The (Belated) Weekly Wrap-Up: May 31 - June 2, 2016

I briefly contemplated not even writing a post about last week. I mean, it was three days in which I did what I do on every other day. Hardly riveting stuff, even if it is written by me.

But I'm a completer. Completionist? Finisher. I finish things.

Whatever. I can't not do something that is part of a series. It just isn't feasible. So let's just move on.

Monday of last week was Memorial Day. Obviously. So I wasn't at work. I was watching X-Men: Apocalypse. Not a bad movie. I'm glad I only paid $6 to see it, though.

I spent most of the week working on either conference stuff or T&M stuff. The flags, I'm happy to say, are nearly sorted. I just need to order some we don't have and corral another four people to carry them.

Way back, before we knew any better, we decided it might be nice to put Student Activity Guide entries into the back of T&M booklets. This would be a good way to introduce people who hadn't been using the SAG to its wonders. We also decided, hey, let's tailor some of these entries to the book topics so that they are more relevant. Sure, this will make us draw from several activities at once, but that's totally fine.

Is it possible to punch old me in the face?

Because we changed the SAG tags, we also had to change the booklet tags. And it can't just be a straightforward thing. No. So I spent a fair bit of time deleting old tags and inputting new tags. Go me.

On Wednesday, we took a half day for prayer. This was nice because we spent some time outside at the flags and prayer walking around the building. (Apparently, it's called a Jericho Walk, but no buildings fell down, so I think we failed. Except it's a good thing, because the building we walked around was my office, so that would have been bad if it fell down.)

Look, I know how to do panorama shots! Is anyone abnormally stretched?

The Foster in his native habitat charges at the invaders.

On Thursday, I helped Carolyn with orientation stuff again. I really can't draw, but for some reason, she keeps asking me to help her with the timeline of missions. And I'm happy to do it. 

I may take some liberties.

Then Lori and I took an hour to set up a project that took us about 20 minutes to complete and then another 30 minutes to tear down. 

Not to overcomplicate things.

I also took some of my spare time to fix some of the info boxes on the T&M web app. Because I couldn't take one more day of being asked when it would be finished. 

Anyway, I took Friday off because I scheduled a garage sale for Saturday and I needed to get ready. I apparently can't leave this place because certain people freak out when I'm not in. Despite the fact that NO ONE visits me the rest of the time. 

Grr.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 11-15, 2016

I think I might actually be fully done with Japanese. For reals. 

At least until the proofs come back. 

Anyway, spent most of the week getting the proofs ready. It's amazing what you find without blue codes everywhere. (Long story.)

We had super long app meetings this week, so I missed most of the chapels. The app meetings are good and necessary because we're close to releasing for beta testing, but we sometimes get a little lost in the fog. I suppose it's my job to keep us on track, but I have to keep my mic muted most of the time because I share my office with someone. It makes things harder.

We revamped a radio ad that we did for the last conference about the 5K Fun Run. Just a few tweeks to make it fit the new dates and funding stuff.

I've also been proofing pages of the next Outreach issue. This one is about Islam and our Muslim ministries. I like that I get to keep a hand in the magazine even when I'm not in Communications. 

Foster and I went to Menard's today to pick up some air filters for stage dec for Conference. It will be really cool (I hope) when it's done, so I'll keep you apprised.

Finally, we had an internet outage today for a little over an hour. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you view it), I had plenty of work to do that didn't require the internet. But I did run out toward the end, so I included a little video so you could see how I spent my time.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 21-24, 2016

Ironically enough, this week felt incredibly long despite being a four-day week.

Train & Multiply

I'm still making my way through the finalization checklist, but I'm about two-thirds done, so I'm definitely making progress. I'm wary of going too fast and missing something because I want to be done. Slow and steady wins the race!

We've been talking about the Student Activity Guide a lot this week. There are a lot of redundancies for translators, so we're trying to streamline the process. We've also done away with some of the terminology, like stages and levels. To that end, we decided to combine three review activities in the SAG into one, cutting total activities from 75 to 73. We've also decided to eliminate a booklet. It was focused on review, but it was right in the middle of the series, and the review was redundant to other booklets. So we're back to 63 booklets.

I added 21 new users to our list between training in Australia and training here. 21 new people will soon be receiving access to booklets so they can begin evangelism and church planting in their area. I love this part!

I'm also starting a new project with T&M. I'll have more on that next week.

