Christmas Spirit in Nepal

The students of KLC were invited to a mutlicultural Christmas celebration, Gloria Deo. During one of the numbers, one of the students took the Christmas Spirit to heart and danced in the aisle.

Liberia and Singapore, a contrast.

In September 2006 I arrived in Liberia to begin my first term. I was sick with malaria, challenged with lack of vision, and frustrated by inconveniences of daily living. In October 2010 I arrived in Singapore to begin my first official term with WorldVenture. I am refreshed from 40 days of rest, visiting friends and ministry partners, clear with vision and a sense of purpose, and amazed at the effective infrastructure of this modern city.

But as I get adjusted to life in Singapore I find that I have one thing that I didn't have when I arrived in Liberia. I didn't have Liberia. It's funny, but everything that I experienced in Liberia that I labeled as "frustrating," "inconvenient," or "annoying," is now part of the framework of my expectations. As I left my three-week visit in Liberia behind me to make a permanent home here in Singapore, I had a team of friends, ministry partners, fellow teachers, students, and colleagues come to the little guest house in Mount Barclay, gather around me, and pray me forward.

Liberia and Singapore may seem like they have nothing in common. But to me, what God did in my heart in Liberia is a part of what I do here in Southeast Asia.

Midnight Drive to Cornwall

Passing over the Tower Bridge, and worming our way past Windsor Castle, Chris Parker and I left London. On the M4 to Bristol and onward to Truro, Cornwall, clouds muddled the moonlight overhead and the clean black highway purred beneath us. Working full time as a secondary teacher to support his full time job as a pastor of a house church, Chris has little time for rest. But his heart and his calling are firmly rooted in God's word. He has persevered trials and opposition to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and the vision he has been called to.

Like much of Europe, the culture of Cornwall has placed the Bible back on the shelf and lives for self gain. The churches have died and fickle hearts have no desire for a relationship with their Creator. But Chris has been called out from among these people. Like Josiah in 1 Kings 22 and 23, Chris has found God's word and taken it very seriously. What he seeks to do in his house church conflicts the culture of the age, it breaks the traditions of the times, and it places the unchanging Word of its proper place.

It was 3:30 AM when we reached his home on the cost, but our eyelids were never heavy. As we recounted God's faithfulness and the truths of his Word from Psalm 37, we were sustained. God is reawakening Cornwall. In the morning light the beauty of the silty tide and moored fishing boats, the majesty of God's creation was revealed. My prayer for this place is the same. This nation, mother to my own, has a heritage of participating in missions work around the world. Though it seems that this country has lost its passion to reach the unreached, I believe that God will restore his Church here. As the Lord adds to the number of those who are being saved here, as He empowers Chris through His word to disciple others and grow the church, Jesus Christ will reign here in Cornwall.

London Flights

Saying goodbye is never easy. But when 9 very special people pray over you and embrace you with tear-filled eyes at the airport, the goodbyes are actually painful. There were moments on that Minneapolis-Chicago flight that I choked over flashback memories of the people I love, of the people I have left behind.

We were early to Chicago which was good, since I only had 50 minutes before my London flight took off. Unfortunately we had to sit in active taxi space for over 40 minutes waiting for a gate to open up. Upon deplaning at concourse B, I checked the departure monitors. My flight to London: concourse C, status: boarding! I've never run so fast. Yet another reason I prefer to pack light in case of events such as these. But as light as I packed, my backpack slowed me down. I recalled the story my parents had just reminded me of less than two hours before. They had to do this with their Europe connection when they came to visit me in Liberia. And here I was, running through Chicago O'Hare just like them.

At the top of the escalator my gate was the one straight ahead. The boarding door was closed but an agent called me by name. "Are you Jonathan?"

"YES!" I panted. They checked my ticket and passport and opened the door. I coughed for the first hour of the flight. But I had made it. My checked bag had arrived ahead of me on an earlier flight, so me and all of my things arrived in London safe and sound. Travel mercies, as Rita Arpon and Mary Anne Bull say, but with a hint of adventure, humor, and irony.

