Pastors' Retreat in Villa Alemana (Reprise)

I just discovered a photo taken of the group in Villa Alemana. I had posted earlier about this, but wanted to post this photo here:

The Chilean church seems to be fragmented, yet good things are taking place in different places. Chilean churches are sending missionaries to nearby countries, as well as lands in the 10/40 Window.

Manipulation of the Truth with Photos

I received this via e-mail. To give context to the photo that appears here, I feel I must include the text that accompanied it:

I was going through a bunch of old stuff while working in my basement, and ran across some old baseball cards. To my astonishment, I found a Barry Bonds rookie card, mint condition. I really think that at some point in the future Bonds will be exonerated of most all steroid charges and will go in to the Hall of Fame distinguished as the best hitter of all time. If you, or anybody you know, might have an interest in buying this card, let me know ASAP. I'm giving it 2 weeks and then putting it on Ebay and taking whatever I can get for it. I've included a scanned copy of the card to show it's condition - as you'll see it is in MINT condition.

Now I know that Barry was thin when he first came up, but, really now!

Life is Good! Jesus on the Throne and the Cubs in 1st!

In a couple hours I'll be advising (academically) new students to OCC. Our classes start next week. It appears that we have a pretty good incoming class. I like my classroom assignments (with the exception of my Spanish class assignment, but you can't have everything). Yesterday I finished setting up the website that supports my classes. Life is good.

The Cubbies made an announcement yesterday morning that sometimes pitching ace, Carlos Zambrano, signed a contract extension: five years at a ridiculously high price. Hopefully, that will settle him down (his last 3 starts have been bad after being nearly lights out good since the dugout fight with former catcher Michael Barrett on June 2), and beat the Redbirds on ESPN Sunday night.

Yesterday, Albert Pujols got his shot in, a home run to left field, against the wind. Fortunately, no one was on base. The next half inning, the Cubs scored twice (2-run homer by Jacque Jones), and took the lead, beating the Cardinals 2-1. That win moved them into a tie for first place, pending the Brewers/Reds game later in the day. The Reds soundly defeated the Brewers last night, giving the Cubs sole possession of first place. Eamus Catuli!

I got my oldest grandson, Nathan, a Chicago Cubs outfit when he was a newborn. I thought I had resolved his baseball issues early on. Unfortunately, I have been reminded recently of how easily a child can be influenced in the wrong way. A few weeks ago, when the kids were in Joplin, Nathan and I got to watch some Cubs baseball on TV (for him it was a way to stay "out of bed"). He asked me, "Grandpa, why do you like the Cubs?" Dumb question, right? Then he follows it up with, "My Grandmama (that's Emily's mother) says the Cubs are yucky! I like the Cardinals." Well, look at the standings, Grandmama!

Back at it Again! Don't be Left Behind!

A new school year is upon us. New students are moving into the dorms at OCC this morning. Orientation begins this afternoon, with a full slate of activities. It should be a great year.

A colleague sent me an e-mail with a link to a song on You Tube about eschatology. I thought you might enjoy watching it as well. Here is the link:
The Rapture Song, by Randy Bonifield.

The Cubbies are in a free fall right now. I sure hope they decide to play ball and win a game today. The 4-day series against the hated Cardinals is crucial.

Peace!

Am I That Round?

I've been teaching an Old Testament Survey course in Lautaro, Chile this week. At our intermission this evening, I discovered a drawing that was circulating around the classroom. I believe I am really quite a bit taller than the drawing reveals, and may not be quite as large around the middle. What do you think?

Pastor's Retreat in Villa Alemana

It would be a huge understatement to say that the Churches of Christ/Christian Churches in Chile are fragmented. I arrived in Chile on Friday, August 3. I slept a couple hours before taking a bus to Villa Alemana (about 2 hours from Santiago on a bus) to participate in a Pastor's Retreat. Just about everybody from the different factions of the churches in Chile was invited, but participation could have been much better. I was pleased to be able to participate, however, and there were members from various of the corporations in the country. I hope and pray that in the future, there will be a wider participation. Fernando, si estás leyendo estas palabras, quiero que sepas que levanté tu nombre.