Chapel

We had a really great chapel on Tuesday. President Bob Fetherlin spoke about the need for unity. You can listen to the message here: https://soundcloud.com/onemissionradio/envy-and-comparison-omschapel.

Today's chapel was about an event one of our missionaries attended at The Cove in the Carolinas last fall. Many leaders from Asia were brought together to learn about the need for multiplication.

Radio

Jason and I recorded two radio spots in anticipation of conference this summer. You can listen to those here: https://soundcloud.com/onemissionradio.

Other Projects

I had devotions again this week. I talked about 2 Peter 1:5-8. Not sure yet what I'm doing next week.

Foster and I put up a new display for the upstairs windows. They were looking a little bare.

Foster wanted to incorporate part of the lobby sculpture around the building, so he commissioned some shapes. This is what we ended up with. 

These will look really cool when it stops raining. Actually, they look really cool now, too. 

That's it. I'm sleeping in tomorrow. Have a blessed Easter weekend!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 25-29, 2016

Way back when, I started this blog to keep people updated on my ministry. Of course, at the time, I was still funding. My ministry description was also a lot different.

Since then, I have occasionally used this blog to talk about my ministry. More often, I use it to sort out my thoughts, give book reviews, or just generally angst about things.

So, to keep with the spirit of what I set out to do, in the full knowledge that most of my ministry involves me sitting at a computer manipulating files, I'm going to start a weekly review of ministry-type things. I may, on occasion, address a specific ministry thing on another day. But, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I will do a Weekly Wrap-Up every Friday, telling you what I worked on in a given week. I'm counting on you to remind me of this next Friday. (And maybe come up with a better name for it.)

Train & Multiply

This was actually a fairly busy week for me. I've been working on the Japanese translation of Train & Multiply, whilst learning the ins and outs of the process. On Wednesday, I learned how to transfer new text from what we call a transfile (translation file) into the InDesign booklet file. This part is actually done pretty quickly. We run a script, Bob's your uncle, everything that the translator changed is now inserted into its proper space in the master file.

Of course, text comes in all shapes and sizes. So my next job was a) to make sure everything that should have transferred did, and b) to make sure there's enough space for all of that text. For example, here's a sentence in English:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Here's the same sentence in Hindi (another language we're working on):

तेज, भूरी लोमडी आलसी कुत्ते के उपर कूद गई।
As you can see, character spacing changes from one language to another. So what fit in a space before may not when you change the language. I have to check the files to make sure we don't have overset text. And I have to do this in 34 booklets (just level one for Japanese) with varying page numbers.

I also keep up correspondence with people interested in using T&M. Every week, we have between 5 and 20 requests for sample material or training. The sample material is easy - they can download it off the website. Training is a little harder to coordinate. We will have two training events in the U.S. this year, but not everyone can make it to Greenwood, Indiana. One individual needs training in Australia and Myanmar, so I'm trying to figure out the logistics, who will be in the area, that sort of thing.

I also keep up the T&M Facebook page. It can be a little tough finding material to post. Once people get the materials, we don't often hear from them very often. That's another things we're working to change.

Finally, we're trying to organize our files. We use Google docs, a website called Trello, and our own shared drive. We don't want to get into the middle of 27 new language projects and realize we have no idea where all of the files are. I like Trello - it's a good organizational tool. But it can be difficult to keep track of the thousands of files we end up with for each individual language project.

Chapel

Every week, we have chapel on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except for the first week of the month when we do a half day of prayer on Wednesday. CROSS-training started again this week, so we've been hearing from our trainees in chapel. I always like hearing their stories. There's a lot more diversity than you might expect from a small midwestern mission agency.

This week, we heard from EunJin and KyoungMin, a Korean couple serving at HQ for a few months. They serve as liasons to the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, which OMS helped found 109 years ago, and the Korean Evangelical Church of America, which branched from the KEHC and is headquartered in California. (Fun fact: if you encounter a denomination overseas that ends in EHC, it was probably started by the KEHC.) We also heard from Michelle, a Brit going to Mozambique; Heather, who works in HR/Mobi; and Lora, who joined because she married the OMS Kids director.

Other Projects

Every so often, someone will pop into my office to ask me to work on something with or for them. This week, that person has been Foster, and the project was the art installation in the lobby. He wanted to do something different instead of the normal lobby stuff, so he took apart the tree he made for Christmas (probably on my Facebook somewhere) and made art. I've been helping him fill in some missing pieces.

