My first assignment

I thought you may all like this...

Here is my first email I sent from my new role at UTF. It took me three days to write it, but I think you will see why.

Basically I am introducing myself and then requesting the team to fill our an employee survey I created to help us develop our new Job Descriptions. At least... that is what I think it says...

Здравейте, аз се казвам Марк Шепард и аз съм мисионер за кратък период с SEND International. Тук съм да помагам на Тони и ОБФ с работното управление. Със съпругата ми, Лиса, имаме момче на 19 месеца, казва се Drew (Дру). Ние сме от Kansas City Missouri, USA (Кансас Сити, Мисури, САЩ) и ще живем в България за 18 месеца.

Намерението на този ‘общ служебен преглед’ е да получава информация от работния колектив на ОБФ, така че ние да можем да документираме точно ролите и отговорностите в ОБФ. Ще използваме тази информация за да помогнем при създаването на длъжностни характеристики за нашата текуща работа. И за нови длъжности в бъдеще.

Разделът ‘Лична информация’ ще събере вашите лични интереси и ще се погрижи за обратна работна връзка. Моля попълнете формуляра и го върнете на Марк Шепард или Тони Лалев преди четвъртък, 24 февруари. Моля питайте ако имате въпроси относно формуляра.

Блогодаря за вашата помощ и ще се радвам да работя с вас.

Марк

Bulgarian Valentine

Happy belated Valentines Day to everyone. Yes, they do celebrate Valentines Day in Bulgaria. They kind of go a bit overboard as they were not allowed to celebrate Valentines Day under Communism as it was considered a “Catholic” holiday. However it is still not as commercial as in the US. Lisa and I had involuntary started to boycott the V-Day holiday in the states, as we swore it was a holiday that Hallmark invented just to make a few extra bucks.

Bulgaria does have its advantages, as I was able to get Lisa a big bouquet of roses for about $20 the day before V-day. I would have easily had to pay $60-$80 in the states for the same. Sorry, the truth is revealed, I am a “cheap” romantic.

Drew made his mommy a valentine day card and he was able to tell her that he was “hop-pee” (his new word) to be her valentine.

Drew is a big Nemo and Lion King fan, so he got a large stuffed Simba, who is about Drew’s size. Drew loves to read books in his “turtle tent” that is in his room. So Simba now has to go to the tent whenever we all read books.

We are all doing well. We have had a lot of snow and it has been cold here. Highs are in the 20s and it dips to the single digits when I go to work in the morning. The only time I really long for home is when I see that KC has been in the 50s and 60s through out all of Jan and Feb. Because of the temps it is hard to get out and explore like we would like to. On the positive side of the weather, we are planning on going skiing this weekend on Mt. Vitosha. This is the mountain we can see outside of our living room window.

We continue to struggle through the language, but we are making malko (some) progress. My job is going well as we are in the middle of creating job descriptions for the bible school. We have kept in contact with the taxi driver, Stoiam, who invited us to the gypsy church. We have invited him and his whole family to come of Saturday night. Your prayers for Saturday night would be appreciated.

Please drop us a line if you have time.

Love you guys!

Marc, Lisa and Drew

Invisible Children

Some of you may remember that my cousin, Mallory, went to Uganda this last summer to work with Invisible Children (IC). She is the one who got real sick with malaria, typhoid and salmonella. She is now alive and kicking, better than ever before, in case your wondering. Anyways… she shared a DVD with us about the project. It is an awesome story that really needs to be shared. We really feel this is a worthy cause to pray about. This was also the cover story of Christianity Today in December of 2005. It is awesome to see that they are finally getting some press.

Blow is a cool “podcast” that keep you up to date. This whole effort is driven by these two UCLA Film School Students, who happen to be Christians, therefore the videography is really cool. I know your all into the Ipod – so you will need to check out the link below.

Our engines have started, so start yours and copy this link into your browser: itpc://rss.mac.com/invisiblechildren/iWeb/Site/Podcast/rss.xml i-tunes will automatically start up and you will see I.C.'s first podcast ever. Subscribe to it and you will see many more to come. If you don't have i-tunes get it now, or you'll miss out. Buckle up, let's WinnebagOOOOOOO! Much love and cheese- The I.C. team

First Days at Work

I started work at UTF (United Theological Faculty - a college within the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute) on Tuesday and will be working there 3 days a week. The other two days I will have language class in the morning and work from home in the afternoon.

Here are some of the projects I will be working on:

Create Job Descriptions for those who work at the Institute and then create Job Descriptions for positions that are needed at the Institute. We need to define what UTF currently has and then develop a strategic plan for what they need.

I will also work on developing an Alumni Association/Network to ensure that UTF will have the ability to continue to Encourage, Enable and Equip the current alumni. The project will also have recruiting and fund raising elements.

UTF is actually a large house. The house construction began in 1990 with Communists funds. Once communists fell in 1991 there were no funds to finish the house. The mission then bought the half constructed house and finished it to serve as a school with classrooms, a chapel and a kitchen.

My office is in the upper loft with a few other guys. Check out the stairs to get to my office. Maybe you all need to be praying that I donÂ’t break my leg going to work each day.

I know this does not look like “hands on” missions, but my hope is that we can positively impact the school to run more efficiently and effectively – thus resulting in more students learning the gospel and saving lives.

Thank you for allowing me to do this.

In His care,

Marc