The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 17-21, 2024

Does anyone know anything about Squarespace? I think that might be my best option for a new website. Let me know.

It's Missionary Council week! That means tons of people, most of whom I never actually see until the picnic (which is tonight). The vibe is definitely different in the building, though, so I mostly just try to stay out of the way. 

This year, they had a lot of things they needed volunteers for. Airport runs, kid wrangling, and performance art were my three. I did a half day of kid duty on Tuesday and played more ping pong than I have in all previous years of my life. Those kids are rotten cheaters, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. :D Then on Thursday, we did a demonstration of various ways of welcoming new missionaries to a field. I was the desperate, all-about-me style. I had fun playing the part, especially because it is not my style at all. I would more likely be the introverted wallflower waving awkwardly in the corner. But it's nice to do a little acting now and then.

In between these duties, I was continuing with my art swaps. Every time I go through the English books, I find more and more things to fix. I have no idea how long it will take to do all nine art sets, but I'll be shocked if I finish before the end of the year. It needs to be done, though, so we can actually start doing other languages and projects. 

I'm still recovering from the news last week. Basically, two of our leadership positions were eliminated. I'm still trying to work out what that means for the rest of us. I know the landscape of missions is changing, and we're trying to keep up. But I also think we shouldn't be too focused on what everyone else is doing at the expense of what is working for our organization. It's not like this is new territory for the Church, but it's still a challenge to navigate. 

I'm also looking for some new funding partners and opportunities, so if you think of someone I should connect with, please let me know. 

Stay cool. Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 10-14, 2024

I think Blogger may have run its course. 

Not my blog itself; I fully intend to keep updating. But this is definitely not a site that is well supported anymore, and I get my posts deleted when I try to link it anywhere. So I'm going to start looking at putting together my own website. What kinds of things would you want to see on the site? Obviously the blog would be front and center, but what else could I do there? Let me know in the comments.

Let's get to this week. 

It did not start well. And I can't really talk about why. 

I know. It's annoying. But I honestly can't. I only mention it because it colored a lot of my moods and actions this week. As with most things, we persevere and move on. But if I seem down, that's why.

I published a Portuguese volume this week. We're up to volume 6 in this language for the village church planting curriculum. I also ran A/V for the staff briefing on Wednesday. We had a meeting planning a fun event happening next week, so you'll hear more about it then. I also caught up on some cyber security training. Finally, I wrote my next prayer letter. I hope you will find it interesting. 

I'll keep you updated about what I decide for the website. I hope you have a great weekend.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 3-7, 2024

Ey up!

I hope it has been a good week for you. I started the week with a compressed nerve in my hip, which was quite painful. Fortunately, the pressure decreased throughout the week, so I'm thankful for that. 

The rest of the week, I've been working on art swaps for templates. I even made a video! (Not a great one, mind. But it should give you some idea.)

Frankly, I need this weekend for R&R. I am very tired. And I feel so behind on everything. 

It'll be fine.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 27-31, 2024

Ey up!

Quiet week, eh?

I'm not going to get bogged down in politics on here. That's not what this blog is for. All I will say is that we have entered dangerous territory where lawfare is de rigueur, and that should terrify us all. 

In the mission world, I can't say it's much better. If you haven't heard, a young missionary couple was murdered in Haiti along with the director of the local mission. OMS no longer has missionaries in Haiti, but we do have national partners and relationships that have lasted for decades. What is happening in Haiti is heartbreaking and infuriating. It does not bring glory to God in any way. I am praying that God works through the violence and upheaval to raise up strong, godly leaders who stand against such activities. 

I almost forgot that I was actually out last week. I organize an annual community garage sale for the folks who live here on campus, so I was doing that last week. It's amazing how much stuff accumulates in such a short time. 

This week, I was fully back to it with art swaps for the templates. I was going to change each individual set of files until V reminded me that I can just swap out the art. It's not fool proof, but it does save a lot of time. Right now I'm working on Art F. (Usually, I would say F Art, but that makes things awkward. So Art F it is.)