Here's how it started:

Last week, we put up the word "Illuminate" with LED lights underneath. This week, we filled in the shapes with the purple. 

Today, we put the verse on the window. 

All of this serves as an advertisement/reminder about the International Conference this summer in Marion, Indiana, an event to which you are all invited and to which you should all come. 

Bonus

Occasionally, I need to do something that engages a different part of my brain. Or I just need to walk. This week, my distraction was found upstairs in the Development department. Dynamic Women in Missions created a Scrabble board, so Sarah and I took a few minutes to play a game. Of sorts. We don't actually play. We just pick out letters and make words. Like Bananagrams, I guess. This was one of our better efforts:

I hope you enjoyed that snippet of my week! See you on the flip side...

Five Years. Really?

(The following is a speech I will give, am giving, gave - depending on when you read this - at my five-year recognition chapel at OMS. If you'd rather hear it, I'm sure I'll post a link to it somewhere. There's a ton more I could talk about after five years, and I probably will in the blog soon. For now, enjoy.)

All right. Here we go.

I've been struggling with what to say on this, the fifth plus a bit anniversary of my time at OMS, ever since Kathy told me about it back in August. 

Okay, if you know me, you know that's not entirely accurate. I've been freaking out about it ever since I learned we do this kind of thing at OMS.

So, about five years. 

I've asked quite a few people what I should talk about today. Some were helpful. Some were not. I credit Foster Pilcher with the idea of writing a blog post and just reading that. So I did. Incidentally, if you'd like to read along, this posted about ten minutes ago. becausehislovecompelsus.blogspot.com

Five years ago, I started working here. But the journey really started about seven and a half years ago when I traveled to Sierra Leone, West Africa. On that trip, as I looked out over the city of Freetown, I felt that God was telling me that my future would involve missions of some kind. Six months later, I was interviewing with OMS.

I'll be honest. It took me a while to figure this place out. Y'all are holiness people, and as a rule, you're a little more touchy-feely than I'm used to. I also come from a denomination that historically has had a fairly narrow definition of the word 'missionary.' There are some people who do not consider what we do in HQ to be missionary work. That's something I've had to overcome both personally and professionally. 

So, two years. That's what I promised God. I'll do this mission thing for two years, and then I'll move on to The Plan. If you're not following along, The Plan is capitalized. I like Plans. I like routine, I like knowing what the next thing is. My Birkman is quite clear on this. 

So imagine my surprise when I reached the end of that two years and thought, "You know, I think I could do another year." You're smiling, but this was by no means a sure thing. 

Before we get to that, though, there are two things I need to highlight about those two years, and they actually happened within months of each other. First, I traveled to Thailand and South Asia in April 2011. Mike Dragon said last week that the first thing they do when you visit South Asia is break your heart. And he's right. I honestly didn't know how to deal with that trip. So I did the worst thing possible and shut down. I still have trouble talking about it. 

Then, in June of 2011, still not quite recovered, I went to Poland. And yes, I went for ministry purposes, but I want to talk about the day I spent in Auschwitz and Birkenau. 

I'm a history major. No matter what else I do in this life, I will always identify as a historian. And I had a lot of head knowledge about the Holocaust before this trip. I knew the numbers, I had seen the photos, I heard eyewitness accounts. 

But now I was walking where it happened. I saw the barracks designed for horses that instead housed hundreds of people. I saw desperate words scrawled on the walls of death chambers. I saw rooms of suitcases, shoes, and human hair stolen from millions of people. 

Needless to say, it was pretty impactful.

I came away from those trips with three things made abundantly clear. 

1. Satan is very real. 

2. It is a lot easier to serve evil than it is to do good.

3. We have hope. 

That last one may seem a little incongruous with the others. And it may seem hard to come away from a place like Auschwitz feeling hopeful. Even South Asia might seem like a stretch.

But for as difficult as a place like South Asia is, the Gospel is advancing. One of the things I vividly recall is standing on the shore watching dozens of people be baptized. It's a pretty incredible sight, made all the more remarkable when you know that persecution is not just a buzzword for these people. It's a reality. When I got off the plane in the capital, there was a notable oppression of spirit. I could almost feel the enemy working. But that just means he's scared. Satan doesn't have to work hard when he knows he's in control of a place.

