In the jungle, the mighty jungle

We just returned this afternoon from our trip to Huaticocha, a small village in the Ecuador rainforest. The trip to Huaticocha was long - we accidentally caught the wrong bus and what should have been a 5 hour trip turned into a 10+ hour trip....we didn't make the same mistake returning though!  If you want to check it out on a map, we were headed from Quito to a place near Sumaco National Park, but we ended up going to Nueva Loja, then down to Coca, then back!

Huaticocha is absolutely beautiful, and while the trip there was long it was also breathtakingly beautiful. Every leaf, every hill, every waterfall...our God is so creative and such an artist. Taking in the beauty, and being reminded that this is just a small glimpse of God's creation was incredible. The accommodations there were much nicer than I thought they would be. This past year they finished the construction of a guest house there. The rooms remind me of the inside of a simple log cabin, and there were mosquito nets above the beds and a small table. John and I got to share a room which was much needed...only the second time so far that's happened on the trip.  No running water, however, so we only took one bucket bath in the creek during our time there.

The food there was pretty good as well. I've never had fruit juices as amazing as the ones we have here daily. The fruit is so fresh and sweet...starting off every day with fresh fruit juice has become a highlight! We definitely felt like we were in the jungle.  The missionaries said that we were less than 100km from the place where the Waodani people live, the subjects of the Jim Elliot story.

The Amazing Race the first day there was intense. We went hiking down the side of a large hill in the middle of the jungle...slipping and sliding down the mud. It's the Amazon rainforest so it rains every day...so we wore large rubber boots and made our way to a beautiful waterfall. The majesty of that hidden gem was incredible, and we got to take some time to cool off there and swim. John and I can now officially say we've swum through a waterfall in the Amazon! The hike back from the waterfall though was absolutely grueling....after lots of frustration and tears we made it back to where we were staying....but for me (Katie) that was the end of the Amazing Race. John and I talked to two of the leaders afterwards about how physically intense everything was and they gave us the option to "opt out" of the race...we would still participate in most everything the group does, but we would no longer be competing. For me the decision was a no-brainer...I was so exhausted! John finished off that day of the Amazing Race and then opted out as well to be with me.

The Amazing Race training has been a nice way to learn the ways of the cities and see beautiful places, but it's been challenging as well.  John commented in the jungle that he felt like he had brought such an American value system to these places - while going through majestic once-in-a-lifetime places, our #1 priority was to get there and get back as quickly as possible.  While the challenges in themselves aren't necessarily physically out of our reach, the pace is.  We don't feel quite as young, or as in-shape, as these younger interns.  Consequence of our desk jobs, and quite a few more years, and more injuries, I suppose.

Yesterday was the second day of the Amazing Race in Huaticocha and the first day John and I didn't participate in the race for a whole day....and it was absolutely beautiful. We finally felt like we were able to slow down and enjoy the beauty around us, and had the opportunity to engage in a lot more conversations with incredible people, especially Mark and Cheryl Schafer. Mark and Cheryl have an incredible story of how God led them to Huaticocha, leaving behind a construction business in the United States that they owned and following God's call to share the gospel with the people of the rainforest. They are in the process of building a school there where they will be training up missionaries...its a beautiful vision. They are planning on opening the school in the coming year, and I have no doubt they and the leadership staff around them will be raising up some incredible disciples.

Yesterday we climbed up a really large hill, at the top of which is a school. It was a tough climb, but being able to climb it with John at our own pace made it so enjoyable. When we got close to the top the kids started coming down. Mark asked them if they'd like to help us up, and their faces lit up! Immediately they ran down and helped us carry up our bags and things. At the top of the hill we went into their school building...one medium sized room where all the kids learn together with one teacher. There were kids age 5 to 14...and that's their school. It was hard to realize what a disadvantage they have...most of them won't go beyond a 6th grade level in school. However, there was also something beautiful about these children. They had so many smiles on their faces and were so eager to learn. They were so excited to share who their siblings and cousins were...they all acted like a family. While they don't have much, love for one another is rich there.

By far the highlight for me yesterday was in the evening....we gathered around a fire and debriefed the day, and then had a beautiful time of worship. The time of worship was so incredible. I've really been missing singing...living in close quarters with so many people 24/7 hasn't really allowed time for singing...but last night we sang to the Lord. Cheryl leaned over during worship and asked if I'd lead everyone in singing 10,000 Reasons...it wasn't til that moment that I realized how much I missed singing, and what an absolute privilege it is to sing to the King. Last night was a time of lifting up praise to God, seeing Him at work and feeling so honored that He's called us to serve Him. We still don't know exactly what this summer will look like in Trujillo, but it's an honor to be called to serve the King. I'm excited for the journey!