Julio Carreño, adopted son of Bertrand Smith, the pioneer Restoration Movement missionary to Chile, organized the event. Julio is doing a tremendous job of serving God in his homeland, and promotes unity on diverse levels. He had invited me to share with the members. I got to teach somewhere between 4 or 5 hours, and found the group very receptive to my teaching. The title of the study was The Christian Worker and Personal Transparency: a Theological, Cultural and Generational Perspective. The main question I was asking was this. To what degree should the Christian worker be transparent, willing to show his or her own personal weaknesses? My thoughts were influenced by the following works, in addition to the Scriptures:

• Mayers, Marvin K. (1974). Christianity Confronts Culture. Zondervan.
• Howard, J. Grant (1979). The Trauma of Transparency. Multnomah
• Lingenfelter, Sherwood & Mayers, Marvin (1986). Ministering Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Personal Relationships. Baker Book House.
• Scott, Mark R. (2006). The Self-Disclosure of the Preacher in the Sermon: Teaching Undergraduate Bible College Student Ministers to Disclose with Discretion, doctoral dissertation, Denver Seminary.

I had not taught on that theme before, but enjoyed the preparation and the teaching itself.

I managed to catch myself a cold. I understand that the Joplin area is facing an incredible heat wave. Here, Chile is experiencing a winter with record cold temperatures. I had to wait until this afternoon to shower, as the pipes of the house where I am staying froze quite a bit last night.

I returned to Santiago on Sunday evening, and spent Sunday evening, and all day Monday and Tuesday visiting friends. I am now in Lautaro, Chile, and will return to Santiago on Sunday night. I will meet with Doug Kallestad, Director of the Iberoamerican Institute on Monday morning, then have lunch with my long-time friend, Jack Mitchell, whose mother, Lola, served as our forwarding agent for many years. Lastly, I will meet another pastor friend, Lito Farías, at a hospital to visit Victor Garcia, another long-time friend, who was assault on March 30, shot twice, and left paraplegic as a result. Despite his situation, his brother-in-law (another friend I had not seen for many years until last Tuesday) tells me that he testifies about God's goodness on a daily basis.

Below I will include some photos taken from the Pastor's Retreat in Villa Alemana:

In Southern Chile

I'm in Lautaro, Chile now. I spent several days in Santiago, with my dear friends, Jano and Pati Castro. I didn't have access from my computer to the Internet while I was there. I could have taken my laptop to a Wi-Fi spot, which I did several times, but it was not frequent. When I did have my computer with me, my e-mail was not working well, as my Outlook file got corrupted somehow. I was able to restore it (which took considerable time), and I'm back. Outlook has a built-in program to repair the Inbox (search for the file scanpst.exe), but that didn't restore mine. I found a utility (shareware) called Outlook Recovery Toolbox that was able to restore my previously received e-mails. Thank you, Lord!

I taught the introductory session to an OT Survey course last night. The course will continue tonight (Thursday), Friday, then all day long on Saturday. I'll preach at the church here in Lautaro on Sunday morning, then return to Santiago late Sunday night, before leaving Chile on Monday night.

I managed to catch quite a cold, so I don't feel particulary well, but trust that I will make it through. I found a cough remedy called Paltomiel, that is interesting, a mixture of extracts from avocado, eucalyptus, honey, which has been used quite a bit here. I guess I'll have to wait and see if I recommend it whole-heartedly.

I've been able to visit lots of friends from the past. God has been good. I'll write more later.

Blessings to you all!

DGF

I Won, Cubs Win, Fly Joplin, Chile Trip

I Won!

On Monday I saw a first. I assumed that I was going to a friend's house to clean up his virus-laden computer. He has helped me in the past with several mechanical type issues. His computer was ill, and I may not be a very good mechanic (I DID manage to fix my motor scooter last week without anybody else touching it), but I can mess with computers pretty well. What I found, however, was a computer very mildly affected by viruses, but infested to the core with malware (some call it spyware, or adware). When he spoke to my about poor performance, I suspected viruses. He told me that he started his trek through the DSL-connected Internet world without good antivirus software (something I would never consider doing). He had downloaded some free antivirus software, and it had worked well during the trial period. The software was called Windows Antivirus Pro 2007. I recommend and use an excellent free antivirus program (I have been a paying customer of both of the big ones in the past), but I had not heard of the program he was using. His program was the problem! Rather than being an antivirus program, it is malware! He had properly decided to uninstall it (through the Control Panel), but it refuses to go away. I joked that "this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." It had taken over his computer, giving a pop-up window of detection of a virus about every 10 seconds, making it near impossible to do anything. The pop-up window gave him an opportunity to "register" the antivirus program (remember that trial period was over) for payment (I never did find out how much the registration was. At any rate, the files allegedly infected with viruses were false positives, just to get the unsuspecting sort to pay them money. What crooks! Along the way, I found an excellent tool for debugging problems on Windows-based computers. It is called the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. It is based on the Bart PE platform, but has additional tools built in. If you are technologically savvy, you may want to add it to your arsenal.

