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One indicator of our kids’ success

18 Mar

Keri just left today with four of her Wheaton friends after a week with us in Costa Rica.  As parents of three kids living in a different country we often pray that God will fill in those gaps created by distance and geography.  One indicator that God is answering that prayer is when we get to spend time with the friends our kids have chosen.  The USA cultural norm of kids heading to college and living on campus is perceived as odd here in Latin America.  Kids here live at home during college and well into their twenties, only leaving when they get married.  Our friends here thought we were crazy to send our daughter to college at such a young age.  And it is true, our influence in our kids’ lives does change once they’ve left for school.  Their friends are now the ones with influence in their daily lives while we move to a different and less frequent level of influence.
So it is with great joy that we get to know with whom they’ve spent these years living life and learning lessons.  This is the last Spring Break for these girls.  In eight short weeks their college careers will be complete.  Cathi and I thoroughly enjoyed the late evenings talking with these young women and learning about their hopes, dreams, and concerns about what God has in store.  What a privilege to pour into them, even for just a short time.  
We all wonder what our kids will choose in life.  Based on this terrific week at least we know our daughter chose her friends well.
The monkey agrees.

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My Best Intentions Aren’t Always Best…

24 Feb
Although I intended to blog more during 2013, my best intentions weren’t enough to see this through.
Our eldest daughter was able to spend time at home until the end of the second week of January, homeschooling resumed, insurance claims from 2012 needing filing, and documents for last year’s taxes needed to get to the tax man. Clinic began when Keri left, and new clients came. 
The demands were all timely, and needed addressing much more urgently than this blog. Thoughts roll around in my head as I ride buses and spent time in ministry and at home, so here’s hoping the end of February will be a fresh start to 2013. I so appreciate and care for all of those who like to keep up with our life and the pulse of missions in Latin America. I’m not going to promise, as well, my best intentions aren’t always best. Really, 2013 may shape up to be the best ever, despite my intentions, as long as I am present and willing to serve my family, friends,clients and others. 

A Concept-Breach in crossing cultures

16 Feb

I recently purchased a wireless doorbell that will hopefully be more reliable than the poorly wired one we have at our gate.  As I read through the instructions for the doorbell I was struck by the difficulties of crossing cultures and how language is more than just translating words.
Take a look at this section of instructions and see if you can figure out what the writer was trying to convey.  
Convenience-Quickness
The English is awkward but the meaning can be deduced.  
Concept-Breach
This isn’t as clear, but I think the writer is saying this is well designed
Fly Upwards-Space….What in the world does this mean?
Now we know that it took engineers with good education to design this product. They not only had to design the dimensions but also had to figure out how to best place the antennas, create the best wireless connection for the longest distance, and make it simple to use for the average customer.  Then Marketing came into the picture to position the product for an English-speaking audience.  Their job was to highlight the best features and make the product sound attractive.  I can just picture the Marketing department writing excellent prose in Mandarin then plugging it into Google Translate to get the English version.  Word for word Google magically produced the English equivalent of the best Mandarin marketing message.  But translation is more than just converting words or ideas, it’s truly understanding the target culture and building the message from scratch.
We often talk with churches and leaders who want to bring their skills and training to help the Latino/Caribbean church.  The US church has a plethora of materials, programs and trainings that have been very effective in a range of needs: marriage, conflict management, organizational structure, etc.  Seeing God use these to grow the body of Christ in the States naturally leads many to think it will be just as effective in another culture.  Have the materials translated, throw in a few nationals to help with live translation, and whammo, you’re ready to go.  That may be a “Concept-Breach”.
There are all kinds of Bible programs, seminaries, and books available in Spanish (spoken by less than half the Latin America/Caribbean population), yet only a few are truly effective.  Culture here dictates that no matter how effective they are, guests from the States are warmly welcomed and told how wonderful their training or program is.  Whereas in much of the States people prefer to be told the truth and receive constructive criticism, culturally that is not likely to happen in countries below the Rio Grande. 
It gets even more challenging when we as missionaries learn the language but still have a lot to learn about the culture.  I can use the right words but totally miss the cultural application.  I was recently given an example of this by my Spanish tutor. He was translating for a visiting pastor from the States who, when introducing the subject of personal purity said, “this is a hard topic.” That can certainly be translated literally but it would not carry the intended message.  Instead, it was translated, “this is a strong topic.”  By translating it that way the audience understands that they need to pay attention to what will be a challenging subject.  In English the translation “strong” doesn’t carry the same meaning.  A simple example, but its impact is important.  Take a look above at the last line of the section titled Fly Upwards Space.  If someone said to me, “with this product you can share the happiness of knowing the arrival of your friends.” I would laugh and likely miss the impact he hoped I would feel from his words, even if I do understand what he’s trying to say.  This happens frequently when a person crosses cultures to bring the Good News.  
Learning a language is a very small part of communicating.  To communicate well is a lifelong endeavor and takes a lot of humility.  We make mistakes, have embarrassing moments, and fail frequently in our desire to impact people with what God has given us to do.  It truly puts us in a position of dependence on the Holy Spirit to have the impact.  We become tools that He uses to build the kingdom.  
I, our staff, and those who come short term to serve with us have to constantly remind ourselves:
  • Our impact is most effective when it’s less of us and more of the Holy Spirit doing his work.
  • Humility is key to learning how to communicate well.
  • Our programs, trainings and skills don’t often translate well into another culture.
  • God may change what we thought we were going to do and use it to accomplish his goals with those we serve.
  • We’re going to make some pretty ridiculous mistakes along the way. God has a sense of humor.
  • In spite of the seriousness of the ministry, we can’t take ourselves too seriously.  I need to laugh with those who are laughing at me.
After all, I’m still laughing and trying to figure out what they mean by “Fly Upwards-Space.”
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Grab rest when you can