Thank you all for your prayers. God is so good!

Persistent Questions

One of the frequent questions that Katie and I (John writing here!) get regarding this summer is, "Why?"  Why leave careers, home, pet, family, friends, to do an internship alongside college students?  It's a very good question really!  Why are we here?  There's a variety of good answers to the question.

First, Katie and I have been married a year and a half and rarely have much opportunity to do ministry together.  She tagged along with me in Kenya right before we got married, but we always felt like it would be best to find a mission field that would be equally new for each of us.  We both have an interest in international mission work, but haven't necessarily felt God pulling us to live overseas long-term.  This is a great chance to learn more and discover it together.

Second, I have some questions I'm looking for answers to, and I hope to be exploring some of them through blog posts this summer.  One is regarding the role of short-term missions in the world today, particularly those coming from the West.  I've been involved in STM for many years (this is my 13th short-term international mission trip!), and I credit them for a lot of my spiritual development.  But I also see the criticisms from sources like When Helping Hurts and others.  I'm particularly wondering right now if the supposed link from STM to long-term missions is a bit of a bait-and-switch, where career missionaries do work entirely unlike short-term missionaries.

Another of my questions has to do with models for church planting and community development overseas.  This is the one that plugs into my own career, right now with LINC NT, where we are seeking both simultaneously.  I'm interested in the interplay between the two and how they can be practiced together.  I'm looking forward to learning from the national leadership in these countries and incorporating their wisdom and experience into my own, wherever God uses me.

Third, Katie and I are blessed with both the opportunities and the resources to serve, and we feel the burden to put these to use beyond our individual local contexts.  We feel the burden of the world outside our Dallas bubble and feel called by God to serve humbly overseas, using our skills and training.  That includes worship leadership, camp leadership, and discipleship for Katie, and business, missional leadership, and team leadership for me.  And more, as God reveals them.

That's just a few of our thoughts...stay tuned for more throughout the summer!

Amazing Race

Today is Sunday morning, the 26th, and I (John) am writing this from a bus in Peru somewhere near the Ecuador border.  We tend to write our blog posts while offline, then wait for a chance to post them, FYI.

We have passed thru several days of the Amazing Race, the team training for our interns.  There's 11 interns plus the Executive for Inca Link.  Other than Katie and I, there are no two interns from the same state in the US.  We are enjoying getting to know everyone.  A few have been on Inca Link trips before.  Most of the interns are college kids, except for one who is closer to our age and is a lumberjack from the northeast.  There's one from Toccoa Falls too!  Half the interns will be remaining in Ecuador after the Amazing Race, and the rest come with us back to Peru.  Our Peru team includes Matt, who is a second-year intern architecture major at UK interested in construction.  We also have Bekah, a college student studying youth ministry at CIU.  Gideon will also be with us, the aforementioned logger.  Our team is rounded out by Brittany, a bilingual Puerto Rican studying at Nyack.

The Amazing Race training is really interesting.  It's much more intense than we expected.  The goals are to learn how to be self-sufficient on our own, grow in team strength, and be stretched.  We break into new teams each day and pass through a series of clues - challenges that we have to figure out with help only from nationals we don't know.  Typical challenges include things like walking great distances with only the name of a destination, figuring out how to take public transportation across an unknown city, hiking up or down mountains, finding people we only have a name for, and team challenges like army-crawling through mud pits.  It's exceedingly physically-demanding...we probably walk 3-5 miles per day, much of it on an incline, in addition to other physical challenges.

We enjoyed our time in Bogota.  We got to climb Monserrate, a famous mountain, Saint Cecilia, a ministry in a slum on top of a hill, and an Alliance church in San Cristobal.  We also got to explore the city a bit, seeing some famous places in the city center including a museum of glamorous gold artwork.  We spent just an evening in Lima, spending most of our time in the Plaza de Aguas, a park that features a lot of creative water fountains.  Then we bussed to Trujillo overnight, and spent two nights there at Pasitos de Fe, a new orphanage past Porvenir.  We also spent some time in the city center and at a small children's ministry just outside the large garbage dump.  We've just finished bussing overnight (about 12 hours) to the Ecuador border, where we'll change busses and go another 12 hours to Quito.  Still to come is Quito, urban ministry, Portoviejo, the rural ministry, and Huaticocha, the primitive ministry (aka, the middle of nowhere).

