Week 26 - Because We Need Pictures

This is my desk. I get it all to myself even though there are people way higher up the totem pole than I am who have to share a desk. 

There are a couple of monitors to the left that were used by NewMommy (who I'm replacing). Funny story about those monitors... 

When someone leaves Church employment, the computer people come and collect their equipment to re-image for the new person. Well, Lute told these guys that someone else works at that desk now (in case they didn't read the plaque or notice that it is still lived in), but clearly they weren't paying attention. Instead they came and took everything except a mouse, a keyboard, and the dust bunnies. This means they took my laptop. I freaked out when I came back from lunch and found it gone. Thankfully, Lute was a fast thinker and got them on the phone right away. They brought my laptop back, telling me I was lucky because they were only a minute away from wiping it. 

I was happier not knowing. 

Actually, I was feeling downright cranky about it. Seriously, they didn't think there was anything off about a lived in cubicle with both Dell display screens and an Apple laptop?

However, as I was saying my prayers that night, God reminded me how blessed I really was. I kind of got the feeling he was laughing but gently chiding me. They were so close to wiping my computer, and they didn't. Instead of grouching about the close call, I could laugh about it and be very, very grateful that it was saved in time. So thank you, God, for saving my computer. I'm sorry I was a grouch.

Part of the program from our Christmas Devotional.

My supervisor gave me this beautiful little nativity.

Temple Square had all of these lovely Nativities from around the world. I really enjoy seeing these when I step outside for fresh air. They aren't labeled, so your guess is as good as mine when it comes to their origins.

This picture makes me smile just because of where it is set up. I'm pretty sure they don't get a lot of snow or evergreens in in Kenya or wherever this might be... It is beautiful though.

P.S. I love you.

Acronym Joy

So if you've been in the Church for any length of time you will quickly realize that we love acronyms. We just can't seem to stay away. Well, add in business and you get a whole new world to label. It's taken me a while, but I'm pretty fluent in them now. Shall we have a try?

I am YCSM serving as an HR assistant in LDS PSD. PSD used to be called AVD, but now it is a huge combination including DM, F&V, B&E, and several others. I also help HR with OCS and PA. I don't help S&I in CES, but one of my friends does. She reports to the same CSMs as me.

Sometimes I write for FC and I'm learning to improve my SEO. Part of my duties include using DP to set up for MDC and adding ESGs and FTE's to DLs. I also set up HBDI meetings and I even scheduled a VR tour this week. I regularly organize open FTEs and submit EAFs using PNs and EmpIDs. Sometimes I have to change their location from COB to NOB, ROB, JSMB, or MPS which is by BYU. I also have to redirect mail to the GSC and FWS in the WOB or to the CHL. Today we even had mail for ICS. I've never needed to take things to the CAB, but I wouldn't mind going to see some GAs. I have seen some of the PB. Sometimes I get help with projects from the SJS, and they help me avoid any IP issues. I also help maintain the CDOL. Luckily, as a YCSM I don't have to us GHRIS to log hours, but I do use WF to record tasks.

Feel like I'm exaggerating? Check out our home page:

Week 25 - Christmas is Coming! Also, Thanks is Due.

This blog post is brought to you by: Mike and Stephanie Ward and the miracles of heaven.

Friday was an interesting day, but I was very blessed, so I feel like thanks is due to a great many people.

-Thank you to Andrew who ordered me to leave early in order to try to beat the storm.

Andrew got this message from his son, but we had no idea how fast the storm would come in. Unfortunately, the blizzard hit between my getting on I-15 and I-80. Drivers were encouraged to avoid Parleys if they didn't have 4 wheel drive or chains, so I had to pull off I-80 in the middle of I had no idea. I parked in an empty church parking lot in the freezing cold and called Mom.

-Thank you Mom for finding me phone numbers since I never thought to program some into my phone for emergencies.