Which brings us to Auschwitz. People talk about that place as though they can almost hear the cries of victims. And it is admittedly creepy to walk through the gas chambers. But mostly, I felt empty. I felt like I was seeing the pinnacle of evil. Like Satan had gotten things started and then let humanity take over, and this is what they achieved.

But I was talking about hope. And as we know from history, the Allies won. People realized what they were capable of. And for a little while, people pursued righteousness. Auschwitz now stands as a memorial and as a symbol of things that should never happen again.

Okay, so I sometimes go off on these rants on my blog. I apologize.

Let's go back to that third year. I finally felt like I was fitting in, or at least my brand of crazy was appreciated. So naturally, things started going wrong. I was in a pretty severe depression for several months. And I need to address this because we don't talk about depression much in Christian circles. I understand that. I don't really want to talk about it myself. But I talked to a counselor at my church about it, and she very nicely handed me a pamphlet that said my depression was a sign that I probably had a secret sin or that I wasn't close enough to Jesus. I'm here to tell you that the only reason I made it through is because I was desperately clinging to Jesus. He gave me hope that I would get out of the valley. And I eventually did.

I was pretty sure I'd be leaving OMS after three years, which was extremely disappointing. I felt like I was becoming the best version of myself here, and I didn't know how that would translate in the wider world. My Plan had changed, and I didn't like that.

But then I was offered a beacon of hope. A chance to stay for one more year. I'm not going to lie. It was a hard year. I was frustrated. I felt like I was losing whatever perspective I'd gained. So when the year was up, I was finally ready to leave. I had begged God for two more years. And now I was begging to move on.

It really looked like it was going to happen, too. My contract was up, I'd applied elsewhere, and yet every time I went to pack up my things, I'd hit a wall. It felt wrong.

And then ECC came calling. And I knew God was telling me to stay. I would officially be at OMS for a full five years. It's been a long road. I don't know how you guys focus on just one thing that happened. Five years is a long time.

But if I had to narrow it down to one lesson, that lesson would be hope. I'm a pretty cynical person. I will pretty much always see the worst-case scenario. But I have also become a hopeful person. And the source of my hope is and always will be Jesus Christ. I have been redeemed, and that gives me hope for the rest of the world. If even one third of the people we reach with our one billion opportunity gives their life to Jesus, can you imagine what that would do to the world?

I don't know where I will be five years from now. I'd love to be back up here, sharing my special brand of eccentricity and failing to concentrate on just one thing about the next five years. But wherever I am, I hope that I'm bringing hope to others. That's my new Plan.

Before I leave, I want to publicly thank a few people for getting me through the last five years. To my parents, for your unwavering support and for letting me cry on your shoulders, thank you. To my sisters, who gave me their own special brand of encouragement, thanks, I guess. To Lori McFall, for being a second mom, a sister, and a best friend rolled into one, thank you. To Sam Downey, for being a port in a stormy sea, thank you. To all of you, for sharing in my journey, thank you. And to God, for giving me exactly what I need when I need it, whether I like it or not, thank you. 

A Random Tuesday

How do my days usually progress? I'll tell you. Or at least, I'll tell you about today.

My alarm went off at 6:40. I'd been having this weird dream about a hotel by a river and trying to find someone who owed me $4.

I hit snooze. There's no excuse for being up at 6:40.

Nine minutes later, I figure I'm obligated to get up. First thing I do is check my phone for the overnight happenings. A few news alerts and a text from Arika, asking way too deep a philosophical question for 6:49 in the morning. But I answer, and it makes sense to my brain, so good enough.

I don't wash my hair on Tuesdays. It gives me a little extra time for morning ablutions, and also morning devotions. Sarah Young makes her usual frightening amount of sense. I hang out at the kitchen table and ponder life's mysteries.

It's 7:50. Getting dressed might be important. I have to wear blue today. Normally, a few of us in ECC will try to match. I get a text every morning. But my matchy buddies are in South Africa this week. I still have to wear blue. We're filming today.

I get to work about 8:03. First thing is to fire up the computer. While it's coming up, I check the ECC box in the mailroom. Nothing. Then a pen and new post-its from central supply.

I check my email. Two Gmail accounts and the main Office 365. Naturally, 365 isn't working. Shocking. Reload. Nothing has come into the T&M account, and it's mostly junk everywhere else. I check Facebook. I'm friends with T&M partners and people who are traveling. Things are going well. I schedule a post on the T&M page.

It's 8:55. Time for chapel. There's usually coffee and hot chocolate for people to get before or after. I don't usually like hot drinks, but as the weather cools, you can see me with a hot chocolate.

