(Probably) The Most Personal Post I Will Ever Write

Trigger Warning: Yeah, I don't usually do these, and I generally don't care for the concept, but whatever. Not everyone is going to care about this stuff or want to read about it. So if you're not into discussions of sexuality, periods, family planning, depression, and the like, stop now. Click away! 

For everyone else, you can't say I didn't warn you. Tally ho.

There are certain expectations one has in life. Certain milestones that one anticipates. A particular rhythm, you could say. You grow up, go to school, have your first kiss, attend prom, go to college, get married, buy a house, start a career... Sure, things may happen in a different order, but those are the milestones it seems like everyone is expecting to hit. And I just...

Didn't.

I had a boyfriend for about two days in middle school. A friend of mine wanted to date someone, and he had a friend, so my friend said I should just date his friend. He was a year younger than me, we barely knew anything about each other, and we held sweaty hands on the playground. I felt no special attachment to him (though I still remember his name - Bryce Davis), and it really didn't bother me when he didn't call me over summer break. 

To my eternal shock, a boy asked me to attend the Junior/Senior Banquet (Christian school - no dancing) with him when I was a Sophomore. I gained very little social credit for this since I didn't know that was a thing, nor would I have known how to wield it, and he wasn't exactly Mr. Social Butterfly either. I had some warning that he was going to ask, I told him I'd have to ask my parents, and eventually I said yes. Free food, pretty dress? Sure. It occurred to me SEVERAL YEARS LATER that he did actually want to date me. This was after we went to the next year's banquet together and I asked him to be my plus one for a wedding. 

I'm a tad oblivious. 

I figured it was just that I had no romantic feelings for him. I remember telling my mom when I was in high school that I didn't think I'd ever get married. She said that was okay but I'd have time to change my mind. But something about what I'd said resonated with me. It felt right, even though it went against everything Hollywood and the world around me was telling and showing me. 

Sometimes I thought I just didn't have the right examples. My oldest sister's marriage was controversial, and my middle sister's marriage happened after she literally chased him down halfway across the world. At least, that's how it looked to me. 

But I didn't want to pursue anyone. So I figured I'd wait until someone pursued me. 

Except they didn't. (I was convinced someone was once, and then he moved to Arizona and told me six weeks later he was getting married.) But no one ever outright said to me, "Hey, I like you. Let's go on a date." 

I wasn't that bothered, except for the part of me that was because I wasn't conforming to social norms. I thought something might be wrong with me. Cue the first depression.

When I became a missionary, the pressure both lessened and worsened. Single female missionaries are a dime a dozen, it turns out. Single male missionaries get snatched up pretty quickly. Some women marry for convenience or security. Some women do actually marry for love, but hardly anyone believes it because you just look 'desperate'. Up to a certain age, the people around you joke about finding you a husband. I think it stopped around the time I hit 30. I guess I didn't show much enthusiasm for the process, so they stopped trying. Or they were scared of the look I gave them when they mentioned it. Not sure. 

Over the years, though, I was learning more about myself. For a while in college, I thought I should just become a housewife because at least as a wife and mother, I know what is expected of me.

I may have been a bit naive.

But even then, it was a utilitarian thing. I'll do it because I have to, not because I want to. And I started to realize that it was okay to be single. It was okay to go through life on my own. 

And then I learned the word asexuality. 

Look, I'm not a big woke apologist, and the LGBTQ+ agenda both saddens and angers me. But it was also helpful. Because I learned that there were other people in the world who felt different ways about sex and sexuality than what is normally portrayed. Not everyone wants to go around having sex with everything that moves. Some people (gasp!) don't want to have it at all!

I'm not broken. I'm just different. 

But I'm also lonely. 

It's lonely being single. Yes, I have family, but they aren't here all the time. There are only so many times I can call them a week because they have their own lives. It's weird to ask people (even friends) to just cuddle with you because you're having a bad day. Especially when you don't particularly like being touched. Cue the second depression.

Let's go back in time again. And again, I can't believe I'm talking about this, but it all fits together in my head.

I got my first period the summer between fifth and sixth grade. We were at Gettysburg National Park, I felt gross and uncomfortable, and my mom told my dad about it. 

Ew.

I did not see a gynecologist until I was 31. 

20. Years. Later.

Do not do this. Please do not do this. I get it. It's awkward to talk about periods with your young daughter. But seriously. It isn't healthy to not see a professional. 

Much like the milestone experience, my menstruation was not regular. It would occasionally fit the 28 day cycle that my health teacher told us about, but not always. It rarely only lasted a few days. But that was normal in my family. At least as far as I knew, because I didn't go out of my way to talk about it, and no one else did either. (My mom swears we had The Talk when I was younger. I have repressed that memory.)

As the Internet became more of a thing, I did some limited research. No, I wasn't normal, but I wasn't abnormal, either. Some women are just different. 

But it got worse as time went on. I was bleeding more often and heavier than before. Instead of 28 days between periods, it would be about 15 days. Eventually, it was almost constant. 

But it was life. It was what I was used to. I was pretty sure it wasn't normal, but I didn't think it was terrible. 

When I turned 30, I decided that I should probably do something about my health. I saw a doctor for the first time in however long, and it actually took a few visits before I mentioned my irregular periods. She asked when I'd last seen a gyno. I said never. 

This did not make her happy.

So I make the appointment. I mention all the things. He says let's do an ultrasound. I say no. He says yes. I say fine. 

The ultrasound prompted a biopsy. The biopsy confirmed his suspicion. 

Complex atypical hyperplasia. 

A healthy uterus has a 2-14 millimeter thickness. My uterine lining was 3 centimeters thick. 

Not great. 

In July 2017, I had a dilation and curettage. It's a scrape and scoop. Get rid of the excess, hope it doesn't grow back.

To aid in that, I had an IUD device implanted. The hormones are supposed to regulate periods in normal people and keep them from getting pregnant. 

For me, it was supposed to keep things from getting bad again. 

I had biopsies every six months for four years. 

They were not pleasant. 

They were also telling an unhappy tale. Things weren't getting better. Like, at all. 

So I started oral hormones. They made me sweat and grow hair in awkward places. My face broke out like I was 15 again. I gained weight.

And that's all they did. The biopsies continued and showed no change. What's worse, the bleeding came back. Every. Day.

See, the thing about complex atypical hyperplasia is that it becomes endometrial or uterine cancer in about 29 percent of cases. Especially when hormone treatment doesn't seem to be doing anything. 

I went to see the gynecological oncologist. He gave me two options. First, we could start doing adding depo shots to the hormone therapy. Those happen every three months. 

Pass.

Second, we can remove the problem. 

(Third, we can do nothing, but I spent a long time doing that, and it did not turn out well for me.)

I voted for the second option. 

And that's where we are. On December 2, I'm having surgery to remove my uterus, cervix, and tubes. I'm keeping the ovaries so I don't go into pre-menopause. But the majority of my reproductive system is being yeeted. 

Here's where people get weird again. Because when I tell them this, they get all sad and lament the fact that I will never have children.

But here's the thing: I wasn't having children before. I didn't want to have children. I didn't want to do the thing that leads to children. I will take care of other people's children, but then I want to go home and live my childfree life. 

I have known for a long time that I didn't want to birth children. Probably as long as I've known that I didn't want to have sex. And since those things are generally part and parcel of getting married, I just figured that I'd have to opt out on that one, too. There aren't a lot of guys (none I've met) who are happy to marry someone who won't have sex with them or give them children. 

And it's not just because kids are a handful or messy or a lot of work. They are definitely all of those things. But I also think there are already too many kids in this world who don't have parents, or who don't have good parents. I spent a long time being annoyed that I had to live in this world. I wasn't about to inflict that on someone else. But if that someone else was already here, then maybe I could be a good influence in their lives or support people who would be. 

