The Week in Review

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Monday (Lessons on Presentation Skills)
Today was horrible... I made an appointment to drop by an orientation session conducted by one of our centres. I had wanted to observe how this manager did her orientation because, to date, I have not the chance to really try conducting my own orientation for volunteers (and I intend to do one in the near future). Frankly, I do not know what to make out of the session... on one hand, I am thankful that I learnt so much from the session but on the other hand, I am quite upset that the session didn't turn out well:

1. Duration - First was the duration of the workshop. The workshop is being held after school for lower secondary students. So knowing students, they would most probably be exhausted and restless. So, to make them sit through 2 hours of talking would be a real torture. It didn't help that the students on one side of the hall wasn't paying attention and that upset the speaker even more and as a result, she repeated herself many times, much to the frustration of the students.
   
   
2. Language - Then the language used wasn't the most ideal as well. Firstly, it was addressing some lower secondary students, so I would expect to use less adult terms. Also, several times, I heard the speaker saying "We expect you to... do this", "we expect you to... do that" which made it sound rather demanding. This is definitely not the kind of "aftertaste" I want to leave with volunteers.
   
   
3. Tone of Voice - To compete with the noise, the speaker ended up shouting through the PA system and this apparently didn't go well with the students sitting near the speakers. At one point in time, I heard a few students complained to the teacher that they can't stand the shouting.
   
   
4. Presentation Slides - Considering that it was conducted in a hall in the midst of the hot afternoon right after school, the slides also fail to engage the audience... it was too wordy and also lacked pictures. Guess that also made the presentation hard to stomach
   
   
5. Too Much Details - On one occasion, I was just talking to the teacher behind the hall and she was apologizing for the rowdy behaviour of the children, explaining that they are a bit restless. So, I discreetly went ahead to give a hint to the speaker but then she told me that she needed to cover the details to help the students understand what they are going to do. Frankly, I stand by that - preparing volunteers for what is expected of them - but then there comes a point when there is too much details. It is already 1.5 hours into the presentation and the speaker was still going into the detailed programme for the activity to be conducted by the classes within the next few weeks. I can observe many were restless already but then the speaker believes that she would need to cover the programme even though I suggested for the information to be handed to the teachers for discussion with the students.
   
   
6. Format & Audience Size - The format was also not suitable for a large group. What I like about the workshop was the fact that there was experential learning. But then the group is too big for experiential learning; out of 100+, only 30 got chosen to take part. And there was a point in time, the speaker focused her attention on the 30 who volunteered for the activity and neglected the remaining audience... thereby adding to their restlessness.
   
   
7. Quiz & Prizes - What I like about the workshop is also the fact that there was a quiz at the end of the presentation. But what was lacking was really a sense of competition and even prizes. Maybe, the speaker could have prepared prizes for those who got the quiz questions right...

Frankly, there were several occasions I almost left the premise because I was getting rather upset and the disappointment was getting rather unbearable. I had took down these observations but then struggled with how I should put it forth to this manager? I mean, she is definitely more experienced that I am but then how do I try to share my observations with her so both of us can grow from the experience? I tried but then somehow feel she is not open to feedback. I left it at that...

Just as I am working on the presentation for my mission trip, maybe God is also preparing me for it and reminding me on some of the mistakes to avoid.

Tuesday (Guarding our Tongues)
Today, I saw how God works again. I was to lead devotion today and by the previous night, I still wasn't sure whether I had wanted to cover the "Our Daily Bread" topic for devotion, simply because it was on a topic that most of us are aware of and somehow I feel, it doesn't leave much space for discussion. The topic was on guarding our tongues and it is indisputable that we should all guard our tongues. So I was really reluctant to cover the topic for devotion. Instead, I prepared a short devotion based on the sermon in my church two weeks ago on faith.

But somehow, on Tuesday morning itself, I didn't feel the peace to use what I have prepared and something just kept telling me that I should stick to the topic. Well, I did and I really didn't regret it... I was surprised that a colleague in my department actually found the topic discussion timely, because she was just discussing something similar with her daughter the night before. Yes, there was occasional silence during the devotion but then hey, I left the devotion more ministered myself than I probably would have ministered to others. In fact, I was quite surprised I typed the following email to my colleagues right after the devotion session... it is not me to be so "holy holy"; having all the inspirations of which verses to quote (correctly) etc...

WHY WE SHOULD GUARD OUR TONGUES?

Our tongue is a reflection of our Christ-likeness

Luke 6:45 (NIV):
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Remember:

• The tongue is likened to a spark which can set a great forest on fire
• The tongue is likened to a small rudder on a ship, which steers the ship
• The tongue is like small bits of horses, which can turn animals

Although this topic of guarding the tongue is not new, it is a good reminder that we need to exercise caution in guarding our tongue and let only good and wise things come forth from our tongues... in fact, if our hearts are pure, we shouldn't even need to exercise cautious for we have a Christ-like heart to begin with.

Our tongue as a weapon againt the image of God

James 3:9 (NIV):
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness

When we "shoot" off, we are not only cursing men, but cursing men who is made in the likeness of God. We are in fact, cursing God..

When faced with an angry heart, let us be slow to anger:

James 1:19 (NIV):
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

Instead:

Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)
Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
How we use our tongue is a choice

God gave us tongues and it can be used for good or it can be used for evil... We can choose to use it to to taste good food, praise God or even share the love and grace of God with others or choose to destroy others...

