Lake Neuron

We went to see the La Fortuna waterfall today — and it was quite the experience.

The trip starts with a 30-minute horseback ride. My only equestrian experience was riding a mule a short distance on my first foreign trip, in Nicaragua. I have some weight and self-image issues that cause me to worry about this. Would the horse be able to handle me? Would I be able to mount and dismount?

I was assigned a strawberry roan named Rosita and made the trip relatively well. I was sort of tense at times, when we´d speed up, but I got over it.

The horseback trail takes you to the top of this ridge, from which you have to descend a hiking trail with many, many steps down to the waterfall.

Down is not the problem. I knew I´d have to come up those same steps. At the bottom, you have to wade through thigh-deep water to get to the waterfall. The waterfall was spectacular, and I´ll share photos when I get back home.

I knew I´d have trouble with the return climb, so Frank and I left 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the group. I stopped four or five times, completely out of breath, but we made it to the top just as the rest of the group caught up to us.

Then, Rosarita took me back.

Was it stressful? Yes, at times, because I worry about everything. Was it worth it?

You bet.

We´ve only gotten fleeting glimpses of the top of the volcano. I´m hoping I can get a good clear shot some time before we leave overnight Tuesday-Wednesday.

While I am in Costa Rica, I have prepared some posts which should, if I have set things up correctly, appear automatically in my absence. I will be back to live posting on July 16.

My previous “Mission Moment” post discussed Sarah Lanier’s comparison of hot-climate and cold-climate cultures. A similar comparison comes from another LEAMIS-recommended book, “Figuring Foreigners Out,” by Craig Storti. It’s the difference between “monochronic” and “polychronic” cultures. Monochronic cultures place an emphasis on schedules, punctuality, being waited on one at a time, etc. Polychronic cultures look at time differently.

A woman who taught a low-level Spanish class which I took a few years ago told the story of moving to Mexico. Soon after her arrival, she was invited to a party at 6 p.m. She showed up at 6 p.m. sharp to find the hosts still getting dressed, and no one else there yet. She learned her lesson, and when some friends invited her to a birthday celebration a week later she deliberately arrived late — only this time, the friends who invited her were familiar with American punctuality and had shown up on time!

On my first mission trip experience, in 2003, there was one afternoon when we divided up into small teams and did door-to-door visitation. I happened to be in a team with the church pastor, who spoke no English. I don’t speak Spanish either, but I could pick up on enough words to recognize that the pastor was inviting our first few subjects to attend the services at the church at 4 p.m.

The visitation seemed to go on forever, and we were still at it by the time 4 p.m. rolled around — which is why the pastor started inviting the people on our later stops to attend the services at the church at 5 p.m.!

Today, please pray that we’ll have the endurance to finish up our tasks and maintain strong relationships within the team and between the team and our hosts.

Hi. This is NOT one of my pre-written, pre-scheduled posts. This is actually me, from Costa Rica. The trip is going well, the people are fantastic, and I can’t wait to tell you about it when I get back.

Tomorrow, we’re taking a break from mission responsibilities and going to the beach.

Talk to you all soon.

While I am in Costa Rica, I have prepared some posts which should, if I have set things up correctly, appear automatically in my absence. I will be back to live posting on July 16.

When you travel to (or welcome guests from) another culture, there are many cultural differences that can lead to misunderstandings and hard feelings.

Another book LEAMIS uses in training mission trips is “Foreign To Familiar,” by Sarah A. Lanier. Lanier’s thesis is helping missioners understand cultural differences between hot-climate and cold-climate cultures. It’s a broad over-generalization, but one which can still be useful in understanding cultural differences.

Many of the differences between cold-climate and hot-climate cultures have to do with individualism and community. Cold-climate cultures place a higher value on individualism, while hot-climate cultures (with some exceptions) tend to emphasize the community. Someone from one culture who crosses into the other may run into problems because of differences in custom and practice regarding everything from private property to spontaneous celebrations.

Anyway, here’s a quote:

As a cold-climate person my greatest sacrifice was giving up my privacy, my time to myself. I never knew when I would be interrupted. It seemed exhausting until I got used to it. Then it became second nature to me.

Soon after returning to Amsterdam from Chile, one Sunday afternoon I cooked up some food, which I often do for recreation. I then proceeded to call around to friends to invite them over that evening to eat. Call after call met with disappointment. No one could come …. That’s when I realized a reason for loneliness in our well-organized city. What we needed was some hot-climate spontaneous relationship and a little less cold-climate structured privacy.

