Liberia Day 1- Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Slept badly as anticipated.  Loud house-shaking windstorms.  It was one of those nights where you just wait for an appropriate hour to wake up to come along.  When I got up (a bit after 6 am) I wrote up the daily prayer list for the trip, sent it to my email list, and posted it for general consumption on facebook.  We dropped Elinor off and headed to Pittsburgh more or less as planned.  Arrived early enough to have lunch together at the airport, though I was nervous about getting through security.  Watched my family as I went through security till the last possible moment.  I'm glad that when I get home I will get to meet them at the airport again.  =)  Aside from the need to de-ice the plane before take off, the flight to New York was pleasantly uneventful.  I sat next to a young woman who was periodically reading something in Arabic and noticed her next destination was Rome.  Wish I'd talked to her, but I was too shy.  On getting off the plane, I was greeted by strong cold winds, especially chilly since I had left my coat behind.  Took me awhile to get oriented at the airport.  I eventually discovered, with staff assistance, that the flight to Accra was far enough away that it was not on the grid yet, but she happened to remember that flight usually goes from Gate 4.  I waited there with hours to read, think, wait.  I called Rachel (who has her own trip this weekend) and Randy to let them know that I had arrived.  Randy & Bruce should reach the airport around 5.

JFK Airport Observations

1. Though this is a New York airport, New York is conspicuously absent, at least I haven't seen it yet.

2.  Airport water is of the same rarefied quality as you find in the Daley Center, Chicago.  (At least I'll be safe from anemia!)

3.  I love the microcosm of the world found in airports in terms of language, culture, skin.

4.  There is a man at the Virgin Bookstore at JFK that looks, sounds, and acts remarkably like Dixonite Tom Wadsworth.

I met up with Bruce & Randy around 5:30 near gate 12 (our actual gate).  We had dinner at the food court, but, even though we had options, we all had pizza at Sbarro.  I broke my month long soda fast a little early to enjoy a Coke.  I tried to ask many questions about Liberia, just trying to get better acquainted, which Randy was happy to oblige.  I feel fortunate to be on this trip with such well traveled, knowledgeable men.  I also feel a little out of place, but that's all in my head.  Our flight was ultimately delayed 30 minutes because it was waiting for passengers from other flights, which gave ample time for sitting, chatting, and strolling the concourse.  I browsed the entire bookstore.  Books sure seem outmoded and expensive these days (and I like books).  Once boarded, I called Rachel and missed her.  Thankfully, she called back in the nick of time and we got to say our goodbyes.  I don't know if we will have the chance to speak again or not before I return.  We took off at around 9:30 pm.  Shortly after take off, with all city lights faded (and New York still not spotted) we were served dinner.  My main course was beef with rice, collard greens, and some sort of red sauce.  I mixed it all up and it was not bad.  Also, some fresh fruit was a highlight.  I sat in the window seat next to the Bishop, with Randy across the aisle on a 767.  They showed several movies, the first of which was called Chasing Mavericks.  It was a surfing movie, but did not hold my interest.  I did manage (between the two flights) to read through all of Sky Magazine (featuring John Krasinski on the cover).  Time to try for a little melatonin assisted rest.

Weekender

Today began early once again, as I headed over to the church to sort through email and mail that I neglected last night and work on my sermon.  When I was in high school, and at Moody, to some extent, I used to really like writing biographies, but I've really struggled with sermons based on people in the Scripture, first with Genesis, a few years ago, and now with both Timothy and Epaphroditus, although I think this week went better than last week.  It was a really busy service as we had our worship team leading, the Lord's Supper, and anointing at the altar for healing.  Rod also anointed me (at my request) for my trip to Liberia, now just a few days away, and the service ended with the laying on of hands and much prayer on my behalf. I'm grateful.