Brazilian Reflections

Exploring Portuguese. Learning to speak fluent Portuguese in three weeks was not possible for me, but it didn't stop conversation. There were enough links to Spanish that I was able to understand much of what was being said. The language wasn't the focus for me, it was the medium to meet people. As I swam through the medium of Portuguese, I acquired some useful words and phrases and others that made everyone laugh. While savoring delicious steaks at a Brazilian Barbeque I found myself saying, "Gusto comer bunda de vaca," which means, "I like to eat cow butt."

Coriolis Force. Have you ever taken the time to note which direction your toilet flushes in? Apparently in the Northern Hemisphere it flushes clockwise and in the Southern Hemisphere it flushes counterclockwise. Yet, as I have come to find out, it is a fictitious force that describes the perceived motion of large wind patterns in the various hemispheres. But due to variations in the earth's surface, the Coriolis Force can be altered. On the miniscule scale of a toilet bowl, this effect is inconsistent and pretty much a myth. Really the only thing to keep in mind when flushing a Brazilian toilet is don't flush the toilet paper!
Endless humanity. Standing at the top of Banespa Skyscraper, apartments, skyscrapers, favelas disappear into the smog on all horizons. Many references include Sao Paulo in the top five largest cities in the world. The richest of the rich are juxtapositioned right next to the poorest of the poor. Power and water are pirated into poorer neighborhoods. Some homes are painted in vibrant pinks, royal blues, or golden yellows to break the monotony of bricks and dust.
A Complex System. The national police force and the drug lords have enough respect for each other to keep out of each other's way. There are layers of rules and systems of justice in place that boggle my mind. Drugs, stealing, and sex are cultural norms entangling rich, poor, Christian, and spiritualist alike. Yet by God's grace, Restoration Ministries has favor among people from every background. They are there meeting people where they are at with the daily good news of Jesus Christ.

Hospitable Hope. Through a narrow, graffiti lined alleyway, the woman directed us through a small door into a cluttered but tidy sitting room. She told us how she buried three of her children. One to alcohol, one to starvation, and one to murder. Though she had very little, she offered us refreshment and encouragement. She asked for prayer but glowed as she recounted the blessings of God in her life.

Faithful Friends. I return to the United States after two weeks of serving my brothers and sisters in Christ. They continue. Tomorrow, they go back into peoples homes, gather children for another agita (VBS program), and do it all over again. They experience persecution for what they do, they are pressured to conform to their culture, they are criticized, robbed, and hospitalized. The highlight of my time in Brazil was praying with these men and women who serve here, encouraging them to keep going. I pray that the crowns they receive for their labor bring all the more glory and honor to Jesus Christ!

Greetings from Thailand

Travel Tips and How to Tie a Longyi

Avatar

Sunday night, my brother Jeff invited me to join some friends to see Avatar in 3D. Filled with suspense, action, emotion, and breathtaking beauty, this James Cameron production has been a big hit in the theaters. While still filled with a fair amount of violence and language, I enjoyed it for its numerous redeemable qualities.

Though his purpose is quite different, Jake Sully’s role is like a missionary to the Na’vi people of Pandora. In the avatar of a Na’vi body, Jake must understand this indigenous culture from the inside. Others had gone before him and imposed their own culture on the Na’vi. But Jake’s response was different. He wanted to learn from them. “It’s hard to fill a cup that is already full,” one of the Na’vi tell him.

Jake’s reply was, “Well, mine is empty.”

Jake has a change of heart when he learns that this “barbarian” culture has qualities that are not inferior, they are just different. He learns to love what the Na’vi love and he earns their respect.

Coming from an ethnocentric, prideful, and materialistic culture myself, I want the humility of Jake Sully as I interact with people from other cultures. I am educated, experienced, and know how to teach, but when I go I can’t rely on my strengths to accomplish God’s purposes.