13 Oct

All night flights arriving just in time to go to church then begin our consultation with a wonderful leadership team in Santiago, the capital of Chile. Then more days of early morning to late evening work resulting in major progress with these new partners.  At some point the body demands some downtime.  So here we are in a Sunday School room in the church as the youth take advantage of a flat roof outside to improve their skateboarding skills. At that point the noise didn’t matter….finding a place to be horizontal for a half hour was all it took to give us a second wind.  
Doing ministry isn’t always about what we teach with words. It really is about how we live our lives with people.  Showing we are human and weak gives us opportunities to touch people in ways we never could accomplish otherwise.
And nothing says “you’re human” like admitting we need a power nap from time to time.
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It’s the Little Things….

13 Sep


The North American school schedule brings a lot of newness to what may often become routine by the end of a school year. The return to school brings a few new things here in Costa Rica as well. New Bible studies, new friends, new missionary kids and parents, Costa Rica Independence Day with parades, faroles( a type of lantern shown at bottom) and marching bands and practice for weeks beforehand.

My Bible study reading provided some time to sit,
ponder life and the simple things that bring such pleasure to our individual lives. Obviously, these are not one size fits all, so I’ll share a few that appeared in my life this week… a small bag of pretzel M and M’s(stale, but here on a shelf here in Costa Rica),  2- for- 1 Diet Dr. Pepper cans(yes, they are usually over $1 each), the joyous news that twins born to a client were discharged from the hospital,and I was able to hold the tiniest one, my youngest child now a pre-adolescent experiencing youth group and Girls Bible Study for the first time, having a date with Brian that consisted of a calzone at Papa John’s and a pot of tea at McCafe for less than $20 US, being outside the city at Melissa Putney’s baptism with our brand new Costa Rica City Team, and the list could go on…my point is that each day has wonderful gifts in it and even Scripture is new every time we read it! Often times we feel inconsequential in God’s plan, but He enables us, in remarkable ways.

“Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves but adequacy is from God, who also  made us as servants of a new covenant,  not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Cor. 3:4-6 (NASB) 

Shake, rattle and roll

5 Sep
Revised down to 7.6
Living in a tectonically active country means we have frequent tremors that remind us how alive this country is.  Usually it’s a nice little wake-up that makes us smile and continue on our way. This morning was a different story though. As the movement began we noticed it grew bigger, the house started moving and it was getting louder.  For only the second time in dozens of quakes over these past five years we evacuated the house. The cars were bouncing, our outside wall was moving, and the house was groaning. The dog couldn’t decide if inside our outside was safest.  At a nearby school we heard the kids screaming and (we imagine) evacuating the buildings.  One of our staff was in WalMart and said people dropped everything and ran outside.  Even after it ended we’ve had smaller aftershocks.  But here in San Jose we’re fine. I did have to readjust pictures on the walls but no damage that we know of. One of our partners is checking with pastors up in Guanacaste but the cell network is down.  We’re praying they are OK and are ready to respond if needed.
On Friday we will be receiving a plaque of appreciation from a local school with buildings built in 1874. Church at Charlotte partnered with a local church, Centro Internacional de Avivamiento, to put a new roof on one of the buildings. During that process the builder found one of the ancient walls over 50 feet high was completely unsupported. He was able to save enough in the budget to do a complete reinforcement of that wall.  I think the event on Friday will have special meaning now.  That wall easily would have fallen in the earthquake this morning.  God knew that and put it in the hearts of many generous people to give to the roof repair, resulting in a potential disaster avoided.  
It’s a privilege to do what we do and see God at work.  And it amazes us that he chose us to be part of his work.  We are thankful for you who support us and pray for us.  You are just as much a part of this as we are.  Thanks!

The Art of Storying…

1 Sep

Last week, after putting our youngest son into college, I was fortunate to spend one Sunday in Charlotte and hear a message by Jim Kallam, “Inviting You Into His Story”. My mind was full of pictures and videos of the past 17 plus years with Benjamin, and the huge hole didn’t seem quite as large when remembering. So right then and there, I made a decision that beginning this week, to be more faithful with inviting you, our friends, families, and strangers into our story which began over seven years ago. You see, God is writing your story, and by reading or hearing the stories of others, your story may be dramatically different!  I wrote this story earlier last year, and it may have been posted elsewhere, but here it is! So, the story that began it all…..

Wooed by God to the Mission Field
The first inkling of change
I remember the television images of 9/11, the household events of that day, and the eventual call by then President Bush to service (not just those in the military, but everyday Americans).
That day was pivotal as I sat on a comfortable couch, recalling the year my husband, Brian, and I spent in Pakistan long ago. I realized that, since returning to the U.S. in 1991, we had accumulated material possessions, put down roots in the beautiful Southeast, and were living a comfortable North American lifestyle. 

I prayed that day that God would use me — a homeschooling mom and nurse — in some way to redeem human suffering in the world.
I explained to my three young children, as best I could, the events of 9/11, and we had a fundraiser in our driveway for the Red Cross. We thought we had helped, at least a little. 

Steps toward life change
Brian and I became foster parents in 1996, after realizing our children needed a ministry they could take part in. How better to introduce them to service and the needy of the world by loving and caring for infants as they awaited their permanent placements in other families. Our family served together and learned to love unconditionally and deeply. We sometimes wept as the babies we loved went to less than optimal situations. Then, we decided to adopt, growing our family in a marvelous way as we taught our children that God made us all in His image.

But we still lived the American dream. We moved to a bigger house, and our roots grew even deeper.
God knew what He was doing, though. He was using our everyday lives to prepare our family for what lay ahead.

I went back to graduate school after being led to a website for Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing more than once while answering emails and shopping by internet, way before it was popular! This was during a particularly low point in my life, and when I asked my husband what he thought, he encouraged me to apply and see what transpired. Of course, God’s hand was in it all and less than six weeks later, I was headed for the on-campus, out of state orientation to the community-based,distance learning program. The family cheered me on and stepped up to many of the demands of running the household. We continued to homeschool our children while I was completing coursework and eventually taking 24 hour call on maternity wards in metropolitan Charlotte and coordinating clinic time in metropolitan Charlotte, Greensboro and with a Native American population in Oklahoma.

