Preface trestle
“This train is bound for glory, get onboard and I’ll tell you the story…”
Just imagine one of those high wooden bridges with two iron rails, and here you are, at that point where the span departs from terra firma, wondering if you should risk the crossing. I know, it takes time to pick your way across these oily ties, taking care not to slip between the cracks, and there’s always the chance the train will appear while you’re out there in the middle. Well, it’s a decision you will have to make, but by way of encouragement, the best of what I have to say lies on the other side of here, and this train of thought is not likely to come back your way anytime soon!
For those of you who may have wondered what ever happened to me, at least now you know that I’m still here, chugging along, sometimes whistling, sometimes steaming, sometimes ha-chooing, but always chugging—water if nothing else! (It’s the only way to survive when the humidity makes the air drinkable!)
Quite a train of events has passed since I wrote last. Little by little I’m learning that I have to quit trying to be the engineer if I want to avoid derailments, and that every time I give up the controls to God, He does some radical conducting! I just pray for vigilance to recognize and preempt any Sundance stunts and hijacking bandits’ attempts to uncouple me from the engine and my amazing Engineer!
Hey, how about that, you’re almost across already! Before you know it you’ll be on the caboose, and from there it’s just clickity-clack and a little car hopping and you’ll be all caught up to speed.
7/14/2010 Anteater or Ant Eaten?
“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:2
I’m walking down the driveway on my way to Yata for my Wednesday afternoon Bible study when Oso and the other dog that the kids call Pollo Frito, or “Fried Chicken” crash off into the brush, barking hard enough to strip every tree in the jungle. These dogs are no hounds, but their ruckus is clearly the baying of the chase, and although Fried Chicken is braver than his name, his yelps and howls sound like something dying.
On the way home we find the body. Not Pollo, but a little oso hormiguero, or anteater, lying in the ditch. The dogs just left him there after a good drag, the way little kids leave their bedraggled stuffed animals lying in the dirt when they tire of the fun and games. I take a closer look and notice that the carcass is already swarming with ants! Now there’s a parable for how your diet can come back to bite you! (Ironic how what we spend our lives consuming often becomes the very thing that consumes us.) I’d like to think that the ants only want to bust out their buddies who got slurped up alive—or slurped up a live straw—but more likely they’re present for a more practical purpose than to revenge their cousin’s obliterated colony, though they do seem to dance as they carry away the morsels of the giant enemy’s flesh, and I imagine each little armored warrior bragging to his comrades about the dismantled foe, and planning in which halls and tunnels to hang their gory trophies.
Know the Word… 7/23/2010
“Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil one, from the man that speaketh froward things.” Proverbs 2:11-12
When Daniela found a new pink shirt while shopping with her girlfriends during summer vacation, she didn’t think to ask anyone about the meaning of the single English word emblazoned across the front. After all, the shirt fit good, and her friends all agreed that it was cute, with the letters prettily choreographed in glitter. Besides, Daniela was learning a little bit of English, and the word clearly read beach, which as she had learned in class, means playa in Spanish.
Unfortunately, however, Daniela’s beach was spelled with an “itch,” and nobody was around to tell her the difference until after her purchase. She was already sporting her new shirt when I happened to pass by with a couple of other teachers and we quietly broke the news to her. No one can tell me that Hispanics don’t blush! I felt sorry for the poor girl. What a diabolical deal, to pay for self-deprecation, to buy what is effectively an advertisement of self-exploitation! Hopefully she learned that it’s not a good idea to take ownership of something you don’t understand, or even what you think you understand, unless you know that you can completely trust the source!
But Daniela is not the only one to mortify herself with words. Even after a few years of practicing Spanish, it’s still easy to make a fool of yourself, from the common slip of the tongue, to the flat-out malapropism of a word because you honestly thought it meant something else. For Jeff, the former type of mistake turned a fellow’s broken huesos (bones) into his broken huevos (eggs), a phrase vulgarly understood the way “broken balls” would be in English. You can imagine the outburst that ensued! I made a similarly awkward mistake in class the other day when I read originador (originator) as orinador (one who pees). (Why do all the changes tend to be to the crude and the foul? Or are those just the ones we notice and remember?) Fortunately I caught my mistake almost before the students did, so at least I knew what we were laughing about.