Looking forward to continuing to keep everyone updated as we continue our adventure!  Katie and I are tired and sore but healthy, and looking forward to slowing down the pace to settle into ministry.  We still are not sure what ministry will look like for the summer.  We're enjoying our teammates and having fun with everyone.  My Spanish is growing rapidly, and although my comprehension is still sub-par, I find that I can communicate about anything I need to.  Katie is learning more words and phrases and doing great.  Navigating public transportation is pretty easy, and we're feeling confident!  We're all a lot more comfortable asking strangers on the street for help with just about anything!

Thanks for your prayers, we love and miss you all and think of you often!  Blessings to you!

Life in Colombia

We're sitting in the Colombia airport about to make trek to our second destination - Lima, Peru! Yesterday was the first day of the Amazing Race. We literally explored almost all of Northern Bogota. It was crazy! From trying to ask for directions in Spanish to climbing down a mountain to climbing up another huge hill to memorizing Spanish tongue twisters and so many more activities it was a packed day. I cant remember the last time I was so exhausted...on so many levels.It does make me nervous as we have two more weeks of Amazing Race training, but today is lighter with us flying to Lima so we only have Amazing Race in Lima for a couple hours this evening. Then we take an overnight bus to Trujillo, Peru - which will be our home base this summer. We'll be able to drop a bag there and then continue the trek to Ecuador and then back to Peru.
Colombia itself it a beautiful country. We've met some wonderful people who are do amazing ministry transforming lives. We heard testimonies from peoples whose lives have been transformed for Christ through the ministry. Amazing! One missionary here Lucy has such a beautiful servants heart and is truly an example of giving all for the sake of the gospel. Seeing their selfless service has truly been a blessing.
Catching the flight now. Please continue to pray for us. I'm a little under the weather with chills and a mild headache for a couple days (probably due to the altitude). Last night I got a better nights sleep which was much needed. :)
Thank you for your prayers - we can definitely feel them.
Katie

We're on our way!

Wrote this update yesterday and just getting to post:

We just landed in San Salvador where we have a 2 hour layover before heading on to Bogota, Colombia. So far the trip has been great! We had a beautiful time with some family and friends at the airport before we left. By far the most unexpected thing was a minivan caught on fire at the airport right outside where we checked in. Lots of flames and tires exploding but no injuries....but it sure made for a memorable start! We finished the time with family and friends at the airport being prayed over with a prayer led by Oscar. After that saying goodbye...or as John reminded me "It's not goodbye, just see you in three months." I'm very grateful for that as I already miss family and friends...and our sweet pup Toby. I'm very excited though for the adventure ahead. On the plane on the way here John and I reflected on how there is a lot we don't know going into this trip...our living situation, what life will look like daily, what ministry we'll be investing in, any of the people....but we know of Our God, and He is faithful. We know He has sent us to go for a specific purpose and that He who began this good work in us will carry it on to completion. And we're looking forward to seeing God at work and discovering what lies ahead. We can feel your prayers so keep them coming!
Love you all and may you see God at work in your midst,
Katie

Summer With Inca Link

As you're reading this, Katie and I will be taking off for South America.  We've talked with many of you about our summer plans, but I don't suppose that we've really posted online widely.  When we got married, we discussed how neither of us felt like the Lord was leading us to live overseas long term.  However, we both felt an interest in what God was doing around the world and how our passions for worship, discipleship, and transformational development could be used by Him.

This past winter, God laid it on both of our hearts separately to pursue a short-term opportunity overseas.  We feel God's calling to be Christians who live and work locally, but think and serve globally.  This has led me to serve three different organizations over the past few years, in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Peru.  This year, however, we looked for a way to serve God together internationally, and God opened a door for us with Inca Link, a Christian ministry working with disadvantaged youth in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.  Inca Link runs a big summer internship program, so we'll be joining by some 30 other young adults from around the country who will be spending all or part of the summer in South America.

We will, after visiting the ministry in Colombia and Ecuador, spend most of the summer living in Trujillo, Peru, a mid-sized coastal city in northern Peru.  We will be working alongside the long-term missionaries there to mentor the summer interns and lead short-term teams that come to serve the youth.  Inca Link operates a youth camp and a children's home there and is trying to end the crisis of youth who live and rummage through the city dump for their daily bread.  Serving with Inca link gives us the opportunity to serve the needs of a community in Peru while simultaneously investing in college students from North America who are figuring out what it looks like to live a life dedicated to God.