Cubs Win!

The Cubbies are in first place. I heard last night that the last time they were in first place on August 1 was back in 2001. I'm leaving the U.S. tonight, and hope that they are still in first place by the time I leave (they could fall out of first, since they are playing an afternoon game today). I sure hope they will still be in first place when I return to the U.S. on August 14.

Fly Joplin!

I went to Chile in March, and flew straight from Joplin. I did it again today. I'm writing these lines from the Kansas City Airport, waiting my connecting Delta flight to Atlanta, and then on to Chile. The Joplin-Kansas City flight is $98 round trip, which makes it much cheaper than driving to another major airport. The fare from Kansas City to Santiago was cheaper than other airports near Joplin, making the Fly Joplin trip cheaper. When I was on a shuttle bus between terminals at Kansas City, I saw that airport garage parking is $18/day. The long-term parking at Kansas City is $5.50. Parking for this trip would be over $70, without taking the cost of driving to Kansas City into the equation. According to Mapquest, it is 190 miles from my house to the Kansas City Airport. At the IRS-approved rate for mileage reimbursement, the "cost" of driving round trip is $184.30. I'm happy to fly from Joplin! Rose even got up this morning to drop me off at the airport. The day I arrive back, she will leave me car for me at the Joplin airport (free parking). Thanks, honey! I love you!

Chile Trip.

I will arrive in Santiago Friday morning (about 6:30 in the U.S. Central Time Zone). If you want to call me, dial 011-569-8-975-7136. In March, the family I stayed with had a cell phone that they were no longer using. I bought a SIM card for a Chilean cellular phone company (actually, it's a multinational company based in Europe). Since I bought the SIM card, I returned the loaned phone, and kept the card for use on future trips. I unblocked my U.S. cell phone (I have service with Cingular, or what they now call the New AT&T). Once I get in the air over Atlanta (when you have to turn cell phones off), I will put the Chilean SIM card in my phone. The next morning when I land in Santiago, I will turn on my phone, and it will connect to a Chilean cell phone service. I won't be able to make any calls (on Friday morning I will need purchase pre-paid minutes before I can make any phone calls), but I will be able to receive calls (as incoming calls on free on any Chilean cell phone).

I will speak at a Pastors' Retreat this weekend in Villa Alemana, Chile (located just up the valley from Viña del Mar (see map). I'll return to Santiago Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening, there will be a large group (I suppose) of people from the old San Joaquin church. I'll be staying with long-time pastor friend Alejandro Castro from Sunday night through Tuesday night. On Wednesday, I'll fly to Temuco (see highlighted map), to start a 5-day intensive course in nearby Lautaro. The course will end on Sunday evening. I'll return to Santiago on Monday, leaving Monday night to come home.

Blessings to you all!

DGF

Looking for 'Mater on the Old Route 66

After the circus we took off looking for one of Nathan and Eli's favorite characters from the Pixar movie, Cars. The producers of the movie were traveling across Route 66 back in the year 2000. Near Galena, Kansas they found an old International Tow Truck, that became the inspiration for the character 'Mater. It is now located at a newly restored 1930s era service station, with a Route 66/Cars gift shop. We took the boys to see the truck.

A Trip to the Circus with our Grandsons

We went to the Shrine Circus with our grandsons this afternoon. I heard that it was supposed to come to Joplin in January, but was postponed because of our snow/ice storm. A good time was had by all:

25 Years After CES

You may not know what CES is. It stands for Christian Elementary School. It is located in Springfield, Illinois. In August of 1982 (that's 25 years ago), our family was on furlough from our mission work in Chile. We moved into a community on the east side of Springfield, in a home rented for us by the Lakeside Christian Church, one of our supporting churches.

Our daughter, Charissa, started kindergarten there, in Mrs. Bridges' class. Another member of College Heights Christian Church, Delicia Bare (nee Jones) was in her class. Charissa's cousin, Christina, was a 1st grader at CES that year.

Yesterday, Christina and her husband, Jesse (I performed their wedding ceremony), were passing through town. Christina is a school teacher. Jesse's company had worked on a job in California, and they were traveling back home. We got together for a brunch at my Mom's house.

They're all grown up now. Take a look at them (Christina & Charissa, left to right)!

My Scooter Left me Stranded on West 7th St.

My scooter broke down on Wednesday afternoon. I had just bragged on how well it was running, when it quit. I had to call a friend, to whom I had just bragged about it, to come bail me out. We put the scooter on the back of his pickup truck, and he drove me home.