Unwitting malapropisms, on the other hand, are harder to detect—especially when what you said still made sense but didn’t communicate the idea you thought it did. I had this problem in Yata not too long ago when I used the phrase estar pendiente to try to communicate how we should wait on the Lord. In my experience I was sure I remembered hearing the word used in contexts that communicated that idea, yet when I looked it up in the dictionary later I realized that of the phrase’s many definitions, “to pay very close attention to,” is probably the nearest to my intended meaning. Well, I thought, that’s not too far off; we do need to play closer attention when we wait on the Lord. But then I realized that the definition “to pay close attention” is usually used in the sense of “watching out for” or “taking care of” and then I understood the confused looks that had followed my spiel about “taking care” of God!
Yet all this talk of not knowing words makes me ask myself: How often do I play the fool in my spiritual experience because of my failure to truly know the Word? How often do I wear God on my shirt while people read an opposite message? Can more study and more practice alone exorcise the pride of my spiritual malapropism? Have I learned the given definitions of God well enough to incorporate them properly into today’s sentence, this year’s paragraph, and my life’s story? (For “…we spend our years as a tale that is told” Psalm 90:9).
I want the divine character to be woven into every plot and subplot of my life! May it be the rising action and the conflict resolution, the climax and conclusion, but most of all, may it be readable for what it is!
Education Reform 9/12/10
“In the education and training of youth, the great object should be the development of character. Every individual should be fitted rightly to discharge the duties of the present life, and to enter at last upon the future, immortal life. Moral, intellectual, and physical culture must be combined in order to have well-developed, well-balanced men and women.” {YI, March 31, 1898 par. 1}
How does one incorporate the formation of character into the education curriculum? One thing is certain; merely talking about it in class doesn’t suffice! Intellectual development without an accompanying instruction in moral and physical lines is a surefire way to raise a majority of little devils, cunning and intelligent to do evil, diabolically wise in self-seeking and self-exaltation, and with a superabundance of time to develop and perfect their mischief, due largely to their lack of useful and practical employment.
In our staff meetings this final trimester, we have been going through Studies in Christian Education by E.A. Southerland, a part history and part handbook on Christian educational reform. There is no way I can share in one email everything I’ve been learning, but here is a brief summary. Some of the important reforms we’ve learned about include a solid training and practical application of health reform, physical labor and training instead of athletic programs, a rural school location with land for the purpose of agriculture, the place of the Bible in the curriculum, and student self-government and democracy. In all my training in education at the university, I heard little to nothing about any of these topics as being important, or even a small part of education, with the exception of the last, which was given some minimal attention and inadequate depth in application.
I have been amazed by how much of modern education is still steeped in the forms and practices that were instituted in the days of the counter-reformation. The early protestant reformers realized that the key to their success lay in reaching the minds of the youth through education. As a result, they instituted a widespread educational reform that in a single generation converted many countries into protestant nations, creating the catalyst for the rise of democracy, free market enterprise, and free thinking. Realizing that the authority of the Catholic Church could never be enforced upon such societies, the champions of the counter-reformation focused largely on infiltrating and slowly changing education back to the old forms. Southerland quotes from Rosencranz and Painter, noting that to accomplish this, Catholic educators (especially those of the Jesuit order), concentrated on exclusively cultivating the memory of students in order to minimize freethinking and clear judgment. In addition, external motivators such as emulation and competition were heavily promoted. Southerland, again quoting Painter, notes that in the Jesuit system of education “’nothing will be held more honorable than to outstrip a fellow student and nothing more dishonorable than to be outstripped. Prizes will be distributed to the best pupils with the greatest possible solemnity.’” I don’t know about you, but I see too much of that attitude alive and well in most of today’s schools!
Through reading Southerland, I was also surprised to learn that Thomas Jefferson was a founding father, not only of the United Sates, but also of education reform in the United States. Unfortunately, the changes he instituted at Virginia University are nowhere to be seen today. As many critics have pointed out over the years, many of our problems today can be traced back to the overall failure of our educational system. Yet although there are occasional voices of reform that are guiding in the right direction, things like standardized testing or better funding are more often offered as a panacea to our educational ills.