I'm also working on my funding. I should honestly probably talk about it more on here, but it's my least favorite part of being a missionary. Yet it's so vital to what I do! We all need to make a living. Mine just happens to be dependent on people graciously supporting me with funds. I'm working to meet new people and make new connections so I can raise my salary to match inflation and maybe even start travelling to fields again. If you would like to start giving, you can visit www.onemissionsociety.org/give/JessicaHollopeter to learn more. If you know someone who should hear more about my ministry with Train & Multiply, please leave a comment or email me with some info. 

I am going to a Fiber Festival and a Strawberry Festival this weekend. I hope you have some great experiences as well.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: May 13-17, 2024

Ey up!

I have missed you, my friends! There's a line in the seminal 1992 film "Newsies." The characters are discussing their fear of entering the borough of Brooklyn, and Boots says, "I spent a month there one night." (I think the phrase actually showed up on Seinfeld first, but it could also be a reference to a W. C. Fields quote. Anyway.)

That's how time has worked the last few weeks. I was never quite sure what day it was or where I should be or what I should be doing. 

My Aunt's funeral was last week. My dad did the graveside service. It's always so hard to feel like you have to distill someone's life into a short period of time. There's just no way to do someone justice. I'm still working out my own feelings and how my life has irrevocably altered now. I'm sure it will take time to understand all the ways things have changed. 

Thank you for the many messages of support. I have appreciated them, and I know my Uncle has been feeling the prayer support. 

I'm back to work this week. I finally finished the English U template review. Our grand total? ::insertdrumroll:: 243 paragraph changes! This is mostly style fixes, though I did change entire booklet layouts a couple of times. So now we migrate these changes to the rest of our English art sets. Times! (just times, not necessarily fun times)

I do not anticipate the next few weeks to be any less crazy than the last few. I shall endeavor to provide you with quality information and entertainment as I am able. I hope you have profitable and restful weekends. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 29 - May 3, 2024

I am sad today. 

I have been sad for a few weeks, actually. In my last post, I mentioned that there was some family news. That was three weeks ago. In that time, the family member in question (my Aunt) deteriorated rapidly and passed on Wednesday, May 1. This was completely unexpected and such a shock. That seems really trite and cliche to say, but I don't know how else to describe it. My family has rallied around one another and around my Uncle, but I'm always conscious of the fact that this doesn't go away after the funeral. Life will be different from this point forward. There will always be an absence. 

My consolation right now is the fact that my Aunt and I shared a faith in Jesus. I am confident that I will see her again. But I still miss her.

And in the real world, work goes on. Last week, we had our church multiplication conference. I was busy running tech and being a gopher for the event. I think it went well. There were some hiccups on the audio/visual end, but I don't think most people noticed, which is the goal. From what I heard, we had a good response to the event, so I'll take it as a win. 

I have been trying to catch back up this week. We haven't had many projects come in, but I'm still working on templates. There should be some new languages starting soon, so we have to prep for those. 

Next week, I will be out most of the week for the funeral. I hope to be a support to my family, so I will ask you to pray for me in that role. Pray for my Uncle as he learns to navigate this new life. Pray for my cousin as he figures out what life looks like without his mom. 

Know that I love you.

Call your family. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: April 8-12, 2024

Ey up!

Long time, no read. I know. I forgot about Good Friday (yes, that's terrible), and then I took last week off for some R&R. So there is probably a lot to catch up on. 

(I had to look at my notes to remember back that far.)

Honestly, most days just mention the templates. And tech preparation for the church multiplication conference at the end of April. I recruited a team of crack audio/visual specialists to help me. They are fantastic ladies, and I'm very grateful for each of them. 

We had Outreach proofs this week. This next issue will be on Latin America and the Caribbean region. Should be a good one. 

I'm sorry I don't have much to say today. I got some really bad family news today. I would appreciate your prayers for that. 

Bye.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 18-22, 2024

Ey up!

Yes, my bracket is already busted. Thank you for your support at this trying time.

This week felt very busy, but I'm still pretty much just working on templates. I guess there were a lot of visits with and from people, which is nice. I did have an incredibly frustrating Zoom meeting on Thursday, after which I searched for something to throw. (I was kindly offered something by a dear coworker, but then I felt bad, so it's still unthrown. (I'm still keeping it for future consideration.))