Our team training will take up the first two weeks.  We'll be rapidly moving throughout Bogota, several cities in Ecuador, Lima, and Trujillo as we compete Amazing Race-style.  I don't know anything about what this time will look like, but it should be really exciting as we experience new things and try challenges we haven't considered before!  After that, our next 10 weeks will be in Trujillo with half of the interns (the rest go to Ecuador).  We'll host a few short-term teams and spend some time on a self-directed project to help the ministry or the community.  We really don't know much about what that time will look like either, other than that for us, our number one priority is to serve as the long-term missionaries want.  Katie and I feel strongly about not coming in with big plans or expectations, but going humbly to listen, learn, and serve at their request.

Katie and I can't wait to improve our Spanish, learn a bit about the culture, and see God at work.  We expect to learn a lot more about God and understand ourselves better as we minister together and worship together.  I can't tell you a lot more than that, because we have kept ourselves pretty much in the dark about the summer in order to let God work as freely as possible.  I hope we learn more about ministry, and about missions.  I hope we are as blessed as anyone we help minister to.  And I can't wait to see all our friends and family again in mid-August to share stories and encouragement!  Stay tuned to this blog to catch our updates as we post them.

Phrases We Should Stop Using, Pt. VI: Time?

Back to "Phrases We Should Stop Using."  This time, I'm thinking about one we use a lot..."time is money!"  We like to toss this one around a lot when calculating out our time, or deciding how much time to spend on something, or discussing our annoyance with how much time was wasted by such and such thing.  I'm not sure we should be using it so much anymore!

Like many of the other phrases I've looked at in this blog series, this one has a right time and place.  I'm a business manager, so I frequently deal with the "time is money" concept.  We pay our employees, so their time is indeed money to us.  I'd be foolish not to count the expense of our salaries in figuring the cost of some program.  If a program is 2 hours long and we didn't have to buy anything to throw it, the program wasn't free, it probably cost hundreds of dollars in staff time.  If the staff wasn't doing that, they'd be doing something else for us.  It's a basic concept in accounting.  But that's accounting.  It's not the real world.  In the real world, time is most certainly not money.  It's so much more than that.

If we went around with the mindset that time is money, we'd probably end up super stressed and very busy trying to maximize the value of our time.  We'd be neglecting our relationships in favor of productivity and rushing from one thing to the next, missing the beginning and end of everything.  And...I may have just described the lives of many Americans.  Life is about much more than cash, or money, or income.  The richness of life is not measured in dollars and cents - we know this, it's frequently talked about.  Yet we still live our lives this way.  I'm terrible at this.  I stay very busy.  I've got a very long to-do list and wasted time is more than just a nuisance to me.  It means something isn't going to get done, or I'm going to lose quality time with my wife, my friends, or my pillow.

Time is not money.  Sometimes we need to have a mind to throw that equation out the window and spend our time extravagantly.  Sometimes we need to throw it to the wind and spend an extended amount of time with someone.  Maybe they need a kind ear.  Maybe we do.  Or maybe they just need the extravagant gift of several hours of your time.  When we allow time to equal money, we lose our relationships.

Micah 6:8 on Poverty and Development

Thinking about the poor and development always brings me back to Micah 6:8. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  This is so critical to me in my approach to the issue of poverty. God asks us to act justly. To recognize justice when we see it, and to seek it. This may mean a firm hand with the poor, avoiding excessive handouts or doing things that may bring harm to them. This may also mean trying to put right social systems that have exploited and broken the poor.

God asks us to love mercy. Justice helps us get what we deserve, but mercy comes flying in when we ought not to get what we justly deserve. The bleeding man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho didn’t really need justice, he needed mercy! The countless sick and dying people whom Jesus healed were already receiving justice, but Jesus gave them mercy. For us this may mean casting our own cares aside to care extravagantly for the poor. It may mean giving of ourselves until there isn’t much left. It brings us to a place of compassion where we connect with the poor on a personal level.

And God calls us to walk humbly with Him. If we’re not doing this, what else do we have? We can’t have pride before God, especially when we’re doing development. If we do, we’re putting ourselves in God’s place as the savior of the poor. The poor don’t need a savior, they already have one. Nor should we presume to tell God how we’re going to go about His work. It’s His work, and we are privileged to be used by Him. We get to join Him. This humility must translate into our attitudes toward the poor as well, and then we’re in the right position to do development.