If mom hadn't helped me I would have probably ended up going to my best friend's grandparent's in-law. (Yes, I know where they live. Mandy and I are that kind of friends). The Brosnahans are super nice and offered to let me stay at their house last Christmas, but I still would have felt very uncomfortable showing up on their porch and asking if they remembered their grandson's wife's best friend and could I maybe wait out the storm on their couch?

-Thank you Uncle Mike, for sacrificing an hour of your busy work day at the hospital to kindly rescue your stranded and clueless niece.

Mike spent about an hour on the phone with me, helping me figure out where the heck I was (Millcreek, as it turns out) and giving me step-by-step instructions to his house in Cottonwood Heights and telling me how to get in through the garage. He even offered to take me home in his truck if the roads didn't get better. I ended up taking a nap on the couch for a couple of hours, and was very relieved to be out of the storm.

-Thank you to Aunt Stephanie for welcoming me into her home when she had four kids to care for.

Even though they were late for their anniversary date that night, Steph found me a pillow, blankets, and a tooth brush in case I couldn't make it home that night. She and Mike also made sure I was well fed and felt comfortable. They are angels.

-Thank you to the Highway Patrol and all people who drive the snowplows for working so hard to help everyone get home.

-Thank you to Heavenly Father and the angels that protected me and made me feel safe.

I felt very blessed on Friday. Even though I stress out over everything, I felt calm and safe even when I was cold and lost and couldn't see through the snow. When I was set apart as a missionary, I was promised that I would be alert as I commuted and that I would be protected. I definitely felt that protection on Friday. Lots of drivers got stuck or crashed that day, but I was able to drive home safely that night when the canyon was mostly cleared. Even more, I felt completely safe as I drove, if a bit worried. I was home before 8 and able to sleep in my own bed. Thank you to everyone who helped me and prayed for me. It made a big difference.

Side note: it is probably faster to take a sled down Parley's when it is snowing. Traffic was at a measly 15 mph, but I'm pretty sure with the lane that hadn't been plowed I could easily have gotten 80 on a sled.

...

And just for my own record's sake, here are the things I did this week:

• Watch the BYU Special, Winter Thaw, for FHE. Maybe it's because I haven't seen a movie in six months, but I thought it was very good. You'll have to watch it.
• Set up for a surprise baby-shower for Enchantment. It was a complete success and they even found a bakery that make dairy/egg/gluten free cake. Even more amazing, it was really good!
• Explain to someone that I can't transfer an employee that was never hired by the Church in the first place (sometimes managers get sneaky and hire another temp without telling us).
• Fuss with a different spreadsheet (purple is done, green is transferred, orange means the manager messed up and has some explaining to do)...
• Explain that re-hiring people is not my job.
• Terminate and transfer employees.
• Update spreadsheets. Actually, it's just THE spreadsheet. I create a new version every week.
• Add people to e-mail list.
• Add agenda items.
• Recycle a lot of boxes (My office has been the temporary storage unit for the employee Christmas presents). I don't even feel like complaining, I love my desk so much.
• Approve parking requests. Apparently this is part of my job? I'll assume I have that power since it worked.
• Create a powerpoint.
• Lead the music at our PSD Christmas Devotional. Bishop Waddell was presiding, but I was surprisingly calm.
• Attempt to find somewhere you can get a Swiss Legend watch repaired.

Week 24

Dear Friends and Family,

This week I:

• Ordered flowers
• Looked up addresses
• Converted another armadillo load of employees from one kind of temp worker to another. This time it required some investigation as half the fields I needed were not on the spreadsheet.
• Attended a writers Christmas party where we exchanged books and I got to cuddle the most adorable little 2 month-old baby. We're pals now. He just doesn't know it.
• Attended a few minutes of the missionary Christmas party (it started as it was time for me to leave) and ate a lot of treats.
• Trained a 5th person to do the mail. Five. Ridiculous.
• Went to the 28th floor to deliver mail. They just recently turned this into office space. It has a bit of a Hogwarts aspect to it. If you don't want to climb 58 flights of stairs you have to take the high speed elevator (skips 2-13) up to 26, go around a few corners, and take the hidden mini elevator up the last two floors. 
• Made lots of agenda updates.
• Scheduled some meetings.
• Got people lots of strange building accesses. (The access, not the buildings).
• Explained that something was a finance problem, not a HR problem.
• Submitted another Education Reimbursement.
• Did about 3 minutes of transcription work.
• Requested guest parking.
• Calendared all the different director's vacations so we don't schedule meetings then.
• Terminated employees. Mwhahaha. No, actually I just do the paperwork when they resign, but termination makes it sound much worse.
• Attended Ryan's choir concert.
• Attended Carter's band concert.
• Visited Sally, my friend and former flute teacher. She was a bit disappointed though, to find out that since I'm on a mission she couldn't set me up with her nephew...
• Found 10 minutes to practice my flute. Probably should invest in a little more since Mom signed me up to play for the Relief Society...

And now, our weekly segment on Primary Stories:

For our ward Christmas party last week we had a luau, complete with pit-roasted pig. I thought this was cool even if I wasn't interested in eating it. And then I saw Suzie with her face buried in her mothers stomach. I'd forgotten that pigs were one of her favorite animals, and she was quite upset at its fate. Now I would like to say that I said something nice and comforting, but of course what came out of my mouth was, "Well, at least it isn't a whale." Which, whales being her favorite animal, is not one of the most comforting thing I could have said. Good one, Sister Ward.

On Sunday I taught a lesson on the resurrection. While they were particularly squirmy this week, it was actually a very good lesson as they had lots of questions. To review, we watched some scenes from the bible videos, beginning when Christ was already on the cross. It was sweet to see how concerned they were for Jesus. Despite their wiggles, the Spirit was there.

At the beginning of this same lesson, Jimmy told me (out of the blue) "Don't say the word 'blood,' it makes me sick." Every little head in the room turned to him in disbelief. "No it doesn't!" the other kids exclaimed. "All you do is tell gross stories full of blood!" I had to smother a laugh. It's true, most of his stories involve blood. Anyone who can spend five minutes describing the changing colors of his cold sore is not in any danger of losing their breakfast over the word "blood." He's just the ultimate drama king. Kid's brains are so funny.


I also had a neat experience while reading my scriptures last week that I forgot to record. I was struggling with not being a proselyting missionary again. I love my mission, and I do feel like the work I do is important. However, it is hard sometimes when I see proselyting missionaries and read talks about bringing souls unto Christ. When I originally put in my papers, I thought I would have that chance to testify of Christ and share the joy of the gospel directly. So last week I was reading my scriptures and praying that I would find understanding or satisfaction with the work I do instead. I was reading in Mosiah, I think, when I came across the scripture that says "how beautiful upon the mount are the feet of him who publisheth peace." I just had this immediate sense that the Lord was aware of me personally and valued the work I do. After all, what more perfect scripture for a missionary working in Church Publishing Services to stumble across than one about publishing the Lord's peace?

I am so grateful for the Gospel and my Savior. I know the Church is true and that our Heavenly Father loves us. He's right there, you just have to look for him. I haven't always seen the Lord's hand in my life, but looking back, his fingerprints are all over the place. I am so glad that he has been there for me and guided me to where I need to be today.

Love,

Sister Ward

Week 23

Dear Family and Friends,

As of this week I am officially the HR Assistant for Publishing Services, instead of the backup. New Mommy came in the other day and handed in her official resignation, so I guess I get to keep my giant desk. I will miss seeing her again, but I'm happy for her. At least this makes my e-mail signature less of a lie. You see, if I have to do HR business with somebody who doesn't know who I am, I use a signature that says I am the HR Assistant, instead of a YCSM, because otherwise they probably wouldn't believe me. It's easier than wasting all that time explaining that I am indeed a responsible adult and that I am actually supposed to be handling HR business. I had a surreal moment when Actually-knows-everything called the cubicle "Sister Ward's desk." I was like, "My desk...I like that...my desk."Even though I've been using this desk for almost three months. Anyway, I made it official, and put a sticky note with my name on my office plaque.