Does that make sense? Does any of this? Who knows. 

What I do know is that this operation will and won't be life-changing. It will be in that it dramatically reduces my risk for cancer, hopefully makes my quality of life better, and is going to cost a fortune. 

But it won't be because, minus some parts, I'll still be the same person. I'll still have my job, my friends, my family, my faith... all of it. 

Besides. I wasn't using those parts anyway. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November 14-18, 2022

This is it. The last weekly wrap-up of the year. Next week is Thanksgiving. The following week is my surgery (at 7 AM!). The rest of December is recovery. So, yeah. This is it.

Try not to cry too much.

I'm feeling the pressure even more this week. I was able to get quite a bit done, but I feel like I just keep adding things to the list. 

Lots of meetings this week. Mostly important, but a couple of them definitely could have been an email. 

I'm still working my way through Spanish booklets. Some booklets are easy because they only have five or six images that need to be changed. But I did one the other day that had at least 30 images. That was a struggle. And of course, they all have to be roughly the same size so you're like a crazy person trying to figure out if someone's head is the same size as another person's head, and are they in the right eye line, and all that jazz. 

I worry sometimes that you think I'm too caught up in the aesthetics of the booklets rather than thinking about what they're used for. Or maybe I'm worried that I am actually more concerned about the aesthetics of the thing. But I know how much that can be a distraction. A book I once read for a history project was so poorly written that I nearly didn't finish in time to complete the project. It was in need of a good editor. If someone isn't looking in the right direction or, to be more specific, if a hand is clutching a piece of paper and yet the side of the paper is still visible in someone's hand, it's distracting. (Yes, that is something I had to fix this week.) I don't want there to be anything that takes away from the message of the booklets. It's too easy for people to attack something for how it looks rather than on the merits of what it says. The same goes for people. How often are we told to look past the surface of something? But it's not easy, so if I can remove those temptations, I will. 

Anyway.

I continue to not sleep well. I'm hoping to catch up on some of that this weekend. But tonight, I am going to see the first two episodes of season three of "The Chosen!" So I hope you have a great weekend, and I hope all of your holiday plans come to fruition, and I hope your New Year is blessed. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November 7-11, 2022

I have been told that I should embrace the changing of seasons and welcome the signs of God's handiwork in the wonderful world around us. 

All of which to say, there's snow in the air. 

Yay.

Seriously, though, it's fine. I knew it was coming, and it is pretty. But I got stuff to do, man. 

This week has been pretty standard. I finished the Tamil volume, so the only one left is Telugu. We're waiting on some translation work, so that will take a hot minute. 

I had to do some last minute stuff for Family Fun Night. I hate doing that, but we're working in conjunction with the Missionary Care team, none of whom are actually in the Greenwood office. So communication is an issue. But I'm sure it will be fine. 

I was also able to get a few Spanish booklets done this week. It's just one of those projects that keeps on trucking. 

We are now three weeks out from my surgery. It's becoming more real. 

I have so much to do.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 31 - November 4, 2022

Well, I was right. My back did indeed give me problems all weekend. I was pretty much down for the count. 0/10, do not recommend. 

I'm still not completely back on my feet, but work has to be done, so I'm relying on muscle relaxers and spite. We'll get there. 

This week, I'm working on the Tamil volume and more Spanish booklets. Tamil requires me to be detail-oriented, and I have to admit that I'm finding that difficult this week. It has a somewhat defined process, but when I get distracted by something or have to interrupt it to work on another project, it's so easy to forget what I've been doing. But I'm getting there. 

It's November now, which means my timeline is getting shorter for finishing projects and passing the baton to my team for December. My back issues did not help matters. Logically, I know that whatever happens will work out. But I want to leave things in as good a place as possible. So that's a prayer request. 

I am pleased to inform you that my nephew has graduated from boot camp! He is officially a Marine. I am so proud of him and all he has pushed through to get to this point. 

That's it for this edition. I have a busy weekend ahead, so pray my back holds up.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 24-28, 2022

Sorry, it's another short one this week. My back is acting up again, so I anticipate a weekend of pain and idleness. Not what I need right now.

This week, I was able to finish publishing the first group of Telugu booklets. Obviously, we try to get the first group done as quickly as possible, but this language has proven to be quite difficult. We started it back in 2016 and then restarted it in 2020 due to font issues and needing a new translator. I can't fault our brothers in India because they often have several jobs at one time. I'm not going to tell you it isn't frustrating, though. But we're making progress! So I'll focus on that. 

Related to Telugu, my next project will probably be the Tamil volume - same thing I did for English and Hindi. The Evangelical Church of India has lofty goals like Africa. In Africa, our partners are hoping to see a church in every village by 2050. In India, they are hoping to plant 100,000 churches by their centennial. It's exciting to be even a small part of these God-sized goals. 

I'm afraid that's it this week. I'm going to lay down, do some stretching, and hope this passes quickly.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 17-21, 2022

This week, I have alternately believed that every day was Friday and also that Friday would never arrive. My brain is just a tiny bit fried, so this may be extremely brief and/or extremely out there.

Seriously, I have been so out of it. And part of that may be because I was getting sick (just a cold). But it's also because I'm trying to figure out how to get stuff done before the end of the year. My problem is that I'm still in the figuring it out stage instead of the just doing it stage. There's a mental block for some reason. I'm working on it.

I've had a lot of projects this week. I'm still working on Spanish, but I got interrupted by a group of Telugu, and then that got interrupted by Hindi. And then I had to take over for someone else on a completely separate project. 

That might explain my brain right now, actually.

I think that wraps it up, guys. I have to get back to Telugu. And hope that I don't get interrupted again.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 10-14, 2022

If it got any quieter in this building, I think my mouse clicks might start to echo. 

Yes, it's another Friday, and as is often the case (especially toward the end of the year), people are hard to find in this building. I am here because I'm saving my vacation time for December and also because what else would I really be doing?

This has been both a productive and frustrating week. A large contingent of OMSers is headed to India this weekend. I'm not actually sure what they will be doing because months ago, it was going to be a huge conference, then a training event, and I think it might just be the top honchos at this point. Whatever it is, Brian and I have been putting together the revised Church Planting volume of booklets and handouts. Last time we did this was in 2016. I was barely involved then, and there was a flood, and it was a whole thing. 

No floods this year (yet), but if you've ever tried to combine various PDF documents of differing size, you might have some idea of the frustration side of things. We got it all figured out, at least for the English, so now I'm working on Hindi and gritting my teeth every time something refuses to export out of InDesign. 

Technology is great, amirite?

In the midst of that, I'm still working my way through Spanish booklets, attending meetings, and generally being a nuisance. Oh, and hosting this month's Family Fun Night. We made ice cream sundaes and watched "The Wizard of Oz." It was a lot of fun!

Does anyone else feel like they are running out of time? I already feel behind, and I don't even have a clear list of what needs to be done before December. Just this nebulous feeling of dread in my head.

Hey, that rhymed!

Okay, I think that's about it for this week. Try to stay warm this weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 3-7, 2022

It's a cliche, I know. But seriously...

How is it October already?!

I'm not really down with all the pumpkin crap, but it is undeniable that Fall is upon us. Crazy weather, turning leaves, the scent of wood burning in a fireplace... It's not the worst thing in the world.

Anyway, it has been a relatively productive week. I'm still working on Spanish, but that took a bit of a backseat to other projects. We had a safety meeting on Monday and learned some things about the law that are whack. It's weird what you can and can't do with your own property or business. (Did you know that a person commits an average of three felonies every day? You just don't know because the laws are ridiculous.)

