We live in a world where communication has become not only a necessity but a pastime, diversion and distraction. We know this is true in the USA. Anybody who has the courage to glance into the car next to them at a stop light will almost always see their neighbor looking at a phone or worse, texting. The same thing is true here in Chile. Everyone has a phone and they are constantly checking their phone. It’s amazing really. I’ve been able to text and send emails from here with very little trouble. What a world! But even as small as the world has become, thanks to all our communication devices, it is still a very big place when we want to meet face to face.
This weekend I’ve been reminded of the sacrifices our missionaries make to do the work that God calls them to. This weekend John Elmore’s first cousin Tom Ebel came to visit with John. John has been in Chile for eighteen years. This is the first time since John has been here that he has had a visit from a family member. Smart phones are great but there is no substitute for a face-to-face visit from our loved ones. John’s joy at having his cousin here was very obvious.
This morning I accompanied John as he took Tom to the airport to leave. We went to the airport in Temuco. It’s the third largest city in Chile with a population of 350,000. It’s about a two hour drive from El Vergel. All the way to the airport John and Tom were telling stories and reminiscing. As I listened I thought about how important relationships with family members are. I thought about how easy it is for me to see my loved ones face to face to tell stories and remember all the things that families do with and for one another. Most of us can experience that pretty easily. It took John eighteen years to experience the simple joy of a visit from a member of his family.
I’m glad I got to go with John and Tom today because it is sometimes easy to forget the sacrifices that our missionaries make. They (John included) will tell you that it is worth it in order to do the Lord’s work. And I certainly believe him when he says it. But it is a sacrifice none the less. Let us be thankful for missionaries like John Elmore who have heard God’s call to serve and said yes. Let us be thankful that they do so even when it means sacrificing many of the things that we take for granted. May God richly bless John and all missionaries who have answered the call to make God’s kingdom visible in their places of service.
One of the joys of coming to El Vergel is also one of the most important reasons for doing so. That is to meet people from a different country and culture. By doing so we get to have some limited understanding of what the lives of others are like. When this occurs we gain some Insight into both how we are different from them and how we are similar them.
Then there are other differences that are small but interesting. For instance, when purchasing ice cream you pay and order first, then you hand your order ticket to the server who fills your order. It’s just the opposite of how we do it. Or, when you use a credit card to make a purchase you are asked whether you want to charge it all at once or break it into four separate monthly charges. That’s an option some of us might like but it isn’t available to us. Here, buses play a much bigger role in transporting people than they do at home. There are several bus companies. Intercity buses are coming and going all the time. The buses are comfortable and customer friendly. These are small differences which help us to understand that other people see the world differently. Things get done. They just get done differently.
Like our outreach ministries at home, there is often little money for basic upkeep and repair of existing facilities. Like at home, volunteers are very important when it comes to getting some of the basic upkeep and repair work done. Much of what we do here is to help with the upkeep and repair of the facilities of El Vergel, which takes some of the pressure off of their budget and frees up more resources for the school.
