The end is in sight!

Last week, my email migration team passed the 2/3 mark in the number of email accounts moved to the new system. We’ll pass 70% this week, perhaps even by the end of today. Problems in the process have been rare. So far as I’m concerned, this progress is great evidence of God at work in the mundane matters of technology.

When you pray, please praise God for the hard work of Keith, Bob, Dallas, Paul, and Summer. Jon and Sheryl are out there, too. Ask God to fill them with grace, give them patience, and hold them up with the stamina and perseverance to see the project through to the end.

Newsletter, December 2009

It’s funny, but the print version of our newsletter was mailed and received before this post. However, if you read it here, you’re also going to get an update to the bit I wrote in the letter about a trip I just made to North Carolina.

Ten of us gathered at the JAARS center in Waxhaw to talk about how we could make the online help desk easier to use for the Wycliffe workers worldwide. Two of those people were my future colleagues at Wycliffe Europe, Ken Haugh and Martijn de Vries. Two people came from Orlando, and another came from Calgary.

Right now, a person putting a request in to the help desk has to complete 10 fields. That may not sound like many, but some of them involve complex categorization of the request. Yuck. Only geeks care about that stuff. As a result of these meetings, we’ve cut those fields down to as few as five. We’ll find out how useful folks find these changes when we make this new look active at the end of January.

So, here is the newsletter. Pick the medium that suits you best!

December 2009: A Liddle Good News (for reading on-screen)

December 2009: A Liddle Good News (for printing)

I smell progress

The change from one email system to another is going well. If you’ve been praying for my team and me during this time, I want you to know that your prayers have been heard and honored. We’ve done about 45% of the accounts now, and I expect progress to pick up in November when two volunteers return. These fellows are hardworking men, and I can’t thank God enough for sending them our way to supplement our year-round staff.

Keep praying for all the Wycliffe members who have yet to “migrate”, as well as those who have already gone through the process. Everyone has questions and concerns – before and after – and it’s hard for our small staff to give each person individualized attention. I’m thankful that God led me to a free tool that does a fantastic job of moving email folders and messages to the new system. The imapsync program makes short work of even large email accounts.

Our department is going to thank the imapsync developer, Gilles Lamiral, by fulfilling a few things from his wish list at Amazon.com. The tool he offers freely has saved us hours and hours of work and anguish. You could help us, and stun him with our thankfulness, if you gave something from the list as well. After all, Christian giving should be fun.