Today's chapel speaker is Graham Houghton. Graham has been in India for 50 years, and he always has great stories. And a very unique way of telling them. He retired once. It didn't take. He's 78 and ministering in North India. There are encouraging things happening, but there is also a great deal of darkness.

Chapel normally lasts until 9:30 or 9:40. Graham finishes at 9:55. We still have announcements and introductions. We pray for a missionary leaving for Hungary tomorrow.

10:05. Back in the office. I do a bit of cleaning up and then start working on my article for Outreach magazine. It's about the history of prayer at OMS.

10:45. Time to do a bit of walking. Since we started the wellness program, I've been endeavoring to get at least 10,000 steps every day. It's also not good to sit for too long. I have a route through the building, starting by going through Communications. Lori and Susan are talking about the magazine. I chat with Beth for a minute. Then upstairs. There are a lot of people out. But there are muffins at the front desk. Score.

Back downstairs. 11:00. More research for the article. I've copied articles and notices from old Missionary Standard archives. I'm only up to 1946. Sometimes I forget OMS has been around more than 100 years. Not today.

11:40. I check my phone and see that I have a voicemail. There is pretty much no service in the basement, so I never hear my phone ring. I just randomly have messages. It's Arby's. I did a survey this weekend, and they have follow-up questions. But when I call back, there's no answer.

12:10. Time for lunch. But first - oh look, Arby's called again. Free food! I've never been so happy to have undercooked chicken. (Okay, I wasn't that happy. But Arby's is cool for following up.)

12:18. NOW I can go to lunch.

We have an hour for lunch. I used 20 minutes of it to walk. That gets me to about 5,500 steps on the day. I'm ahead of schedule.

The fare today is chicken salad. It's cheap and easy to make, which pretty much describes most of what I eat. I'm spending any extra money I have on fruits and veggies. They're healthy, you know.

1:20. Back at work. Foster has been in, judging by the ladder in the middle of my office. We'll use it in a few minutes when we start filming.

We're doing a top secret project for the OMS Christmas party. It's been a lot of fun (and a lot of work), but the secrecy has probably been the most fun. People keep asking what we're doing. We maintain the cone of silence.

It took about eight takes for me to be happy with today's segment. By the time we finished, it was time to welcome the myriad of superheroes, knights, and various and sundry costumed (or not) children so they could extort candy from the hardworking folks of OMS.

I'm kidding, it was adorable. We do this every year. OMS kids come around to the marked offices and receive candy or treats or whatever. It's a safe way to trick or treat, and though it's a bit early, it is a nice thing we do.

It does kinda disrupt the workflow, though.

I spent some time looking up a word for the #WeirdWordoftheWeek segment I do on Facebook. It's a silly little thing, but it's fun for me. This week's word is carminative.

Onward and upward. With infrequent visitors, I continued working, this time on the ECC blog posts for the OMS website.

Around 4:10, I take another gallivant around the office. I get sidetracked in Communications (which happens frequently) to talk about ramen and the filming for tomorrow (separate issues). Then I continue, stopping to compare everyone's offerings. Lots of good stuff this year. Oh, to be a kid again.

Back to the office and work at 4:35.

5:10. Time to go home.

Immediately, I get ready for my long walk. This has become a staple of my day. It finishes up the rest of my 10,000 steps and gets the kinks out. Usually lasting anywhere from 30-50 minutes, today's is about 35, putting me well over my goal.

Dinner is frozen pizza and grapes. Highly nutritious. I watch an episode of Air Crash Investigation while I'm waiting. It's the one with the pilot who gets sucked outside of the airplane and is only held inside by flight stewards. It's a really fascinating series, and there are a ton of episodes on YouTube. I wouldn't recommend watching too many in a row or right before a trip. Very interesting stuff, though. And the pilot lived!

The show turns out to be a little too interesting. I watch at least six more episodes while playing mahjong.

And now it's 10:45. I've been dinking around on Facebook for 30 minutes. Not a very productive evening. But it was a relaxing evening. Just what I needed.

And that's a random Tuesday. 

A Word from Foster

(I haven't felt much like blogging lately, Monday's verbal vomit notwithstanding, so I decided to take advantage of my department's generosity and asked them to guest blog. Foster, our graphic designer, is starting us off. I gave no guidelines, made very few edits, and censored nothing. Lord help us.)