It was part of God’s plan. I was blessed to welcome 43 new babies into the world, to empower women in one of the most intimate experiences in their life, and to personalize each one with a pink or blue birthday cake. I saw that my world was vastly different than much of society, and that just listening to their struggles provided peace and not being able to fully communicate with all of my clients in the same way was frustrating, though as many were either Hispanic families and spoke Spanish, or Native American with dialects foreign to my ears. I knew simple words of greeting and body parts, a pig Latin sort of Spanish gained on the job in an emergency room in Houston, Texas. Those seven years of French were frustratingly useless in Native American and Hispanic contexts. It left me a little disappointed. Was it possible to cross those language and cultural barriers?
We’d soon find out.

A growing pull towards missions
Individually, members of our immediate family served on short-term teams to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans with EFCA TouchGlobal, and we took a vision trip to Latin America with EFCA ReachGlobal. God was wooing us ever so slowly back into the world of missions.
Only God, the Master Creator, could weave such a unique tapestry through our everyday lives, careers and family life to prepare us to willingly step out in faith to serve cross-culturally — first in the U.S. with peoples of all nations passing through our workplaces, foster babies of all ethnicities, and hosting a foreign exchange student from France, in New Orleans post-Katrina relief, working as a midwife with Native Americans in Oklahoma, and finally serving overseas in Latin America.  

Who does God use?
When I left North Carolina four years ago (wondering how God could call a family of six from comfortable suburbia to be missionaries in San José, Costa Rica), I was just an average North American woman. I was not a Bible scholar nor a church planter, but a chocolate-craving, Target-loving mother and wife.
And yet, I desired more than anything to alleviate human suffering in the world.
Some days that means serving a friend by providing refuge from culture shock. Other days, that means providing health care to indigent women.
You may be living an ordinary life… but God can use you to accomplish something extraordinary.  A seminary degree and proficiency in a foreign language are not required. A willing heart, a teachable spirit and the placing of one foot in front of the other as He leads will do.

A taste of a week of ReachGlobal ministry in Brazil

2 Aug
Joao Batista, Director of Mission CENA posing for VEJA magazine (Brazil’s version of TIME).

ReachGlobal missionaries Craig and his Brazilian wife Alessandra live in Rio de Janeiro and work with a variety of partners.  Why partner? Because just like the body of Christ, each partner brings special gifts and abilities into play.  Each complement the other and enhance the work.  This is a short update from Craig who has three Rio churches and two missions engaged with our partners in Sao Paulo this week.

A child plays in the courtyard of an abandoned building that his family and a hundred others invaded to stay off the streets. 

Thursday: Children’s Ministry at the Club Casa Amarelo (Yellow House)- 40 children- Many come from families that live in abandoned or condemned buildings.  Thursday Evening we will participate with the Church’s small groups. 
Friday:  We will be cleaning two buildings 1) the nursery and 2 the Casa Amarela. The plan is to give the CENA missionaries a break from this daunting task!

Friday Night:  We will go out in the streets of Crack Land where 100s of Zombie like figures, lost people, wander the streets searching for one more rock of crack to smoke.  Prostitutes and Transvestites linger in the shadows of night reminding us of how dark this place really is. 
Saturday:  We will have a special service for the CENA missionaries. We will take them out to Dinner and lead them in Worship and the Word and pray over each one individually. 
Sunday:  We will take some time to enjoy the Feiras (Street Markets of Sao Paulo)
Sunday Evening: We conduct the main Church Service.
CENA Farm- Nova Aurora.

