Wow! I certainly feel like I'm working 40 hours a week! At the same time I can't believe it's Friday again already! I have been keeping busy in both my departments. POD has been a lot of organization tasks. The department has been re-working the whole affiliation process for new members and it has been fun to be a part of that organization. I have also had a large part in getting our application online so it can be filled out and received immediately. This allows us to speed up the process as well as enable us to keep more organized records of our affiliates. The next COAT is just over three weeks away! This means Abigail and I have been busy designing curriculum for our four girls we have coming. We are also needing to schedule our days with them as well. Because Abigail is helping the Belzer family with homeschooling, I have the morning COAT time all to my self.
Me and Abigail Alter--otherwise known as the department of children and family deveopment
Joe's upline, Susan, was back this week so he was doing all sorts of things. He is certainly learning how to do a lot. I know he had a list of 1000 names he had to put into a program. I'll try to make him get on here soon and explain his responsibilities. He'd certainly do a better job than I am right now.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA CULTURE
We are still getting used to the weather. It doesn't take long to get used to the warmth but there are lots of different weather warnings to pay attention too. It causes my weather.com desktop bug to pop up rather frequently. Today alone we have had three different warnings. One is severe thunderstorm, another is tornado and the last one I just got a few minutes ago was 'coastal flooding' which means high, rough surf. This storm is bringing swells of 9feet. That doesn't affect us here in Ft. Myers so much but the beach front properties are going to have to watch. I have also seen warnings for rough water in the bay (Tampa bay) and red tide.
I have also learned a new local saying and that is to say 'it's season'. This refers to snow bird season, when all the people who live in the area only for the winter are here. This is when the traffic becomes absolutely insane and there are even more people. Someone might say something like, "Man, I saw three different accidents on my way home today." and the person they were talking to may say "Well, it is season."
BOAT RIDE RECAP
We did indeed go on that boat ride and it was a blast! The boat took off at 6pm. Most of us spent the beginning of the night on the top deck so we could see the city go by. We also got to go UNDER the Cleveland bridge which is a bridge we tend to travel over rather frequently. While we were on the top deck mingling, the sun began to set, but not before I got to see Manatees and a dolphin in the river. The manatees looked a bit like large lumps rolling around in the water and I saw a nose come out once but they were a little ways off so I couldn't see them real well. The dolphin however hung around our boat for a while. It just sort of swam off in front of us and because of the setting sun and brackish river water, we couldn't see it under the water but every couple of minutes it would come up for air and I could see it's back as it breathed through it's blowhole. After about 15 minutes or so it came to the surface four or five times in a row, did a quick turn over and left us. Good timing too because it was time to go to the first deck to eat. We had a delicious supper followed by some worship and more outside chatting. We turned around to head back to where we started from during supper which was after dark so I'm not sure how far down the river we got. But the last 40 minutes or so saw most of us on the outside decks enjoying great conversations and fun with friends reenacting Titanic and threatening to jump off the "gang plank".
The Cleveland bridge over the Caloosahatchee river
COMMUNITY
I wanted to take this week to address the community here on campus. It is awesome! For those of you who may not know, NMSI has an office building on the end of a block. They also own almost all of the houses on that block along with a few more on adjacent blocks. These houses are used for those going through COAT, missionaries home on furlough, and for living quarters for some of us who are working in the office. One requirement for living on campus is to do one hour of community work. This helps keep our block looking nice. Which in our neighborhood is something a bit out of the ordinary. People are constantly coming and going but everyone makes time to hang out with everyone else on campus. Last week I told you about watching both NFL conference championship games over at the guys house. This week we were invited back over to the guys house just for supper and to hang out. We were also invited to one of the ladies houses for the premier of Lost but we're not really into that show so we passed on that one. This weekend we have a full weekend with friends, biking, picnicking, seeing Avatar 3D in IMAX (for free courtesy of a board member) and the Super Bowl back at the guys house. But it's not all fun and games. We also meet for weekly Bible studies and pretty much anybody is up to any kind of deep theological discussion you may wish. Community is very important around here and I'm glad it is. Not to sound cheesy but it really is like one big family. We all help each other and we all put an effort forward to include everybody. I love it!
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