July 2023 - July has been a very busy month from a business perspective. Along with our normal daily work and ongoing projects, we have been working on Quarterly Reports for January to March, 2024 budgets, and 2024 funding proposals. June to August is a time for prioritizing and strategizing our work and ministry for the coming year. It can be very easy to let this all become overwhelming. We acknowledge that as a leadership team and set aside time for a Language Technology Leadership Team (LTLT) Retreat at the REST Ministries Shepherd’s Gate Inn in southwest Indiana.
The purpose of this LTLT Retreat was both to provide focused time in person as a leadership team and as a time to rest and relax together. We started each day with a wonderful devotional provided by our host from REST Ministries where he shared with us about rest and the sabbath. The mornings and afternoons had us discussing topics such as the Vision, Core Values, and Priorities for Language Technology, developing a three-year strategic plan, reflecting on the organizational structure of Language Technology, and delving deeply into some high priority and time sensitive topics. Then each evening, we would spend time relaxing individually by exploring this amazing location or together chatting, playing games, or watching a movie.
[On a personal note, this is the first trip I have taken on my own since 2019 without Angie traveling with me. Our daughter Emily came home and cared for her mom so I could take this trip and be focused on the meetings and the respite. The hope is to be able to do this yearly.]
To give you a glimpse into our work, this is our current and updated work-in-progress vision statement for Language Technology:
We develop innovative technologies that enable communities to flourish in the languages they value the most.
We are praying and discussing this still along with many of the topics started at the retreat. The retreat was wonderful and I am already looking forward to doing this again next year.
