Inept

I'm a Dad! Wow.

One of the things I feel in this new stage in my life is a sense of complete ineptitude. I've never been a dad before. I don't know what I'm doing. I tried to put the diaper on backwards, until Elizabeth stopped me. (Thank God for wives, without them kids wouldn't be possible) But here I am, with a kid, and a need to take care of him. A burning desire, actually.

I can't look at him without feeling overwhelmed. Not in the sense of, I can't do this, but in the sense of I am doing this, even though I don't know how. There's nothing as amazing as picking up my crying son and having him stop almost immediately. There's nothing as heart wrenching as him crying in his car seat in the back and me not being able to pick him up, or comfort him. That cry of his can break my heart.

It has been stressful, and wonderful, and a whole host of other-fuls, and I'm excited for more.

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Our Road Trip to Pennsylvania

It was a bright and sunny day... That's pretty much how most horror stories start out, right? No? Well, even so our weekend road trip to PA ended up being a little on the rough side. It really did start out looking like a great day to take a trip. Elizabeth and I both have spent our fair share of being on the road, from our families taking trips to grandmother's house, all the way up to our more recent journeys across the country as we travel for partnership development. We really didn't expect this trip to be any different, but it was. Possibly it was our expectation that it would be an easy trip that made it so bad for us, but either way, it was bad.


To start off the trip, we sat outside a restaurant for an hour, waiting to meet with someone from a church in that area only to find out that we had somehow missed him. Always a great start to a trip. From there it was a slog of a drive north over highways that are..... somewhat different from the highways we are accustomed to. Elizabeth later said that she experienced more culture shock from driving on the roads of Pennsylvania than from anything we did in Papua New Guinea. For one thing, the highways are composed of narrower roads, weaving through hills instead of long, straight, wide highways. Add to that an overwhelming amount of construction on these narrow, hilly roads, and a sprinkling of bad drivers, and we had a recipe for stress.


But what really brought it to the next level was our trip home. First, our air conditioning went out. Lovely. Then, a short time into the trip, we began to smell a faint sulfur smell, that grew less faint as time went on. Finally, Elizabeth pulled off the road and into a gas station so we could get some fresh air. I took the opportunity to look up what would cause such a stench. Turns out my alternator had gone bad and begun overcharging my battery. It was the boiling sulfuric acid from the battery that we were smelling.


All that got fixed of course. We replaced the alternator, and the battery, and got a new tire as well. I refilled the freon, and we were set to get back home. However, our quick trip up north ended up taking a lot longer than we would have liked. The road got long.


It seemed like it ended up being one of the longest road trips of my life. It was definitely one of the more stressful ones. Yet even so, while we were there, in Pennsylvania, we got to spend time with Legacy Church, and meet some great people. We also got to spend an afternoon with some of our good friends from Dallas, who had moved up north after graduating. Even on what we perceived as being a bad trip, there were a number of good things that happened.


Life sometimes offers up to us "long trips". Even when our journey looks straightforward and simple, sometimes stumbling blocks appear. Missions has been that sort of journey for me. I decided to become a missionary back in 2005, and while we are now so close to getting to the field (May 20015), it took quite a bit longer than I had hoped to get to that point. Even so, there have been so many good things that have happened to me during the journey. If the journey had been simple, and short, I would not have met my beautiful wife. I would likely never have joined up with PBT, and I would be doing something completely different from my current role. There have been ups and there have been downs, but that's just part of life, and like our trip to Pennsylvania, you have to take the bad with the good. Even so, I'm ready for the next part of our journey!

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5 Things I Won't Enjoy About Living in the Jungle

While I am super excited about getting to live in the Jungle, I also realize I have to be realistic with my expectations. Sure, we get to live in a tropical near-paradise, with scenic views and most importantly a complete lack of snow, but every place has its down sides as well. While I don't foresee any of these things becoming an actual problem, they very well may be annoying. Looking forward from where I am now, these are a few of the things that I'm really not looking forward to about living in the jungle.