Planting Prep 9/15/10
“No nation will long survive the decay of its agriculture” Thomas Jefferson, as quoted in Pagan vs. Christian Education, p. 43.
The dry season will soon give way to the rains, and with the rain will come spring planting. But planting involves a bit more than merely poking some seeds into the ground. First, one has to uncover the earth from its patchwork quilt of scrub-brush, grasses, vines, shrubs, and other variously assorted foliage and thorned greenery that has thickly blanketed the fields despite the drier weather. Shaving the face of Mother Nature with a machete leaves a lot of stubble and the barbecho grows back pretty fast if you don’t follow up your cutting with a good burn. The fourteen acres (approximately) of last year’s rice and corn chaco all has to be cut and burned again, or anything new we plant will live a short life before asphyxiation. Ideally, the ground should be plowed as well, but we have neither tractor nor oxen, and although there are plans to buy the latter, lack of funds make that unlikely to happen before this year’s planting.
Although the rice from last April’s harvest should last us until next school year, we are expanding the fields for next year as well as the number of crops. Soybeans, corn, and yucca (a root similar to potatoes) are among the likely candidates. With that in mind, we cleaned a new sizable tract of jungle on the western edge of campus.
Recently we received a visit from a Brazilian agriculture professional who gave us a lot of tips for how to improve our farming. Some of the volunteers met him while visiting in Brazil and invited him to come see the school. He was really excited about what we’re doing, and mentioned that our program reminds him of the Adventist high school that he attended as a young man in Brazil that also put an emphasis on technical skills and practical learning. He really believes in that kind of education. He now owns a plant nursery and agricultural supplier, and he donated a number of plants. We’re hoping to continue the friendship and that he will help us continue to improve our still inadequate farm.
A Small Army 9/15/2010
“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!” (White. The Faith I live By 332.4)
Today we helped rozar (think razor in reverse) Doña Rufina’s chaco. All the trees had been removed in previous years, and there was only grass and shrubs to cut, so I knew the work would go fast, but still I figured it would be at least a couple day’s work. I, however, had underestimated our workforce! There were about 20 of us, a small army, all well trained in wielding the machete! The work began with pizazz. No one stopped to worry about how everyone else was working. Everyone just picked a section and cut like mad, and when one worker started getting too close to another, he would go find a new section to level. Within a couple of hours I was amazed at how much we had done. By the time we had to leave, almost the entire field was cleared!
Class Projects 9/24/10
“The times demand an education which will produce men and women capable of doing things” (Southerland 11).
How does one make language and literature class itself a practical experience where the students are applying what they learn to real life needs? That is a question I’ve been asking myself this year, but I didn’t come up with very many great ideas until I started to pray about it. Since then, God has blessed me with some fun ideas and I’m really excited about the projects that we’ve been doing in my junior and senior language classes recently. Since we only meet for class once a week, the class is geared more toward independent study and project-based learning. Although it can be challenging at times, I like this approach for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that most people learn best by doing. Here are a few of our current and future projects:
1. “Always prepared” project, based on 1 Peter 3:15: (“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”) In this project I asked students to pick a topic from a list of biblical doctrines and teachings and do an extensive investigation, making sure to consider and address common questions, doubts, and oppositions that correspond to their topic. They were required to memorize seven key biblical passages on their topic, and prepare a written defense in preparation for an oral presentation for the morning and evening worships during the week of Sept. 19. In the presentations, each student answered questions from one or two teachers who posed as interested or confused co-workers, friends, neighbors, or random acquaintances. I had no idea what this project would look like in the final presentations, and looking at it now, I’ve realized both students and teachers needed a little more coaching on how to go about the presentation to make it more beneficial for the audience. That said, I’ve been pretty happy to see the preparation that many of the students put into this project, and a couple of them have even thanked me already for making them do it. Over the course of the week I’ve realized that I need to do some additional studying of my own! I believe that all Christians should be able to give a clear and calm explanation not only of what they believe, but also why, and how each belief impacts daily living.
2. Poetry recitations: Most of my students were not to happy when we first started to study poetry and I told them they would need to choose (or write) and memorize a piece to share with the rest of the school. Many of them had never done such a thing before, and I was surprise how nervous it made them. I was even more surprised, however, by the energy and enthusiasm that most of them put into the project. The following poem was written by one of my seniors, and he gave a very heartfelt recitation. I’ve provided a translated version that doesn’t quite do it justice.