This is Jessica’s blog. Her brain is disengaged at the moment from blog writing so I, Foster, am writing to you today. This is a huge task. I feel the pressure of expectations from myself, “Do I really have anything to say that is worthy of reading?” and the expectation of you the reader, “Is reading this blog not written in the whimsical Jessica writing style worth my time?” Fair question to ask. And then I thought what could be more interesting than writing about Jessica. I definitely have things to say on that subject. And so do you and I want to read them. After you read this blog, write your comments on Jessica, and together we can sculpt a more 3D portrait of her. So let’s get started. Here’s my view of her. Granted, it’s one view, one perspective and falls short of capturing the total Jessica. And it’s a guy’s view, for what that's worth.

I met Jessica three years ago when she plopped down in a chair in the Communication Department’s workstation area, setting up shop so to speak, saying God had called her here to work at One Mission Society. Here to stay, I guess. I started greeting her in my God-given personality as I greet everyone in the Communication Department with a robust and enthusiastic, “Happy Day!” This greeting and the way it is delivered usually brings some laughter and greetings in return. Not Jessica. She received the greeting like a bucket of water had been thrown on her. On a rare occasion I would get a muffled “Hi” but usually it was a look of death. A whole chapter could be written on Jessica’s multifaceted looks. She has a look for every occasion, and believe me I’ve encountered most of them. There are  a few looks that I’ve named. The “don’t bother me” look, the “I can’t believe you said that" look and the “if I could kill you without going to jail I would” look.  Because of Jessica, I now have goals in my life. One of them is to see how many times during the day I can get the look before I totally tick her off and she says, “If I had one of my guns or swords on me I would use them on you right now!” Another goal of mine is to draw her out of her silent side and get her to say a complete sentence before 10 in the morning. That’s really hard to do, especially when my “Happy Day” brings automatic shut down sequence and lock down procedures to her already silent side. Her silent side actually is really loud and says a lot. Just like the look. Her silent side is different than her introvert side. It’s a mystery to me. It’s different than when she’s deep in thought or being contemplative. If someone wants to write about that side of Jessica, I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Even though I can be a thorn in her side, we do get along and actually have fun together. One of those times was last November when we were working on a Christmas video for One Mission Society’s Christmas dinner. She wrote the script, directed, produced and was the camera women. She did an awesome job, I have to say, and dealt well with the stress of making a large screen production. Her trust in me was evident when she allowed me to help with her costume and arranging her hair for her character, Pi. Since I was the lead in the massive on-screen production, we had to work together in every scene and not once did I hear a reference to her guns or swords.

I have massive respect for Jessica. Sometimes I view it as one who has respect for a lion. You admire its strength, beauty, power, claws from a distance, not wanting to meet face to face with no barrier between you because you don’t know what to expect.  There are days when the lion looks soft, playful and full of energy. Those are the times of many jokes, funny YouTube videos and sharing good music.

I would even say we are friends. Good friends with quarky personalities and rough edges. A friendship with two different personalities finding common ground on Christ and finding we do enhance each others lives. If our lives would ever go separate ways I know I would miss the multifaceted looks of Jessica because underneath the look are roots of friendship and I believe that she would miss my robust and enthusiastic, “Happy Day!”

 

(You can find our Christmas production here.)

Fun Friday!

Things have been a little heavy lately. So I offer this as compensation.

During the summer, we try to liven things up on Fridays. A few weeks ago, our Fun Friday included a game of fake!Jenga. Foster really got into it.

Last week, we made s'mores with a blow torch. It was awesome. (That's James on the left - you haven't been introduced to him yet. Ben is on the right. They were being commissioned that afternoon, hence the ties. Maybe not the brightest idea on a windy day. Just sayin'.)

Do you see why I love working here now?

Whimsy

So here's the deal. Last week, I was still dealing with some issues. And because I have not yet resolved the internal debate about exactly how much I reveal on this blog, I hid behind my dear, dear friend Arika. And she was kind enough to let me. However, the time comes when all must confess and receive due judgment. So, with a penitent heart and a much-healed spirit, I return to you, my faithful friends, and beg your dispensation.

I'd like to introduce you to my department. I've mentioned a few members in passing, but at the risk of calling down their ire, I'd like to fully divulge the ins and outs of the lovely people with whom I work. To a point - I can only say so much before they refuse to exculpate me and drum me out of the department like a proper militia.



And there they are...