Anyway, the big thing I'm working on this week is the volume for India. We're compiling a bunch of booklets, handouts, and other documents into one giant PDF. My problem right now is that a couple of these documents are different page sizes. It's incredibly frustrating. Could I completely redo some of these documents in InDesign? Yes. Am I going to? Only if I absolutely have to.

I really don't want to.

Seriously, though, I think at one point I actually shook my monitor. So I definitely need this weekend to kick back and not think about work. I do get to hang out with a dog, so that's cool.

Finally, I did have a doctor's appointment this week. Result: surgery. Yes, I will be having surgery in December and then taking the rest of the month off to recover. Send suggestions of things to watch/read/do. 

That's it for this week. Taste something pumpkin, curl up in front of a fire, and have a great weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: September 27-30, 2022

I hope all of my readers who were born in the United States realize just how blessed they are today. I've been seeing the news out of Iran, and I can't help but think, "There but for the grace of God go I."

We didn't choose where we were born. And I can't really know what I would do if I'd been born in a different country. Maybe my life wouldn't be that different. Maybe I'd be getting beaten in the street because I cut my hair in public. 

I really just need people who are relatively free to realize that it could be a lot worse. And maybe then stop complaining about their #firstworldproblems.

Sorry. I'm a little salty today. And tired. 

I'm still recovering from my camping trip last weekend. I had a great time with my parents, but I have to say, I'm not sure how much longer these bones can handle freezing cold and thin mattresses. I'm glad I went, though. My dad and I had some really good conversations. 

This week, we're back to the grindstone. I'm still making my way through Spanish booklets, replacing art. It occurs to me that I could actually show you. (Yes, I did go make a screen recording.)

That's my life now. That, and creating fliers and sign-up sheets for the next family fun night, which I am hosting. And running A/V for chapel this week. The usual stuff.

I think that about wraps things up for the week. I plan to sleep the weekend away and then moan about how I didn't have enough time to get things done. 

#firstworldproblem

Bye!

Thoughts on Life and Death

I have thoughts. 

This is likely to be quite a long post, and it is acting in lieu of last week's weekly wrap as well as this week's update. It's hard to do a blog post when I'm not here on Friday, which was the case last week and will be the case again this week. Last week, I took the day to do some deputation work and also get some things done around my apartment that I have been neglecting. This weekend, I am headed up to Huntington to spend time with my parents, a few supporters, and also do a little camping before the season ends. 

But I have been thinking about a lot of things lately that I feel the need to expel in some form. A lot of it is the type of stuff I really can't do anything about besides pray. And let's face it, I'm not the best prayer warrior out there. This morning I prayed that people would just stop being dumb. It was a genuine prayer because I think a lot of people are being dumb, sometimes myself included, but I doubt it's the most productive prayer that has ever been prayed. So I think this post will be part rumination and part pouring out to God. You're welcome to follow along on this journey. 

The first thing I want to talk about is the Queen. Honestly, she doesn't need much more identification than that. The UK has the most identifiable monarchy in the world, and for my entire life, there was just one Queen. I'm not a big royalist or anything, but I do love history, and the USA was a product of Great Britain, like it or not. We are intrinsically tied to one another. Plus, my oldest sister was (is) obsessed with Princess Diana, so I know more than my fair share about The Firm by association. 

I said the other week that I was hoping Elizabeth would live long enough to beat Louis' record as the longest-reigning monarch. That was more of a 'it would be cool if' than any real investment in the monarchy. If I placed myself in her shoes, I would have wanted to do it just out of spite. I do think she was happy to outlast Victoria. Not that I think anyone will forget her soon, but it's those kinds of things that cement your place in history, and for some people, that's the goal. 

Anyway, I watched a lot of the coverage of the queue (the word with the most unnecessary letters in the English language), the vigils, the funerals, and all of the other hullabaloo. There were endless commentaries on her life, her legacy, the future of the monarchy, the purpose of the Commonwealth - the list could probably go on forever. 

One thing that struck me is just how few people actually knew her as a person. She was a figurehead, a symbol, an ideal, but she was also just a human being. I've always leaned heavily toward the freedom and personal responsibility side of things, so it's hard for me to treat someone with any more respect or deference than I would anyone else. Birth, titles, wealth, or whatever other status symbols mankind has created mean very little to me. I'm much more interested in someone's soul and what they are doing to contribute to the betterment of society. In the unlikely event that I am in a position where it is required to curtsy or bow to someone, I'm not sure I could do it in good conscience. 

I would not have fared well in the feudal system. Or most of history in general.

As I was watching the funeral in Westminster, listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury, I was reminded that one of Elizabeth's titles was Defender of the Faith. She was the head of the Anglican Church (thanks, Henry VIII). What that meant in practicality I'm not sure, but from everything she has said over the years, she took her faith seriously. She didn't just speak in generic terms about God - she spoke very specifically about finding salvation in Jesus Christ. I don't know how much people noticed that. But I think they will notice the lack. 

I can only speculate on the views of the new King Charles III, but based on what he has said in the past, he has no particular religious leanings. He has said he wants to be a Defender of Faiths - as in, all paths are valid and equally respectable. I do not share this view. Jesus said, "I AM THE WAY." One way. Not a way. Not part of the way. THE way. I'm almost positive there were other monarchs who didn't care one way or another about the Church they led, but they were 'Christian' because it was the accepted thing. This is no longer the case. It is not in vogue to be even a nominal Christian. The name of the game today is tolerance and diversity. Elizabeth's death means Christianity as lost one of its most staunch, PUBLIC evangelists. (I'm using evangelist here to mean more of an advocate than the preachy converting kind.)

(I have never watched The Crown on Netflix, but now I'm wondering how they portray Elizabeth's faith, or if they even mention it at all. I often find myself thinking about these things in films and TV shows because religion if so rarely talked about, and when it is, it is either portrayed inaccurately, with obvious bias, or incredibly milquetoast. And yet, faith is such a huge part of people's lives. This is probably a conversation for another time.)

This is a nice segue into another topic I have thought about a great deal. In chapel this morning, we had prayer time for several of our partner churches. As I read through the list, I noticed that several of them were former United Methodist congregations who were going through the disaffiliation process to either join the Global Methodist Church or become an entirely independent entity. As you may know, the GMC came into existence earlier this year when the UMC decided to embrace LGBTQ+ and gender ideology. 

Look, I can talk about denominational splits, church constitutions, and all of the church history stuff all day long. I don't think I've made it a secret that I despise having so many different denominations and fractions within the Global Church. I don't think it's a surprise that it happened because human beings are involved in church leadership and that inevitably leads to problems. We are fallible. I would love to be back in the days of the early church when Jesus had just ascended and his followers were united in belief and purpose. 

But let's be real about this - how long did that actually last? Almost immediately, you had Jewish believers clashing with Gentile believers. Should we follow Paul's teachings or Apollos'? What counts as Scripture? There was a reason for the big Church Councils. I can even see how the Pope became a thing because they needed a physically present figurehead to keep things on track. Except the figurehead became something more until the Pope suddenly had authority to forgive sin. And then there were cultural differences that led to the Great Schism. And then Martin Luther looked at the Roman Catholic Church and said, "I got 99 problems, and I'm gonna nail 'em to your front door because you are absolutely all of them."

BAM. Protestantism. 

But there were different flavors. Some people thought tulips were cool, so they followed Calvin. Some people thought free will made more sense so they followed Arminius. And on and on it went until in 1889, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ split because of disputed amendments to its constitution. Yes, this is my denomination. My people are old constitution, primarily because the new constitution allowed people to be members of secret societies. We didn't truck with that. 

I'll point out here that the COTUBIC still exists (though I'm honestly not sure for how much longer) while the new constitution people eventually became the Evangelical United Brethren who merged with The Methodist Church to become The United Methodist Church. So, you know, still causing problems.