Monday and Tuesday: We will be at the CENA farm were we will share the Love of Christ with about 40 men and woman working through a nine month restoration period. 
Wednesday: We will travel back to Rio de Janeiro.
Pray for Craig and our partners this week:

  • Encouragement for the CENA staff
  • New lives won
  • Safety in one of the darkest parts of the world
  • Stronger faith for all involved

An interesting week for Matt in Haiti

22 Jul

From our son Matthew:

Greetings from Haiti! It has been an interesting and stretching week for me – although that is not all too unusual for my time here. I had planned to spend most of my week working in the Haiti Health Ministries clinic as the next two weeks will be packed full of work projects with volunteer teams. Monday started off with what was supposed to be a small side project. I met with a well drilling team that we had contracted to drill a well at the new property of one of our partner orphanages. After guiding them to the site, I managed to get a few hours in at the clinic observing patient interactions, taking vitals, and giving a few shots. Early in the afternoon however, I got a call from the well drillers with the news that they had hit water!
This is great news – unless you can’t turn it off. And indeed, they could not turn off the water gushing from the new hole in the ground. Easily 50 gallons of water per minute were pouring onto the property and quickly created a pond around the well. The well drillers said they had never seen anything like that in Haiti and were totally unprepared for such a situation. They had no choice but to leave it and essentially handed me the problem. So there I was, a medical student whose school for some reason left out the well-capping course, stuck with a small geyser flooding a partner’s property (now a small lake).
Over the next few days I kept up with the drilling contractors, who did eventually return to the site with some encouragement, obtaining necessary materials and trying new ways to cap off the well. The good folks at Samaritan’s Purse put one of their giant bulldozers to work and dug us a temporary trench to turn the lake into a river away from the well. Needless to say, my time at the clinic was limited. Unfortunately, we still have not solved the problem a week later, although we think we may have a solution in the works.
Although this is certainly a problem right now, God has shown the orphanage amazing provision in the incredible amount of free-flowing clean water available at their site. In the future, this water will be used for drinking, bathing, and garden irrigation. With so much available, the extra can even be used to bless their neighbors. I laugh even now as I think about the ridiculous situation that this has been, knowing that God has a plan to use this water to further His purposes in that community.
Now we have a team from Iowa with us ready to repair a block house at another partner orphanage this week. Please pray for safety on the jobsite, strong team relationships, and the ability to look beyond the construction to the important tasks of loving on the kids and the staff at the orphanage. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging notes!
Matt Duggan

Father and son time: College beckons

22 Jul
Benjamin will be headed to Taylor University next month leaving us with three launched, one child at home and me as the only male in the household.  Cathi and I have each taken a child on a short trip as they move into adulthood to talk and have fun before they fly the nest.  Benjamin and I chose to go to a very remote part of Costa Rica to enjoy some scuba diving and “chill” (his words).  Cathi found the perfect place in Drake Bay which is on the Osa Penninsula on the Pacific side of our adopted country.  We knew we were in for a very laid back week when we arrived at the airport below in a 12 passenger Caravan prop plane.

 

Drake Bay regional airport

 

A 4×4 Land Cruiser picked us up, took us through a river and we moved into a minivan that dropped us off on the beach.  We then hiked several hundred yards (including wading through a stream) to get to our hotel.  The manager of this five room paradise pointed to a crocodile in the ocean 20 feet away and advised us to not swim there.  We decided that was a good idea.

 

 
 

Many go to the more accessible parks in Costa Rica to see the various wildlife.  We found our own, including this little boa constrictor that some workmen picked up as they were trimming back some jungle.
 
 
Bright red and green macaws, white face monkeys, sloth, hawk, buzzard, and other creatures came across our path as we hiked for miles along the jungle coastal trails.  Sharks, barracuda, stingray, manta ray, dolphins, octopus and huge numbers of fish blessed our dives along the reefs in this relatively untouched part of God’s creation.  

I remember telling Cathi how cool it would be to go scuba diving with my kids when I was certified 25 years ago.  It is so much fun to share the wonders of God’s creativity with my kids.  And we are incredibly blessed with kids who enjoy being with us.  Ben and I will remember this trip as a special time for just the two of us.  Who could ask for anything better than crocs outside your room and sand between your toes?
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