The snow person and snow fort in our yard, and the pile of debris that our snow person left behind...
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Various Pix
There was a little snow. Our new car has been a blessing.
Some object to the name, "Puppy Jaan", since Jaan is a term of endearment used only for close family and dear friends, but that was gthe given name. So I changed the name to Puppy Jonathan, and even though she's a female, the name still fits.
Our friend is in the new place that opened nearby for tea, food and talk. Chai La, the old tea shop where Hamroz and I met, is closing this month.
Tajikistan
First picture shows Hamroz and family members inside the house in "the village". I have been to Dushanbe (the capitol) and Khujand (where we were married) several times, but not yet to the village. She took a short trip there last summer before school started.
The second picture shows the land outside the home, especially the fruit trees. The third picture gives a good perspective of what a Central Asian village is - a narrow valley built around the stream.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Preparation
There had to be preparation for this type service – God has been working in me for years.
Hamroz and I are strange members of the staff team at the International School. The distance of living off campus is emotional as well as physical. This corresponds to my first two years in Costa Rica, when God asked me not to speak in English. The distance that this divine directive put between myself and other like-minded ex-patriots resulted in one emotional problem after another. Years later, in Kabul, I was able to anticipate the emotional distance and head off the problems before they tended to divide the team.
Language learning is a test not of ability but of persistency. Though I had at first swallowed the myth and believed that I would be “gifted” to learn Dari, when great efforts produced laughable results, the memories of what it was really like learning Spanish in Costa Rica came pouring back. I could recall how heavy the price would be, and what the results would be worth. And that knowledge has spurred me to continue to keep on and try anew over and over again. The righteous stumbles seven times and gets up again – that describes about 120 seconds of language learning. And I was prepared.
The quality of our marriage relationship has been a tremendous key to bless the surrounding community. In this region the idea of a man giving up his life for his wife, and using that sacrifice to establish his leadership in the household, is absent. Therefore, our love shines hope into many hearts. From the beginning, there was little room for error; people were already inside our home to greet us upon our return from our honeymoon. In order to meet these requirements, the divine instructions were for me to pass some years and gain maturity as a single man, not to use marriage as the vehicle to gain maturity. Only now is it obvious why it had to be so.
Matthew 7:14 - The way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.
I HEED CAREFULLY THE WARNING OF JESUS SINCE I REALIZE THAT THE VOICE OF THE MAJORITY, BEING AFRAID OF BOTH THE BATTLE AND THE COST, WILL BE A VOICE OF DISCOURAGEMENT TO ME. - Al Finch
Hamroz and I are strange members of the staff team at the International School. The distance of living off campus is emotional as well as physical. This corresponds to my first two years in Costa Rica, when God asked me not to speak in English. The distance that this divine directive put between myself and other like-minded ex-patriots resulted in one emotional problem after another. Years later, in Kabul, I was able to anticipate the emotional distance and head off the problems before they tended to divide the team.
Language learning is a test not of ability but of persistency. Though I had at first swallowed the myth and believed that I would be “gifted” to learn Dari, when great efforts produced laughable results, the memories of what it was really like learning Spanish in Costa Rica came pouring back. I could recall how heavy the price would be, and what the results would be worth. And that knowledge has spurred me to continue to keep on and try anew over and over again. The righteous stumbles seven times and gets up again – that describes about 120 seconds of language learning. And I was prepared.
The quality of our marriage relationship has been a tremendous key to bless the surrounding community. In this region the idea of a man giving up his life for his wife, and using that sacrifice to establish his leadership in the household, is absent. Therefore, our love shines hope into many hearts. From the beginning, there was little room for error; people were already inside our home to greet us upon our return from our honeymoon. In order to meet these requirements, the divine instructions were for me to pass some years and gain maturity as a single man, not to use marriage as the vehicle to gain maturity. Only now is it obvious why it had to be so.
Matthew 7:14 - The way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.