John the Baptist speaks of Jesus in John 3:30. “He must become greater, I must become less.” In this way, I want to be an empty cup among the cultures I serve. If I can be empty of myself, completely dependent on Christ alone, then I have hope of sharing the good news to ears that will listen.

Official Avatar Website

The Missional Mind (Additional thoughts on Avatar)

Circumnavigate Log #7

Things that strike me humorous:

Carry-on Luggage Limitation checks: These are the metal enclosures you are supposed to insert your carryon luggage into make sure your bag will fit into the overhead compartment on the airplane. The thing is, they are always much smaller than the actual compartments. Are you supposed to try putting your bag in there right before you board? I can just imagine holding up the whole boarding process because my bag is stuck. “I’m sorry,” they would say. “You packed too much. Please unpack some things.” Really?

When people hog the whole width of the moving walkways: If I have to get from one end of the airport to the other, it’s really nice to walk briskly along the moving walkways. They are fabulous inventions that allow you to arrive wherever you need to go in the airport much quicker. But sometimes people think that they are like a subway that you board and then hang out until it arrives at its termination point. When they see me clambering up behind them with my broken suitcase, they smile as if to say, “Welcome to our subway. We hope you enjoy the ride, because we sure are.”

The no smoking light in the airplane: Why do these have these lights? Are people really going to light up in flight? If they did, what would they use? They confiscated all your matches and lighters at the five security checkpoints you had to go through prior to boarding. “Excuse me,” some guy might say as he opens the bin above your head, “I have to get my flint and steel so I can light up.”

You know you are on a long flight when the sixth movie shown is a rerun of one they showed earlier.

Circumnavigate Advice #5: Leave left baggage within the secure zone whenever possible. After seven days in Singapore, I made my way to the airport to head to Thailand for four days, after which I would return to Singapore to continue my journey. I had a small suitcase of items collected along the way that I would not need in Thailand, so I paid the fare to store my luggage in the left baggage of Terminal 3 at Singapore’s International Airport. Then I checked in at the Thai Airways check-in at Terminal 1. Easy, I was following my own advice: travel light.

Four days later I arrived back to Singapore, Terminal 1. My reservation for the Transit Hotel said, “Do not clear immigration.” Well, I pretty much had to retrieve my bag since it was stored outside of the secure zone. They stamped my passport and I went to Terminal 3 to retrieve my bag. With all in order, I reorganized a few things and took the elevator up to United ticketing. Since the handle on my suitcase was broken I was thrilled with the idea that I would not have to hassle with the bag until customs in Chicago.

But then I learned the error of my plan. It was seven hours before a United Representative would even show up. At least I had my boarding passes and could easily get back into the secure zone and the Transit Hotel. Emigration wasn’t convinced it would be so easy. They took my boarding pass and passport from me for a small investigation. Who was this passenger with excess carryon luggage with a flight nine hours from now? After 10 anxious minutes, they returned my documents. “You’re good to go.”

Now, it was back to Terminal 1 to check into the Transit Hotel. Though a small tram connected the two terminals, there was significant walking involved. And with my cumbersome bags, it took me at least 15 minutes of walking in one direction. On the way I passed a left luggage kiosk within the secure zone. If only I had known.

In the morning, back at Terminal 3, I rechecked into the United Transfer desk. Graciously they allowed me to gate-check my now painfully awkward handle-less suitcase. As I shuffled to the gated area, past the free movie theater and butterfly garden, I noticed a row of luggage dollies. Why hadn’t I noticed these before?

Circumnavigate Log #5

Circumnavigate Advice #3 Ask questions.

It was midnight at Robertsfield International Airport outside of Monrovia, Liberia. Having arrived at the airport with plenty of time for my flight, I was in no rush. However, I should have asked the question, "where should I go next?"

