Florida Life in Photos: Where I Live and Where I Work

A few of you have been wondering what my new world looks like. Well, here it is! Talk about a long post! I'll start off with the brief view of the office and then take you on a more extensive tour of my home.
This is the view from the elevator as you enter the office. The map on the left has a red pushpin for each city in each country where we have missionaries serving. In the middle you can see a bit of the Mail Room. Each missionary has a mailbox there, whether they are overseas, support-raising, or in the office daily. If you want to send me an encouraging word, my address is: P.O. Box 547, Fort Myers, FL, 33902. To the right is the reception desk. We don't pay a receptionist, so we each volunteer an hour or so during the week to answer the phones. I'm there on Tuesdays at 2pm.

This is the conference room, where we have devos, pray, and do announcements each morning. We have meetings with our division from 8:00-8:15 and meet here from 8:15-9:00 every morning. The chairs are pretty much all filled up each day, even some that you can't see. I believe there are about 45 people who work in the office.

This is the marker board in the Publications Office (aka "The PUB") where we list who is doing what job, what type of job it is, when the request was submitted, when the job needs to be completed, and what the status is on that job---how close we are to getting it done. There are a few things with my name next to them! Writing newsletters is allowing me to have faces for a few people that I haven't met yet and read about all that God is teaching them around the world. I have now helped with several newsletters and done a few on my own! They say I'm learning fast.

This is the living room. The dining room table is to the left, though we often eat at the chairs by the counter in the kitchen. Tonight we had a missionary family from Mexico over for dinner and used the "big table" for one of the first times since I've been here. In the next few weeks we're hosting some board members and others that are traveling here for the official board meeting to determine what future course of action the mission will take concerning Phil, the past president. Please be in prayer for that; it's on January 23 and January 24th and a lot of big decisions will be made then. Last week, during Blackout Week, we got a chance to hear from each of the Executive Team members (who have taken over Phil's responsibilities since his confession). They shared their vision for the mission and reminded us to remember all that God has done in the past, how powerful He is, and how much we can trust Him (Susan), to remember His strength, how present He is around us all the time, and that there is no need for fear or pride (Andrew), to not give up asking genuine, probing questions during hard times in order to best love others (David), and passing on a legacy of faith (J.D.).

This is the kitchen and I'm standing at the front door to take a picture of it. To the left is the living room. We've already had many a tasty meal there---both of my housemates are great cooks! Today NMSI started a "Biggest Looser" contest among the staff at the Center for Global Outreach (CGO) and the missionaries on the field, so we'll be making more of an effort to watch what we eat and get outside to bike, run, etc. more often for the next three months. If you think of it, you might pray for me about that... I think it will be a great opportunity for unity, especially since both of my housemates are doing it and we eat almost every meal together (great accountability!).

This is my room. I'm actually sitting on that bed right now, typing on that very lap top. And the lists on the right part of the wall are all the people praying for me. I pray for you guys every morning. God has blessed me so much through you and I wouldn't be here without you! There are several older buildings on campus that are going to be torn down and rebuilt. My house, however, is one of the newer ones. And that is the biggest bed I've ever belonged to!

The blue house is the newest addition on campus! In fact, some of the girls are moving in today for the very first time! This gives you an idea of how close the houses are together. Also, if you look closely, you can see lots of pine needles on the ground next to the path. There are pine needles all over the place, but they are especially to layer on top of sand, so that you don't track tons of sand into your house. Plus, I just like that little path, so I thought I'd show you that, too.

This is the outside of my house. Notice the picnic tables that are sprinkled around campus for outside eating enjoyment. We are in the process of a capital campaign called "How Will They Hear?" in order to build more housing to train more missionaries to deploy in the next few years. You can donate to this campaign in the same way that you donated to me online, just click on "How Will They Hear?" when you get to the page with a list of names (www.nmsi.org/donate) Have you been thinking about donating, but haven't actually filled out the information yet? I'm at 92% support, there's still time to join my team!

On the left is my house, in the middle behind the trees is the office, on the right is the guy's house. This gives you an idea how close I am to work. I can walk there in a few short minutes----talk about convenient! This picture also gives you a glimpse at the combination of palm trees and regular trees in Florida.

These are the community vehicles. NMSI has planned ahead in a lot of ways for many of us to live on campus and conserve resources. We can check out a van and pay a certain amount per mile, which covers maintenance costs as well. I feel like a "soccer mom" when I drive the vans!

This may have been the tenth time I tried to get both of our faces in the camera! Ha! This is my friend Helen. Not only is she one of my housemates here, she's also my favorite person on campus! It's really nice to have someone to process life with and laugh with! Notice how tiny my pupils are in the picture---it's very sunny here!

I hope you enjoyed the tour. I took these pictures on the weekend, so I realize there are a lot more of outside and my house than the office, but that should still give you an idea of what it's like here. I'd love to hear from you sometime!