Lets catch up

Catching Up

Greetings,

It has been several years since I have touched my blog and the time has come again to revitalize it. My intention here is to catch you up on what has happened since my last posts and give a taste for whats coming in the future.
In my last several posts I talked about becoming a stamps intern, beginning weight lifting and a spiritual formation class. Since these posts I graduated from Talbot Theological Seminary and finished my internship. My Stamps internship ended the day I graduated, however I continued to volunteer in the same manner as when I was an intern. I and my roommates moved to an apartment on Stage Rd. in Buena Park and that is where I am currently living.
Toward the end of my time at Talbot I found myself making a job decision. I had to choose between working in the Financial Aid office at Biola or working with the Tech Advance team with Wycliffe Associates. After much prayer, I decided to work with the Financial Aid Office at Biola. As the Technology Systems Coordinator for Financial Aid I had many responsibilities. I helped prepare the office for the new registration cycle. I built or updated all the forms students would be turning into the office. I updated the Financial Aid section of our database program called Banner for the new aidyear. I built reports called popsels and cognos reports for the financial aid team to find the students they needed to work with. I also participated in meetings concerning Noel Levitz; which is the system used to determine the costs Biola would charge and the aid Biola would give to students. I also helped maintain and update the Financial Aid Website (http://offices.biola.edu/finaid/). Beyond this I helped provide basic level IT for the Financial Aid Office when something went wrong. Oh, and I would help do research on upcoming issues the Office would be dealing with. For instance the emergence of net price calculators has brought about new comparison tools for students looking at schools. I researched some of the tools that would be used and how Biola was seen through these.
At the beginning of this year, I was approached again by Wycliffe Associates about joining their team. To make a long story short, a number of events led me to accept Wycliffe Associates offer and I am now in the process of preparing to move to Florida and begin my work with them. I finished my work with the Financial Aid Office on April 5th and have begun my efforts to build a support team to fund my work with Wycliffe Associates. This blog will serve as one way to communicate with my support team and keep them up to date on what I have been doing.

 Going Forward

In May I will be looking to travel to Florida where I will take up residence close to the Wycliffe Associates headquarters. Later in the month I will be taking a trip to Madagascar to participate in training Bible translation teams in the use of computers and other technology that will help speed up their Bible translation efforts. I will then head back to the US for orientation with Wycliffe and to concentrate on building my support team. I plan on traveling up to the Northwest to Washington in order to participate in a number of Wycliffe banquets focused on growing my support team. At the end of the year I am looking at a long term trip to Madagascar which will last a couple years. My goal is to raise my total support by the end of the year.

Thoughts

I have been wonderfully blessed by my time at Talbot and Ocean View Baptist in California. I have made good friends who I will stay in contact with. My fellow workers at Ocean View Baptist are wonderful. I must mention Jared Kilduff (Youth Pastor), Sara Sherman and Ramos Smith; who worked with me while I helped with the Junior High age group at Ocean View. You have inspired me to deeper study of scripture and greater asperations for impacting others.
I thank my roommates Larry Briner and Nathan Hagberg for the years we have lived together.
I thank Don and Amy Joel for opening their home to me and being such good friends over these years. Also my friends Sara Lawson and Adam Chute who spent some good time with me at the Joel's house. I wont forget our guild group "Geek Believer's" (http://geekbeliever.co/) and our gaming group. I also am very grateful for MOFA or the men of financial aid. I won't mention there names here, but I have been incredibly blessed by you and our times together. Some of the lessons I gleaned while being among you I will carry with me the rest of my life.

 It is exciting thinking about what is coming and I look forward to the adventure that awaits.

 Further up and further in!



 Adam Lewis