My blog has been suffering lately. Anyone who is a loyal reader has
definitely noticed the change in it. Why has that happened? Why have I
stopped writing about my work as much and how awesome PNG is?
Well, it is because of my job. I'm Chief Officer of Internal
Communication and because of that, a lot of what I do, is handle
internal items which aren't for public consumption.
My job is one that was designed to help with efficiency and unity. The
idea being, I'm supposed to be the guy who finds where problems are
being caused by a communication breakdown, and resolving those and
making sure that they don't happen again.
I'm also responsible for making sure that the people who live here, know
what is going on around them.
Right now, my concentration and purpose are important. My job doesn't
afford me as many chances to get into the village and do recordings, or
do exciting things.
Mostly I spend my days talking to people, writing up communications,
doing research and sitting in meetings. That isn't exactly exciting
blog stuff.
And yet, the job is exciting, because it's important, and useful.
When I first started I thought 'am I really going to be doing any good
here? Could it possibly be as good as recording Scripture in tok ples?'
The answer had to be no. Recording audio in the village was some of the
most exciting and rewarding work I've ever done.
But what I'm doing now, feels vital. It feels like there are only a
handful of people who have the vision I have for this ministry.
Why is it so important?
I feel we are at a crossroads. We're coming up on 60 years in this
country. There is still a lot of translation to do. There are more
jobs than we have workers. Morale has been low for a while because that
tends to happen when you are overworked.
And I have this strong impression that in order to continue getting the
Bible into the hands of Papua New Guineans, some things are going to
have to change. And whenever things change, good communication is
needed to make sure that change is clearly expressed and understood.
Since doing this work, I've had many missionaries (whom I support) offer
me words of thanks and appreciation. Part of my role is trying to make
their burdens lighter.
I am much more in a supportive servant role now than I am any kind of
photo worthy role. If I'm doing my work well, people won't notice,
because things will work smoothly.
When I was doing computers, if something broke I fixed it, and people
were excited and I was a rock star (love those CTS guys!)
When I was doing recordings, I was in the village or the studio and
meeting interesting people and it was awesome!
What I'm doing now, is not really blog worthy, and the things that are
worthy, I can't share due to confidentiality. But it is important.
I could say 'last week some friends went finish after 30 years in the
field. I was instrumental in helping people become aware of their
contribution and facilitating a chance to show them honor and
appreciation." WOW... * blog snore*. And yet, I got real satisfaction
out of knowing that a couple finished well here, instead of leaving
burned out and angry.
So I'll ask for some grace on my blog as I'll be sharing more of our
'saturday' stuff than our mon-weds stuff.