I HEED CAREFULLY THE WARNING OF JESUS SINCE I REALIZE THAT THE VOICE OF THE MAJORITY, BEING AFRAID OF BOTH THE BATTLE AND THE COST, WILL BE A VOICE OF DISCOURAGEMENT TO ME. - Al Finch
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Unreasonable, not Impossible
I hear you. There is one job, teaching at an international school, that is consuming all of your time and energy. When you are done, you are exhausted and still far from home; your emotional reservoir is also empty. Learning the language is another, very different, full time job. Even if you apply all of your leftover energy to the second task, you have no hope of ever accomplishing your goal of obtaining fluency. I hear you.
Still, I would maintain that the precious goal of knowing how to listen and speak, the ability to enter a different world and communicate good news heart to heart, should be listed as “unreasonably difficult” not as, “impossible”. The cost should be counted before the task is undertaken. It will cost summer and winter breaks for years. It will cost a certain awkward distance from those in your teaching team – you can not spend as many off hours with other expatriots. It will cost stress on every relationship you have as the very electronic impulse structure of your brain is re-wired. Left over energy will not be sufficient. You must be able to recharge yourself on the spot, start anew and refreshed (sometimes at three in the morning). You will be tempted to give up – especially when others praise your efforts as, “good enough”. Don’t ever settle for that, don’t ever quit, keep going and you will reach that heart to heart connection with others in the local language.
And it will be worth the cost – you will be happy with the investment you have made.
Still, I would maintain that the precious goal of knowing how to listen and speak, the ability to enter a different world and communicate good news heart to heart, should be listed as “unreasonably difficult” not as, “impossible”. The cost should be counted before the task is undertaken. It will cost summer and winter breaks for years. It will cost a certain awkward distance from those in your teaching team – you can not spend as many off hours with other expatriots. It will cost stress on every relationship you have as the very electronic impulse structure of your brain is re-wired. Left over energy will not be sufficient. You must be able to recharge yourself on the spot, start anew and refreshed (sometimes at three in the morning). You will be tempted to give up – especially when others praise your efforts as, “good enough”. Don’t ever settle for that, don’t ever quit, keep going and you will reach that heart to heart connection with others in the local language.
And it will be worth the cost – you will be happy with the investment you have made.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Retreat
We finally held that two-person retreat in a local hotel that we’d been talking about for so long. For the whole weekend there were no guests, because we were not home. Luxuries not found at home – most noteworthy of which was a hot shower where you could even sit down in hot water – changed the pace of life. Layers of dirt and dust were washed away by the comings and goings of the bathtub tides. And so with the spirit.
In the hotel restaurant, I said some things that Hamroz said should be put in the blog. The blog has scarcely been written in this year, so here’s the material:
Everyone alive is in the process of dying. You can not keep your life, but you must choose what to give it up for – decision to be remade day by day and minute by minute.
When we visited the US last summer, we spent a lot of time in the parks. Hamroz is from the steppes (with encroaching desert), but the east coast USA is deciduous forest. She was awed by the quantity and height of the trees. Growing up in the parks is what kept me off the streets. I tried to describe the fall season to her, when the dying leaves put beauty everywhere. So it is with our spirit.
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.
Joh 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Joh 12:25 "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
In the hotel restaurant, I said some things that Hamroz said should be put in the blog. The blog has scarcely been written in this year, so here’s the material:
Everyone alive is in the process of dying. You can not keep your life, but you must choose what to give it up for – decision to be remade day by day and minute by minute.
When we visited the US last summer, we spent a lot of time in the parks. Hamroz is from the steppes (with encroaching desert), but the east coast USA is deciduous forest. She was awed by the quantity and height of the trees. Growing up in the parks is what kept me off the streets. I tried to describe the fall season to her, when the dying leaves put beauty everywhere. So it is with our spirit.
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.
Joh 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Joh 12:25 "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
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