A Trip to Virginia

So I didn't write a blog post last Tuesday evening because I was up in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Liberty University representing Wycliffe Bible Translators at Liberty's fall Global Focus Week. I spent Monday through Wednesday speaking with students at Wycliffe's booth. So many good conversations! This is a photo of Bob Creson, president of Wycliffe USA, and his wife, Dallas, speaking to students during our Tuesday evening 'Get to Know Wycliffe' event.

It was time for me to take a trip out of Florida - I was at the three month mark of living here and the traveler in me was getting restless. While in Virginia, I got to see mountains and experience a bit of cooler fall air before returning to the flatness, warmth, and humidity of central Florida.

Then this weekend I ran off to northern Florida to spend Saturday canoeing along part of the Suwannee River with one of my friends. We spent three hours just floating down the river, enjoying nature, and then we realized that we probably needed to start paddling if we ever wanted to make it back to civilization.

Notice the subtle Houghton College advertising...

She and I also rode around the village on my grandfather's two three-wheeled bicycles. We definitely wanted to get a picture of that - and of course, we forgot. Next time!

Florida Life: Universal

This weekend I visited the land of Harry Potter, the Hulk, Spiderman, the Minions, and Dr. Seuss. By which I mean that I went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando.

A highlight: butterbeer in Hogsmeade.

My Job

So what I am doing for work? I mean, I moved down here to start a job with Wycliffe Bible Translators and then my posts all turned into Disney, culture shock, the Suwannee River, and books I'm reading. Here I will provide the brief history (so far) of me and my first ever real job.

I was hired as a marketing coordinator in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) department of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA. My job was to help the two marketing strategists and the director of communications do whatever tasks they put on my plate. I also ended up helping our project traffic coordinator* and our director of public relations.

Then things changed. Our department reorganized, and I got a new boss and a new job and a new title. I'm still waiting to hear what my new title is - I'll let you know when I know. My new supervisor, formerly one of the marketing strategists, is now the head of our digital marketing team, of which I am now part.

I'm still working on my short, interesting, understandable description about what I do. Here's the current version: Wycliffe wants to provide people with the information and resources they need so that they can get involved in Bible translation. As part of the digital marketing team, I am using new technologies, such as cool ways to create and send emails and communicate through other digital mediums, to provide our individual audience members personalized, relevant information as they take steps to learn about and get involved in Bible translation.

Right now this involves me learning a lot. And I get to work with cool people, which makes me happy.

*What is a project traffic coordinator? you might ask, as I did when I started my job. She helps all of our marketing projects - whether they are web, print, video, or otherwise - actually get done by making sure all the team members know what they need to be working on when. Pretty important.