The First Couple Days

My first Sunday was last Sunday, June 27. The service was a comedy of errors for which the lay leaders gently corrected me each time (like forgetting to bless the offering until after I'd given the benediction). Praise God for a gracious congregation!

My first day in the office was Monday, June 28. The painters beat me to the church that morning and I chatted with one of them on the way in (being one female among 5 or so unknown men, it's best to find that fine line between being friendly but not flirty). He asked about the congregation and I said that the service is all in Spanish and I preach in Spanish. He told me that I speak English pretty good! (It's only my native language...)

That day in the office I had 3 computers with me: the church's old laptop, the church's new laptop, and my personal laptop. The old laptop I set up to defragment all morning (it took 3 hrs) so it was out of commission. The new laptop I couldn't get in to because I didn't know the password. Out of three computers, I could only use one!

I feel like I've been gaining a southern accent the longer I live consecutively in North Carolina (on and off since 1993; the current streak is 3 1/2 years). A lot of it may be being at Duke Divinity School the past 3 years with people from around the country and the world. Then I went to Joan's church's potluck in Washington, NC Sunday evening and I was asked if I had folks up north (why, yes I do). So much for that southern accent.

Finally, the church sign, pictured above. Heather is a very difficult name in the Spanish-speaking world (my parents had no idea when they named me for a purple Scottish flower from my heritage). My name has been spelled Geder (a Spanish phonetic spelling that at least pronounces it almost right because the G sounds like an English H). I've taught lots of people to put their tongue between their teeth to make the TH sound. The senora I lived with in Spain for a semester in college had so much trouble, she finally gave up and said, "I'm just going to call you Estelle"! So the fact that the lay leaders who did the sign got 1 out of 2 H's is pretty good in my opinion! (And they did apologize for the missing H.)