Today’s prayer focus will be the relationship between the team and our Costa Rican hosts. Pray that cultural barriers on either side will be broken down, and we will be able to recognize our differences and set aside unwarranted value judgements.

While I am in Costa Rica, I have prepared some posts which should, if I have set things up correctly, appear automatically in my absence. I will be back to live posting on July 16.

One of the books which LEAMIS asks team members to read in preparation for a trip is “Rich Thinking About The World’s Poor,” by Peter Meadows.

Chapter 2 of this book has the title “It matters why you think they are poor.” Our preconceptions about what poverty is, and where it comes from, will affect how we respond to poverty. Is poverty due to a lack of education? Systemic problems which prevent social justice? Cultural issues?

Meadows points out that the causes of poverty are often complex, encompassing many different factors.

Which means ignoring any one of them is the first step to failing to address the real issues at the heart of a poor community. More than that, the key to bringing change that lasts is to identify and tackle all the issues — material, medical, social, political, structural and spiritual. And also the complex relationships between them.

Please keep me and my teammates, Frank Schroer and Megan Siegrist, in prayer as we begin our mission trip.

I’m about to shut my computer down. I’m going to my parents’ house. They will take me to Murfreesboro, where we’re going to dinner at Demos’ before meeting Frank Schroer on the Interstate in Murfreesboro. Frank will take me the rest of the way to Nashville, where we’ll spend the night at Megan Siegrist’s parents’ home before heading to the airport very early Saturday morning. Our flight leaves at 7:05 a.m.

I am taking my laptop in my carryon, so it’s conceivable I could blog from the Nashville or Houston airports tomorrow, but if I don’t, this may be my last live message for 12 days. I have some pre-scheduled blog posts ready to show up here in my absence. Some are frivolous; some are mission-related and come with specific prayer requests related to the trip. Be well, and I’ll try to do the same.

Here’s a great review of WALL-E from a United Methodist web site. An excerpt:

Where the movie really shines—and where it is most daring—is in the two leads. Most of Wall•E is completely free of dialogue, leaving the robots and others to express themselves entirely in body language. Wall•E, a perpetual klutz, comes to resemble the lovable losers of the silent-film era.

I had every intention of sleeping in this Independence Day morning, but as I lay in bed from 6-6:30 a million last-minute tasks for the trip ran through my head. I got up. I decided to go to Wal-Mart for some new sports socks. Not surprisingly, there weren’t many people at Wal-Mart at 7:30 on a holiday morning. I did run into Nadine Hopkins, owner of our local AM radio stations — she’s already been up and working this morning.

After making my purchases, I stopped at the McDonalds inside Wal-Mart for breakfast, and managed to spill a full cup of diet Dr. Pepper all over the place. One of the crew members saw me do it, and she was so sweet and understanding about it.

On my way back home from Wal-Mart, I got a cell phone call from our team leader, Frank Schroer. Frank was on his way — you guessed it — to Wal-Mart. Of course, the Wal-Mart he frequents is right on the Interstate in Kimball, so it might be a little busier on a holiday weekend morning.

This time tomorrow, I’ll be in the air between Nashville and Houston.

My co-workers at the T-G, led by editor John Philleo, held a “bon voyage” chili supper and fund-raiser for my mission trip today. (I told them I was in pretty good shape with the trip finances, but they insisted, and I can always find some good use for the money or apply it to my next trip.)

It’s been a busy week — not only last-minute preparations for the trip, but also I spent part of yesterday and will spend part of tomorrow at the T-G’s sister paper in an adjoining county.

I told my editor this afternoon I have this nagging worry that I’m going to forget something — either something I need to take on the trip, take care of before the trip, or take care of at work.

Tomorrow, by the way, my newsroom co-workers are holding a chili luncheon in my honor, sort of a going-away party and last-minute fund-raiser. It’s a really great gesture on everyone’s part.

I am taking my Flip Video camera on the Costa Rica trip so that, for the first time, I can bring back video.

My Flip holds up to 60 minutes of video. I have gone back and forth on whether or not to bring my beat-up, second-hand notebook computer on the trip, so that if I want or need to, I can download video from the Flip to create more space. I really don’t know how much raw video I will want to bring back. When it comes to video editing, the more raw video you have, the more options it gives you for assembling the final product. But I don’t know if it’s worth lugging the laptop along — and if so, whether I want to pack it in the middle of my clothes or take it in my backpack. I’ve never taken it on a plane trip before.