I jest, but it's also extremely sad. I can understand why a church splits (if it's on theological or certain doctrinal grounds - if you're doing it because of the music, I have zero time for you); but I certainly don't have to like it. It does not give us a good look around the world if people look at a bunch of people who supposedly believe in the same thing but have to have 57 thousand options to keep the peace.

(I made up the number, and then I felt bad so I had to look it up. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, the breakdown of 'world Christianity' looks more like this:

• Inde­pen­dents: 22,000 denom­i­na­tions
• Protes­tants: 9000 denom­i­na­tions
• Mar­gin­als: 1600 denom­i­na­tions
• Ortho­dox: 781 denom­i­na­tions
• Catholics: 242 denom­i­na­tions
• Angli­cans: 168 denom­i­na­tions

The list of what comprises independents and marginals can be found here if you so choose to go down that rabbit hole.)

None of this is really what I wanted to talk about except it apparently was. What I really wanted to focus on is the gender ideology and, for lack of a better term, the gay agenda.

Brace yourselves.

These ideologies are some of the most destructive agendas in the Church. And it is in the Church already, as witnessed by the UMC most recently. I'm not going to say that women in leadership started this trend, but it did allow for a foot in the door. I realize that my saying this may be somewhat controversial, but as a woman, I'm allowed to say it. Really, you can trace this back to any dumbing down or relaxing of principles. We have allowed culture and social pressure to move the hard lines and water down our faith until it is hardly better than the unitarian church that exists for some reason I cannot comprehend. 

All these years, and we still can't get past that first lie. "Did God really say...?"

Yes. He did. Shut your face.

I'm getting off track. 

Look, I believe strongly in personal freedom, personal responsibility, free will, the right to make choices for ourselves and live with the consequences. In political terms, I would most align with a libertarian mindset. But I can't be completely Libertarian because I also believe in God. I believe in a higher authority who has placed certain limits on that freedom. As a disciple of Christ, there are certain choices I should not make because they are not in keeping with biblical teaching. 

The idea that there are more than two genders and that sexuality is fluid is ABSOLUTELY not biblical. It's just not. From the very beginning, God made it clear. Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 2:24 - This is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife; and they become one flesh.

This is the biblical description of human beings - made in God's image, either male or female.

This is the biblical description of relationships - one man, one woman.

You can prevaricate, equivocate, make whatever excuses you want - this is it. This is reality. Truth. Affirmed by Jesus and supported by all of Scripture. Sorry not sorry. 

This right here is why I prayed this morning that people would stop being dumb. I want people to realize that whatever void they are trying to fill in their lives by trying to change genders, have sex with anyone and everyone, compete for the most niche gender description - none of it is going to satisfy. 

If you're searching for meaning, if you're searching for what makes you unique - it's you. God made you to be yourself, he wants you to be the best version of yourself, and following his commands is the way to achieve that. There has never been another person like you in the history of the world. You were made in the image of God! Why throw that away? 

But we don't want to offend anyone. We don't want to hurt people's feelings. We don't want to be seen as backwards or irrelevant or evil.

Newsflash: The Gospel is offensive. Scripture is unyielding. We have an Enemy that will tar us with every vile thing in the world to make our message as unappealing as possible to those he wants to ensnare. Which is everyone. Including you. 

Don't let him. I implore you, don't get caught up in all that the world has to offer. It is temporary. 

What God offers us is eternal. Whatever suffering we have in this life is nothing compared to the glory and majesty of an eternal life with Jesus Christ. 

I feel like I end with the following verses a lot, but that's just because I find them so powerful and pertinent to my own life. I think what I long for most is to be fully known; maybe that's what Elizabeth, who lived her life in a gilded cage, truly wanted as well. I believe she is experiencing that now.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 29 - September 9, 2022

Do you ever get so caught up in something that you suddenly look up and hours have passed and you have stuff to do so you go do it and forget that you also had other stuff to do and then somehow it's Sunday and there's no point in doing the other thing because you're just going to have to do it again later and you might as well just wait?

I forgot to write a blog post last week is what I'm saying.

I had the best of intentions, but then I just got focused on what needed to be done before the long weekend, and, sadly, the blog was not high on the priority list. Mea culpa. 

But we're here now, and all we can do is press forward. There's a life lesson in there.

Much of my focus has been on Haitian Creole booklets. I had to get proof corrections in and then publish two more groups, which is fantastic news! Projects continue to come in fairly slowly, for various reasons, so I haven't had to step into the production side of things for a while. 

Otherwise, I have been working on family fun night plans, some marketing for T&M, attending the ever-present meetings, and eating Korean street food on camera for One Mission Kids. Obviously, I enjoyed that last one the most. 

The big news this week is obviously the death of Queen Elizabeth II. I've seen a lot of people's remarks about how it just seemed like she would live forever. I myself was rooting for her to surpass Louis XIV, but when Jesus calls, you go.

We live in interesting times. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 22-26, 2022

Hello, friends!

Has this week felt super long to anyone else? Every day just felt interminable. I had a fair few meetings, sure, but it's not usually quite this bad. Maybe I'm just trying to subconsciously stretch out the summer. Who knows?

So, like I said, meetings, not least of which was the big secret project celebration! Yay!

So, Sarah and I have been working on this for pretty much ever. We knew ECC was coming to an end (though it lives on in our hearts!), and we wanted to do something for Mike and Larry, our two fearless leaders. Mike has been the Global Director of ECC for many years, and Larry served as the director of church multiplication. They have truly been rock stars. Sarah and I wanted to show our appreciation, but it can be difficult to do when we all live in different places and those two tend to travel. A lot.

But we made it work. We know (thanks to our past work on retreats) that Mike and Larry's languages of appreciation are both Words of Affirmation. So Sarah created word clouds from things people sent us about how they felt about Mike and Larry, and then she helped me put together Shutterfly books with quotes and pictures from over the years. They turned out pretty well, I think. We were also, through the generosity of our fellow coworkers, able to gift each couple a weekend away. 

I honestly don't know what I'll do with my life now that this project is done.

HA! There's plenty to do. For starters, I finally got my passport renewal form out this week. It has been waiting a while, mostly because no one was going anywhere and also because I still don't know if I can force myself onto an airplane anytime soon. Last time I was on one, I had a massive panic attack, though I didn't know that's what it was at the time. It triggers me something powerful. But there is no healing if we don't try, and we can't try if we don't have the proper tools. So that's done.

I also finished my prayer letter this week. I don't want to call it a chore, because it really isn't, but it can be difficult to distill everything I want to say into two pages. I can't just be stream-of-consciousness like I am on here. There has to be a theme and cohesion, and that's not always my bailiwick. But I do hope you enjoy that when it arrives. If you do not already receive my prayer letter, please leave a comment, and I'll get in touch. 

I have also been working on Spanish booklets this week. Yes, we have officially been done with Spanish for a while, but we decided it might be a good idea to have a different art set, so I've been converting those files. It's actually taking a decent amount of time to do. I might have to interrupt it next week. We'll see. 

That just about covers it. I did run A/V for chapel on Wednesday, which is always an adventure. I guess the most I can say about it is that I learn something new every time I do it. But I think it ended up mostly okay. We survived, and I got to see Sarah (and Cody and Brian) get recognition for their years of service with OMS. I am very happy to count her as a friend, and I could not do this job without her. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 8-19, 2022

Yo.

Yes, we're covering two weeks since I took some time off last week to hang out with my parents. They came down to spend a day at the State Fair and to generally just relax a bit. We had a lovely time!

While we've been waiting for translators to send in work (which they did this week), I have been working on other projects. Family Fun Night has become quite involved. I don't think I've bitten off more than I can chew, yet, but I will need to be better about prioritizing things. 

