This Stinking Week: The We-Wu for March 10-14, 2025

My eyes have been watering all week.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t because I wanted to cry.

Outside, my eyes watered due to all the green things coming into the world.

Inside, my eyes watered due to all of the carpet glue wafting through the halls.

Potato, potahto.

Yes, more carpet installation. And a new office. We’re being dragged into the modern era! Well, something like that. It is amusing to me that the last time they remodeled the office, in 2008, they got rid of a lot of offices in favor of the ‘open plan.’ Lots of cubicles, lots of noise. Now, those cubicles have slowly been disappearing. Sometimes they get bigger, sometimes they get turned into a seating area, and sometimes they get turned back into offices. I have a feeling that the trend of open plans in houses will also make a similar turnaround. It turns out people don’t actually want to see or be seen at all times from all places. It does very little for privacy.

In the meantime, we get to put up with the smells, the noises, and the walking detours. Mostly, I hole up in my office and just avoid the mess.

So! This week in the life of Jessica Hollopeter.

There was a lot of tagging. And not the fun kind.

I hope last week’s videos made sense. It really is just going line by line writing codes. I can only do so much of it before I have to uncross my eyes (the eyes that are already watering) and take a break.

Fortunately, I had many meetings this week to fill in the gaps!

At least two of these meetings were productive.

We did start a new thing, though. Beth, Sarah, and I are practicing our storytelling skillz! We decided that something should come out of the 6-week workshop we did, so we started with the Parable of the Sower. It’s a lot of work, actually. But I think it will be worth the effort.

Did you know today is Pi(e) Day? 3.14! Except I think the exclamation point is actually a math thing, so ignore that. Anyway, MFM hosted a pie-making contest. I did not make a pie, but I was a very studious judge. They were all delectable. Well, the ones I tried at least. I was a little dubious about the raisin pie. And the coconut.

It was also Founders’ Day chapel this week. Charles Cowman and E.A. Kilbourne both had March 13 birthdays, and as they were two of OMS’ founders, we must celebrate! That usually means Lori tells us fun stories about our history as a mission, and this year was no exception. We learned about the many travels of Lettie Cowman, another founder. We also learned about Dwight Ferguson, the founder of Men for Missions (the aforementioned pie connoisseurs).

I have some busy weeks ahead. I’ll do my best to keep you updated, but I’m just warning you now. I gotta take care of some small AND big stuff.

Bye!