We got lunch from Bob Evens, which was really good except that I was gipped my lemonade.  Twice in a as many days!  We added streaming to our Netflix account and I dropped DVD's only to discover, with Chris' knowledge, that the films Netflix is able to stream are greatly limited.  So for now, we have both, but in the long run, when we have fewer resources to work with, things will change significantly.  The girls watched a Nemo-esque movie about a sea turtle, which held Elinor's interest, but lost Daisy's.  Chris left in the early evening, ahead of freezing rain and ice predicted overnight.  Rachel and I watched a movie called Ghost Town, Ricky Gervais' first starring role.  It had it's moments, but was kind of sluggish for a comedy and could have been much more.  The Invention of Lying was better; it was well made, if rather sacreligious, or at least was coming from a thoroughly anti-Christian perspective, which it has the right to do.  If we can't be questioned for our beliefs what good are we?  The evening ended quietly.

January 26th

Today I was responsible for the girls for the most part while Rachel and Chris went to Pittsburgh for an engagement session.  I helped Elinor build a little bird house in the morning.  Then I spent time cleaning up the kitchen, cooking lunch, listening to Talkin' Baseball, and dealing with all manner of laundry issues.  In the afternoon, I installed the new bluray player with internet connectivity.  I threw out the VCR (which had been broken for some time), but set aside the DVD player hoping for a make a few buck at our moving sale later this Spring.  How many audio/video cables does a person need?  I took the girls to McDonald's for dinner, making use of Christmas gift cards from the Chittester's.  For the second time recently, I was gipped a double cheeseburger.  I bathed the girls early and then spent some time doing more kitchen work and managing our finances.  Just as I was sitting down to sift through mail and email Rachel and Chris came back home, so I went to bed with Rachel instead.

If I may release my inner nerd for a moment, there's been news recently that JJ Abrams will be director of Star Wars Episode VII.  I've got mixed feelings.  While I think he will be great for Star Wars, I will miss his direct influence on Star Trek.  His first effort there is one of my top 5 movies, and I'm highly anticipating the second.  I guess we'll see how things shake out.

January 25th

Took the girls to the YMCA in the morning.  The weightlifting part of my workout has, lately, seemed very unproductive.  I finished my third sheet, which represents dozens of weightlifting sessions, but I have not moved forward or added weight to much of anything in quite some time.  Perhaps over a year.  I think it stems from a lack of consistency.  I need more of that multiple sets a week type of lifting.

Feeling frustrated, I came home and tried to find ways to help with Elinor's 7th birthday party, the planning and execution of which was already well in hand.  I felt like I was mostly in the way.  The party itself was a wild time.  There were 7 or 8 kids from Elinor's class.  I never got a good count because as soon as they came to the door a mob gathered screaming the new arrival's name as if he or she were one of the Beatles.  After that, it was constant running; upstairs, downstairs, a whirlwind of activity.  I can't imagine how some families deal with so many children, so close in age, but it was fun to see them all together and Elinor was given a bunch of fun crafty gifts.  It was exhausting and satisfying at the same time.  For her birthday, we let Elinor and Daisy stay up as late as they wanted and it took Elinor especially quite awhile to settle down comfortably.  Whew!

All My Life

Today started early because, at 2 am, my phone started announcing its impending battery death.  I had my alarm set for 6:30, so what did I do?  Instead of getting up and plugging the phone in to recharge, I just prayed that God would wake me up around 6:30.  He did, well 10 minutes late, but also an hour early when I went back to sleep.  I don't have a smart phone, but I'm sometimes surprised by my dependence on my dumb phone just the same.  I had to get up early to go meet Mark Micklos, my coach, at his house at 7:30.  After playing with his dog Charlie a bit, and having breakfast with Mark and his lovely bride Diana, we spent a few hours talking through the particular challenges and blessings of our lives.  Mark is a good friend to me and a wise counselor.  I should listen to him more...

After this, I went to the office and banged out next Sunday's bulletin.  I do this every week, and it is something I enjoy, but it is also something that really nags at me the longer it gets put it off.  The earliest I can get it done is Thursday, and when that happens, it's a good feeling.  I was just a little into lunch when I got a call that I would need to make a trip to the hospital.  Once Rachel got back from the chiropractor and I went and visited our friend and faithful babysitter Chris Chittester and her husband Jim.  We had a nice chat and I'm happy to say that she should be fine.