Thursday afternoon I tore into the machine. I changed the spark plug, putting in an Iridium spark plug I bought as a backup last summer. I checked the fuel lines, and tried to start it. It almost started, but dumped some fuel on my garage floor. I found the explanation, a screw at the bottom of the carburetor drain tube fell out. I'll find the means to plug it tomorrow, and that should solve my problem.

I'm not much of a mechanic, but at times I have had a small degree of satisfaction by digging in and finding solutions by myself. I'm still capable of taking a job that any idiot can do in one hour, and figuring out a way to take four or five hours to get it done. But I'm learning.

The Cubs dropped game 3 against the Cardinals, and looked Fortunately, the Reds knocked off the Brewers, so they didn't lose ground. I'm going to break tradition and root for the Cardinals for the next few days.

¡Paz a todos ustedes!

Baseball on Oak Ridge Drive

The Cubs are playing in St. Louis right now. I'm thankful for the DVR, as I can watch it at my convenience. About the time the game started, there was a higher priority (hear that, Rose?). We had our grandsons over at the house. Nathan (the 5 year old) handles the bat a little better than Eli (3 years old).

Nathan had a bigger bat than Eli. You can see them both warming up here.

I taught Nathan how to choke up a bit on the bat, which gave him more bat control.

I think I must have pitched at least six innings! We had a great time. I found out that Nathan can run faster than I can, because "little boys can run faster than grown ups!"

Beat Redbirds Now!

The Cubbies are in St. Louis for a 3-game series starting tonight, but I won't be there. I'm glad that all the games will be televised in Joplin! We need to get serious, and sweep out that new ballpark!

A Cubbies blog I read occasionally talks about how Lou has de-Dustified the Cubs. They have played well, despite dropping the last 2 games against eh Cascabeles from Arizona. The Cubs' starting pitching is 2nd in the National League in ERA (and we have not seen any pitchers by the name of Prior or Wood!). Derrek Lee will be back for this series. A-Ram has played great baseball; A-Sor has played well; the Cajun Connection (The Riot and Fonte Not) has been fun to watch. Eamus Catuli!

Convención Nacional Cristiana in Dallas

Last week I attended the Convención Nacional Cristiana in Dallas, Texas. It is a national convention of Spanish-speaking churches affiliated with the Church of Christ/Christian Church, similar in purpose to the North American Christian Convention. I had previously attended the convention in 2005, when it was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but was working behind the scenes at that convention with a group from College Hts. Church in Joplin, as an aid to the Spanish-speaking congregation that meets at Christview Christian Church in Tulsa, where my son was on staff.

This convention I had no organizational responsibilities. I was able to enjoy the convention, as well as to represent OCC. There was a Bible Bowl-like competition, as part of the youth program, and OCC awarded scholarships to the winners. A girl on the 1st-place team (from Dodge City, KS) wants to come to OCC, so that was pretty cool.

Overall, I was very impressed with the convention. The sermons that were preached in the adult sessions I was able to attend were excellent, and demonstrated both scholarship and the ability to "throw down" (as young preachers are wont to say). I migrated back and forth between the youth and the adult sessions. My son was leading worship in the youth sessions, which he did with the excellence I expect from him.

Next year's convention will be held in San Antonio, TX (July 22-24). The local president is Dámaso García, the minister at the Bellaire Christian Church in San Antonio. I first met him in 1992, when a group called RED (Redacción, Edición, Distribución) met together for the first time, to discuss the need for quality publication of Christian books in Spanish. Now, 15 years later, his son, Ismael, works with my son in the planning and execution of the youth sessions of this convention.

I was very impressed with the team from the hispanic congregation at Valley View Christian Church (which hosted the event). Under the leadership of their Spanish minister, David Gallegos, all who attended were well cared for.

Soli Deo Gloria.

I Passed My Comps!

I'm in the Dallas area now for the Convención Nacional Cristiana. The convention is being held at the Valley View Christian Church. I'm staying with family members about 20 minutes away in Allen, TX. When I got here, I checked my e-mail, and had a message from my advisor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It said, "Congratulations!"

I've got some paperwork to file now, but I guess I am officially a candidate from graduation for my Ph.D. I'll need to spend some time with him about the dissertation research questions next week before I go to Chile.

Cubs lost tonight, so maybe they'll pick it up tomorrow.

I'm going to bed. God's best to you all!

DGF

Go, Cubs, Go!