We haven't hit 200 changes in the templates, yet. Any guesses on how many we'll get to? There are approximately 15 booklets left. Some booklets haven't had any changes. Some had more than 20. That should be all the info you need for this math problem. (Don't tell me if it's not. I don't math.)

I think that's it for this week. Have an excellent Palm Sunday. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-up: March 11-15, 2024

Ey up, guys and dolls!

Did anyone else catch the light show last night? It may have been difficult considering there was also a curtain of rain and tornadic wind. But the lightning was incredible to see. Granted, I was driving some of the time, so it was less welcome. But I made it home safely and enjoyed the sound of rain on the roof. I hope you are also safe and were able to appreciate nature's fury. 

This has been a relatively productive week. I'm still working on templates. But I'm in the last quarter! We're in the home stretch, and we haven't gone past 200 errors yet. And once I'm done with the Universal art templates, the rest of the art sets should be a breeze. Theoretically. 

I was the chapel host this week for Founder's Day. Lori did a fun little quiz that I knew maybe 20% of the answers to. It's amazing what I can still learn after 13 years. Or maybe I just forgot some of it. Or I never bothered to learn. Take your pick. 

We've had some good conversations this week about some potential new language projects. It will be good to get some new stuff started. 

Be well and have a great weekend!

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-up: March 4-8, 2024

Ey up!

We're still working on templates this week. I'm up over 100 things to fix in the rest of the art sets, and we haven't hit the halfway mark on booklets. Fortunately (or not), we're still not getting other translations in, so I have plenty of time to devote to this.

Sort of. I still have other duties, of course. We have a big conference coming up, and I have been asked to assist with tech for that. So that will add to my plate. Should be fun. 

I don't have much else to say this week. Honestly, I've been feeling a bit down. So I'm gonna curl up this weekend with my new library book and some cappuccino. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 26 - March 1, 2024

Ey up!

It's cold in my office. I don't often deploy the emergency blanket, but today, it is necessary. Since Indiana can never decide what temperature it wants to be around this time of year, I never really know what I'm getting into day by day. But the state certainly has plenty of other charms, so we do what we have to. 

This has been a busy week! We still haven't had much come in, unfortunately, but I have been doing some BTS work. My templates are still going strong, and I have about 70 entries of things that need to be changed across the first four groups. As always, this is proving to be a more encompassing project than I initially believed. 

The other thing I did this week was put together the NVCP Implementation Manual for Ukraine. This is one of the documents we use in the New Village Church Planting, which is primarily done in Africa. But once our friends in Ukraine saw the materials, they realized this model could be utilized in their country and beyond as people are dispersed. So now they have a proof of this particular document. 

Time is Marching on (I made myself groan with that one)! We're going to get busier around here for sure. 

If you have a moment, please pray for my Mom on Monday. She's having oral surgery. Much obliged.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 19-23, 2024

Ey up!

Man, what a difference a week makes. The snow is gone, the sun is shining, and I saw some green shoots poking out of the ground. Spring is still a month off, but I will never begrudge some early warmth. 

You should be seeing my prayer letter sometime in the next couple of weeks. I went on a slight rabbit trail for some of it, which has largely been missing from recent missives. It felt nice to be back in that ruminative headspace. I just hope it makes sense to people. 

We had a team meeting on Tuesday. It was nice to see everyone on camera again. I'm usually just communicating via message. Everyone is doing fairly well. You can pray for some upcoming trips and medical needs. Pray also for more translated groups to come in. It's not often that I say we need more work, but right now, we're in quite the dry spell.

Our meeting on Wednesday went okay. We'll have some follow-up, but I was able to provide info on current projects and completed projects. I think there's a lot more we could be doing with digital products (like apps) in the future, but we need more people who can really sell it to others. 

For the rest of the week, I was working on English templates. I have my spreadsheet of changes I'm making so I can do the same in the other eight art sets. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

I think that'll do it for the week. I hope you all found a fun way to celebrate President's Day. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 12-16, 2024

Ey up!

