Inspiration in Unusual Places

So this will probably be a short one but I just wanted to share some unusual inspiration moments I had recently. The first was while I was riding the bus the other day and listening to U2. I was listening to City of Blinding Lights off of their latest album (at least unless a new one has come out since I moved here). So rumor has it that this song was written after Sept. 11, after U2 did a concert in NYC. Don't know if it's true but an interesting bit of info, but anyway, I was listening to this song while riding the bus and one line just stuck out to me. The line is this "Oh you look so beautiful tonight/in the city of blinding lights." So here I am on a bus in the middle of a city of 1.5 million people (rough guess), and this phrase just jumped out at me. Other parts of the song say, "don't look before you laugh/look ugly in a photograph/flash bulbs and purple irises the camera can't see/I've seen you walk unafraid/I've seen you in the clothes you make can you/see the beauty inside of me/what happened to the beauty I had inside of me." So I don't know, this may not strike you the way it did to me but there are so many things that photos of places like this can't tell. Like personality or like the people behind the faces. And I started to think, What would this world look like if we all actually acted like this? What would happen if we saw the beauty that is written into each person we share a bus with, see on the highway, sit across from in the doctor's office? Or even harder in the ones who harm us, cut in front of us, talk down to us? What would happen if we looked for God's image in everyone we saw? I think the world would be a little different.

Another song that jumped out of me I heard just a little while later off the same album called Crumbs from Your Table. In this song Bono sings, "You're as pretty as a picture/It was all there to see/Then your face caught up with your psychology/With a mouth full of teeth/You ate all your friends/And you broke every heart thinking/Every heart mends/ ANd you speak/with signs and wonders/But I need something other/I would believe if I was able/But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table." When I heard this it just came clear to me that so often we search for the right words or the right things to say but sometimes it's the right actions. The last two lines where he says he would believe if he was able but he's waiting on the crumbs just really got to me. How do we make them able to believe? It's kind of like in every context we need to find what the crumbs are they are waiting for. If we show them that love then just maybe they will begin to see the love that we have for Christ and that He has for us!

For the third thing, this one comes from the most unusual place of all, the movie Hitch. I just finished watching it and one line just, unprovoked, jumped out and grapped me. Towards the end Albert says to Hitch, "I get you, you sell this stuff (love) but you don't believe in it yourself." Hitch says, "Love is my life," then Albert responds, "NO, ...it's your job!" When I heard this I was struck dumb it felt like. How easy it is to entertain the questions above or the questions of faith, or the Christian life in such a detatched way. It is so easy to make Christianity our job instead of our life. But Jesus doesn't ask for that, he wants us in a relationship with him...a living, vital and moving relationship. When that is the case it is an adventure to figure out all these things because we are living intimately with our Lover. In the movie, Hitch thought he had love figured out when in the end everything he thought he knew was wrong when he fell in love. I think this is the same with us in Christianity. We can think we know it all, but that all goes away when we fall in love with Christ. Then all these questions are still there but they are more an exchange between us and Christ, we follow him, and he leads, and we learn on the route. We don't have to know it all beforehand, it doesn't have to be our job...but it does have to be our lives!

Well this was longer than I had intended but I hope it has been a blessing. Thanks to you all for your prayers...I have an exam tomorrow so pray for that if you get this before 10:00am. If after just pray that the next phase of learning goes well. I'm about to start what is called the subjunctive tense..which I learned in college but I'm sure this will be much more intense. There are some missionaries here who still don't understand this tense...so I need the prayer!!!!

Medical Mission and more

Ok, So first sorry that it has taken me so long to blog. It is so easy to get into a routine and things like this easily get pushed off the radar screen so I apologize. But a lot has been going on lately that I really want everyone to know about.

First of all, this past week we hosted a medical team in South Quito. I use the term we loosely because I still had class and could only attend one day but it was amazing. Just so that you know, Quito is basically divided into three sections. You have North Quito which is the rich section of town. Then you have Central Quito which is commercial and the Spanish Colonial Old Town, then you have south, which is the poor district. You can tell this just by driving the roads. They are considerably worse and you have to be extremely careful due to all of the manhole covers missing. Apparently the people steal them, melt them down, and then sell them as scrap metal. Not to mention the housing in most areas looks so miserable.

But then when I got there I was really unsure what would happen. I knew that most of the OMS Missionary jobs would be to translate for the American doctors, and while I feel confident I could do it, I was still afraid. And at first that was where I was put, in triage as a translator. But I was quickly removed. Not because of my abilities seeing as I hadn't seen a patient yet but to be put with the eye doctor who was inundated with work. Everyone wanted to see him. So I went to help and was completely relieved to see that he was from Puntilla (an area near Guayaquil) and therefore was fluent in Spanish. So mostly I just got to take his notes for him, play with the occasional kid, and choke back a few tears.

