Things are always changing.
In the past couple weeks, Stephen and I have both had some expansions in our roles with Partners. Thankfully, these are all really exciting expansions, where we can see God working and can confidently say we are where we are supposed to be.
For Stephen, he has been balancing his work with IT in our Mae Sot office with media projects for Partners worldwide. In the past few weeks, he has been asked to expand his work with media: he will now be balancing photography with marketing videos and some sound projects. His recent video experiment made the rounds in our offices last week, and it was quite popular! Everyone was very complimentary, and hopefully it will be hitting Partners’ website within a few weeks. His photography was also featured in Partners most recent magazine and will be in the 2013 calendar.
Not only does his work with media continue to utilize his interest areas, his skills are being expanded as well. Partners has encouraged him and is equipping him to seek additional training and utilize new equipment.
For me, my Social Development department has officially expanded beyond one member! Social Development now includes two local staff members. A Shan woman, Pi Pranee, oversees Community Development projects in local migrant communities. I’ll be advising her in community development projects as needed, as well as helping her incorporate her previous sewing projects with Partners into community trainings.
A Thai-Karen staff member, Yim, has just transferred this month from Childcare Projects to Social Development. She graduated with her Masters in Political Science this year, and she will be coordinating with me to help teach Social Development trainings. We will continue using the Political Development curriculum I created earlier this year, and we will be working together to create a curriculum for Economic Development to put into use mid-2013. Yim is incredibly clever, and I think we will really enjoy working together.
My responsibilities have significantly expanded, but it is exciting to see how God keeps opening doors and equipping me in my inadequacies.
Stephen and I are also really thankful for the ways our jobs coincide. My trainings require me to travel quite a bit, but he will need to travel as well to get photos and video footage. Thankfully, it looks like we’ll be able to travel to the same places, sometimes for two to three weeks at a time, and each enjoy what we do. This is an incredible blessing.
We expect that things will always continue to change. However, we are really thankful for this moment and these opportunities to expand our skills and work in Mae Sot.