Hi!
As I was thinking about what to write, I realized that these
are pretty much all some variation of the same thing. Now, on the other hand, the months I don’t
write you could hear about the regular monotony of my life, which still is too
busy to accommodate things like cooking or grocery shopping at regular
intervals.
So get ready some more stories about my job, day trips,
further travels and the Lord’s faithfulness (not particularly in that order). Sorry,
no pictures – just 1000 words.
Next week I’m going to Bulgaria. Do you know anything about Bulgaria? I didn’t
but now I know that it’s between Greece and Romania and there are at least 5
ways (according to YouTube) to say “hi,” two of them starting with the “zd”
sound. So I’ll be saying “bye” more than
“hi” because for that I can say “ciao.”
So why Bulgaria, this country I can’t find on a map and am
already prepared to say bye to? For years our church has supported this
organization Mission Possible (mp.org) that serves in Eastern Europe. They’re really cool. Back in the day (when it was needed) they
used to do a lot of Bible smuggling, then when communism fell they helped
translate the Bible into modern Bulgarian and now their mission comes from
Ephesians 4:12, equipping the local believers for God’s service.
The organization is pretty much ran by Eastern Europeans but
a few times a year they’ll have small groups from other places come visit
too. In February the directors, Ivo
& Mirjami, were visiting and invited me to go with a group from a church
near Chicago. I contacted the
coordinator, prayed about it a few days, and now, here I am, staring at a
suitcase that isn’t packing itself.
Ten of us are going, I don’t know any of them but I’ll get
to know them on the 18th at the Bulgarian airport (I don’t think
it’s too big). We’ll be spending a few
days hosting a retreat at the MP retreat center in Dobromirka (I just put that in there because it sounds so
Bulgarian). I hear my role will be just
chatting with people about what they’re learning and how it can play out in
their daily lives, plus we may play Bunco.
I don’t speak Bulgarian but I’m pretty sure my charm breaks down
language barriers (and there will be translators). The rest of the time we’ll be visiting the Roma (gypsy) villages and doing kids
activities and helping with the feeding program, and getting to see the MP Baby
Box program for new moms. We’ll be there
until the 25th. On the 25th
we’re going to Rome for 2 days, I don’t know why but…when in Rome… eat gelato,
visit old places, whatever. Side note I
have been studying Romans in BSF this year so that’s a cool tie in. I fly home from there on the 27th. And sometime after the 27th I’ll
let you know how closely my expectations matched my experiences.
Now you may be thinking, “But Joy, can you take 2 weeks off
of your job?” And you’d be right to
question that because currently I can’t even take 1 day off. So…I QUIT!
Or at least I tried to L. My job has never been a good fit for my
skills, personality or, more recently, priorities, but God told me I needed to
put my hope in Him and be happy about it.
But also, “Are you a slave? Don’t
let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it.” (1 Corinthians
7:21NLT). This Bulgaria trip was a push,
with a firm deadline, to get free my job so I let my boss know. I was quite proud of my grown up decision, but
all that started being challenged about an hour and a half later when my boss
responded. He wanted to let me know that
he understands that this is the Bay Area and I’m looking for an exciting career
path(not really), and I don’t have one (that’s true) but he thinks he can find
something in the company that would be a better fit for me (I’m skeptical) and
asked to have until the end of May to come up with a proposal. I told him I’d wait it out, but no matter
what I’m not staying with my current job.
He has some ideas and I’m continuing to pray that I won’t be tempted, on
either side, to step out of God’s perfect will.
Unfortunately, since I didn’t quit, I’ve been spending all my time
training a temp and delegating. I did
tell the bosses that by the time I get back they should have my replacement
ready for me to start training. This
will be like the time I came back from a different trip and my desk was relocated.
When I switched into my current position I really liked my
boss (a different one, the one who always sang Joy to the World to me) and
assumed he had my best interest in mind and would make decisions that were good
for me, recently I realized he didn’t.
So I was angry and felt cheated and overwhelmed that my new boss also
wasn’t going to be looking out for me, that I have to figure it out all on my
own. Then it hit me…God does have my
best interest in mind and He’s ultimately in control. He knew exactly what I needed these past three
years and He knows exactly what I need going forward and will make sure I am
provided for. This may seem like some
obvious trite Christianeese, but NO it hit me practically and applied to this
situation in my life directly, like a lightning bolt. I need
to stay under His protection and not be concerned about whether or not my
replacement is going to get paid substantially more than me, or all these other
thoughts of discontentment. He knows
what I need and I’ll get it, no regrets.
Enough about work, Friday I’m going to New York. I, I justified the trip because it will make
the flight to Bulgaria shorter. Also my
sister, Julie, is coming with me, with none of her kids. So we’ll do New York things, or sleep and drink
coffee. If you’re in town we should hang out.
Other trips this season include going down HWY 1 when my
friend Heather came to visit and Yosemite when my friends from Albuquerque
came. I’ve been really appreciating getting to spend time in Northern
California; it’s really pretty and diverse.
And visitors are great. But
obviously I’m OK with leaving too, actually I just got my hotel confirmation
for Hong Kong, I’m going there and Taiwan in July for 10 days. See why the job is cramping my style.
Maybe on one of these journeys I’ll see you, or you can
visit me.
Love,
joy