I miss false Spring. It was lovely. The sun was out. Birds were chirping. 

Now we're back to snow. Bah. 

I'll live. But I will also complain. 

This has been a decent week. I had a fair number of meetings, most of which were actually useful. I worked on the English templates. I hosted chapel online. 

What did I not do? Write my next prayer letter. I really need to get on that. 

Next week in Publisher. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 29 - February 2, 2024

Ey up!

It's another quiet week. Sadly, my birth month is now at an end. I'm sure I'll find other things to celebrate. 

I have finished fixing all of the published files. The team has been advised of things to double check in the future. I have reminded myself of things. 

And we're now in a bit of limbo.

I have nothing in my queue for my team. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch. (One of these is not like the others.) So we're sweeping up some cobwebs and making sure the stuff we've already done is correct. And maybe possibly thinking about some new languages. 

We'll see.

I, of course, find plenty to keep me busy with my side projects at OMS. We have a big meeting coming up about digital products, so I have a few things to do for that. Oh, and I wrote a script for a video update I need to shoot. I'll share that when I can. 

I'm seeing "The Chosen" this weekend. I've heard good things. I've also heard I'll cry. So that'll be fun. 

If you cry this weekend, I hope it's for a good reason. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 22-26, 2024

Ey up!

It's Board week, everyone. 

By which, of course, I mean that the Board is here and I avoid them as much as possible. Except I failed because I was asked to sing for the special Board chapel and I wasn't sick enough to legitimately cancel and then someone had the bright idea to offer a free lunch as a bribe for talking to Board members and I'll do a lot for free food. 

Whatever. It's over. I survived. Barely scathed. 

On the bright side, I got some actual work done this week. I finished my group of Amharic booklets and was able to then put together the volume for term four of Village Church Planting. That was eight booklets worth of material. In a language that looks like hieroglyphics.

My brain is mush.

Plus I had a cold this week. Monday was the scratchy throat. Tuesday was the throat and head congestion. Wednesday was the mucous-filled sinus cavities. Thursday was the sinuses and chest congestion. Today is the clean-up cough. It's progressing nicely. (It was actually advantageous for Thursday's singing. I was doing harmony, and I think I was about an octave lower than everyone else.)

I have a lot coming up, so I'm going to value my weekend. I hope you are able to do the same. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 15-19, 2024

Ey up!

The week started off strong as I overslept my alarm. Go me. I decided to treat it as an early birthday present because there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. 

I'm still working on published files. I got another language done with those, but I've had to pause that work so I can do a group of Amharic. That is the language spoken in Ethiopia. It uses a really cool script, and it's one of the few that actually takes up less space than English. That makes my job really easy. 

So, my birthday was on Tuesday. It was a great day, despite the cold. I'm used to being cold on my birthday. But my coworkers took me out to lunch and gave me really fun gifts. It was a great day, continued Thursday evening with dinner at K-town. It's a newer restaurant that does Korean bbq and hot pot. I'd never done hot pot before, so that was a fun experience! 

This has been a quiet week overall. The weather keeps many people home, and while I do get more done when it's quiet, I also do like to see people on occasion. 

Shocking, I know.

That's it for this week. I hope you stay warm and cozy. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 8 - 12, 2024

Eh up, my beauties! I hope you are well.

This has been a fairly quiet week for me. We're still in maintenance mode, so any excitement will have to come from a surprising source. Not that I'm advocating for it. The snow has arrived, and that's all the excitement I need around here. 

I'm still fixing published files. The fixing part is usually pretty easy. It's often obvious what the problem is. But then I have to republish into every format and re-upload to the various platforms. Again, not hard. But time-consuming. 

I have also been sorting out a new machine for one of my team members. Well, new old. The computer she's using now won't update anymore (thanks, Apple) so we're upgrading to the spare in my office. That means reconfiguring it and getting all of the programs updated. Basically, doing what I did with my computer back in December. I have fond memories. 

I'm working on some new funding ideas. If you have thoughts, I'm taking any and all advice. I know we're all feeling the squeeze. 