Never before has the airport in Liberia required an airport tax. In the US they area all factored into the price of the ticket. But I am familiar with how to pay them after flying through Bangkok a few years before. After receiving my boarding pass I proceeded to emigration and the health inspection and a second security point before reaching the gate. It was then they told me I had to pay the airport tax. You pay the airport tax after getting your boarding pass.

No problem, I just walked back and payed the $5. But then I faced the line before me. Because of the narrow hallway, I couldn't bypass the 20 minute wait for the emigration and heath inspection stations. At the front of the line, the man looked at me and said, "Why are you waiting here? You can just go right on up?"

Next time, I'll ask.

Circumnavigate Advice #4 Be assertive.

Liberia can be a rough place on the surface. After two years there, you learn how to be assertive. I mistakenly assumed that in Singapore, the people would be gentle, soft-spoken, and kind. I was correct that they are a kind people, but I needed to engage my assertiveness a bit more as I tried to get a taxi. "Do you know where the cove is on Sentosa Island?" I graciously asked 15 consecutive taxi drivers.

"No, that's a new development; I can't help you," was their unanimous response.

A passerby pointed me to the direction of the train station to Sentosa Island. Grateful that I only had two light bags, I walked through a supermarket, a mall, up an escalator to the third floor, down three flights of stairs dead ending in a room where a three Singaporeans were changing, back up the stairs, across a patio I had missed earlier, through sliding glass doors that I mistook for windows, around a corner to the Sentosa Express ticket counter.

I wasn't on the train for more than 5 minutes and we arrived at Sentosa beach. "Take the yellow bus to the second stop," Someone explained to me. "Walk back two blocks to and then get on the orange bus to the cove. Then take the gray bus to the condo where you are going."

By the time I departed from the yellow bus, the orange busses had stopped running for the night. I called Ed Attema, who had expected me an hour earlier and he got on his bike and met me. We walked the remaining mile toward their condo.

I can't tell you how good that shower felt. Bucket baths aside, it was the first one I had had in two weeks.

Circumnavigate Log #4

March 6, 2009

Five thousand miles can seem like inches. Yesterday, March 5, 2009, a group of Liberian children gathered around a cell phone to answer questions posed by 4^th graders from Calvin Christian School on the other side of the ocean.

Two weeks can seem like minutes. I’ve been back here in Liberia for almost two weeks yet it feels like I just arrived. What was a full suitcase of gifts and letters for Liberian children now is filling with pictures and letters to kids in the States. My time has been spent hanging out with the kids, doing small service jobs, receiving the container, leading an LIB Excellent Bible Study, and encouraging everyone with how they have been used by God to make Liberia into a better place.

Frustrating challenges can seem endearing. What bothered me about living here two years ago: the bucket baths, the lack of electricity, the intense heat, the abrasive culture; have become enjoyable adventures.

A slimy bug can taste like a special desert. One afternoon a few of the boys brought me a Liberian Delicacy. “You can tell how old it is by how many lines are on its back” Nanetoe proceeded to explain. Nine brown dashes segmented the white pulsating abdomen of the Termite queen. Fried with a little butter, it tasted like a buttery egg Quiche.

An amateur school startup can look like a sophisticated operation. The King’s Arms Academy has a terrific administrative team that transformed its third year from a Western-run missionary school to a Liberian-run, effective, Christian school.

A nerdy first grader can transform into an inspired young adult. I wrote an earlier blog entry about Nathan’s vision of heaven. He dreamt that he met Jesus and 1000 people that had come to Christ because of his witness. On February 27, I asked Nathan, “Do you remember the dream that you had before I left?”

“Yes, and I’ve started doing it,” he replied.

“Oh? Tell me.”

Nathan chuckled.

“How have you started doing it?” I repeated.

“When it is time to pray and no one is praying, I tell them to pray. I remind them to pray.”

“Tell me more.”

“Soon, I will go into the bush and tell them to repent and confess their sins to Jesus to be saved.”

