten.

It's also taking a long time because this week has been insane. I mentioned it's People Time, right? So there have been many meetings, and then the Board meetings yesterday and today. It makes for quite a variety of activities.

One such activity is the cause of the teaser I gave last week about. We had a Ladies Luncheon for the Board wives today, and I played a small role as Lettie Cowman. See, we were highlighting the many books that have been written over the years by OMS missionaries. And of course, Lettie kicked it all off. So I was asked to give a few words from her perspective. I've been working on this for weeks. I did a lot of research, perused many a Goodwill, and searched in vain for audio of Lettie's voice.

But I think it went well.

Seriously, it was the highlight of my week. Next week, I'm back in the trenches.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 12-16, 2017

Let's just assume from now on that I will always have ridiculously long meetings on Monday mornings. Even this week, when we established ahead of time that we were only going to meet for 30 minutes, we started talking about leaving after 40, and continued on for another 20 minutes after that.

So, yeah...

It's People Time at OMS! Missionary Council meetings this week, the Board next week, who knows what in between - it all adds up to a bunch of folks we don't normally see wandering around HQ. It's nice to reconnect, though it's also like continuing a six-year long conversation that happens once a year.

So my first project this week was Hindi. We're in proof stages for this particular group, so I was making the changes that the translator sent. Most of them were pretty easy - they're pulled in automatically with the script. But in one case, the translator mentioned that two words were joined together at the end of the paragraph.

This one, to be exact:

Slight problem with that. Anyone know what it is?

You are correct! I neither speak, nor read, Hindi! So I have no way of knowing where that last word is supposed to be split. Google Translate isn't a ton of help with something like this. So I used all the means at my disposal to hunt down the correct answer.

Which looks like this:

I'm awesome.

After Hindi, I'm back to Portuguese. Same thing, proof stages for four groups this time. It's going to be a fairly lengthy project, I think. Lots of fiddly bits. My desk is full of post-it notes of things to remember to change.

And I've been working on a top secret project. Never fear, though, you'll hear all about it next week.

At some point, I'll be starting my new series. If you have a question you've always wanted to ask a missionary, any question at all, send it to me and I'll answer it.

Now I'm off to a picnic.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 5-9, 2017

Did you miss me last week? Miss my special brand of witticisms and charm?

Good.

I can't honestly say I thought about you at all last week.

Sorry.

Seriously, though, it was a really nice week off. I needed some rest and relaxation. I had a lovely day at the lake, spent some time at the Forks of the Wabash, had great conversations with my parents, and generally just slept. Sleep is really nice, you know?

Of course, work is work. And I had my usual 3.5 hours of meetings on Monday morning. But it was okay. My boss is back, if still a little under the weather. So that's good. Thanks for the prayers.

I've spent most of the week working on new text for the landing page. Well, for one of the options on the landing page. We're combining all of the FAQs, history, etc. into one page. My best moment in this job? Reducing the vast history of Train & Multiply to four lines.

I rock.

We had a cool prayer rally this week that was all about missionary kids. Did you know we have almost 300 missionary kids within OMS? I had no idea there were that many. MKs go through many of the same thing adult missionaries do, except they often don't have the emotional capacity to process everything (not sure all the adults do, either, but that's neither here nor there). People expect a lot out of them, too, which is something I'm familiar with as a PK.

I helped out with orientation again yesterday. We only have three participants this time, along with our five interns at times, but it was as fun as ever. I'm not an artist by any means, but I do my best, and people seem to find it entertaining at the very least.

Here's something for the future - we're doing a 5K here (which you can come join, actually) to raise money for Bridge to Reading, which is our literacy program at OMS. I'm participating, and I have a team page where you can sponsor me. This is a really great program, and I love that we're bringing the written word to people across the globe.

I think next week will pick up quite a bit. I fully anticipate a crazy busy summer, just like always. As a heads up, I will be attending the UB conference in Pennsylvania as a rep for OMS. I hope to see you there!