The A-Team (Daphne, Mandy, Jara and Marcia) spend their days working tirelessly on all things advocacy. They take a break every two hours to train. They do countless pushups, sit ups and shadow boxing. Every other week they have a pull up contest. The record is held by Mandy, she is currently doing approximately 200 pull ups. It is pretty impressive. The A-Team had a pretty decent showing in the last Fighter Championship, but they felt that they wanted to really blow everyone out of the water.
Little did they know that Michelle, the receptionist, was working on her mental game. She knew that she could sneak through much of the competition, after all, part of fighting is mental. She would innocently come up stairs to “deliver our response cards” always wishing that she would happen upon the A-Team’s intense training. She never did. The team was always at their computers. “What speed, what stealth,” she thought.
Michelle would tell Cesia to check on the A-Team as well. So Cesia sometimes would come upstairs and give us returned mail. Again, the A-Team would be working at their computers. Thwarted again. So, each member of the Administration Team would come up to the Advocacy Annex to see their secret training plans. Paul would deliver mail. Brent would deliver news. Liz would check to see if she could get a ride home. Even a volunteer (Esther Knicely) would sit at the table and “listen to music and stuff envelopes” and see if she could see any movement or sign of training. Sometimes out of office staff (Kat) would just call to see what the Advocacy Team was doing. And some other advisory staff members (Elizabeth Day), would only meet with Daphne once a month because they were that good. But the Advocacy Annex knew, that no one could find out their secret. Daphne would take the team out a couple of times a month to ‘check up on the team.’ Many times this would include hour long sessions at the Y. Some people had to “call in sick” to just recover. Colds to stomach viruses, the team had it all.
As time went on, the training picked up, but so did the competition. The Community Care Center takes three days at the beginning of the year to “check in.” There are reports that they went to a secret boot camp for intense training followed by times of rest and reflection. Again, these are just reports. You had to remember that even though Phileena and Amanda are a bit on the shorter side, they are quick on their feet. You can never underestimate their agility and their strategic fighting method. It is known that the Community Care Center has their own secret fighting method called the PAH. Say it outloud…it’s secret and it’s undercover. Some who have claimed to see it, believe that Phileena and Amanda distract the competition with their feet movement while Hilary swoops in and drop kicks the competition while they are hypnotized by the feet movement. Pah. Pah. Pah. That’s what they say, and then they leave.
Then there’s another team on the horizon. They are young and resilient. Their secret weapon is training in saunas or hot suits for hours at a time. They sometimes don’t see visitors in their office space for days because of their dedication to their training method “Boiler Room.” Some of the other teams visit the Office of the Director to “check on ordered books” or “ask a question about a plane ticket.” But the teams couldn’t stay long, they would be too close to passing out. All of their training, plus the 85 + degree temperature didn’t make for conversation. This department had another secret weapon, another staff member “out of the office.” There are reports that this staff member (Twyla) spends hours lifting, carrying, reading, studying, running, laughing and training all in another state. Her methods are so secret, that no one has ever seen them.
So, the office was tense. You could feel the energy shooting around; the energy was almost tangible. People would stretch. People would practice. People would cry. People were just ready. So you saw what happened. Some of the contenders were out early. It seemed almost as if they dropped out on purpose. Was there a conspiracy? No one knows. The fighting continued.
By the last six rounds, each department still had a representative. Tired and exhausted, they continued to fight it out until the last round. Michelle’s mental game began to fatigue. Amanda’s fancy footwork tired. Twyla’s secret methods werent’ so secret anymore, she was actually disqualified for doing the ‘roger rabbit’ while fighting which is obviously against the rules. Mandy was also disqualified, she brought a Frisbee into the match. Danielle was using a camera flash to distract the competition. And Elizabeth Day came out of nowhere to win the match. There have been calls to the referees for a rematch and a call for food testing. Some believe that dhal bhat, momos and chana masala give competitors an unfair advantage. But for now, the results are in and standing.
:)
Hope you enjoyed this special background edition of Behind the Fighting. Here's an update on the Omaha office.
Word Made Flesh Omaha is doing well. The Administration Team is continuing to serve in excellence.
Michelle Hoeft, our receptionist, is working tirelessly to finish the 2008 support and receipting. She’s the one who receives all of the checks that you send in for supporting the mission. Her friendly spirit welcomes the guests who visit or call the phone.
Cesia Gonzalez is our mail coordinator. There’s no stopping Cesia. She knows how to get it down. Each month she’s working on sending out 20-30 (that’s just an estimation) of our staff member’s monthly prayer letters. That’s thousands of pieces of mail I tell you. Thousands. And that’s just the beginning.
Liz Ivkovich is our new director of administration. When she’s not dreaming of dance competitions, she’s working hard to support her department, mission and our friends around the world with a integrity and humility in administration.
Paul Yoder (office manager) and Brent Anderson (outgoing director of administration) are both working hard supporting the Omaha staff through their expertise and knowledge. Paul is making sure that there are systems and programs in place to better help staff. And Brent, Brent will be so missed. His last day is January 30.
The A-Team, Advocacy Team (Mandy, Jara, Daphne, Marcia), is busy preparing for this Sunday’s Beggars Society with Jeff Johnson. They are also working hard on preparing for the visual redesign that comes out at the end of March. They continue to seek how to better serve the community through their service. They invite friends and friends of friends and friends of friends of friends to enter into what Word Made Flesh is doing. They love sharing stories of their friends through words, photos, music and reflection.
The Community Care Center continues to lead our staff to ways to finding whole health. The members, Silas, Phileena, Hilary and Amanda, inspire staff members to consider ways to be healthy and sustainable where they are. They do through that through countless ways, but ultimately they do it in love.
The Office of the Director continues to provide vision and support to the community. They are leading the community in new, fresh ways of partnership and community.
We would love your prayers as we enter into 2009. There are so many exciting things that are happening in the Omaha and worldwide community. We do invite you to join us in any way you can. If you are in Omaha, we desperately need volunteers. You can call the office to find out more (402-991-4949). We’d also love to see you at Beggars Society this Sunday. And if you are considering giving to a non-profit this year, we’d love for you to give to Word Made Flesh. We ended 2008 with a lot of momentum in our support raising, and we invite you to join us in 2009. Thank you for ways you inspire us and point us to God and God’s provision.
Be well. And fight hard.
give online: https://secure.groundsprin
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