But in the meantime, I've been creating forms, recruiting people, brainstorming theme ideas, creating posters, and more. I need to remind myself sometimes to curb my more crazy or sadistic tendencies - this is supposed to be fun for everyone, after all. Sarah has been a big help along with Lydia, so I don't think I'll go too far over the line. 

I've been scheduling Train & Multiply posts on Facebook. Honestly, I haven't done too much with it, especially in the last few years, because we couldn't really offer training to interested parties. But things are ramping up again, so I figure we can be a little more social. If you need a side job and like social media content creation, hit me up - there's no way I can keep this going on my own.

My next prayer letter is in the works. It's always a struggle to narrow down what I want to talk about. You're pretty well informed if you read the blog, but not everyone does, and there are always things I forget to talk about. But I'm relying on my old standby - history. I do hope it will be entertaining and informative. 

Like I said, we have more translation work coming in, so I will probably be back to my regular work next week. I hope you are all doing well.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: August 1-5, 2022

I am doing my best to enjoy whatever downtime I get now, because I know that things are only going to get crazier as we move further into the year. I am already starting to feel it - more meetings, more emails, more 'brief chats' in the hallway that turn into mini brainstorming sessions. But that's the normal warp and weft of things, and I'm okay with that. 

This week, I was asked to take over the coordination of our Family Fun Night. This is something Julie Bishop (wife of our Executive Director USA) started last Fall as a way to gather the OMS family for something that didn't look at all like work. We have played board games and watched funny videos and eaten all manner of fun foods. I'm excited for the opportunity to come up with some fun themes for future nights. 

We had another safety team meeting this week, our first since February. There was so much transition happening and all of us had too much going on. But, and partially in light of recent events, we are back on track with making OMS a safe and healthy place to work and live. I know we are all grateful for what has already been done, but there are small improvements we can make for everyone's peace of mind. 

That's about it for the week. I have been cat sitting for the last few weeks, and this is my last full weekend with most of them. So hug your pets, bask in the sun, and have a lovely weekend. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: July 25-29, 2022

Alas, these halcyon days of Summer are winding to a close. The season of warmth and sunshine always feels too short, but we must do our best to enjoy it while it lasts. Sure, I may sweat a bit more, but I find it far superior to howling wind and freezing temperatures. 

It has been a quiet week around here, both in the lack of people and in the lack of work. I've been keeping busy with some smaller projects and things that sometimes get neglected, but do keep praying for our translators and the new projects that we're hoping to start soon. 

My primary focus has been on French this week as I updated the Camel Method manual. It's something we use with our M cousins as a bridge. 

Otherwise, the secret project has been progressing, and our safety team is chatting about future needs. I'm pleased with how things are going. 

Stay cool. Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: July 18-22, 2022

There was a shooting in Greenwood on Sunday. A young man opened fire on the food court, killing three people and wounding two, before he himself was shot and killed by another young man. The first young man had been planning his heinous deed for some time. The second young man had just planned on a nice night out with his girlfriend. 

I've been thinking about what happened off and on all week. Understandably so, I guess. I was just at that mall last Friday night. It's a nice spot to walk when it's raining, and of course, do a little shopping from time to time. We sometimes eat lunch in that food court. Because this is the world we live in, it usually crosses my mind at least once when I'm in there that it's actually a great target for bad people. But then to know that the murderer lived just down and across the street from me... that he could have blown up and burned down his apartment building. When I do feel anything (because this world has numbed me), it's just profound sadness. I'm sad that people died for incredibly stupid reasons. I'm sad that a young man had to fire his weapon and kill another young man in defense of others. And I'm sad that the murderer felt there were no other options in life but to inflict misery upon others. I wish I or someone else had met him before and offered him the hope of Jesus. I'm sad that there are others out there who will never be told and will spend their lives in torment. 

Come quickly, Lord. Or help us work faster.

Obviously, our work does not end. And I, at least, have felt a new sense of urgency. Unfortunately, I can't do much until translators send in work. So, this week has been spent on the special project. But it is done! Mostly. I shall reveal all in due time, but suffice to say I'm quite proud of it. And I think it will be well received. 

Sarah, Lydia, and I took Thursday afternoon off to go to the county fair. It was partly as a reward to ourselves for a long summer of hard work, partly an excuse to see some sunshine, and partly in defiance of villainy. We had a lovely time.

Do keep yourselves safe this weekend and always. Pray for this world. Check in on your friends and neighbors. Preach peace.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: July 11-15, 2022

I was surprisingly busy this week. I mean, I always have stuff to do, but this week was a little more random in the tasks than usual.

All week, I have been wrestling with a spreadsheet. I'm decent with Excel, but this thing was not cooperating when it came to formulas. Maybe I had too many, I don't know. So I created a bunch of workarounds, but they are pretty annoying, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who knows (mostly) how I did it. But this particular project will be done in August, so I won't have to deal with it for much longer. 

I have also continued my search through photos and started some research for the Super Secret Project. I'm realizing just how terrible my file system actually is. It made sense at the time. The problem is that 'at the time' refers to every instance of me creating a new file. Plus, it has transferred across multiple computers, and each computer had a slightly different naming system. I could probably try to create something better with actual rules and move all of my files into the appropriate folders and never wonder again where something specific resides, but that would take so much time and tedium. I want one of those computers like in "Minority Report" or "Iron Man" with the holographic interface that lets me see everything I have at one time so I can move lots of things at one time. 

Alas.

Our normal tech guy is on vacation this week and next, so I'm running chapel. If nothing else, it always reveals just how little I know about audio/visual stuff. But I guess it went okay, and I did actually put some effort into making sure it would go okay. So there's that.

I think I've talked about booklet 064 on here before. I probably even said it was done and ready to be published. 

I was mistaken.

We had a few more changes to make to it, which meant I had to retag some of the paragraphs. Took me a hot minute to do that and then get it off to Eliana, who is working on updating templates. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we're not changing anything else in it for a while. I'm probably going to eat those words within the month.

I think part of what made this week seem so crazy was all the stuff I did in the evenings. We had a work picnic on Tuesday night, at which I played (and lost) frisbee golf. On Wednesday, I hung out at Costco with some friends. We had to wait out a downpour. On Thursday, I had a doctor's appointment that ended up being quite painful, so I took off the last hour of work and went to hang out with some cats. 

So yeah, that's my week. I hope yours has been profitable in some way and that you get the rest you need this weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: July 5-8, 2022

Is it that time again already? Short weeks tend to give you that feeling, I guess. I'd say I've slept since last week, but the neighbors have been setting off fireworks all week. Not the neighbors at OMS. I'm dog sitting this week, and I think at least five of the houses nearby have stock in fireworks companies. Fortunately, the dog doesn't mind them too much, but they do tend to disrupt the sleep.

It has been another quiet week at work. I finished a group of French booklets. I think I've mentioned before, it has been an interesting project. We started it with European French in mind and then switched part way through to African French and art. And because the African groups contain different booklets (to coincide with the VCP terms), we've had to do the French booklets in a weird order. So I'm working on group 9 even though group 11 has already been published. It makes my eyes cross when I look at the spreadsheet, but it only takes about ten minutes to figure it out. Honest.

Anyway, I finished up my prayer letter, which will be on its way to you shortly. We had the interns speak in chapel on Wednesday. We have five this summer, but one is in Hungary and one was ill. (I'm pretty sure they are all in college still, which brings the average age of employees in this building down quite a bit.) So naturally, this was the perfect time to interview the Gen Zers about their generation's view on missions and what they want from the Church. They had some interesting thoughts. One thing I don't want to see, though, is the Church watering itself down to accommodate people's wants or feelings. I think we've done too much of that already. People are always going to have ideas about what the Church "should" be. But the only opinion I'm interested in is what Jesus said the Church should be. Not that I think we're really achieving that, either. But it is definitely what we should be striving toward.