Rachel made a tasty hot dog, pork & bean soup for dinner around the table.  I also spent some time doing two loads of laundry (out of both socks and underwear) and watching the ever-popular Thursday Night Follies.  The Office, still a favorite, was especially poignant tonight and, to be honest, hit kind of close to home for a comedy.

Long Day

Today was a 12 hour work day, 8:30-8:30.  It started with EC Ministerium in Emlenton.  The group meets from September to May every year, but, because of a variety of issues, this was the first meeting I made it to.  It was good to see these friends again and enjoy the sprawling theological chatter.  After what became a four-hour meeting, I spent several hours in the office catching up on email and reading up on the Young Philanthropists bike journey across these United States among other things.  We had a small group for Prayer Meeting tonight (just four of us), but I enjoy this group and we all found Psalm 145 uplifting in a time when we all needed some uplifting.  We are all so focused on our mission and our troubles (and the world's troubles), that there is something deeply refreshing about simply considering and enjoying again the person of Jesus Christ.

The day ended with relaxation and TV on the couch with my beautiful wifey.  That is a wonderful thing to come home to at the end of a long day.

p.s.  Weather was frigid!  Brr...

The Axe Man Cometh

I used to have a pattern where I would start my day early at the YMCA, head to the library to use their wifi, and then on to Subway for lunch, and then to the church to wrap up the work day.  I haven't done that in awhile, for various reasons, but since the beginning of the year I've had a few chances to try it again.  This time, I skipped out on the library and went to Pink Champagne Cupcakery to enjoy hot chocolate, catch up on email, and work on a class that I'm taking through Trinity, which concerns the person of Christ.  It took me a few hours to work through the dense thought of Karl Barth on the hypostatic union (that is, the relationship between Christ's divinity and humanity), but it was much more engaging than I thought it would be.  The man was clearly a gifted teacher of the best sort.

After getting home, I spent some time playing games with the kiddos.  I'm still fascinated by how different they are, and how differently they play.  Rachel and I spent time this evening working on my guitar.  She got it in tune and I started working on chords a little bit.  I even got a few for brief moments.  I'm really excited about being able to play and sing songs that I like for my and my family's amusement some day.  I don't really want any more from it than that.

...And To You...

Rachel and I began our big date by eating lunch with our friends Andy and Jacki Miller who pastor Seneca's sister church in Canton.  We settled on Greek food, and boy was it standout.  I really savored the first bite of lamb.  I can almost....almost taste it now.  We sat and chatted for three hours, but it felt like barely any time had passed at all.  When we dropped them off, we went inside briefly to check out movie possibilities.  I hadn't necessarily planned to go see a movie as part of our date, even though we love to do that together, but after our long lunch time conversation I was ready to shut-up for awhile.  While surfing the web, the Miller's dog Rainey decided to become friends and gave my hand a very good licking.  The consistency of her tongue was very smooth, which was surprising.  I went to wash my hands, but Jacki commented that it would dry quickly, and then I remembered that dog saliva is really pretty clean, so I didn't trouble about it.  Later, I sniffed my hand, and noticed that there was no dog smell to speak of.  Andy also volunteered that he'd been listening to the Thrice CD that I gave him, which was a blessing to me.  Caught, but did not restrain myself from being cynical about myself and the church in general.

We settled on Silver Linings Playbook, which was playing at a Tinseltown (Cinemark) theater in Canton.  It is a really good character/love story and is worthy of it's Oscar best picture nominee designation.  All the major actors are firing on all cylinders.  After the movie, we had a "thrown together," but delicious supper with Grandma Brown and then on our way home in separate cars.  I miss traveling together.  I finally rolled in around 10 to discover that Rachel had had a hard time with the girls.  Wish I hadn't needed to stop for gas.

January 20th

Beginning early, once again, I worked on my sermon.  Today was one of those days where I went into it thinking I had good material, but seemed unable to deliver it properly or find my proper rhythm.  I was talking about Timothy (from Philippians 2:19-24), but struggled to build a decent bridge between Paul's thoughts and our world.  I'll get another shot with Epaphroditus next week.