Life on this earth can taste a little bit like heaven.

Circumnavigate Log #3

Palm trees at 50 degrees North of the equator? Blooming Flowers in February? Welcome to Mylor, Cornwall in the United Kingdom.

Here in mid February the physical climate is cool, mild, and wet, yet the spiritual climate is an oasis in the desert. Chris Parker, friend of mine from Winchester, September 2000, leads a small, house church movement called the Oasis. It is indeed a living garden in the midst of a dying economy and church.

Stoic congregations arrive on Sundays to an ornate cathedral. The tithe collected is used to repair the roof of the building. For many, church has offers them comfort and tradition, nothing more. But at the Oasis, they strive for something altogether different.

Twenty-eight-year old, Chris Parker works two jobs in addition to his full-time duties as Pastor of the Oasis. He and his family are not heroes, but they are in love with the Truth of what God's Word has called them to. They are committed to persevering in the midst of hard times to see a rooted, multiplying, body of Christ-followers, obedient to God's word, and active in daily worship.

God is doing a work here in Cornwall. There are those here who are choosing to not follow Christ and they will be left to stand before the throne of judgment on their own. But God has preserved families like the Parkers who will not give up the name of Christ for the ways of this world. Those that choose the path the Parkers have chosen to follow may be few, but they will have chosen what has best. They will thrive like an oasis in the desert.

Circumnavigate Log #2

My flight from Minneapolis to Chicago was cancelled. But when you view a trip like this with an attitude of adventure, it's just the first of many great stories to tell when it's all done.

Circumnavigating Advice #1: Get to the airport early whenever possible.

United Airlines graciously put me on an earlier flight bringing me to Chicago with plenty of margin. Margin is the name of the book I just finished reading.

My second adventure was the extendable handle of my suitcase jammed. I suppose you would have laughed to see me wobbling through the terminal in Chicago trying to catch an earlier flight to London. I had to bear-hug my suitcase while laden beneath the burden of my overweight backpack. No, I didn't check any baggage. I did make the earlier flight with enough time to call Mom and fill her in on the change of plans.

Circumnavigating Advice #2: Travel light.

By midnight Minnesota time I was in London, putting my cumbersome suitcase of Liberian goodies in a storage locker for four days. A bus to Reading Train Station will allow me time to connect with a friend from High School before hoping on a train to Cornwall.

Signing off, just in time to see a foggy London sunrise.

Circumnavigate Log #1

Around the World in 33 Days

A while back I read Jules Verne's classic, Around the World In 80 days. I loved the idea of traveling to a variety of places, meeting numerous people in a multitude of contexts, and literally circumnavigate the globe. In 2006 I began a journey that ended 11 months later traveling from West to East. On February 18 I will depart again, returning 33 days later, this time going East to West.

Although traveling excites me, it is not my motivation.

My purpose in West Africa is to encourage the nationals running the ministry at the King's Arms Academy. My departure from Liberia nearly one year ago was with uncertainty and confusion. Since I have left, I have received word that my Liberian brothers and sisters have assumed all of the responsibilities to running a school and are doing a terrific job of it. I am proud of them. They need to hear that from me in person.

My purpose in Southeast Asia is more visionary in nature. From my desire to work among children and encourage educators in a variety of Southeast Asian contexts, it would most economical to be based in a central Southeast Asian location. From this side of the planet, Singapore and Chiang Mai have looked like excellent choices. However, since I have not been to either of these places, a trip to check things out, establish connections, and learn first hand is in line.

In 33 days, here's the itinerary:

February 18: Travel Day: Minneapolis, Chicago, London

February 19-21: United Kingdom

February 22: Travel Day: London, Casablanca, Monrovia

February 23-March 8: Liberia

March 9-10: Travel Days: Monrovia, Casablanca, London, Singapore

March 11-16: Singapore

March 17-21: Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 22: Travel Day: Singapore, Chicago, Minneapolis