In the beginning...

I've been toying with the idea of beginning a blog for some time now, but lacked a focus for it, until now! It hit me this week what I want to share with the world, my adventures as a Bilingual Secretary, my childhood dream. :) This may sound silly, but I can remember as a child saying I wanted to be a Bilingual Secretary and travel the world when I grew up. I was always fascinated by the ladies in suits and high heals in the banks or the lovely flight attendants in their similar uniforms when we would be traveling. I would try on my mother's heals and accessories all the time, and play at my desk with anything "officey" my mom would give me.

I suppose I should start in the beginning though. I was born in Iceland, to an American, US Air Force father and a Costa Rican mother. Mom wanted my brother and I to have both languages growing up, so she decided to speak to us ONLY in Spanish, and dad would speak to us ONLY in English. They were super strict about this by not acknowledging us until we spoke to them in the correct language. What a gift we were given! So, I grew up knowing I was bilingual, and knowing I loved those office ladies, so naturally I concluded that I wanted to be a Bilingual Secretary!
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By the time I was 13, my mother, brother and I moved permanently to Kansas City. During my last year of college at UMKC, my uncle, the Spanish Ministries Pastor at KCBT, asked me if I would consider working as his assistant. I was working at an Immigration Law Firm at the time, doing office work, translating documents, and occasionally traveling with one of the lawyers to simultaneously interpret at her conferences. I was happy, learning and growing, and looking forward to more open doors to travel as an interpreter. I wanted to take serious consideration to my uncle's request though, and felt led by God to take the part-time position (January 2001). When I graduated the following year, I was offered full-time and again, felt God leading me to stay. Not long after this I was sent on my first trip through the church as the interpreter for a team, awesome!

Pastor Allen Smith and I in Peru, September 2003

My uncle and I in Costa Rica, December 1985 - who would have thought??

I worked for my uncle in the Spanish world of our church for 6 years and was then offered to transition into our Senior Pastor's office as his assistant. He had never had a bilingual assistant before, and it had become a great need in his area, being bilingual himself and much of the communication coming in and out of the office was in Spanish. It was an extremely difficult transition, but I felt again, God leading me to accept. This was October 2006 and have been here ever since. My life in this office is as unique as it gets. The things I get to do and learn, the people I get to meet, the meetings and events I get to serve, the places I get to go as an interpreter or admin, the amazing food I get to eat - all coupled with a great daily cup of coffee equals a dream come true for me. :)

A very small taste of my last four years...

Hospitality Trip to Mexico, October 2006

My aunt and Kim Perry rounded out our Hospitality team.

A few of the receptions at home...

Hosting a Farewell Reception, March 2008

Hosting a Ministry Anniversary Reception, August 2009

Hosting an Ordination Reception, May 2010

 Still interpreting too!... 

English interpreter at CIMA in Argentina, January 2010

With this I sign off my first post. I'm extremely excited to share this part of my life with you, my life as the Bilingual Secretary I always wanted to be (officially: Administrative Assistant to our Senior Pastor, Dr. Jeff Adams). :)

We can often be found working remotely at a local foodie or coffee joint...