It is a good reminder and it is not easy but if we commit to try and even commit our tongues to God, let God do good works and ministry using your tongue... speak edifying words to build others and not to destroy others. And remember it applies to not only verbal but also, in our present day context, our emails. We all know it and there are so many sayings and proverbs: Chinese, Persian, Arab, Hebrew etc which reminds us on that, but will we try to do it?

Wednesday (Preparing for Mission)
I really thank God for guiding me in our preparation for the upcoming mission trip. The trip is less than 2 weeks away and I am somehow not even ready, both for the presentation I am going to do there and for the trip itself. There is still a lot to do but I am just lazy and not really doing them. But, I really want to thank God for the wonderful planning sessions with my co-presenter, as we worked together on our presentation on volunteerism and volunteer management. Things just made sense and came together.

Thursday & Friday (Toys & Food Galore)
These two days are mixed days for me... This period, the whole building is organising a fundraiser to raise funds for work done with needy and HIV-infected children in Africa. It will feature different kind of fundraisers including departments taking up slots to provide lunch each day or even garage sale. It's such a lovely and wonderful idea because all of us get to have fun preparing and selling food or feasting, all for a good cause.

Our public relations department had a toy sale, selling toys which have been donated but which are deemed unsuitable for the children at the centres. Those that are suitable are sent to the homes. So rather than throwing the unsuitable ones away, the department decided to put up an in-house sale, with the proceeds going to the African project.

I really didn't expect to buy anything (since they are toys). Little did I know that I would soon end up walking away with a small puppy soft-toy, 2 small "Happy Feet" figurines and a magic trick set (I have always wanted to play some magic tricks since I was young but somehow forgotten about it as I grew older). Somehow, the "boy" in me appealed to me and I ended up getting these 3 toys... "So what's your damage?" beckoned a fellow colleague, as she asked me how much I spent on the toys. Not much, just $10. Then later, I received a pooh bear soft-toy from another colleague. I am really thankful for such wonderful colleagues... now my office seems like a toy museum, having received a piggy bank, one coke polar bear softtoy, one small teddy bear, one beannie pig, several little stitch figurines, one plush stitch speaker and now to add on to the collection, one pooh bear and one puppy plush. Left office a happy boy :)

Today, I went over to the "clearance" sale just to have a look, only to buy another large size teddy bear. Now the teddy bear is my mascot and sits in my office... He is Jerrie (short for Jeremiah, the book where my favourite verse came from) the bear.

My loot :)

We had a lot of fun with our "new-found" friends. At one point, we took photos of these two soft toys sitting at my "guardian angel's desk and joked with our recruitment colleague that we have found two replacements for my guardian angel. Hehehehe, you should have looked at his face... all puzzled how this is possible even before he advertised for it.


Then Jerrie went about with his cute antics... peeping at my boss and trying to snack :)




Now I have a new mascot in my room, an almost life-size teddy who is quite well-received by fellow colleagues in the building :)

Work-wise, I am getting a bit worried. Have been observing that I am getting a bit restless at work recently. I am no longer as busy and can even afford the time to regularly check my personal email to see if there is anything I need to attend to for my cell group or mission trip. I have more time now to attend to projects without the need to be distracted by many things at the same time. In fact, I am feeling guilty that I am relatively more free and seems to not be contributing much. I hate to be caught doing nothing but have several times been seen by my boss, talking to colleagues. I think it is becoming a chore having still quite a bit of (not-so-important) things on my platter but yet feeling restless to work on it and having to not look too free.

Maybe is my sensitive side but then I tend to also feel that I might have stepped on a few of my colleagues' shoes at the centres. I have come down hard on the centres recently because I was just getting tired that centres are not responding as quick, as it would be good, to volunteer referrals. At a certain point in time, I have to deal with close to 100 pending referrals, some of which has not been followed-up with for close to a year. So, I decided that, no more mister-nice-guy, and compiled statistics on how the centres fared on their volunteer referral-placement response time... I have also started to question coordinators on their growing list of pending volunteers, carbon copying to their bosses. Today, I saw a manager from one of my centres and as he was walking towards our department, I heard him greeting people warmly. But as he walked past my office, he did not even look at me and mumbled hello... maybe I am just being sensitive but then it is a fact that I do not seem to be as passionate about my job as in the past.

What makes things a little more difficult is the fact that I have just came out from my boss' room and have just been handed my pay alignment letter. As I opened up the letter, I was confronted with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am grateful for the alignment but on the other hand, it makes deciding about my career difficult.

I have thought about what I need to do about my job but then should I leave? Should I apply for internal transfer? How do I face my boss, since I promised her I won't leave and now that I have been given a pay alignment? Does leaving really make me seem like a job-hopper since all the jobs I have held so far seldom last me more than 1.5 years? What should I do? Where should I go? Maybe I am, as my friend suggested, a starter but not one who will sustain the race. I realised that I am very good with starting things and setting up systems but soon get very bored... Is this true? Can I let go of my wonderful colleagues?

In a way, I am looking forward to the mission trip. Though this is my first mission trip and I am not sure if I am even going to adapt to the living conditions, I do look forward to spending some time away from work and opening more time with God, reflecting and finding my directions.