The rest of the week was meetings and emails and going through old photos. Sarah and I are working on a secret project. Super fun stuff. 

That's about it for the week. I'll try to make next week more exciting. (That's a lie. Too much excitement gives me hives.) I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 27 - July 1, 2022

This is going to be short and sweet, because, TBH, I kinda forgot I needed to write something this week. We're all still recovering from all the people, and in some cases, that's literal. Lots of COVID cases, though fortunately not me. But it canceled one of my events this week. 

I finished going through production logs this week, started a French project, and threw up my hands in frustration when the power was out for half a day. You start to realize just how much of your life depends on electricity. I should probably do something about that. 

Anyway, short week next week. I'll try to be a little more verbose, though. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 20-24, 2022

It is a beautiful day in the United States of America. Blue skies, singing birds, fewer babies being murdered... Indeed, a beautiful day. 

It's been another week of people around here. Both the Global and U.S. Boards met this week, and we also had the installation of the new president on Wednesday. I was a little more involved in things than I was last week, but we'll get to that.

In honor of Father's Day, I led team devotions on Genesis 22 Monday. You know, the one where God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It's an interesting passage. 

Sarah and I worked on a project we're rolling out next week. That makes it sound more impressive than it actually is, but I'm trying to be annoying and mysterious. 

I've been going through old production logs for our projects this week. Yes, we keep a log of everything we find in a booklet that we needed to change or might be an issue in other booklets. One of my team is working on new templates for us to use, fixing previous issues. It's interesting going through the logs and seeing what is common to languages and what isn't. Glyph languages tend to bring up certain issues that we don't see in Latin languages, for example. 

Anyway, when I wasn't doing that, I was working on my next prayer letter. I waited a little longer than I normally would because I knew big things were coming this month. So that should be in the mail in the next couple of weeks. 

I also had a big meeting this week with some friends from South Asia. It looks like we'll be starting two new language projects stemming from that meeting, which is super exciting! I'm not sure yet if I can tell you what those languages are as there could be some security issues. So let's just say our cousins will be heavily involved and leave it at that.

So, the big thing this week was the installation of Jeffry Max Edwards as the 11th President of One Mission Society. Jeff will be the third president I've served under. I don't know a lot about him other than  that he and his wife Laura served in Brazil for many years and returned to serve at HQ a few years ago. It's a critical junction in the history of OMS, I think. We're dealing with the same things everyone else is - high inflation, fewer donors, more restrictions on evangelism, social pressure, etc. I know everyone here will appreciate your prayers for the future of ministry here and elsewhere. 

I watched the service from on high as I helped with streaming and video.
(Also, don't the flags look great? I chose which ones were displayed and helped arrange them.)

Good friends.

The new president with his family.

I think this will be another recovery weekend for me. There have been lots of early mornings and late nights this week. Sleep sounds lovely. I hope you get everything you need out of this weekend, too.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 13-17, 2022

What up, friends?

I feel like I say this a lot, but this has been an incredibly tiring week. 

People Month is upon us once again. This week is Missionary Council. That's the field leaders and regional hub people setting the course for the future ministry of OMS. I don't actually have anything to do with the meetings. But there are a bunch of people who aren't normally here who have a limited amount of time to talk to people and get stuff done. Plus they walk through the halls at random times. It's just a lot when you're used to a fairly quiet environment.

Next week will be more of the same, although it's Board meetings, not MC. They don't usually wander as much. I still have to dress up, though. 

I did manage to get two French volumes done this week, though. Those are always fun. Definitely more colorful than our regular black and white booklets.

I also got to sing in chapel this week. We learned a new song by Kari Jobe. Now I can't get it out of my head. 

And it's flag time again. Many moons ago, I foolishly agreed to head up the flag ceremony at one of our conferences. I have never seen so many people argue over which flags should be displayed on a stage. But next week is the installation of our new president, so flags were deemed an appropriate inclusion. So I helped figure out which flags we had, which flags we needed to order, and which flags might be politically problematic at the moment. I HAVE OPINIONS ABOUT THESE THINGS! Why put me in that position if you don't want my (very rational) opinions?

Anyway. They get what they get. I can justify all of my choices, and if they don't like the choice or the justification, they can change the stuff. No skin off my nose.

I'm going to be doing a lot of BTS stuff for a while. (Behind the scenes - not the band) We're taking the opportunity while we have a slight lull in production to update some of our processes. I've been trawling our production logs to see what common issues we've had so that they can be corrected for the future. This will hopefully save us time in the future. It should also give us cleaner files. 

I can't say it's the most exciting stuff. But it is necessary. And I don't mind having a little less excitement right now. 

Be kind to yourself.

Bye!

Where's Your Line?

I don't really talk about politics on here. That's not what this space is for, it's usually a direct route to arguments, and frankly, we're not really supposed to as missionaries. We're here to represent Christ, not a political party. Cool, I get it. Do I have opinions? Yeah. (Shocking.) But do I need to put them front and center? No. 

Social issues are a little bit different. Social behaviors are a reflection of a person's heart, their values. Theoretically, a Christian will have different values and behaviors than a non-Christian. I can't judge a non-Christian by Christian standards. They are behaving according to the old nature, and while I will do my best to introduce them to the One who moulds our values and behaviors, I can't actually force a lifestyle change (through law or otherwise) on them.

But I will absolutely hold those who profess to be Christians to a higher standard. 

I'll be disappointed in them, absolutely. We're human, and as much as Jesus has told us to strive for perfection, I'm aware of the difficulty in even approaching that, let alone achieving that. 

There is a big difference, though, between momentary lapses and willful disobedience. 

At this point, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about. And by heck, I mean hell, because that's where this world is headed. 

So I came across this article. 

I am incensed. Livid. Apoplectic. I've had to walk away from this at least three times just to calm down. 

"An affirming hymnal is helping LGBTQ Christians keep the faith"

SERIOUSLY?!?!

I feel like I need to make my position on homosexuality clear. And I realize some of you aren't going to like it. I don't care. I feel like my position is biblical and that's really all I'm aiming for. 

Same-sex attraction is not a sin.

Acting on same-sex attraction is absolutely a sin.

Do not come at me with "Jesus never said anything about it." He absolutely did by affirming (yeah, I can use that word, too) marriage as a union between a man and a woman. It's a mirror of the relationship between Christ and the Church. The Groom (Christ) takes the Bride (the Church) for the purpose of a holy union that honors God. That's it. 

Is the Church a place for sinners? Yes! Jesus said, "It's not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick." But we don't go to church to keep on sinning. We go to get support and resources to STOP sinning. 

A few of the 'hymn' titles:

• A Hymn for Self-Acceptance
• God of Queer Transgressive Spaces
• Impartial, Compassionate God
• Quirky, Queer and Wonderful
• The Heart Will Choose the One It Loves

...

I had to walk away again.

• No. Just no. Self-acceptance is not the goal of a Christian life. The 'self' is not enough. We need salvation through Jesus Christ, which includes actively pursuing God's perfect plan for our lives, which is in line with biblical precepts.
• I don't even know where to start with the second one.
• God is not impartial. Did you know that? He is so incredibly partial that sin cannot exist in his presence! That's why we needed Jesus to act as our intermediary and cleanse us of our sin by dying on the cross!
• I've been called quirky. But there's nothing wonderful about being queer. Just no.
• The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable - who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Make no mistake, there is an agenda here. They want to browbeat you into not just tolerating sin but celebrating it. Make the sin the most important thing in your life. Let it be the thing that identifies you. 

