The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 22-26, 2021

I don't really have a game plan for retiring the 'panic' tag. I mean, we're still technically in it. After I get the vaccine? After the stupid mask mandate ends? What do you think?

This has been a good week. Lots of small projects, but it's all necessary stuff for moving forward on some big stuff, so that's cool. Sarah is conducting her boot camp this week, and I met with my group for our boot camp in May. I think we'll have a full complement, which is nice because it means fewer changes to the training manual. We're definitely still making some, but not nearly as many. You can pray for the team as we prepare, actually. José is my co-leader and lives in OK with his wife Audrey (who has many health issues right now), Sharon lives in PA (and her husband also has health issues), and Dennis lives in KY. I don't know anything about his wife.

I started a new-to-me language this week! I'm trying to finish up the first group of Russian. It's been sitting around for a while, partly because no one is really clamoring for it, and partly because we lost our translator. So I'm just working to publish what little bit we have on the off chance that someone will need it. You never know. We're working to find a new translator, so if you know someone fluent in Russian, hit me up. 

We had a really nice chapel this week. all about our founders and looking to the future of OMS. There were a lot of good things said, but the one I wrote down was this: "Let's build for the years that we will not see." I found that to be really profound, and I think that philosophy applies in all areas of life. So many people today are about instant gratification and living in the moment, but the Bible is pretty clear on where it stands with this kind of thinking. If we truly want to make the world a better place, then we need to work for it and recognize that it might not happen in our lifetime. But it's worth the effort. 

That's all I've got for you this week. I hope you find some time to commemorate Passover and Palm Sunday. He is risen indeed!

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 15-19, 2021

So I'm writing this in a Word document in the (what turned out to be vain) hope that the Internet will come back before I leave for the day. It's putting a real crimp in my plans for continuing work.

Anyway, another week is in the books. It's been quiet around here; Brian took the week off, so it's just been Sarah and Alex and me. And occasionally Mike. And whomever we chat with on Zoom. So maybe not completely quiet. But definitely on the quieter side. 

The week started off well. I led devotions, and because I like themes and it was the 15th of March, I talked about the Ides and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Excellent devotion topic, I know. But it did have a purpose. Since the Ides of March was a day to settle debts and start the year off fresh, I wanted us to reflect on the last year and the unmet expectations we'd had for it. It's been a rough road for everyone, and I think some people have neglected to really deal with the loss of what we expected to happen that didn't. Regardless of whatever else we lost this past year, we also lost our sense that some things we've held to always be true sometimes aren't. As Christians, we have Truth - it's never going to change. But a lot of people have been floundering, wondering what they can trust in.

I don't necessarily want to get too deep on here, but I thought it was important to think about. 

Lots of work on Tamil this week. I finished another group of booklets. I only had to rearrange four of the five, so that's nice. I wrote a short devotional for a book that someone in the office is putting together. That on is not on assassination. But I did title it "The Valley of the Shadow." So, you know... at least I'm consistent.

We had our T&M committee meeting Thursday and the production meeting on Friday. The committee consists of me, Mike, Larry, Brian, Sarah, Lloyd, and Sherry. Lloyd and Sherry ran Project WorldReach, which entered into a joint venture with OMS to produce T&M back in 2012, but now OMS is the sole copyright holder. It's a long and convoluted story, and if you want to know more, I'm happy to tell you; but suffice to say, Lloyd and Sherry have a vested interest in the future of T&M. We were able to give them a good report, thankfully. There are some concerns about what is going on in certain countries (mostly political stuff - if you're not aware of what's happening in Myanmar, look it up; things are very bad.)

The production meeting also went well. I like getting to talk about more personal things instead of work stuff all the time with my team. You can be praying that Trista and her husband find some staff for the Christian camp they run in Mississippi. And Eliana and Veronica's mother has been ill, so pray for any decisions they have to make. And BJ's son will have his wisdom teeth removed soon. Yuck. I feel for you, kid!

As for me, I'm still setting my small goals and working up to being human again. I hope I'm up to the task.

Bye! 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 8-12, 2021

சேனைகளுடைய கர்த்தரின் நாமத்திலே 

Oh look, I found a longer one.

This has been a strange week. Not in the work sense, because that never ends. But in the background, I've been very aware that it's been a year since everything got flipped on its head. 

I don't know if you pay attention to the tags on these posts. They are mostly for my reference, but if you ever want to know my thoughts on a particular thing or track the progress of something, they are there on the right for you. Anyway, I started using the "panic at the disco" tag on these posts about a year ago. I thought it would be a fun cutesy thing to look back on and know that these were the few weeks or months when that weird pandemic thing was happening. And then it stopped being fun and cutesy and took on new meaning when my anxiety reared its ugly head in new and interesting ways. (If you're wondering what a disco has to do with anything: nothing; it's a band; don't worry about it.)

I don't think I can sum up the last year in a few words and tie it off with a nice bow. No one expected any of this. I certainly haven't handled it as well as I could have. But it's also been a learning experience. Some things I would have preferred not having to learn. I think that's true of everyone. But I'm very aware that I've had it much better than most people over the last year. So I am by no means complaining. Inevitably, it will take years to fully comprehend the impact of this past year (and however long it takes to get back to some semblance of 'normal'). 

As far as work goes, I finished one more group of Tamil (see above) and fixed some things in Indonesian. We've been restructuring the bootcamp again since we have a smaller group this time around. That is taking some creativity.

Mostly, though, I've just been tired this week. I'm tired of masks, I'm tired of endless political debates, I'm tired of being tired. So I'm going to give myself a break and come back refreshed next week.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 1-5, 2021

 ஜெபக்கூட்டங்களுக்குப்போகிறேன்

That's all one word. Or phrase. I'm not sure how it's classified in Tamil. But it's things like this that make formatting Tamil booklets take so long. Because I have to fit that and every other word/phrase like it into a very limited space. And it doesn't always want to go there. It can be fun, though. I get to recreate every booklet almost from scratch. It just takes a little longer than normal.

Thus, that's been the majority of my week. There have been several meetings, of course, because what would we be without meetings? Plus, I've been working on a super secret project for my good friend Foster. You will find out all about it when you receive the next edition of OMS Outreach. If you don't get it by mail, you should definitely subscribe to the online version. 

I haven't done an update on my health stuff lately, not because I don't want to, but because I guess I'm still cautious about how things are going. I'm on a new med for my blood pressure, which seems to be helping. My anxiety still pops up pretty regularly, but I've been setting little goals for myself to get out more and train my brain to stop seeing everything as an object of fear. I appreciate your continued prayers for this process. 

That's about it for me! I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Bye!