I’m making progress towards being ready for the trip — but I’m not there quite yet.

Today, I was happy to get a stainless steel bowl. Depending on how the soap-making workshop is set up, I’ll need to try melting down, or “re-batching,” some soap. You do that in a double boiler. I needed a bowl large enough to rest on top of one of the two stockpots I’m bringing (one enameled, one stainless steel). I couldn’t find one at Wal-Mart the first time I looked. I bought a bowl at Kroger, but it had a non-skid rubber bottom, and I worried that it might serve as an insulator and keep enough heat from getting to the bowl. Today, I checked again at Wal-Mart, and they had some bowls in stock which weren’t there on Wednesday.

I made a batch of soap last month to give to my relatives out west. It’s now cured, and it turned out very nice; I had already started using the one bar which I held back for myself. The only reason I hadn’t sent the soap to them yet was that they’re packing up for their big move to North Carolina and asked me to wait.

When Carolyn had to pull out of the Costa Rica trip, and I became the leader of the soapmaking workshop, I asked my brother and sister-in-law if I could take the soap to Costa Rica with me instead. (I’ll make them a replacement batch soon enough.) They were quite understanding.

I’m not certain right now how the workshop will be scheduled. I may end up grating and melting soap bought in-country, and using the family soap to hand out as samples. Or I may end up grating and melting the family soap.

Originally, I was scheduled to do two devotions for our internal team meetings. I pulled one out of the file which I had written for Bolivia and never got to give. I figured I would write the other one in country, if not before then. Now, with Carolyn gone, we may have to re-draw the schedule for team meeting devotions.

I’m still trying to finish reading a book which my pastor’s wife has loaned me about the struggles faced by pastoral families, which was a topic our hosts asked us to address.

Our flight will leave at 7:05 a.m. on the 5th. Rather than drive up from Shelbyville (me), Monteagle (Megan) and Sewanee (Frank) that morning, the three of us will go to Nashville on the evening of the Fourth and spend the night at Megan’s parents’ house.

I am taking one large suitcase of my own and one duffel bag which I will borrow from my parents. I didn’t pick that up this week because I thought they might need it for a weekend trip to Louisville. I’ll get it from them tomorrow night or Monday so that I can do some packing during the week. I always use my backpack as a carry-on, and stow it under the seat instead of in the overhead compartment.

The weekend will be here before I know it.

Carolyn Schussler, one of four members of the Costa Rica team, has had a family medical emergency and is going to be unable to make the trip. Please keep Carolyn and her mother in your prayers.

I am going to have to take over teaching the soap-making workshop. I know it, I’ve done it before, but I wasn’t preparing to lead it this time, and so I’m going to have to put together the equipment and supplies I need to take.

My pastor, who will be on vacation the next two Sundays, asked me to give my sermon from Annual Conference next week.

This means that I and my father will be preaching at First UMC on consecutive Sundays — but he will be in Louisville, Ky., next week while I’m preaching, and I will be in Costa Rica when he’s preaching.

My parents are traveling to Louisville next weekend for my mother’s 50-year high school reunion, and they’re really looking forward to it. As one of the activities, class members will watch the racing at Churchill Downs from “millionaire’s row,” which should be fun.

I have been a long-time subscriber to the Wittenburg Door, and I was a long-time contributor until a few years ago, when I just sort of drifted away. I still may write for them again one of these days, if they’ll have me, but I haven’t been doing so lately, and I have nothing on the table.

Anyway, all that is neither here nor there. I got an mass e-mail today from Robert Darden about someone, who has been one of the key players for the magazine ever since it was transferred to the Trinity Foundation. I don’t think that Bob would mind me quoting from it:

Harry Guetzlaff, The Door’s wonderful managing editor, who I have worked with on a daily basis since Trinity began publishing the magazine, is apparently in his final weeks. He has Stage 4 lung cancer and the most recent MRI found new masses on his brain and spine. He is in great pain and only lucid for a short period each day.

I dealt with Bob more often than I dealt with Harry, but I did deal some with Harry, and he was unfailingly kind, cheerful and upbeat.

The magazine’s staff is so small and Harry was so central to it that the print version of the magazine has been running behind schedule and its future may even be in question. But that’s secondary. Please take a moment to pray for Harry.