Satan tried the direct approach. It failed. So he has wormed his way insidiously into our lives. In some ways, it wasn't even that hard. Just compromise on a few things here. Make a few exceptions there. It all comes down to the first Lie.

Did God really say those things? Did he mean them?

Yes. He did. And we're going to face a reckoning. If you're looking for that line you drew and realize it's a few hundred yards behind you, maybe it's time to re-evaluate a few things. What compromises have you made in the name of love?

And I'm not saying this will be easy. It effects family, friends, people we've known for years. But I would hate for judgment to come and realize that I helped 'love' someone into hell. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 6-10, 2022

Well, now. It has certainly been more than a few minutes since we were last here. If you are friends with me on Facebook, then you've seen some of the photos from my time in Wyoming. We had a great time with family and some beautiful scenery. I don't recommend four full days of driving, but we did survive being in such close quarters, so no harm no foul. 

It's a little weird being back in the office. I always feel like I've missed a lot even though it also feels like nothing changes when I'm here. It's probably a similar feeling no matter where you  live or work. I can't say my trip was incredibly restful since we were on the go pretty much the whole time, and then I started cat sitting the day after I got back to town, so please forgive the expected brevity. 

Much of my week has been spent in catching up on emails and incoming projects while also getting ready for People Month. Yes, June is once again back to being the time of year when folks from around the world descend upon HQ for meetings and fellowship. And you know me. I can be too introverted for introverts, sometimes. But it will be nice to see some people I haven't seen for a while and have a little variety around the office for a bit. I just fully expect to hibernate for the following few weeks. 

We don't have a lot of projects in queue right now. Part of that is because we're so good at our jobs. We have published quite a bit in the last few months. But until we get some other languages started, we're kind of waiting on our translators and doing some template work. I'm sure we'll get some requests from those visiting as well, so I have no doubt that I'll be lamenting the mountain of work we have to do sometime in the near future. 

I think that about sums things up. As always, feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions about what I do at OMS or just about life in general. You are deeply appreciated.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 9-13, 2022

It has been a random week at OMS again. Productive, but random. It's nice to shake things up now and then. Breaks up the routine. But you know I like my routine. I'm totally fine with doing the same stuff all the time. Which is good, because that's most of my job.

I'm still working on booklet 64. I finished the tagging, added images, and now I'm doing another read-through. It is amazing what you can miss. Most of what I'm doing now, though, is trying to get the reading level down to fifth grade level and get rid of some jargon. The booklet is about crafting a personal testimony, and there can be a lot of 'Christianese' in talking about that. 

I got tapped to run A/V for two lunches. The first was for local pastors and mission leaders who were here to learn more about OMS. The second was for volunteers who we brought in to show our appreciation. I don't mind running  stuff, but I do appreciate more than an hour's notice. Just saying. 

(As a side note, we had an OMS Family Fun Night on Tuesday. We had a picnic and then karaoke. I was the Spin Doctor and emcee for that, and it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately for you, what happens in the Fellowship Hall, stays in the Fellowship Hall. So no photos or video for you. Sorry.)

We're also still working on safety stuff at OMS. Sarah and I handed out Emergency Response Guides with instructions for various safety issues one might encounter. There are still a few more things we need to do, and obviously, we never want any of these things to happen. But my philosophy is that it is better to be prepared than caught off guard. 

There won't be an update (at least not work-related) for a couple of weeks. I'm headed out of town with family, so try not to miss me too much.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 25 - May 6, 2022

Well, as predicted, there was no post last week. The seminar went very well, and while we had a few hiccups, there were no major catastrophes. For which I am very thankful. 

Most of my week was spent in the tech arena. 

We had two tech positions: the tech booth, which controlled all audio/visual elements, and Zoom host, which let people in and created breakout rooms, etc. The seminar was a hybrid event again, which meant we had people attending in person and online. It takes a lot of work to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. But, with the incredible leadership of Sarah, we pulled it off. 

Snacks to get us through.

The smiley stickers indicated our level of comfort with personal interaction. I'm a yellow in normal settings, so I figured it was appropriate.

We always have good food.

And, of course, we introduced our new VCP assistant - my mom! Yes, you read that correctly, Donna Hollopeter will be working for OMS part time on Village Church Planting material. And no, I am not her boss. 

Oh well.

So like I said, it was a good week. We had great fellowship and made some solid plans for the future as OMS restructures into more field-centric operations. 

I can't say my weekend was spent recovering from the event as I was dog- and cat-sitting, but I did manage to get some sleep. Regardless, I was read to go Monday morning once again.

This week has been all about booklet 64. 64 is a new booklet called "Tell Your Story." It helps people craft their personal testimony. We've been working on it somewhat passively for a while, but I've been putting in solid work on it this week, tagging text and making sure the layout is as it should be. 

What is tagging?

That's the process. We have text tags so that when we run the script on the translation files, the translated text goes exactly where it is supposed to go. So paragraph 064-072 will always be, "Here are some words to help you think about the benefits you have received in Christ:" (I am also taking the opportunity to fix some grammar and word choice.) It doesn't matter what language, that's the general gist of what it will say. Pretty clever, isn't it?

And that's the gist of my week. It's been cold and rainy, which is always a drag. But I'm spending the weekend with yet another pup, so it should be a break from the norm. Although, pet sitting is becoming the new norm. 

Hmm...

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 18-22, 2022

Hi, hello, hey there.

It's another one of those crazy weeks as we buckled down in preparation for the CMF Seminar next week. Lots of little details, but also still many big details to sort out, and that's all while the building is being painted and cleaned and rearranged. But they assure us it'll be done by Monday. 

Most of my efforts toward the seminar are tech related, though I also did some proofing and re-creating of a few documents. In between those jobs, I was proofing Outreach articles and trying to figure out why my back was giving out on my again. I didn't even do any axe throwing this time. And in between those things, I was working on my prayer letter. It would be really nice to have that out before the end of April. We'll see.

I feel like I haven't done much rumination lately. A quiet moment to just sit with myself and check in on things. I'm sure that opportunity with present itself again sometime. Any day now. 

Pray for safe travels for those traveling to Greenwood. Pray for logistics to be in place. Pray for the facilitators presenting information. Pray for CMFs giving reports. Pray for the tech team and the technology itself. Pray for the food prep. Pray for Sarah - she's the head honcho for this thing. And just pray for all of us in general. This is likely the last CMF Seminar of this kind as we move to regional oversight. 

So yeah, there's a lot happening next week, and I doubt there will be a blog about it until May. Keep those prayers coming, and have a great (warm!) weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 11-15, 2022

It has been a crazy week, my friends. It feels like we had lots of little fires to put out, some turning into a bit of a bonfire before being quenched. I'm sure there's a slow burn still going on, but it will be up to other people to take care of it. I'm pooped. 

I finished proof files for two Hindi booklets, after figuring out why certain glyphs weren't appearing as they should. We're doing a walking contest in the office, and I've been helping with calculations and communicating things for that. There was a 'big announcement' at the staff briefing on Wednesday that was fairly well received, but I don't know that it warranted the build up. We're putting together a team of tour guides for the office, so if you ever want a tour of this place, I'm happy to set you up. We're getting ready for the CMF Seminar the last week of April, and there is plenty to do to prepare. I'll be (wo)manning the tech stuff for a few sessions, and of course, a few of our facilitators don't have their presentations ready yet. 

So yeah. It's been a bit busy around here. 

I am looking forward to this weekend. Not just because I get a day off - but of course because we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior! I hope your celebrations are full of joy and hope for the future. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 28 - April 8, 2022

Yep, we're on another two-weeker here. I had a somewhat last-minute opportunity to spend the weekend with my family, and my friends at OMS were very kind to cover my responsibilities to allow that. The last few years have definitely impressed upon me the importance of spending time with your loved ones when you get the chance. 

