Did any of you listen to episode 355 of This American Life? Its a great explanation of the current subprime/credit/etc. problems in the financial industry.

I think it is fascinating to see how much the whole thing was short sighted, and driven by a desire for more (more of lots of things, money, esteem). I also think it is really interesting how much power moving numbers around in spreadsheets has on the economy (The Economy…what is that any way…its a big nebulous force…), and how those numbers can suddenly be attached to, and impact, real people.

For me the overarching question when it comes to my limited understanding of economics is how can this be used for good? So, in this case, what if all of that energy and time had been put into finding creative and sustainable ways for people to move into homeownership that they could really afford? There might have been less money going into the coffers, but at least it would have been for good.

Last weekend my brother played in the national ultimate tournament. Check this out. That’s him, 00 in the middle. Its a great picture and the lady in the background cracks me up.

This was the 5th email in our series.

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Well, you’ve been hearing from Ben for awhile, so I thought it was time I spoke up. It’s a hard thing to be heard in our house, between Ben & I it’s hard to get a word in edgewise. (That was a joke.) But seriously, here’s a word (or a few) from me about what I do at the Ranch.

The hat I most often wear at the Ranch is “Program Administrative Assistant.” It’s a nice hat-it fits me pretty comfortably, with a little room to grow. It’s still a pretty new hat, but I think it’s breaking in well. In one sentence: I manage most of the administrative stuff for our Retreat groups. Most of the groups that come for a Retreat at NLR are youth groups, adult groups, schools (public & private), and a few types of other groups that book our beautiful valley. After a group finds an open date & books specific lodging, it’s my job to send them a contract, process their payments & take care of random other paperwork that is required. At NLR, our job descriptions all include the following phrase: “…and whatever else needed.” My “whatever else needed” is ordering office supplies, managing inventory in our camp store, answering the phones, processing paperwork for Summer Camp, copy editing, making coffee, running the mail, helping people figure out what they originally walked in the office to do. (My desk is right in the middle of the office, between the front door and the mailboxes and the copy/fax/scanner machine.) I often get distracted by people walking through, but I like where I sit a lot…plenty of action…and good conversations to overhear.

Three things I love about my job:
1) Taking care of the administrative stuff of camp is a GREAT fit for me. I get to be behind the scenes & take care of things so my co-workers can do what they do best out in front.
2) It’s AT CAMP. I worked in an “office job” for several years & enjoyed myself & my time at DaySpring. But after a few years of driving in to town from work every day and missing what was happening at camp, my heart ached to stay in this valley & be a part of the ministry happening here, at my home.
3) I work with AMAZING people. So many people here who love the Lord and are sold out for being a part of serving His people, so many beautiful little children live here & are really fun to play with, and last, but certainly not least, my husband.

Three things that I don’t love so much:
1) That I still split my time between work & school. (but that’s a whole ‘nother Oprah story, as my friend, Melissa, would say. More on this one in a later email).
2) That I still sit at a desk for a good part of each day. Though I have a flexible schedule, which helps a lot.
3) That I have a difficult time saying “no”…there are millions of opportunities for me to serve people, and it’s hard to say, “I don’t really have time to do that.” I’m working on this one, and am actually getting better.

Beth

Something broke on the wordpress theme i was using…i must have deleted something…so, we get this generic theme for a while. It’s ok, i want to redesign the whole thing any way.

A friend of ours here at camp started a blog a while ago called I Hope Your Ears Bleed. It’s basically his thoughts and reviews of new and old music, what he is listening to, stuff like that. Check it out at http://www.ihopeyourearsbleed.com/

This was the fourth email in our series.

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In our last few emails we talked about why NLR exists (To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to equip believers for ministry), and how we do that (through relationships in our seven areas of ministry). The first three emails are on our web site (www.benandbethwest.com) just click on the emails category. It seems like the next thing to talk about is our roles at NLR. First Ben’s, we will talk about what Beth does next time.

My official job title is Communications Coordinator. Basically I am responsible for brochures, videos, the web site, letters…anything that is a way we communicate with campers and guests. It’s not what comes to most people’s mind when they think of camp jobs (I’m in an office all day…not leading backpacking trips or being in crazy skits), but it is an important job. I really think of what i do as helping to get people to come to camp so that ministry can happen. I also do some random other stuff like take care of our AV systems in meeting rooms.

uh…so that’s it. That’s what i do. Here are three things i like about my job:

1. solving problems creatively – I really like being able to figure out what a particular promotion or video needs to accomplish, then figuring out how to do that (Thanks Mr. Andrus…). It gives each project purpose, not jut pretty lines on paper
2. planning promotions – figuring out the most effective way to promote something and putting a plan together for how to do that is probably one of my favorite parts of my job.
3. seeing direct results – This year’s Mother/Daughter Retreat set attendance records. There were lots of factors in why so many people came, but part of it was as a result of postcards, ads, etc that i made. It is really fulfilling to be able to see the effectiveness of something I have done.

Three things I don’t like about my job:

1. maintaining the web site – designing web sites is kind of fun…keeping them up to date, not so much
2. making mistakes – I have had several projects go wrong recently…its really frustrating and discouraging to have to throw 1000 brochures in the recycling bin because of a misspelled word.
3. being in front of people – I’m never really in front of people, but my work gets seen by a lot of people (we send the New Life News to around 13,000 people…which seems like a lot to me…). I have a very behind the scenes personality, but my job is, in some ways, not very behind the scenes.

Thanks for reading

Ben and Beth
www.benandbethwest.com