What I Do
A Georgian by birth, and a Floridian by transplant, I returned to North Georgia to Emmanuel College for my junior college experience. After earning both Bachelor and Master's degrees at Florida State University, I taught 2 years at Manatee HS in Bradenton Florida. It was excellent training for teaching overseas. I went from being one of 11 home economics teachers in a very large school to being THE home ec department at the Alliance Academy in Quito Ecuador. I loved being in a missionary kids (MK) school. I got to teach 7-12th grade and special education. The classes were very small (no more than 12 students -- the room wouldn't hold more than that!). I got to be a class sponsor and also worked with a Christian Service Outreach club: helped out at children's hospitals and orphanages.
After 2 years of short-term missions teaching, I took the training to become a long-term (or career) member of Wycliffe. Since I had some food service experience, I was asked to manage the food service at our center in Mexico City. I was to teach part-time, and planned to do some vocational training for MKs so they would have a marketable skill when they went to the US for college. When my visa was cut off after just one year, I went to the home office in southern CA to serve in the Children's Education (CHED) administrative office. God used the many experiences I already had to prepare me for working with recruitment of teachers. For the next 21 years, I was privileged to recruit, assign, orient and care for teachers who provide education for children of our members. By using my particular skills & training, I've had a part in hundreds of Bible translations. I've never translated one verse of scripture, but made it possible for others to do translation and other jobs they were uniquely prepared to do as part of the Bible translation team. It was a joy for me to be on the cutting edge of Missionary Children's education, working together with other missions to build appropriate systems to meet the needs of MK education around the world.
After some time off, my first job back at Wycliffe was in the USA Info service. I love to be able to encourage people and help them to move to the next step in the recruitment process. I found it challenging and fun to bring department systems and information up to date and to do some training of staff.
After another medical leave, I moved into WordSpring Discovery Center, our USA visitors' center in Orlando. My role is to manage the Education program, specifically field trips for students. I'm still in education, but instead of focusing on our members' children's education, I am recruiting the next generation of Bible Translators. We challenge students Kg-College to consider involvement in Bible Translation. I do love what I am doing and working with the fantastic educators who make up the team.