I also had an article published this week: http://faithcounts.com/2-truths-lies-elephant/

I had another article published, but it's on the Church Employee Intranet, so I can't link to it. The first line stunk, but I couldn't think of anything better. The rest of it was pretty okay though, if I do say so myself. It was on leading like the Savior, and how different people need different things from their leaders.

This week I:

• Came into the office an extra day so my sick supervisor would agree to stay home but I ended up staying home the next day instead.
• Trained a fourth person to do the mail.
• Found out I will probably be training a fifth person to do the mail (the previous victim kept getting lost or something).
• Tracked down missing mail.
• Delivered a lot of mail.
• Started an intern's hiring paperwork.
• Delivered a cell-phone.
• Analyzed a couple articles about a donkey (long story short they were really good so I'm trying to learn from the writer). If you get a chance, read the "Running with Sherman" series on the New York Times.
• Tried to wash the road salt off the windows. Twice. It was mostly successful.
• Moved an armadillo load of employees from Nexeo to ESG. 
• Successfully transfered a call for the second time!
• Found the box of Christmas gifts and cards for our Spanish speaking employees in a mountain of boxes.
• Became proficient at hip-bumping the security scanner. Full hands--you do what you gotta do.
• Transcribed a speech on authenticity in writing.
• Assigned building access.
• Updated e-mail lists. If people would just stop quitting I wouldn't spend so much time doing paperwork...
• Did NOT get any e-mails from the one person who always has an 'emergency.' I finally caught on to him trying to get around the rules by getting the naive missionary to do it. Now that I tell him to do it the right way he's stopped asking me... =)
• Wrote an department update in which I slapped people on the wrists for addressing personal packages to work. (There is a tower of packages by the front entrance, and I sincerely doubt that you need anything from Macy's to do your job).
• Gave church photographers access to the Church Directory of Leaders. They're going to be visiting members in Ireland, Germany, Tonga, New Zealand, and Australia. The only place I'm visiting is the isle of Great Jealousy. I hear everyone there has green eyes.
• Attended an HR meeting where people complained about all the managers who break hiring rules and make our spreadsheets gross.

And now, for our pet stories: Featuring Merlin the Cat

Ringo and Merlin are friends, but mostly ignore each other. However, we take every opportunity we can get to encourage them to play-fight with each other. They take on the traditional cat and dog roles, Ringo chasing Merlin like he might actually have a chance. Earlier this week they were running around, having a great time while we were egging them on, when Merlin got distracted by a piece of string. Now,  Ringo never gave this string a moment's notice, but he figured if the cat liked it, it must be important. Before we could stop him he dashed up under Merlin's nose and ATE the string. Well, it's all fun and games until someone eats the cat's string. Ringo bolted all the way across the living room, where he leapt on the couch to mom for protection, Merlin in hot pursuit. When his claws came out, we decided it was time to cool off, and poor kitty was finally let outside. Moral of the story: don't eat the cat's string. He likes it more than he likes you.

When I pulled into the garage on Wednesday, Merlin poked his head out of his kitty shelter.  Dad made this shelter out of an old cooler with a hole in the side and a heating pad back when we thought we were going to have an outside-only cat (ha!). Well, when I pulled into the garage, I see Merlin poke his cute little face out followed by his shoulders, and then he dragged the rest of his body through the hole, his belly barely making it out. It was like Winnie the Pooh. Oh, I laughed. I laughed so hard I cried. Poor kitty. It's not his fault. He just won't stop growing!

I didn't make it to the temple this week, but I did receive some pictures from Rachel. =) It was good to see you, my friend.

P.S. I love you.