Flattening World

Part of the cover art for Thomas Friedman's book.

I think that we're living in an interesting time today.  It wasn't long ago that much was being made about the word "postmodern" and how dramatic the cultural shift was that had happened moving from the "modern" age to the "postmodern" age somewhere in the 80s and 90s.  Everyone wanted to define postmodernism as something, and as one myself, I generally laughed at the generalizations and simplifications.  A few wisely pointed out that you can't define something when it's in the midst of happening, and that we'd have to wait until the transition was complete to really understand what had happened.  Then I began to wonder...with all the rapid acceleration of just about everything, the exponential growth of just about everything...will the transition really ever end?  Will "postmodernism" ever actually coalesce into something understandable, or will it continually be giving way to the next thing?  In such a world, can we made generalizations and definitions?  I believe the answer to that has to be a qualified no.  We can't define it, but we can understand it (how's that for a postmodern statement!).  We can think about the individual dimensions of shift as they happen, and be the wiser for it.

One is the worldwide cultural phenomenon of flattening.  Hierarchies are being pulled down.  I suppose it started in the Western world, where Hofstede's measure of "power distance" (the perceived gulf between a leader and subjects) is already reasonably low.  The US has a score of 40 on the index, and I think the relative closeness shows.  We already want our leaders to be servant leaders, on the same playing field as us.  I think, however, that the postmodern shift has begun to bring that measure even more down.  Some made much of the Occupy movement, others thought it was a passing fad, but it definitely was a sign that power distance is decreasing.  The White House responded with a petition feature on their own website.  The people have begun to demand the power back from the leaders they put over themselves.  They demand that all information be open and available.  It's not just in government and business, it's in civil society too.  Church leaders can see it in their congregations, as the members demand a say in what happens and aren't afraid to criticize their pastors and church leaders.

It's not resting just in the developed, Western world either.  Egypt, with a Power Distance index of 80, recently pulled down their own government and replaced it.  The highest-scoring country on the index, Malaysia (with a 104), is currently experiencing protests about perceived inequities in a recent election.  The people are not at rest, and they are questioning what their leaders are doing.  In this type of environment, leaders must beware.  They can't expect their actions to remain unquestioned, or to hope for secrecy in decision-making.  Leaders ought to be willing to embrace openness and equality and allow the people to satiate their appetite for information and a sense of equality.  And we ought to be aware of these shifts and study them.  Hofstede's measures are not static.  It's time for a re-evaluation of them, particularly in how Power Distance has shifted since Hofstede first published his findings in 1980!

Phrases We Should Stop Using, Pt. V: Cover?

Time for another installation of the "Phrases We Should Stop Using" series.  I've got another one that I dislike.  People often say "Don't judge a book by its cover."  The idea is to reduce prejudice, stereotyping, and premature judgments.  But does this fit with reality?

Malcolm Gladwell famously defended the snap decision in his second book, Blink.  He said that humans are much more capable of rapid judgments than we give ourselves credit for.  Indeed, it's not uncommon for hunches to be shown right over time. When lengthy examination doesn't turn up anything, sometimes a broad glance can reveal a great deal.  The phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover," however, refers to people generally.  We can't do this same thing with people, can we?  That would be wrong, prejudicial, and worse!  I think, however, that in many cases we can.

I think people can be more transparent than they seem.  First impressions are often correct.  Who hasn't passed a quick judgment on someone because they showed up under-dressed, or sent an important letter with poor grammar and spelling?  What employer hasn't discarded a resume for typos?  But more important than even that, however, is character.  A person's character may be the most important thing about them.  A person with incredible capacity is useless if they have no character.  They may even be dangerous, which is worse than useless.  Good character can take a great deal of time to prove, but bad character can often be identified in an instant.  It may be wrong to judge a person based on first impressions, but if the person is flying red flags, wouldn't it be wrong to ignore them?

I think that there may be times in which it's important to judge a person based on first impressions.  Job interviews are an obvious example, but generally in life you want to be found around people of good character.  Character doesn't tend to be something that rapidly changes in people, so when you come across someone flying all the red flags of bad character, be wary.  People who feel judged by their first impressions ought to consider the impression they are making.  It's simply foolish to make easily-avoidable mistakes like showing up under-dressed, publicly making bad grammar or spelling mistakes, or other simple faults.  Moreover, we ought to consider the image that we put forward, particularly in terms of our character.  There may be few things more important!