Welcome to my office...

Welcome to my office! I thought that it would be nice to introduce you to some more of my colleagues. As I may have explained to some of you, my job is divided between the Department of Personnel and Training and the Department of Public Relations. My desk is in the Personnel and Training office. This is a good thing because the upstairs office (PR) is way too crowded and it’s hard to find a corner in which to work. Some of my work for PR, though, does require that I use one of the computers in that office, plus for meetings about PR, etc. There are only 5 of us working in the downstairs Personnel office so I want to introduce you to my colleagues in that office.
You have already met Ivanir. She and her husband Vitor are from Brazil and are here with their two great kids, Joao and Marina. Ivanir works with the people who are in the Global Action program, a two-year discipleship and mission program that all new recruits participate in. She teaches the core study programme and mentors the participants.
Ianos (pronounced Yanosh) is one of the Moldovan members of our team. He is from Ialoveni and he works with Liuba to plan and run the Challenge into Missions training programs – a huge job! Twice a year we have about 20 students from churches all over Moldova who come for this 10-week course. Ianos and Liuba work together to develop the schedule, find and book appropriate teachers/pastors to lead various seminars and components of the teaching stream of the program. They also assign the students to their mission groups and oversee their hands-on involvement in missions and evangelism in the villages where they are sent. They deal with any problems that arise and basically do all that is necessary to keep the program running. Ianos also was the person who arranged for my stay in a home in Ialoveni for my first few months. That is also part of his job with Personnel.
Liuba is also Moldovan but her mother-tongue is Russian. She had to learn Romanian when she came to work with OM from the town of Anenii-Noi. ( This is not unusual. People in Moldova speak either Romanian or Russian or both. And many people, even if they don’t speak both languages, they do understand the basics of the other language. When I ask how much something costs in the market place, if the person responds in Russian, they expect me to understand – even if I asked in Romanian!! I guess I’ll have to learn at least my numbers in Russian. ) Anyway, Liuba is the same age as my oldest son and she is a gem. She is the person who did all the phone work and leg work to help me get my apartment. That, too, is part of her job in the Personnel department. She is one of those people who just sparkles almost all the time and is so pleasant to be with.
I believe I have already introduced you to Rafael, who is not only our Team Leader, but is also our Department head for Personnel and Training. (Sorry, I was going to put in a photo but blogger stopped cooperating with me and my photos for some reason all of a sudden.) My desk is next to his and it is nice to be able to ask for his help if there is something I don’t understand. Rafael is Romanian but he speaks very good English. Our department meetings, though, are in Romanian and I’m getting better at following the conversation and even offering input at times. When I get an idea or have a suggestion, I start off fumbling in Romanian but sometimes if I just don’t know how to say what I want to say I eventually break out in English, knowing that Rafael will translate what the others don’t understand. They are all very patient with me. But hey, can you believe that I am actually participating in meetings conducted in Romanian? When I stop and think about it, it really is amazing.
Having said that, there are times when I perhaps become overconfident and that is always a dangerous road to travel. Last week I had to give a report at prayer meeting. I could have had translation but I decided to go for it and speak in Romanian. So I said the things I needed to say but then I asked for prayer for Ana, who is in our PR department and has had problems with her back. I meant to say that she was not well, but when everyone started laughing I realized that perhaps I hadn’t said that. When I asked what I had said, Dana kindly informed me that I said Ana was crazy. Instead of saying that she was not well , I had said that she was not sane. Poor Ana! So now Dana is telling me (you may notice in the comments on my blog) that I am crazy – but of course, I don’t claim not to be!!
Speaking of crazy, today I bought pussywillows from a lady on the street. Pussywillows! In February! The Romanian word for pussywillows is ‘little lambs’. Isn’t that cool? Spring isn’t here yet, though… there’s more snow coming next week. Don’t know that we’ll get as much as my friends in Nova Scotia got recently though. How are you all? Hope you’re safe and warm! God bless you, my friends.