1. Lack of Privacy-

While I do love spending time with people as much as the next person, I also know my limitations. I am an introvert. Every once in a while, I just need to pull back away from everyone around me and immerse myself in some alone time, just to keep myself sane. Here in the States that's fairly easily done, but in Papua New Guinea our walls will be thin. Actually, our exterior walls may end up being screens, since we'll be using the cross wind to keep our house cool. That means that I'll be able to hear whenever anyone walks by our house, which is just enough to keep me from feeling all the way alone. Add to that the fact that it's so quiet in the village that people on the other side will probably be able to hear any of our conversations, and you can see how someone could feel a little bit claustrophobic even in the bush.

2. Bugs 

Sure, we have bugs here in the States! And yes, they can be quite a pest. (I'm most definitely not a fan of fire ants) But there are two things that bug me about bugs overseas. Firstly, that they're just so pervasive, and secondly that they can cause a good deal of misery. I don't know if you've ever had malaria, but it is undeniably miserable. Granted, it is also fairly easily curable, even with fairly cheap medicines, but while you are waiting for the medicine to take effect it can still be a trial. Add on to that the large number of flies, spiders, and roaches find out in the bush, and you can see that bugs can be rather more of a problem than they are here in the States. At least for our first term in PNG I know we are planning on bringing our mosquito nets in order to create a little sanctuary from the critters, so at least there's that. 

3. Rain 

You'd think that I would have seen this coming, but it turns out that it rains a whole lot in the Jungle, especially during rainy season! Turns out, I don't like being wet! Still, simply being wet is one of the lesser inconveniences that the rains can bring. Even in the States the rain can cause problems, but in many parts of the world, PNG included, rain can do a real number on the roads. It becomes difficult to travel, and a trip that would only take a few hours in the dry season can become a real hassle. Rain does, of course, have its upsides as well. For one thing it is important for the gardens in PNG, which are how most of the people feed their families. That brings me to the next thing on my list,

4. Dirt

I don't like being dirty.  Not that out of the ordinary, I suppose, but still true. When I talk about the reasons I'm proud to be part of PBT, the fact that we are "down in the dirt" missionaries is one of the first things I'll talk about. I've seen it modeled for me by experienced missionaries, and I'm not afraid to get dirty myself when needed, but it can still be an irritation. Just a little thing, but those little things have a way of adding up, if you're not careful. All that leaves is my last item on my list, and probably one of the things I'm least looking forward to....

5. Chamber Pots

I hate for this post to simply become a poop joke, but really, at the very least for our first term, this is something I'll have to deal with. Until we build a more Americanized house, and a septic tank, chamber pots will just have to be part of our lives. And really, I'm thankful for that option, since being able to answer "nature's call" within the comfort of our own home could be a life saver. They are also the easiest way for us to avoid numbers 1-4, since outhouses would involve leaving our house every time. 

In all seriousness, though, I am extremely excited to get the opportunity to work as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. Yes, there are things that I will have to deal with that I may not like, whether it be sickness, irritations, inconveniences, or any number of other issues. And maybe I'm not going to win any awards for the most "normal" of lives. But I sorta like that. Besides, the opportunities we'll have and the things we'll be a part of will last for eternity, and affect the lives of people far beyond ourselves. So a little rain is worth it. Trust me. 

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My Moto X Mishap

Many of us have been there, I'm sure. That moment when you look down at your phone screen, a screen, mind you, that should be pristine, only to see this. 

I have no idea what happened here.

It's a pretty sad sight, to say the least. I've only had this phone since January of this year, and it has already served me so well. I've used it to take notes in class, to navigate to so very many places, to look up recipes, and to read blogs and books. The phone is a Moto X, and while I don't use it very often for phone calls or texts, I do use it for pretty much everything else under the sun. Which is why I was so disappointed when one day I pulled it out of my pocket to see the corner had somehow been broken. I had not dropped it. I hadn't done anything unusually strenuous. I really have no idea what happened. And yet it was broken. 