That's it for the week. Stay warm out there.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 2-5, 2023

I know it only says January up there, but it has come to my attention that I haven't actually posted anything since the beginning of December, so this is more of a recap of the last month. 

The lead-up to Christmas was pretty decent. Understandably, the translators don't send a lot of work in around the holidays, so it gave me a lot of time to work on Christmas cards and letters to donors. I have also been working on cyber security training, a lot of which is hilarious, especially in the acting. It's good information, of course, but a lot of it is quite redundant. 

Did you know I'm an angel? You probably did because of course I am. 

And some others, I guess. But mostly me. And some shepherds. 

That was our last chapel before Christmas. It was a good one. 

Christmas was lovely. I had a great time with my parents here in Greenwood. I got a new sword (sweet!) and some great t-shirts. I gave my mom a gift that took her about 20 minutes to open - super fun. And I got my dad a train set. No idea where he'll put it, but I think he appreciated the thought. 

I worked most of the week between Christmas and New Year's. Not much else to do around here. But I attended a lovely party for the transition from 2023 to 2024 and then hit the good sales. 

And now we're back at work. There is always a time of catching up and lamenting all of the things you said you'd take care of next year. My big project right now is fixing the big mistakes in some of our published files. Not the small ones like spelling mistakes, though those are important, but the really glaring ones like missing back pages. Yes, that does happen. We're human. Mistakes are part of life. 

It's nice to have time to do stuff like this, though. We're usually snowed under by incoming projects, but we're down to just a handful of languages. We have some things on the horizon, but for now, we can take our time streamlining more things and making sure we have the best product possible. 

I hope you have a great (and warm - it's freezing in this building) weekend. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November ?? - December 1, 2023

Heeeeeyyyyyy! Long time, no see. 

I don't actually remember the last time I posted on here. Part of that was planned. Most of it was not. 

So let's start from the top. Early in November, I helped out with our cross-training group. We had nine new missionaries who were here for their final week of training. My contribution was the four-culture game. We have to pretend to be part of a specific culture type, come up with a greeting and cultural norms, and then either visit or host other cultures. I was added to a group so the newbies could get a more rounded experience. Our culture was the really open, touchy-feely one. My favorite, right? But I gave it my all. It's so uncomfortable, but I tried to make sure everyone else was as uncomfortable as I was.

Then, I traveled to Michigan to speak at my aunt's church. It was my first time talking to them about Train & Multiply, but it was a good experience. I met a lot of nice people. 

But the problem is, I met a lot of nice people. Somewhere along the line, I picked up COVID. Yes, for the first time (that I know of), I succumbed to the dreaded pandemic. Sort of. Mostly, I felt like I had the flu and a really bad headache. But I had to do my quarantine duty, so everything I'd planned to do went out the window. Also, I managed to fall down the basement steps, so I jacked up my ankle and knee (on different legs) for some added fun. 

Fortunately, I had pretty much recovered by Thanksgiving week. I have been needing to reformat my hard drive on my computer for months now because it wouldn't update anymore and had some annoying quirks. That's basically what I've been doing for the last week. I was somewhat smart about it because I had a list of programs that I needed to redownload along with their passwords and registration keys. 

Of course, every plan is perfect until you put it into action, so I'm still finding things I need to fix. But it was a fairly painless process, for which I am truly thankful. 

I'm working on getting Christmas cards out to you lovely people, along with planning for Christmas around OMS. This is always a crazy time of year. 

I hope you are well and that you remain so for the holiday. 

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 30 - November 3, 2023

Has anyone else glanced at a calendar and started hyperventilating just a little bit?

Time is not a friend right now. 

It certainly didn't help that I was laid up for a couple of days this week with back spasms. Ain't nobody got time for that. 

Otherwise, I've been working on stuff for Family Fun Night and writing my presentation that I'm giving at a church in Michigan next weekend. It's not exactly easy to distill my job into 30 minutes while still being interesting and not getting lost in the weeds. 

To that end, I will not be posting next week, but I plan to be back for the rest of November (probably not Black Friday, tbh). 

I hope you have a great weekend, a great week, another great weekend, and enough time to get everything that absolutely has to be done DONE. 

Bye!