Please excuse how horrible I look. I was sick that day, and was only there because my lovely coworkers called me in for the picture. We made the hearts because the picture was going on a shirt for another coworker of ours as a going away present.

Now that I think about it, I'd better just give you their names and move on. If you want to know more about them, we'll have to meet in a secluded location where there is no chance of being overheard. (I'm just kidding, they really are awesome.)

Right.

Left to right, then: Sarah is a wonderful videographer; Foster, behind me, is our graphic designer; Lori (in pink) is a fabulous editor and knows everything about OMS; Lon, in the back, is another videographer who gets very lonely in his cave; Susan, next to Lori, is my boss, and is generally pretty amazing and forgiving of my many mistakes; Pat, down front, works on prayer letters and printing; Jason, in back next to Lon, works with One Mission Kids and has been helping me with radio advertising; and last, but most certainly not least, is my dear friend Beka. She started when I did and has been an excellent source of encouragement and journalistic know-how.



On rare occasions, we have fun in our department. One such time was National Punctuation Day. It was pretty amazing and as you can see, I tried to dress for the occasion. We had punctuation cookies and decorated the office. While some people didn't appreciate our merriment, we persevered and had ourselves a lovely time.

It's not all fun and games, though. We do end up doing actual work. In fact, I've had a couple stories rotate through on the OMS website. You should check them out: Stories! It amazes me constantly the people I get to talk to and meet - true spiritual giants of the faith. It is easy to see the impact Jesus Christ has had on everyone in the office and in the field.

Last week, I got to travel to Huntington University with our director of Mobilization. It was nice to be back in the old stomping grounds. While I was more sure than ever that I really don't miss the college schedule, I did get to see how God is at work at Huntington. I met some wonderful young men and women who are exactly where I was just a few years ago. I enjoyed the opportunity to talk about some options and share my journey to OMS.

Now for the exciting news. Ready?

I'M GOING TO SPAIN!

Next Tuesday, I'll be hopping on a plane for the lovely country of Spain to participate in an English camp for families in Madrid. This is new territory for me in more ways than one, so prayer would be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure yet what exactly I'll be doing, but you can be sure I'll be taking as many pictures as possible and blogging about it when I get the opportunity. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this. I love traveling to new countries, and I love meeting missionaries and hearing their stories. This is a fantastic opportunity to do both.

Before I sign off, I have to apologize for this post. I've been a little distracted at work today, and I needed to deflate my brain a little. The result: this thing, which I'm pretty sure is only legible because I had to type it. So, thank you for your forbearance, and look forward to the next post when I will hopefully be less circumlocutory.

No guarantees, though.

The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything...

...is 42.

For those of you who haven't read/listened to/watched Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a) you really should consider it and b) the answer is 42, but no one knows what the question is.

For the past two and a half weeks, that has been my life. Answers have abounded, but most of the time, I don't even know what questions to ask. Life in the Communications Department of One Mission Society is always an adventure, fast-paced and jam-packed and

C
...R
......A
.........Z
............Y.

On Beka's and my first day, Foster, our graphic designer, was inspired to comment that there was too much 'e' in the department now. 'E' being estrogen - there are a lot of us women around here. It's a fun place to work - at any given moment, there will be a couple visitors, a 'discussion' about something grammatical, cookies, jolly ranchers, loud music or tangential conversations about refrigerators or good books we're reading right now. Sometimes all of them at once.

Don't get me wrong - we get a lot done. But we're all the type of people who work best when there are a few distractions. If you check the website (www.onemissionsociety.org) in the next few weeks, you might see a couple of stories I've written. I'm also working on projects for Every Community for Christ, Development, and whoever else needs something written, edited or designed. It's fascinating work, and I'm learning TONS of great stuff.



This is where I spend most of my time now. We're working on getting some trips lined up for me, but when I'm in Greenwood, this is where I hold court. I'd love it if you stopped by sometime. Like I said, we're always getting visitors and friends to come in and see us, and it might give you some perspective.

I was telling someone earlier today, I'm really glad to be here. The journey was long and difficult, and there were times when I wanted to hang up my hat and say 'Forget it', but I am so glad that I didn't. These last few weeks have been so rewarding and amazing, and just to be able to hear stories from all over the world about God's faithfulness is so awesome, in the truest sense of the word. I feel like I am really serving a purpose here, and I'm so thankful to everyone who has enabled me to be part of such a great opportunity.

You guys rock.