Lost in Translation

Yikes, time has flown by and our camera has gathered dust. We will try to take more pictures in the future, so that you can get a better idea of our life here in Bogota. For starters, here are a few photos:

Our neighborhood, our house, and the path that I jog on every other day.

I have been noticing something. Spending lots of time with paperwork and errands rather than people drains me. Now I know that the opposite can be true as well; it all depends on with whom you spend the time.

The first month in Colombia has been like this . . . Wake up. Read Scripture and pray. Every other day go jogging. Then I ask Holly, "What are we up for today?" "Well, we still need _______," and we take off for a local store to buy something superfluous, like a bed or a refrigerator.

Now, I am not complaining. I just don't remember this stage when we were newly-weds. Ah yes, the big difference was that many family members gave us the necessities (like a bed), and we'd always rented apartments that came with refrigerators and a downstairs laundry room. Added to this is the fact that this is not our home country. So there's a learning curve.

Like the other day when I went on a short errand to take the microwave to a repair shop (note to self--always open new things here right away to see if they work or not, otherwise you'll be in charge of getting them to the repair shop). I was looking for an address on Calle 68. Without any thought I headed up the big road near our house (it's 68). I got about two miles away and hit major traffic (no surprise there). I also noticed that the road had changed to Calle 100. Okay, it must be in the other direction. So I head south for another thirty minutes and see the cross street I need. I pull into a parking area and grab my microwave. It's hot, and microwaves are heavier than you think. As I round the block where the repair shop should be I see a restaurant. I ask the lady there where the address may be, and she tells me that it's written wrong.

With her help I figure out that there's a difference between Calle 68 and the road that runs by our house, which is Avenida Carrera 68. But of course!

I finally make it to Calle 68 and pull off for directions as I zero in on the neighborhood. "Oh yeh, just pull out here and go about two blocks up." What they didn't tell me was that the lane was a one-way road. It's a good thing that I don't know many swear words in Spanish because I wasn't a bit offended when the taxi driver cussed me out for my little maneuver.

Finally I arrived at the repair shop with an unbearable thirst (the altitude really dry you out). In fact I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it.

This is just one example of how I spent three hours in a day. But on the plus side, I'm learning to drive in this city pretty well, which is an accomplishment.

I am very much looking forward to beginning in ministry here. With God's help, it could be in the next week or two.

Just a quick blessing . . . we now officially have Internet in our home. That means that we'll start updating our blogs regularly and that we may even start taking some pictures of Bogota.

Thanks for your patience. We almost have our house in order now.

We´re still trying to get situated here in Bogotá, although God has blessed in so many ways. Our next major need is to determine where we will begin ministering. There are several possibilities . . . perhaps help a pastor who is pastoring two churches at the moment, or go help a young pastor who is working in a new church plant. The other missionaries have been very helpful to not burden us down too much at first.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we´ll probably be signing on our house tomorrow. That means that the next few weeks will also be devoted to getting the house furnished. About all we have for it are books (isn´t that all you need?). At any rate, we´ll be learning more of the city by traveling to all of the furniture stores.

Well, I´ve gotta run.

Well, we made it to Bogotá, and since Holly already blogged about the trip I´ll skip that to give you my first impressions of being a missionary in this country.

I had forgotten how gargantuan this city is! For the first three days my head was spinning just trying to find my bearings. Thankfully I´m starting to understand how the addresses work here. They just changed them all a month or so ago, so even some of the Colombians are learning. The system is logical . . . the calles go towards the mountains, while the carreras run parallel to the mountains. The numbers go logically based on their distance north/south and their distance from the mountains. I´ve driven a few times already, which was a little tramatic the first time but is now "normal."

Speaking of driving, you have to not make mistakes. For example, I made the mistake of thinking I could get off a road under construction, but it took over an hour to get to a turn-around. Traffic is incredible if you take the wrong road at the wrong time. Picture moving five feet on each change of the stoplight. It´s a wee bit different than Hibbing, MN or Ames, IA!

Holly and I have essentially felt overwhelmed with all that has to be done to get set up here. In the first week and two days we have: filed for our cedulas (ID cards), received our shipment from the States, begun the process of getting a driver´s license, and worked on a bunch of paperwork to rent a house.

Renting a house is not a simple task either. They want to have two cosigners just to rent a house, which both need three or four documents to show their income, position, property, etc. We turned that in yesterday, so we´ll see if we got approved or not. We are very pleased with the house that we´ve picked out, since it´s fairly close to the seminary building (about 10 minutes or less), has a good price, and has all that we need.

We set a new record for getting our shipment out of customs. I got there at about 11 a.m. and had our shipment to the guest house garage by about 3 p.m.! Usually it has taken between two to five days to get this done. Apparently many of you are praying because I´ve been stumbling my way through, and it´s been working.

We visited the Tunal church last weekend, where Holly´s parents ministered. They are doing very well and now want help to start a mission agency to send missionaries to different cities in Colombia. Their goal is to send one couple every four years. I surely don´t feel like an "expert" in that area, but I´m definitely willing to help in any way possible. We also may begin our work with a young pastor who is ministering in Suba. This part of the city has grown tremendously . . . I remember hearing that it had about two million people. We´ll keep you posted as we see God´s direction unfold.

 

This is what may come to your mind when you think of Bogota, Colombia. A big city with a lot of concrete. But I can guarantee that within a year we will be able to fill a collage with pictures of Colombians who have been etched on our hearts. When I think of our friends in Costa Rica, I am amazed at what God can do in one year. He can take total strangers and make them brothers in Christ. He can change lives, calm fears, and give joy where only bitterness once existed. 

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.