We ventured out to Akron to enjoy the hospitality of my mother-in-law, and when it comes to hospitality there are few better.  It was exciting to take the first highway trip with the new van and drive her at 65 for a few hours and even more exciting to know that tomorrow Rachel and I will be able to go on a big date.  After a nice supper (that I didn't have to cook or think about) I ran a few errands, bought some birthday gifts, and then, after putting the kids to bed, Ann and I had a nice conversation about the thrills of moving and a myriad of other topics.  It's always a little unsettling to converse without background noise.  It's good, but I'm just now used to it anymore.  Rachel arrived late because of air transit complications, but it's always good to sleep in the same bed.

Happy, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me...

I've been dreading this day for a long time, not so much because it's my birthday (I've got no qualms about growing older), but because Rachel had to work this weekend.  It blows to be apart so often as it is, but even more so on our birthdays (hers is tomorrow).  My plan was to make my birthday perfectly low-key thinking that perhaps no one would notice, but the attention I was given today by people who remembered anyway brightened my spirit.  Plus, Rachel came up with a plan for a date on Monday.  Since our babysitters have been going through major health issues we haven't had much opportunity for dates so I'm looking forward to it.

How did I spend today?  Tried to sleep in.  Cuddled with Daisy Jo.  Listened to Talkin' Baseball out of ESPN Chicago on the interweb while working in the kitchen. Cooked pancakes and grilled cheese.  Had Little Caesars for dinner.  Tried to work through the afternoon while keeping the girls civil.  Not bad for spending most of it in my pajamas.  Honorable birthday mentions go out to Edgar Allen Poe, Dolly Parton, Andy Feliksiak, Sara Hansen, and Jodi Sweetin (Stephanie Tanner of Full House fame).  This is the eclectic bunch that I share my birthday with.  Did you know Jodi Sweetin and I are exactly the same age?

Something Old; Something New

Something Old

It's been nearly a year since the conclusion of the Honduras trip I restarted this journal to record, and I only got through the fourth day.  It's just too normal for me not to follow through with these sorts of projects.  Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of the highlights of the days that will never receive their full due:

February 25th

This was the first day that we spent working on Celan and Marta, a previously homeless family's, new house.  Much of the work in the beginning of the day had to do with bending and cutting rebar, which was a bit beyond my realm of expertise.  I gave it the old college try.  In the afternoon we carried boulders to brace the foundation border that we would be pouring later on.  Hey, anyone can carry boulders, but some can carry the really heavy ones and I couldn't do that.  I remember it as one of the lighter work days.  One highlight has to do with nightmares.  Pastor Chris Lewis and myself had had a few nights worth of bad dreams.  The team gathered around us and prayed, gratefully bringing my nightmares to an end, though I think Chris still had some bad dreams.  I also observed how Mike Weimer, a local cow man, built a relationship with a fellow cow farmer in Zambrano.  It's amazing how cows bring people together.  That evening we played cards, which, as I recall was great fun.

February 26th

Being a Sunday, we spent this day on tourism and church.  We traveled to the capital city, Tegucigalpa and then beyond it to a place called "Valle de Angeles."  It was a scenic little town that was clearly geared toward tourists.  We all bought our souvenirs and ate at a restaurant called "Virginia's Popousa's."  Popousa's (sp?) are like gorditas, and these had bacon drippings in them.  We ate them along with a dish that featured onions and cabbage and a bit of spice.  It was reddish for some reason.  Val had said that Hondurans tended to like bland food (to the American palate anyway), and I would say this is true.  Even their ice cream was a little odd tasting.  I think it was a lower quality chocolate.  Food is not Honduras' strong suit like it is in, say, Mexico.  We also visited an international English speaking church that was a small  part of a much larger Spanish speaking congregation.  The pastor was from the Pittsburgh area.  Small world, eh?

