Week 5: Office Life

This was my first "normal" week in the office. Now that I'm past orientation, language school, and Mexico, I can begin the real fun of everyday office life. Our office itself is quite large and spacious, and is located very near to the center of Atenas. My walk to work is about 25-30 minutes and I typically arrive at about 7:30. The walk to work has become one of my most cherished activities; a time to escape from everything difficult and to enjoy the peace of the morning.

Besides all the normal work tasks, there are a couple of unique things about the office. Every morning, regardless of the day's schedule, we all gather together in the conference room for prayer. Every morning. To some of you this might seem overly pious and legalistic, but I would challange you otherwise. There is no better way to start a day than to offer up our burdens and praises to God. Setting aside scheduled time for prayer is recognizing our own sinful nature--we won't pray if we don't place priority on it.

In addition to morning prayer, we also share lunch together each day. Three days out of the week we prepare lunch (usually sandwiches) in the office, and the other two days we eat out at a local restaurant. It's a great time to catch up on small talk, UGA basketball and our college football predictions.

I spent most of this past weekend with my host family and our church that we attend. Temple Bautista de Atenas was having their yearly mission's conference, and it was a packed weekend of activities. The church, approximately 60 people, gathered together on Friday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning. During each meeting, we sang music (muy dificil!), heard testimonies, and listened to sermons with a focus on missions. Our guest speakers, interestingly enough, were from Huntsville, Alabama! Apparently the church in Huntsville works together with our church here in Atenas, and has been for quite some time. It was fun getting chat with some English-speaking folk! The messages were given in English and translated simultaneously into Spanish. It was amazing to hear and see how God is using this small church in Atenas to share the good news of the Gospel with nations across the globe.