(Not) Suffering for Jesus!

I had an interesting assignment at work on Friday. I was asked to take the two administrative assistants and one bookkeeping assistant out to eat to celebrate Administrative Assistants Day. We are aware that Administrative Assistants Day was on Wednesday, but not all of these ladies work on Wednesday, so the administration thought it would be better to wait until they were all there on the same day. I was the only female missionary working that day, as is usually the case on Friday, so I was asked to take them. We had a good time of fellowship and good meals. Besides the meal, these ladies were given a flowering plant and a card expressing appreciation for their work at Bibles International.

I believe we all enjoyed our meals. I know I did. I had grilled chicken breast with baked potato and a vegetable blend that was unique. It was regular carrots, yellow carrots, green beans, and strips of red peppers. They were stir-fried.

And lest you think we dallied over our meal, such was not the case. We ate, laughing and visiting as we did so, and then went right back to work. There was some discussion on the way back that we would be too sleepy to stay awake at our desks because of all the calories we had consumed. I didn't spend my time patrolling the halls after we got back, but I think everyone stayed awake without difficulty, working throughout the rest of the afternoon.

Why don't I introduce these people to you? On the far left side is Becky K, the bookkeeping assistant. Next to her, in the back corner, is Judy B, the administrative assistant to the director and the stewardship department. Across from her is Becki M, administrative assistant to the projects department and the text production department. I'm on the far right.

As I was thinking about this post, it occurred to me that you may not know about employees/missionaries at Bibles International. All of us who work at BI except the three in the picture with me, are missionaries. We all have out own church support base. Without that, the cost of overhead would be prohibitive, resulting in our Bibles and New Testaments being terribly expensive for the nationals who are the recepients of them. The three ladies in the picture are on salary. We have one man who comes in one day per week, who works as a computer consultant. He is paid hourly, I believe.

The rest of us are all on missionary support. And I think it would be safe to say that we all love our work. It's a privilege to be allowed to serve the Lord in this way, helping to get Scriptures into the hands of people who've never before held them. And you are a part of my team, allowing me to do this. God bless you for your part in my ministry!