February 27th

This day began early.  We were up and at 'em at 5:00 am.  We spent hours driving on non-roads up into the mountain village of Las Botijas.  What a bumpy ride!  We eventually reached a point where the van could go no farther and walked the rest of the way up the hill to the mission home of a truly remarkable family.  The husband's name, I remember, was Aaron.  The family name escapes me.  Their mission was to develop a training center for local pastors who are generally poorly educated, if at all.  We were there to pour the back porch of their house, which had been built from scratch.  We did not have the mixer with us, which meant exceptionally hard work, but it was very satisfying at the same time.  At the end of the first day several of us were discouraged with how little had been accomplished, or rather, how far we had to go the next day.  We spent some time doing door to door evangelism, Pastor Chris and I speaking through an interpreter.  It was much less intimidating that I feared, owing largely to the hospitality of the Hondurans...and the presence of the Spirit, of course.  We stayed overnight with the family, so we would be ready to work bright and early the next day.  It was the only night that Rachel and I got to share a bed on the trip.

February 28th

Daisy's 4th birthday!  Aaron's wife had the gift of food.  For supper the night before she had made lasagna, salad, and breadsticks; for breakfast she made breakfast tacos of a sort: tortilla shells stuffed with bacon, potatoes, and shredded cheese.  It was the best food we had on the whole trip.  We continued to work hard, very hard, and by the end of the day the porch was completed.  We were greatly assisted by some Honduran day laborers.  It was remarkable how quickly things went, considering how slowly they seemed to go the day before.  After our work was done we were taken on a tour of the incredible farm that Aaron had built with his wife, daughter, and three sons.  Their commitment amazes me.  They moved shortly after hearing the call, passed relatively quickly through a few ministries, settled in Los Botijas, built a home and a farm from scratch, and still continued to minister effectively.  The variety of crops and the agricultural innovation were fascinating.  The drive home was another bumpy and long one making us glad to reach Casa Santiago again.

February 29th

For our last full day in Honduras we returned to the home of Celan and Marta to pour the outer foundation of their new home.  Aided by the cement mixer, and with the benefit of a now experienced team, we completed our work fairly quickly.  I even graduated from "water boy" to shoveling gravel.  After the work was done, we spent some time sharing gifts that we had brought with a needy Honduran family (over a dozen people in one small house) and playing with the kids.  Mike showed everyone how to hypnotize a chicken.  I'm sure that we were more blessed by this time than they were, but it was good to share the love of God in tangible ways with these people.  We spent some time debriefing the trip in the evening.  I had planned on doing this, but Val came prepared, thus making my life easier.

March 1st

We began our journey home fairly early in the morning, making the long drive back to San Pedro Sula.  While we had no trouble getting to Zambrano, we were stopped by the police this time and everyone had to hand over our passports.  We were dismissed unharassed.  We had lunch at the airport Wendy's (2nd time at Wendy's on the trip) and began to say our good-byes.  One special privilege was to be able to leave all of our leftover cash to the Schubert's and their ministry, money which we knew would be well spent.  While the plane from Texas to Honduras had only been about half-full, the plane back to Houston was packed.  We had a several hours layover in Houston, long enough to have a nice dinner.  I had hoped for a good steak, but the airport restaurant didn't have any.  Imagine that, no steak in Texas!  Our flight was delayed somewhat, but we arrived back to the Pittsburgh Airport around midnight.  As we made the drive back with the good men of Salem United Church of Christ behind the wheel we tried to sleep but couldn't.  It was good to be back home, but what a grand adventure it was.  It helped confirm the direction of Rachel and I's life.

Something New

Today is my 31st birthday, and as such I have decided to take another go at this blogging thing and try to chronicle this somewhat important year in my life and the life of my family.  I'm heading to Liberia in less than two weeks.  My time as pastor of Seneca EC Church will be coming to a close, and we'll be moving to Ambridge (near Pittsburgh) this Summer.  I'll be attending seminary full-time beginning in the Fall.  Daisy will be starting kindergarten.

These posts will hopefully be daily, brief accounts of the day's activity and a few reflections on what has transpired without sharing too much detail.  When I say brief, I'm thinking Gettysburg Address brief.  Why say in thousands of words, what can be just as easily said in a few hundred (if that).  I think tightening things up might help me keep up.  If you happen to stumble across this, let me know what you think.  Hopefully, I'll see you again tonight.  Godspeed.