That's my desk at Partners International. I'm really excited about it, more because of what it represents than what it actually is.
I had a realization today as I was translating a field report on rice cultivation and micro financing from French to English to send from Ziguinchor, Senegal to partners in Spokane, Washington. I felt so "grown up" Despite the fact that I'm twenty years old, and have had this feeling before, today was a new kind of feeling. I said to myself, "Wow, I'm working in an office at a desk (chez moi, I was told) in another country!" How crazy cool. I told Debbie over lunch today that it's opened my eyes to the fact that I don't necessarily have to live and work in the US my whole life, which is something I'd known but never truly realized until I got here.
But the big realization was really God's faithfulness in my life. For the first time I saw how the French I've been studying for going on 8 years could translate into ministry work, in a very tangible not just "well I could be a missionary I guess kind of way". It was so fun to read reports of women being able to contribute to their family incomes, increasing financial and familial stability, and then knowing that I was sending off this information to people across the globe. It was all so humbling, to see what the Lord is doing all over the world, and the very tiny role I was playing in it.
Before work, we had office devotions and read 1 Thessalonians 4 and prayed for peace in Senegal amidst election season, God's grace and glory to be revealed more and more, and blessings over myself and Joshua (another intern who's headed to Thies later this month). Josh doesn't really speak French, but he's learning. We read from the Bible in French, but he had an English translation, and then everyone prayed in their most comfortable language (English for Josh, French for everyone else, and a blend for me), which was very exciting. Then I was given a flash drive of files to translate. I finished one this morning before leaving at 1pm, which surprised Parfait who'd given me the work. I thought I'd been working very slowly, but apparently I exceeded expectations. That was pleasant. I'm still not sure if it was right though...I'm learning!
This is what my work today looked like:
Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. Psalm 116:2
For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:4
God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9
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