But I was still in the office from Monday to Wednesday. I published a group of French and did some file auditing. We had a really nice chapel with representatives from the Korean Evangelical Church of America. 

This week, I've been working on Hindi and Portuguese. I created a status update for our VCP materials and worked on some things for the upcoming CMF Seminar. 

There are a lot of changes happening in the office. I've been dodging paint trays and ladders all week as they paint the walls downstairs. I've mostly been in the office alone since Brian is recovering from his trip to Hungary and Sarah had a prayer retreat. My parents are actually in town this weekend (I might tell you more about that in the future), so we're spending some quality time at a flea market Saturday. 

That's about it for this edition. Stay warm.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 21-25, 2022

Hermanos y hermanas!

(I'm not even working on Spanish. Why.)

Hello from the frozen landscape of Indiana. I'm not enjoying this brief return to Winter. It is Spring. The calendar says so. 

Speaking of calendars, I discovered this week that I have skipped a whole week in my desk calendar. So I'm no longer wondering why I have felt so discombobulated of late. 

This week has been quite full. I had one pup from Sunday to Thursday, and I have another pup Friday to Sunday. Thankfully, these pups are pretty easy to care for. They are both quite sweet. Plus, they allow me to work from the office. 

I've been working on French this week. But with Brian gone, I'm also fielding a lot of questions about things I don't normally deal with. But I think we have a solid team, and I'm happy to keep things going here while Brian works with refugees in Hungary. Speaking of, you can help provide supplies!

Speaking of speaking of! RADIO IS BACK, BABES! Yes, after literal YEARS, we have once again recorded a radio spot! I don't have the final audio yet, but I do have a lovely example of how we work. Way back before the coof, we had an idea for another superhero spoof. (nice!) When the bosses came to us asking about a spot about Ukraine, we harkened back to our original idea and adapted it. Jason wrote it, got it approved, and then we had to refine it some more once we were in the studio. They always take more time than we think. So here's what we ended up with:

I also had a chance to work with some lovely ladies on a project launching in April.

Julie Bishop is the wife of the Executive Director of OMS USA. You should know Sarah by now. And Lydia is our fantastic editor. 

Finally, we had a production meeting this week. My team has been doing a fantastic job with projects. Eliana just published all of Korean, which has been so long in coming, and Lynae has been formatting Hindi booklets, which is another longstanding project. Veronica continues to do battle with Japanese and Arabic. We're doing two versions of Japanese because there are actually four scripts you can use to write the Japanese language. We're trying to reach as many people as possible. And Arabic is hard because it is right to left and it's hard to see what you're typing in Word because Microsoft is sus. But we are prevailing!

That's about it for the week. Drink something warm, find a good book, and enjoy your weekend. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 14-18, 2022

I got to walk outside TWICE this week during the day. I'm not even going to complain that we're going to be cold again because Spring is Springing it up around here, and I am so here for that. 

This was a productive week! I published an Amharic volume and then a group of Indonesian booklets. I was able to resolve an issue with French booklets. I worked on many small projects and attended my usual meetings with aplomb. If I was you, I'd wanna be me, too. 

Name that song reference.

Anyway, yes, it has been a good week. But we always have plenty more to do.

The main thing I want to focus on this week is a trip my boss and his wife are taking. They are going to Hungary for a couple of weeks to help with the refugee crisis there. Our team in Hungary has already been hosting many of the missionaries who had to evacuate Ukraine, and they have also been sending teams to the border with food and other supplies. My boss has a lot of ties to Eastern Europe, and I know this situation has weighed heavily on him. So please be praying for them as they travel and as they do what they can in a very precarious situation. 

Otherwise, have a good one, don't do anything I wouldn't do, and stay in school. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 7-11, 2022

The dogs have been successfully reunited with their owners. I have returned to my cold office in the basement. Life is resuming its normal course. 

Granted, most of that didn't happen until Wednesday afternoon, so I still spent the majority of the week working elsewhere. That was not always successful, which is why I've been spending more time in the office in the evenings and will probably spend some time in the office this weekend. I'm trying to get a group of Amharic published, which is still slow, but that's largely because I have to split one of the booklets. That always takes more time.

But we prevail! I had a lot of meetings this week about the future. They say, Aslan is on the move! Sorry, couldn't help myself. But yes, big things are coming to OMS. Most people are focused on the big stuff, but I have been somewhat preoccupied with the smaller logistical questions, like which accounts we need to keep and which ones need to change. Also, we still need to move some of development work out of Ukraine. We like our developers, but they have other things on their mind right now, and I think this whole situation has reminded people of the importance of having resources as much in your control as possible. Because you never know when Vladimir Putin will try to get that stick out of an orifice. (Sorry, not sorry, I can't be neutral on this. I lay the blame at one person's feet specifically and the Fall of Man in general.)

Anyway, you know how my weekend will go. I hope you get some rest. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 28 - March 4, 2022

This has not been a normal week. 

That seems like a vast understatement, given the circumstances. But still true, nonetheless. 

Personally, it's a weird week because I've been out of the office more than I've been in it. I'm taking care of two dogs right now. They're older, and they live a fair distance from OMS, so I've been working from there as much as possible. 

I've been working on fixing some of the template errors in T&M - little things we've noticed over the years that we constantly have to fix in each language because we haven't had the time to fix the templates. But we're compiling those errors and re-releasing a master set of files. I'm also taking the time to fix some of the English grammar and spelling mistakes so we can re-release those files and not have people call us up and say "Did you know..." and me be polite instead of letting out my frustration because of course I've noticed, I just couldn't do anything about it. 

Anyway. 

This week was also the culmination of The Hairies! As you know (I think I told you), the guys of OMS have been growing their beards out in Janu-hairy and Febru-hairy. Wednesday was the day to measure up. I wasn't really anticipating being in charge of things, but it's funny how things just happen. So Sarah helped me throw something together. I think it went well - we had prizes and everything. The most growth was 7 centimeters, and we had prizes for the best lookalike (look up Hamid Karzai), the best mustache, and the most artistic look. And because it's us, we did a little decorating around the office.

In other news, the world is a mess. More than usual. Which is saying something. It's frustrating when there's very little you can do to help. You can pray. You can donate. But you can't sit everyone down and tell them why they're being stupid and why they need to stop. So I'm doing my best to keep it from taking over my life. 

Not sure I'm succeeding. 

But we carry on. There is hope, and I have to rest in that. 

Have a pleasant weekend, everyone.

Bye.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 21-25, 2022

Hello from a grey, freezing Greenwood! It turns out we can't have more than one heater plugged in to the ECC hallway or we'll trip a breaker. Oops. I guess I'll just have to wear layers.

I don't have a ton to report this week. I had to take off Monday to fully recover from some awful back spasms I was having over the weekend. 0/10, I do not recommend.

Most of my actual work this week was done on Amharic. There are eight booklets in the group I'm working on, and like I said last week, the punctuation is different. It makes my eyes cross sometimes, which necessitates frequent breaks. Good thing we have a new reception area now! The front lobby has been totally redone, and it looks really nice. You should come see it since I'm depriving you of photos. 

I don't think I have anything else for you. The world is a terrible place right now, and it's depressing. Pray for the people of Ukraine in general but especially for our pastor's and their families there. All except two of our missionaries have evacuated, which is a prayer request in itself. I may have printed walking directions from Greenwood to my parent's home in the event of extreme emergency, but it's still hard for even me to think of what it's like to leave everything behind, not knowing when or if you'll see your home again. Can I send my medical bills to Vladimir Putin for raising my blood pressure?

Breathe. 

Okay. 

Take some time for yourself this weekend. Spend quality time with the Lord.

Bye.