Since June 3, the Chicago Cubs are the hottest team in Major League Baseball. Tonight they had another come-from-behind win, beating the SF Giants 3-2. Midway through the game, the Cubs made an announcement of a trade that will help them out. They picked up catcher Jason Kendall from the Oakland A's, a lifetime .298 hitter, who is a good catcher, good hitter, and has good speed.

There is a sense on the north side of Chicago that this team could be a team of destiny.

Go, Cubs, Go! Eamus Catuli!

Jason Kendall's bio and stats are available here.

Light Blogging

I haven't blogged much recently. Tomorrow I take off for Dallas, to represent Ozark Christian College at the Convención Nacional Cristiana, a gathering of U.S. based Spanish-speaking congregations. I will be a judge for the preaching competition, where messages are to be bilingual. That ought to be fun! OCC will be awarding scholarships to winners of the preaching and Bible Bowl competitions.

We're overhauling our finances, and cut up our credit cards. We plan to move to a cash only basis (debit cards count as cash). We've been listening to some common sense finance counsel. As far as keeping a credit card back for emergency use, one piece of advice made me laugh out loud. Perhaps you've heard that some recommend that you put a credit card in the freezer (emergency use only). We heard one guy say that in addition to putting a credit card in the freezer, you should fill up a tin can with water, put the credit card in the can of water, and then freeze it. That way, it can't be defrosted in the microwave! LOL!

I don't mean to offend my friends who work in the banking industry, but recently I watched a PBS Frontline program titled The Secret History of the Credit Card. It won a 2004-2005 Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism. You can watch it online by clicking on the link.

I will go to Chile from August 2-14. I will speak at a Pastors' Retreat in Villa Alemana, Chile August 3-5, and teach a course in Lautaro (Southern Chile) from August 8-12. I'll have just over 2 days to visit friends in Santiago.

The Cubbies are heating up. I'm hoping that the Milwaukee Brewers can feel them breathing down their necks. I still think God will want to reward faithful Cubs fans with a World Series title this year, to avoid the moniker of 100 years of futility!

Hope you have a good day!

DGF

A Thousand Splendid Suns

About three years ago, our friend Shirley Woolsey, who at that time was a missionary in Chile, told me about a book that she was certain I would enjoy reading. Khaled Hosseini, an Afghani wrote a book titled The Kite Runner. I kind of filed that away in my mind. Two years ago last month (June 2005), Rose, Kim & I were in Chile, and stayed with the Woolsey family for the last four days we were in the country. Craig Woolsey was reading the book at the time we were in their home. The next to the last night we were in Chile, I started reading the book in their living room, and read about 100 pages. I asked them if I could take the book with me, and promised to air mail it right back to them. They said, "no," so I had to find another way. I remember going to a Books-a-Million store in Joplin, and reading a couple chapters more. I then bought a used copy, probably on Amazon.com, and devoured it. Rose read it. It was a picture into life in Afghanistan. The author, Hosseini, had left his home country and migrated to the U.S. where he made a life for himself, when he was very young. The Kite Runner was based on the author's memory of Afghanistan. He had never returned. Lev Grossman writes for Time magazine, and notes the irony of an expatriate Afghani writing a book about an expatriate Afghani returning to Afghanistan (The Kite Runner) without returning to Afghanistan himself. It was Grossman's article about Hosseini that made me aware of his second book. You can read his article here. Hosseini returned to Afghanistan in 2003, and promptly wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns. When I was walking down an aisle at Sam's Club, I saw it waiting for me, so I bought a copy. Rose read this one first. I started it on my long bus trip from Chicago, and just finished it a few nights ago (after finishing comps).

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a look at the lives of Afghani women, especially contrasting the lives of two women, one older than the other, raised in completely different pre-Taliban contexts, who end up, because of the nation's particular tragedies, married to the same despotic man. The younger was viewed at first by the older as the rival wife, to be fought. A friendship, in reality, a kinship (mother-daughter; older sister-younger sister), was formed. Like Hosseini's earlier book, as a master storyteller, this account is riveting. It is not a pleasant read, but it is valuable.

I had a student who spent a long time in Kabul, working with an NGO. He recommended another book on Afghanistan, title The Book Seller of Kabul, by Asne Seierstad. Though written based on the experiences of a non-Afghani who spends significant time there, it also allows foreigners a view from the inside.

I recommend all three of these books. You might want to check them out.

δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ

καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη

ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας.

Peace!

DGF

Freedom is Not Free was SermonSpice's #2!!!!!

Way to go, Greg! Image captured July 1 at 8:00 AM!