When my wife's phone screen shattered, we paid for it to be fixed. It took us awhile to get around to doing so, since the price to replace the screen was daunting to say the least. I definitely didn't want to do that again. And so, with much trepidation, and doubt I called Motorola on the off chance that I was covered by some obscure part of the warranty I wasn't seeing. As I explained my situation to the customer service guy, I knew it was hopeless, and he only confirmed it with his words, "I'm afraid that isn't covered by the warranty." But then hope! "But....." There was a pause. "Listen, let us do you a favor. We're going to go ahead and send you a new phone, and you can send us back the broken one. No charge, or anything, so long as you send yours back."

There was  much rejoicing! 

The story could end there, I suppose. But since I'm a missionary, I think I'll get all parable-y on you. 

I most certainly didn't deserve to get a new phone for free. While my last two phones have both been Motorola, that didn't mean I was one of their top customers, or anything. My new Moto X was a gift. 

In some ways, this is like God giving us our salvation. Sometimes we look at our lives and really truly understand that we are broken. There isn't anything that we, ourselves, can do about that. All we can do is ask God for forgiveness. And really we don't deserve it. Instead, forgiveness only comes from Christ, and it is a gift freely given. All we need to do is ask for it, and we accept it. How cool is that? 

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The World Cup

There is very little in this world as pervasive as soccer. The 2014 World Cup just finished yesterday, making this my third World Cup that I've watched, and the first one that I've watched while in the States. While I am (of course) a little disappointed that the US didn't make it farther than it did, I'm still rather excited to see us as a nation participating in a sport that does so much to help us come together with the international community as a whole. Even just here in the States, Elizabeth and I got into some great conversations with a Columbian, a Brazilian, and a Uruguayan. Turns out, we were all rooting for the States that game. And even though we were all disappointed, we had a great time chatting about each of our different countries. 

Another of the things I like about the World Cup is the commercials! 

I mean, that's just funny. Sure their just trying to boost their sales off of an event that has such a huge following, but I'm ok with that. It simply proves that the World Cup is a big deal. And because it is, we should be doing all we can to use the interest in the World Cup to help teach Literacy. (or other things too, I guess)

One example: The National Literacy Trust in England has a guy who is writing a Childrens Book for use in schools based around the World Cup. For each game he writes another chapter, and, if I'm reading the description right, the events surrounding the Cup effect what is happening in the story. That's just cool!

(you can read his story here)

While I think this is awesome, I really haven't seen much else promoting Literacy using all the interest in soccer. Still, my personal opinion is that motivation is the main key to teaching people to read. I would love to see more soccer based resources since it is such a wide spread phenomenon. 

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Looking Forward to Literacy

I start the final class of my Literacy training this month. 

The last couple of years have been a wonderful experience for me. I've learned a lot about language and how it works, and I've met some wonderful people here in Dallas, including my wife. Even so, I am super excited to start my Literacy Megacourse this semester and complete my training. 

When I first decided to do missions long term, literacy wasn't really where I thought I would be focused. Most missionaries that I've talked to over the years had been Church Planters, and with them as an example, I figured that was where I would end up. Yet it seemed that every area I visited had me focused on some sort of educational topic. I worked with English students in Peru and Bolivia, and helped with some classes on Sanitation and Health while I was in Africa. By the time I joined up with Pioneer Bible Translators, I had decided that missions, for me, was about helping people to have the ability to learn about God on their own, in their own language. At first, that meant giving them the Bible, but somewhere along the line I realized that giving them a book wasn't enough. I had to teach them to read it. That need was one that I felt that I decided to fill.

I don't know what all to expect from my class this Spring. Nor do I know what my job on the field will look like, exactly. What I do know is that in doing literacy I will enable people to access God's Word in a way that they have never been able to before. I will show God's love to people by helping them to access information that can change, and even save their lives, through learning about sanitation, or medicines, or even farming and water purification. 

I don't know every way in which God will use me to help the people of Papua New Guinea. But even so, I'm looking forward to Literacy.

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