Lost in Translation

This picture above comes from Google Earth, which has to be one of the coolest (free!) programs out there. You can spin the entire globe and then zoom in to see satelite images of specific cities. My brother-in-law was even able to see his car in the church parking lot!

This brings up a discussion about the missionary and technology. How should we use technology? Should we even care about it as missionaries? Should we wait until a technology is so tried-and-true that we're forced to use it?

I tend to want to try new technologies before many other people. Not for any other reason than that I enjoy it, and I've actually found some good uses for it. Someone may suggest that each mission agency should tell its missionaries what technology to use. The problem is that it's changing so fast that they could never keep up sufficiently. Instead, if various missionaries innovate and then share, we can all learn.

How could Google Earth be used in missions? Well, it certainly makes a country's geography come alive. I was looking through the streets of Paris, Tokyo, and Lima just last night. Imagine using images from it in a missions conference. Imagine having students explore your country of ministry. Or missionaries could just use it to get a bird's eye view of the next church they're visiting.

Until next time, keep innovating!

I've been confronted with a very real cultural difference. Perhaps I should say "personal arrogance." I was expecting that we would easily receive our Colombian visas because "why wouldn't they want us in their country?" But isn't that how we tend to look at things? But I've heard what it's like on the other side, at least in Costa Rica.

Costa Ricans have to set up an appointment at the U.S. embassy at least a year in advance, sometimes more. Then they pay $100 just for the opportunity to present their need for a visa. If they don't receive it, they lose the money. And a hundred bucks is not small change.

The Ticos also mentioned that the atmosphere was anything but "light" or "fun" at the U.S. embassy. Now, that's a good thing for national security purposes. But contrast that with my attitude towards the Colombian embassy. I expected them to just give me the visas without any trouble at all. But God wanted to teach me a lesson about humility and understanding that He is in control. Not me.

We have this coming week to receive the documents we need from Bogota, which requires faith and patience. Then we need to go to the Colombian consulate here in Chicago to apply for the visas.

But, God is in control.

I was typing this on our laptop the night before we left Costa Rica. Unfortunately, our Internet service provider shut off our service at 12 midnight about five minutes before I finished. I'm going to leave it just as I wrote it. We're in MN right now, enjoying time with family.

December 19, 2005

Wow, it's almost midnight here, and we're putting the final touches on a change of country. The bad news is we'll be leaving at about 5 a.m. tomorrow, and the good news is that we'll be getting back to Iowa about 3:15 p.m., si Dios quiere (if God wills).

Quick updates. Just a few quick thoughts before I get back to helping Holly finish the packing. First, my last weeks of school went well. I was asked to give a testimony at the graduation (in Spanish of course), and it went well. Also, my exams were relatively enjoyable.

To borrow the words of another missionary, the Colombian consulate took round one in the battle for religious visas. We didn't have the right authentification on two documents, so we'll have to wait until we get to Chicago to see how round two goes. It's possible that some government offices may be closed in Bogota, which would slow the process. Please pray! We already have tickets for January 10th, but without the visas we'll probably have to delay our flights. By the way, this whole process has taught us to trust God more. "Why Lord?!?" "Oh, that's right, You're the sovereign Lord of the universe . . . a couple of stamps on a piece of paper don't thwart Your plan."

Special thanks. We've had to say goodbye to many good friends in Costa Rica, and we're very thankful to God for His faithful servants here. We're also thankful for each of you who plays a vital role in God's ministry through us. More than anything, we're thankful for Jesus Christ who died in our place and rose again.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Jonathan, Holly, Lucas, and Eliana

P,S. We plan on being in Iowa, Minnesota, and Chicago for the three weeks we'll be in the U.S. We'll be updating our blogs on a regular basis when we get to Colombia, so we invite you to follow the first steps of our transition to the country.

Yesterday I went with another missionary to "los Guido," a marginalized barrio on the outskirts of San Jose. We walked down an embankment littered with garbage. We saw houses (shacks) built with scrap metal and wood. Little kids playing in the garbage. A little stream of filth. You get the idea. The majority of these homes don't have a father or husband. The missionary introduced me to a young girl of probably nine years old who acts as the mother to her four younger siblings while her mom works. This is life in los Guido.

This leads me to ponder something. What is the relationship between a person's physical and spiritual needs? Or another question: Can we minister to someone's spiritual needs without caring about their physical needs?

Now, I know that many organizations have gone the way of the "social gospel," in other words they forget about the spiritual needs of people to focus only on the physical needs. Obviously, God's Word teaches that is wrong. The need for salvation is infinitely more important than any physical need.

But what about Jesus? In my Bible it says: "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick" (Mt. 14:14). In the next chapter Jesus says, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way" (15:32). Jesus was not indifferent to the physical needs of the people. How can we see the needs and not be moved to compassion?

This missionary does not speak Spanish very well at this point. But as we walked everyone greeted him with smiles and kisses. Why? Because he has shown love to them. Many children had fallen down the side of the embankment when it would rain. Keith knows how to build, so he built over 300 steps going up and down the steep hill. He had a missionary team come and help him build a bridge over the stream because young children had drowned there before. Hundreds of people use these projects every day, reading the letters in the concrete "Un regalo de Dios" (a gift from God). Has this missionary sold out to the social gospel? Hardly! With every project, more people have come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. This missionary works under the umbrella of a church in San Jose, and they have started a church in los Guido. When we went, there were about 200 people at the service, the majority of whom have been touched by this missionary's ministry.