Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Email Update - Move to Florida!!

Short Version
-          I moved to Florida!!
-          ‘What is your role now?’  + Blog Entry
-          P&P

Long Version:
Move to Florida
After speaking at the conference in New Zealand and assisting with training and consulting in 'Tea Town,' South Asia, I arrived ‘home,’ in Delaware.  After packing up, I headed to Florida, and few days ago, I drove across the Florida state line into the sunshine!!!  Being in Florida, living among like-minded friends, gives me a chance to recharge spiritually after living in some isolated areas in South Asia.  I see however long God has planned for me to live here as preparation for what God may call me to next.  It also provides a more or less ‘on-call’ One-Story, resource person for my company's Headquarters (just a few miles from where I’m living now in Florida!).

Last night, I started to write a blog entry about my first day in Florida…and thought I would post it here.  I’m sure I’ll get to enjoy many more cross-state experiences in the coming days, but here are a few first reactions!

Considering how many hours I spent travelling to get Florida, I find it strange that things here are not so different from where I came from.  That is, things that are usually very different when I travel that far from home.
For example:
1. They have Wal-Mart's, Dollar General's, other such useful stores.
2- The time zone is the same as my mom and dad's.
3- There is electricity.
4- There is running water.
5- Most people here look similar to me.
6- People here speak English as their mother-tongue.
7- I feel clean pretty much all the time.
8- There’s carpet on the floor.
9- People drive on the right side of the road.
10. Just like at home, there are a billion choices for cereal, types of toilet paper, and laundry detergents!!

“What is your role now?”
Let me try and answer that question for you!! :)  My role is more or less the same as it would be wherever in the world I lived, which makes life easier when certain aspects of my job require me to travel.  I am a ‘Storying Consultant’ for the company I work for.  I assist in consulting storying projects primarily in South Asia.  This involves receiving stories from storying teams (via email), and checking them for Biblical accuracy.  I also will challenge the teams to consider their cultural background to connect the story to their culture, while avoiding potential dangerous misconceptions from the cultural or religious influence.  In addition to consulting, I also travel to help with trainings, particularly for teams in South Asia.  I most likely will travel to South Asia at least twice more this year to help with trainings.

While in Florida, I am hoping to help develop the 2 year Story program that I was a part of initially.  This may include meeting with new teams here in Florida, connecting with personnel and recruitment departments to build good communication about Storying projects.  It’s also possible I will keep in contact with teams and may visit them on the field to provide a personal contact for them to interact with throughout their project.

I am also considering developing an ESL story set – something I have mentioned several times before.  Now that I should be in one place for at least a few weeks(!!), I hope to think critically about how to go about this.  Please pray for wisdom as I make plans, and possibly new friends in this community who can help me with this project.

P&P
Praise for precious family time before moving to Florida

[Picture – my cousin and me, enjoying the record breaking snow storms in Delaware in February!]

Praise for save travels to Florida
Prayer for adjustment to life here – but praise that I don’t have to worry about things like language and lack of electricity!!

Prayer for an event (March 8) that I’ll be sharing at for a group of associates who volunteer for my company.
Prayer for ESL story set plans and wisdom to know how to go about that.
Prayer for my siblings, Mark, Jennifer and Natalie – I love them so much and want God’s best for them!!!  It’s hard to be away during exciting years in their lives.

For Him, and for those who have never heard of Him,

~ Elizabeth



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