Señor, he aquí un pecador
Alcides Piérola Landivar, 4º, UEITRG 2010
Señor, he aquí un pecador,
Que necesita de un salvador
Estoy cansado y agobiado
De solo pensar en mi…
Pues lo único que consigo
Es ser un infeliz
Oh Señor, he aquí un pecador,
Que necesita de un salvador
Lo que he vivido no ha tenido sentido
Enseñame a hacer tu voluntad
Pues ya no quiero vivir de vanidad
Padre, he aquí un pecador,
Que necesita ser como su salvador
Amando y obrando,
Ayudando y sirviendo a los hermanos
Pues para eso fueron hechas las manos
Oh Jesús, he aquí un pecador,
Que te da gracias por ser su salvador
Nunca entiendo ni comprendo
La vida santa que diste por mi,
Solo te pido que yo la de a otros,
Así como tú la diste por mí.
Lord, behold me here a sinner
Alcides Landivar translated by Kody Kostenko
Lord, behold me here a sinner
who is in need of a savior.
I am tired and frazzled
from thinking only of me.
the only thing that it gets me
is a whole lot of unhappy.
Oh Lord, behold me here a sinner
who is in need of a savior.
My life has been meaningless!
Teach me to do your will,
for I no longer want to live in vain.
Father, behold me here a sinner
who needs to be like his savior.
Loving and working,
helping and serving others,
that’s why you made these hands.
Lord Jesus, behold here a sinner
thanking you for being his savior.
I can never completely understand
the holy life you lived for me.
I only ask that I can give it to others,
just as you gave it for me.
3. Youth devotional book: Another project we’ve been working on started at the beginning of the year with the journals I asked the kids to keep. Many of them wrote about personal experiences and life reflections that were both touching and inspiring, despite the often-improper mechanics and incoherent organization.
4. Digital Devotional Reading: I’m really excited about this idea, although I’m not sure we’ll have time to finish it this year. I want the kids to record themselves reading chapters from Steps to Christ, the Great Controversy, and the Desire of Ages. Each student can read a certain number of chapters, and then they can be put together on disc. I’d like to get a hold of some cheap ipods or the equivalent and have the kids fill them with audio books and sermons and then give them to the people in Yata who have difficulty reading.
Bugged. 9/21/2010
“…Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 12:19
I get stung often enough that whenever I see a wasp or hornet on a flat service I am always overcome by an urge to take preemptive revenge (a paradoxical, yet I think, accurate phrase). Yesterday, however, the plan backfired. Or perhaps I should say, the wasp backfired, and nailed me with his best and last shot on the side of my pointer finger. Within minutes my entire hand inflated up to the wrist like a latex-glove balloon, and I could feel my pulse throbbing to the tip of my finger. Nor was it a brief discomfort of an hour or two! Despite a charcoal poultice, my hand stayed painfully swollen all day long. Playing the piano for choir was difficult, as was bushwhacking with the machete all afternoon. This morning my hand was still swollen, and I couldn’t help but think of how I often defend myself in little ways by lashing out at those who hurt me and realized it’s a good way to live life with a swollen hand and a whole lot of pain. Let God stick up for you when you are wronged. His hand is better made for swatting wasps and hornets.
Go Foward
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” Proverbs 6:6
After work I realize I’m out of drinking water in the house, so I hike out to the spring to refill my 20-liter jug. As I wait for it to fill, I notice a line of large red ants moving rapidly over the spongy forest floor. The ants themselves define a highway I would have never seen, running along crisscrossed sticks and strips of bark and crossing the spring itself on a span of two overlapping dry leaves that curl into an almost-perfect tunnel. How do they know where to go? How do they find the road without a guide? They travel at highway speeds, despite packing what appear to be larvae.
I think God’s people should be more like the ants. Though we live in a world where the roads to true happiness, peace, joy, and fulfillment seem virtually unmarked, how often might the path become clear to the onlookers if we could all move forward together in harmony, moving effortlessly along even under load, guided by our Unseen Guide.
