Sylvia's Journal

There was very little time to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary. My workday started before 7 AM and ended 12 hours later; a bit much for a first day at work and not enough to properly celebrate thirty-one years of marriage.

In the morning I attended the start of the fourth and leadership workshop with two of our own and two ministry teams. The leadership program has been stretched out over several months and sometimes I wondered whether we would be able to bring it to a good closure but now I believe we can. Scheduling a series of workshops with the same people is no easy task here.

I was asked to open the workshop. I wished I could have done it in Dari but I will need another year, at least one year.

I visited many of my colleagues to let them know I was back and Axel OK and inquired about what had happened during my absence. As someone quipped, “when you are here in the office people keep you so busy that you think you are indispensable but then when you go away for awhile you find out everything moves along just perfectly without you.” This is true.

In the afternoon I thought I had only one meeting, not having emptied my overflowing mailbox yet, only to find out that two more meetings were stacked right behind the one from 2 till 4 PM. Our office summer hours are now activated. “Good,” said Axel, “you start at 7 AM and are home before 4 PM!” Not so today, and, as I found out, not tomorrow either, what with phone calls with the home office that start after the workday here has ended here.