God in the Monotony

Sometimes life can be really boring. Well, actually, parts of life can be really boring. It's during those times of boredom when the voice of God can sometimes be difficult to hear.

I have a job. I work from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday. I work as a receptionist for a company that specializes in road repair. My job is incredibly boring. The work is not very stimulating, and as hard as I try to convince myself that I care about road repair - I really don't. Actually, to be truthful, not only do I care little for road repair but I also care little for office work. Every morning is a battle for me to get out of bed because I'm not excited about my job. Every evening I come home tired and frustrated because I'm not excited about my job. I feel like all my energy is being drained working at this unfulfilling job.

I'm finding that it is in the boring, monotonous times of my job that I have trouble hearing the voice of the Lord. I sit at my desk typing some data entry work and question if I'm really doing what the Lord wants me to do. I ask Him how long do I have to work at this "temp" job and all I get as an answer is that the temp assignment is indefinite. The prospect of working at this company for my whole time in New Zealand is frightening. Is this a blessing? Am I being ungrateful? Or am I quenching the desires of my heart that have been given by God by staying at this job. I get paid really well, and there is stability in having the same job my whole time in New Zealand, but...

I hate coming home tired. Drained. I have to admit that I haven't written a blog in a long time because, well, I haven't had the time or energy. Also, this is really impacting my enjoyment of NZ. I attend a young adult Bible study with my church on Tuesdays and feel too tired to truly enjoy the fellowship and great teaching. Last weekend Cara and I drove out to Raglan on the West Coast of New Zealand to enjoy the black sand beach. Watching the sun set was great, but my experience was tinted with weariness from working my 40 hour a week monotonous job. I never felt this tired when I worked full-time as a church secretary at home, but here in New Zealand my job is leaving me with no energy. Which is amazing to me since I spend most of my time doing monotonous stuff at work. I really have no idea what the Lord is doing.

I'm sorry this blog is full of depressing stuff. Life here isn't all bad. Cara and I are house-sitting for a family at our church and it has been wonderful to have a house to live in for a few weeks. Last week we also went to see the fifth Harry Potter movie at the movie theater which was an enjoyable experience all around. The seats were large and comfortable (like sitting in an easy chair at home...no kidding) . The seats were also assigned seating. What?! We sat in row L seats 11 & 12 and laughed about the situation. There's something not natural about assigned seating in a movie theater. Also, New Zealand continues to be beautiful. The sun rises, the rainbows, the hilly countryside. Winter is almost over. The weather is getting warmer (almost as warm as when we first arrived in May) and the days are getting longer. This has got to be one of the shortest Winters I've ever experienced. Yay! See life isn't all rough here in NZ.

I know God is working and sometimes I have to remind myself to stop and think about His blessings to me and to others to realize that He's present. But still, it's difficult to see Him in the monotonous moments of life.

Back to Work

It's been awhile since I've written. Why? Because I've been busy....working an 8 to 5 job. Yup one of the various Temp agency's I've signed up with has finally gotten me a job. This job could last a month, it could last my whole time here in NZ. Only the Lord knows. I'm a receptionist for one of NZ's leading road construction companies Fulton Hogan. It's an interesting atmosphere. It's professional, but since they focus on road repair most of the staff walks around in jeans and bright orange vests. There's only 12 women working in a building full of over 50 employees. Yeesh! Yeah it's different. I'm learning so much about road repair and New Zealanders. Here's a snippet of what my days are sometimes like:

Conversation

(phone rings)

Me: Fulton Hogan Waikato, Tiana speaking.

Customer: Hi, I need to know about a stabilizing job.

Me: Sure, I'll transfer you to Gerald K.

(click)

Office Worker: Don't transfer them to him!! He'll just confuse them. He doesn't know what he's doing!

Me: But it says here that he works in Stabilizing.

Office Worker: Yeah, but he's incompetent. Give stabilizing calls to Glenn F.

(phone beeps - call has come back)

Me: Hi, Gerald doesn't seem to be answering his line, I'll transfer you to Glenn.

(click)

Office Worker: Good job. Give Glenn all the stabilizing calls. Never transfer to Gerald!!

(she leaves)

Me (to myself): What is stabilizing anyway!

Yup. My days are full of many strange conversations like that. It's a wacky environment. Another amusing event that happens at around 4:30pm everyday is the daily mail pickup by New Zealand Couriers. Each evening a red van pulls up in front of the glass entrance to the office. A guy with spiky hair and sun glasses pops out, opens the glass door...and that's when I hear it: music blasting from the van. This music isn't just loud, it's blaring. Once the doors open the whole building of FH Waikato can hear it!! He then picks up the mail. Says "Goodday." Opens the door and once again a burst of music fills the air. The door closes, he drives off, and I begin to laugh at the idea of a postal delivery vehicle rocking down the street.

Random
Same item, different words:
Twink=white out, binding coils=comb binds, smoko room=break room

I experienced my first New Zealand thunderstorm yesterday. It was different. Tropical rain blowing really hard sideways. Lightening sometimes without the sound of thunder. It was cool. Unfortunately, those storms also produced some tornados on the west coast south of Hamilton. Homes and buildings were destroyed, but amazingly no one was killed. Hmmm. And here I thought there were no Tornados in NZ. I guess now New Zealanders have something more to fear besides Tsunamis, Volcanic Eruptions, Earthquakes, and Pandemic Disease Outbreaks (huh?!).