The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 17-21, 2021

Hello, my friends!

I hope you have had a fantastic week. It's been quite busy around here, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I keep having to remind myself to take time to breathe.

I had devotions again on Monday. I used the opportunity to talk more about The Chosen, which is fantastic, and you should watch it if you haven't already. We had a good discussion.

The last training day was on Tuesday. We had really good presentations and good feedback from our participants. I'm really pleased with how things went, but I'm also really glad that it's done. Somehow, I never remember just how stressful training events can be. I'm sure it will be a while before we do another one like this. Which is fine, because we have plenty of stuff to do.

I forgot to post this last week. Sarah very kindly gave me some fantastic things to keep me going throughout the training. We've been eating gummy bears ever since. :D

The rest of the week has been meetings and work on French booklets. Truly exciting stuff! ;)

I know it has been a while since I talked about my battle with anxiety. That doesn't mean it has gone away. I am getting better, with the help of medication and therapy and Jesus. But it's still a constant fight, weighing events and trips against how I'm feeling that day, making sure I have clear exit plans, practicing my breathing exercises - honestly, it's exhausting. Part of that is my own brain's inability to let things go and just relax, but it is also the nature of general anxiety disorders - they are GENERAL, meaning there isn't necessarily a specific trigger that will spark the anxiety. For a while, my anxiety about having an anxiety attack was actually causing me to have anxiety attacks. Ugh. Like I said, exhausting. But I am getting better, and I appreciate your prayers and patience as I navigate this reality. It makes travel difficult, so I don't get to see people as much as I want as things open up. It's frustrating, but I also know that a lot of people are in a similar boat, so I don't want to minimize the effect it can have. Please practice patience with everyone you meet - we're coming out of a dark tunnel, and for some, it was just one more thing on top of an already fraught existence. 

Anyway, if you want to know more or just share your own story, I'm here. We have been through the wars, this year my friends, and I see no reason why we have to suffer alone or in silence. So, be good, and above all, breathe.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 10-14, 2021

Whew! This week has been all over the place! I guess I could say that of a lot of weeks, but this one really has made me feel like a ping pong ball used in an Olympic-level match.

I was only able to work a bit on French this week. I made some decent progress, but most of the week has been focused on the first two days of online Zoom boot camp training. We have a good group, though we did lose one participant due to time commitments, but everyone who was able to make it has been really engaged and ready to learn. There have been a few rough spots, of course, but over all, I'm really pleased with how things are going. My facilitation team has been meeting quite a bit this week in between training sessions to practice and make sure we are doing our best to communicate well with the participants. Lots of good questions, and I'm excited to see what happens when we finish up on Tuesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, though, I went to get my second vaccination shot. I've heard all kinds of things about reactions and recovery periods, but I did my research and felt that this would be a good time to take care of that. 

On Thursday, I woke up feeling a little stuffy, but nothing too terrible. We made it through the first session of the day, and I knew that the second session was work time for the groups - nothing in which I had to participate. I had started to feel a little meh, so I went home for a nap around 11. By 12, I knew I wasn't going to make it back into the office. I had a fever, body aches, chills, and I felt incredibly dizzy any time I got up to get anything. Thankfully, my dear friend Sarah (who led this training back in March) very graciously stepped in for the final session of the day. I am so grateful for my amazing team who rolled with it and kept the ship sailing smoothly.

I'm feeling better today, but I'm still not 100%. Fortunately (maybe), most of my day has been filled with Zoom meetings, so I just had to sit and listen, contributing occasionally to the discussion. I'm confident that this weekend will give me ample time to fully recover. 

One more thing, the latest issue of OMS Outreach has been published. You can find the online version here by clicking on this sentence. If you recall, I mentioned a super secret project that I'd been working on. This is it! No, I didn't write any articles. But all of the handwriting in here is mine! Yes, you may now judge my terrible printing skills. And, of course, read about the amazing things God is doing through OMS. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 3-7, 2021

I made a baby this week.

...

Yes, I did write that just for the shock value, but I did actually make a baby this week. Out of play-doh. At a shower. Totally legit. One of my coworkers recently started fostering, so we had a book shower for her. It was a lovely day. 

Anyway, I finished a group of Telugu this week! Yay! The situation in India is only worsening, so it's a bit bittersweet, but I have faith that progressing with this language will bring a small amount of joy in an otherwise dreary time.

The next language is French. For now, the French booklets are only used in Africa. But there are 29 countries in Africa that speak French (at least a little), so this is definitely a worth endeavor. Loathe as I am to give any credit to colonialism, it does act much like Ancient Rome in creating a common trade language that many people use. Quite useful in evangelism, though we do still like to have materials in the heart language of a people group. 

The rest of the week was pretty much devoted to the boot camp. It's next week, people! We had a 3-hour rehearsal on Thursday that went fairly well. However, we have lost one participant, so that will require some reconfiguring. Good times. My team and I will definitely appreciate your prayers for this event. 

On Thursday afternoon, I was able to help out with our semi-annual work day. I couldn't work all day because of the aforementioned rehearsal. I did a bit of feathering of mulch, but it was cold and wet, so I was only out for a couple of hours. 

In other news, masks are no longer required at HQ! We're that much closer to getting rid of the panic at the disco tag. I'm still not totally sure what the arbitrary line for that is. We'll get there.

Shout out to my fantastic mother and all of the amazing support she has given me over the years! Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms and like-moms out there. 💜

Bye!