The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 23-27, 2018

You know what, guys? It has been a week.

Seriously.

And not really because of work. Or at least, not only because of work. You wouldn't think work would have been a problem this week, because it's CMF Seminar week. That means most people were off-site. But it also meant lots of trips back and forth. That can make it difficult to really get a lot done in the office. But I managed to get a few of the Chinese booklets done. And I had time to talk to a couple more people about joining the production team.

Incidentally, if you have InDesign experience (even if you don't) and you'd like to learn about Train & Multiply and have a few spare hours to volunteer, please give me a call. I have a wonderful opportunity for you.

Umm, what else happened this week? Chapels were good. I've been planning the next single ladies dinner. (We have dinner once a month. It's technically for all single people. But there are no single men right now. We've put in several requests with Mobi. All to no avail.)

There's probably more. But they've been working on the lobby windows all week, and I think whatever solvent or adhesive or chemical they are using for whatever reason is filtering only to my office. And it's giving me a horrible headache. I've had this knot going since Wednesday. So I'm going to leave you with the Pic of the Week.

That may or may not have anything to do with a certain movie I may or may not have seen last night. (Though if you've seen it too, we need to talk. I don't know if I can take another year of uncertainty. I must process this with another fan. And I'm using fan in the strictest terms. I need a fanatic. Like me.)

Have a great weekend!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 16-20, 2018

Hakha Chin is done!

Hallelujah!

Seriously, words cannot express how grateful I am to finally be done with this language. At least for now. There will always be more Hakha Chin. But the first two groups have been published (provisionally), and they should be available for training next week. I have been working my booty off to get this done, and I'm very happy to go back to the normally scheduled program.

Which is Chinese. Well, to be specific, simplified Chinese. I can't even really tell you what that means, other than that there is also a traditional Chinese. I'd imagine it has something to do with the characters. But beyond that, I got nothing. I just know it's a lot shorter than most other languages I work in. It also has its own idiosyncrasies. I'm actually breaking a lot of the normal rules in order to make these booklets look like the others. But needs must...

We had two good chapels this week. The Beasleys talked about their first five years here, and then a woman who helps with Light in Darkness spoke. She has had personal experience with the human trafficking industry, and it was a horrific things to hear. Just when you think you understand how evil people can be, you realize you have no clue. But God is redeeming those experiences as she shares her story with other victims and survivors. It was hard to listen to, but good to hear.

I have to give big kudos to Foster and Lori for finishing the decade displays this week. I have helped in small ways along the journey, but those two carried the big burdens with this project. You should really stop by OMS sometime to see the finished work. It's a great way to learn about OMS' history over more than 100 years of ministry.

Somehow, in the midst of all of this (and by that, I mean every night staying late at work), I was able to get some thank you notes written. I'll send them Monday, and hopefully then I can work on my next prayer letter. And figure out when I can finish my post on the Philippines trip. I really can't let another month pass before I get that done. I just don't know how to get these projects done and do thorough updates at the same time. I'll figure it out. Probably.

Finally, we have our Pic of the Week.

My standing desk arrived! Now you know why I was clearing stuff off my desk in the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping that this will promote a healthier lifestyle, or at least get me out of my chair every once in a while. I'll let you know how it turns out. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 9-13, 2018

Ack! I'm writing this at 5:11. I want to go home. But I also want to update you, dear readers. It's been a crazy day. (Maybe there's something to the Friday the 13th myth. Maybe I'm just born with it.) There's so much I have been thinking about and wanting to ruminate on with you, but there just isn't time. I'm trying to crank out three language projects, all of which are somehow top priority, work on thank you notes to donors, work on my regularly scheduled prayer letter, get some Outreach proofs proofed, potentially recruit new people, and just generally try to keep my head above the, this week at least, entirely metaphorical water. All while rearranging my desk/office to make room for things that will theoretically make me healthier and more productive.

It's a lot.

I don't have a Pic of the Week. I'm sorry. I haven't done a Word of the Week on Facebook in a month probably. I'm feeling like Humperdinck in The Princess Bride. OOH!

I hope you all have an excellent weekend, and here's to less stress next week. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 2-6, 2018

Has this week gone really fast for anyone else? I feel like I blinked and Friday was suddenly here. I suppose it's mostly due to how diligently I focused on my work.

Yep. That's definitely it.

First, last week. I did not post anything. I'm aware of this. It was a short week. Friday was a holiday, and Thursday was a migraine day. Joy. So I hope you can live without hearing about my week for once. It will be a challenge, I know, but my thoughts and prayers are with you. On to this week.

I'm finally in group 6 for Hakha Chin! But only just. Group 5 was kicking my butt. It's incredibly difficult to fit 10 lines of text into a space that was made for 6. It makes me think of the genie in Aladdin. The first and best one. PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER! Itty-bitty living space. But I shall rise to the challenge!

It was a prayer rally week. We heard from the Red Nueva Vida equipo, also known as the New Life Network team. They have been using Train & Multiply, among other things, to plant churches in Hispanic communities around the world. It actually started out as just a U.S. thing, but they now have groups in London, Guatemala, and Colombia, and they are spreading rapidly. Which is good, because that's one of the principles of church multiplication. We also continued the in-depth study of The Lord's Prayer, focusing on the name of God this time. It was fine.

I'll give you a window update before we get to the Pic of the Week. They worked on it pretty steadily last week, which probably contributed to the migraine.

Here's my window before:

Small, yes. And behind me. I can see the reflection of the sun in my computer, though.

Here's my window during:

They did eventually put up a little more plastic in order to cover the rest. I still found some stones in my office when they were done. 

Here's the (mostly) finished product:

Ignore the machine outside. Look! It's a window! Isn't it pretty? It's certainly cleaner, though how long that will last is anyone's guess. 

Okay, so now on to the Pic of the Week. It's actually a set of photos. Feast your eyes upon my backyard on Tuesday. 

There's a river behind those trees. And it normally stays behind those trees. But on Tuesday, the build up of rain finally became too much, and I got a lake instead of a field. I also got the water turned off in my apartment because if we didn't turn it off, the sewage would back up. So there's that. 

I hope that conveys just how close to the garage the water was. It's certainly not been this high since I've lived here, and I'm told the last time it reached these levels was 2008. So if it wants to stick to a 10-year cycle, that's fine. Longer is good, too. 

And of course, by the time I left work five hours later, the water had mostly returned to the confines of its normal wend through the woods. 

Like it never even happened.