A Look Behind the Scenes
Furloughs are a part of life in missions. Yes, it has been a couple of years since our family returned to PNG from our furlough and we should have another couple of years before our next one, but furloughs still affect us greatly. Because of school breaks this time of year, many people are leaving or have just left, and a number who have been gone 6 months to a year are returning.
This type of turnover has a big impact on the whole community. People we have worked with or who are close friends are just not here. This leaves gaps. Some of those are very hard to fill, or remain open. People returning take a while to fully re-enter life here and catch up with all that may have changed during their time away, including new people who have been here half a year or more and are now well-established in their jobs. People who have been away don’t know them at all. Village situations can change a lot.
This can be a very stressful time in a missions community, so we ask for your prayers: for those of us here; for those returning to home countries; and for those who have just returned to the field.
It is also a happy time of welcoming friends back, so we thank God for all our colleagues who have just returned.
Buttercup has joined our family!
Managers We are looking at support roles that need to be filled in missions. Last time we looked at finance people. This newsletter the focus is on managers. This is one of the biggest needs in missions today!
Mission work happens mostly in teams of people working together. Anywhere people work together, they need management.
All of our translators in a particular region of the country work under a Regional Director, who is a manager for them. Each multi-language project needs a project manager. Every one of our supporting departments, both on the language side of things and the infrastructure/support side, need managers.
The good news is that most management skills are transferrable. If you’ve managed people in any field, you likely can manage in a different setting after learning the details. We’ve seen that often in our missions setting here in PNG. If God has made you a manager, consider managing parts of His work in missions!
The dog in the boy's bed, and the boy taking a nap in the dog's bed!
Prayer Corner
Praises:
Many friends and co-workers returning from furlough
A great team of co-workers for both Christy and Larry
New ‘family’ members (pets)
Good spiritual refreshment from our co-workers
Requests:
Larry has a number of important meetings over the month of August
Wisdom for partnerships between our organization and others working in PNG
The Solos team as they village check and back-translate Joshua and prepare for the final consultant check
Good transitions for people this furlough season