It's hard to explain but so many of the people came through the eye exam area and you wondered why they received clearance. They were having to be very specific with those who got to see him because there were so many. Some would go through and have 20/25 vision and receive some eye-drops and a prescription for glasses, and oftentimes you could tell these people weren't rich but they could afford what they had gotten. But then you'd see the older, poorer people come through and hear the words from the eye doctor, "tiene cataratas" (She has cataracts). For an eye doctor in a mobil clinic that's like saying she has cancer. Basically it is to say that they are going blind and there is nothing we can do about it. He would always tell them that their only option was an operation and they would almost always reply with "pero somos campesinos pobres." Basically that they are just poor farmers. He would explain that there were some clinics that would do it for free but that they would have to call certain numbers to find them. So they would normally go out with long faces, or try to fake smiles and thank yous. One man couldn't even see the doctors hand at less than a meter from his face. How do they live? And what can we do to help them? And all this is not to mention the countless kids who came in with eye problems from the dust, or parasites from the water. It's hard to bear at times. And I was there for just one day.

So that is about all I have. That was a hard fare to stomach but then to know that some good came out of it. Some people of south Quito got to see the love of Christ in a more tangeable way. But it has also opened a lot of questions for me. I know that the gospel was shared to the people there and a lot of people responded. But I've heard from years past that the people often just say yes in order to secure their treatment or their visit with a doctor. So I ask myself where is the transformation that Jesus spoke of? Is this the best method? These are just questions that are sort of floating around in my head right now. How are we to live our lives and our testimonies in such a way that others see Christ's love and want to join us on our walk with him, and not just say yes because they are afraid that we will turn them away?

So I guess for some prayer requests, pray for all those who did make a decision or ask for pastor visits. Whether they meant it or not one of the Every Community for Christ pastors should be visiting them in the next couple of weeks so pray that God's love will be seen and that transformation will take place. Also pray for me as I struggle with some of these questions and try my hardest to seek God's face on these. Pray that God's wisdom will come over us all as we seek his will and his method. Also pray for me as I prepare to leave for my ministry sight in Cuenca. I have just about a month before that happens so please pray that the ministry God has for me will open up and that all of the details like apartments and such fall into place. Thank you all for your prayers. They are well appreciated.

Welcome the rainy season

Well, that time of year is here. It is now rainy season in Quito. I am sitting in an internet cafe listening to the rain outside, the same rain that comes every evening without fault. It's always here without missing a beat. Sometimes it's a raging thunderstorm, other times a heavy shower, or like now just a nice shower to listen too. So, there is the introduction the the rainy season.

This past Sunday night I took off to visit Cuenca, Ecuador, my future ministry site. I met Patricio, the pastor there whom I will be working with. He seemed like a really great guy who is now working with I think a couple house churches that just had their first Gran Celebración (great celebration) where the two house churches meet together. It looks like I will be doing a lot of work with him in leading Bible studies, trying to start house churches and then trying to bring them together to a gran celebración. So we got to talk for a while about all of this then we went apartment hunting.

So this is how apartment hunting works in Ecuador. You wander around the streets of the neighborhood that you want to live in looking for windows without curtains. Normally those are the ones that are for rent and if you are lucky there will be a sign in the window saying arriendo este departamento (basically means for rent). Luckily that is what we found. We got to look around and I absolutly love the city of Cuenca. It's population is just under 500,000 people. After living in Quito with all the noise and polution that accompanies millions of people, 500,000 is like heaven. It is so quiet and clean. But there is a lot of work to do. The estimate is that less than 1% are Christians here. Of course there are a lot of Catholics there, but my understanding is that Cuenca is a purveyor of the extremely supersticious catholicism.

But anyway we looked and looked for apartments but since my move in is over a month away we really couldn't secure anything. But it was a promising day. We found one really nice one on the third floor with a marvelous view, two bedrooms, office, 1 bath, and living/dining/kitchen for $160 a month. About the average. But we'll have to see what is available when i move in Mid-late November.

Well I think that was about all. I guess I should tell you that my trip consisted of riding a bus Sunday night for 9 hours, being in Cuenca for Monday, and returning Monday night on the same bus. It was insane, hard, and painful at times (the night buses rarely stop...so that was 9 hours in the same seat.) Then when we got to Quito the rainy season rhythm was broken and we had to walk in the morning rain to try to catch a bus. Needless to say BJ and I were soaking wet and freezing by the time we caught the bus and were still looking at an hour bus ride. But in all all was well.

Well the rain has picked up to a heavy shower and the thunder is moving in. I guess that means I should start my hike of about 10 or so block to catch the bus to head back to Calderón. But luckily this time I have my umbrella. Thank you all for your prayers...they are needed.

Finally the pictures have arrived.

So I finally bit the bullet and went to an internet cafe and loaded almost all of my pictures. So here are the links to them.


First Days in Ecuador

Mitad del Mundo and some Mountains

Colonial Quito and El Panecillo

Quinto Aniversario de la Iglesia Biblica Familiar

So there are more but the computer started getting really, really, really slow....so. I guess another time.