DanandDalaina.com

I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics a lot recently. They were interviewing an athlete after she won a gold medal. I was intrigued when in her tearful celebration she said something to the effect of “I’ve given up so much for this.” I had been thinking what wonderful things she has been able to experience. I realize she had worked incredibly hard, and not been able to experience and enjoy some of the “pleasures” of overindulgence in foods, night life, etc. She gave up sitting around, and sleeping in, she had long hours of practice, and endured many painful injuries. At the same time, she had the incredible benefits of being in amazing shape, and able to do things the rest of us only dream about. She travelled all over the world, saw sights and scenery that are so outrageous they can’t even be described. She met unbelievably talented people, and experienced “the thrill of victory.”

I’ve been thinking about all the things Danny and Dalaina have given up. They are living in a very difficult environment; they are away from family and friends. They are raising their kids in a risky place without grandparents nearby. What are they gaining? They are giving their kids an experience that money can’t buy. They are learning to see life from a perspective that most of us sadly will never begin to understand. They get to see people and places that are so beautiful they can’t even be described. They get to experience the reality that serving others is more fulfilling than serving ourselves. More than all of this they get to experience the joy of walking the path that God is calling them for. I’m not sure there is much better in life than the deep satisfaction that comes when we are confident that we doing just what God has planned for us, even though it may mean giving up “so much.”

I don’t know how the families of missionaries handled it in the past. When Dan and Dalaina were preparing to leave for Peru, several people asked me if I was OK with it. I usually replied with a heartfelt answer that we absolutely want them to be where God is calling them, and if that is in Peru then we are good with that. I then added that my tenderhearted wife Sonia would likely have a hard time letting the grandchildren go. I naively thought I would be strong enough to not be too affected. I was a new grandpa then, and had no idea how deeply I would hurt having them all go so far away for so long. They moved in April 2009, and we got to go visit them in August. Even though it was a relatively short time since we had seen them, we choose to go in August because our high school age daughter Amanda would have no good time to be away until the following spring. She plays basketball, so leaving over the Thanksgiving or Christmas breaks is not really an option. Now it looks like we won’t get to see them until this summer when they are here for a short furlough. Do you have any idea how much 1 and 2 year old boys change in a year? The twins won’t really know who we are. Thanks to Skype, Moses will remember us. When they are in Pucallpa we get to speak with them on video conference about once a week. A few weeks ago Sonia enjoyed reading Moses a bedtime story over the computer connection. Back here in California, basketball season just ended for Amanda. That means a lot more free time for us, and more time to feel the hurt of missing family. Since Dan, Dalaina and the kids are in Tsoroja right now we can’t even speak with them on the phone or Skype.

Several weeks ago our church had a series in James and we heard on many occasions about how God has a way of bringing joy in trials. A part of those messages included the odd phenomenon of our capacity to feel intense joy and pain at the same time. We are now living that first hand, with the intense pain of missing such key times in the lives of our grandkids, and yet having the incredible joy of seeing God’s hand at work in and through their lives. It is teaching us to continually turn back to an intimacy with God to meet our needs. It is odd how we tend to fill our time with good things that bring us joy, to the exclusion of having the greatest joy of that intimacy with Him. I guess that is why we can honestly be thankful in the midst of those trials since God sends them our way to bring about a good that we don’t normally take time to pursue.

Today our small group from church is doing a valentines project along with a group of kids from an economically challenged community. We are going to make valentines cards and take them to a retirement home for the seniors. I was asked to give a brief devotional about love. Rather than using the traditional message of Corinthians 13, I decided to speak from my own experience about the things and people I love. As I pondered this, I realized that when it comes to things I love, I often have to do without. They aren’t always available (like warm weather right now). Loving people is different. The pleasure I get there is more from what joy I can bring to them, and in a roundabout way that brings me happiness. The nice thing about that is that I don’t have to do without. I can always do things to love on someone.

Right now Dan, Dalaina and the kids are out in the jungle, so in some ways I am feeling like I have to do without them. It is true that I can’t just go over to their house, or even speak with them on the phone, but I can do things that will bring them joy, and in that convoluted way get enjoyment myself. I’m praying for them, and taking care of their business matters while they are not able to do that, and now I see those things in a different light. I think I’ll enjoy them more. Also, today as we make cards for the old folks, I think I’ll slip in a couple for my grandkids.

Lord, thank you for loving me so much that you are always doing things that bring me happiness. Please protect my family while they are out in Tsoroja, and give them good health. Bless them with good progress in learning the Caquinte language, and help them to build great friendships with the people there. Strengthen their marriage, and give them wisdom and grace in bringing up my grandkids. More than anything, please draw Danny and Dalaina into such a close and overtly fulfilling relationship with you that their kids, and the villagers will see their joy IN YOU, and want it for themselves!

Part of living in the Jungle involves flexibility. On one of my first short term missions, our team was encouraged to become like Gumby. (For those of you who don’t remember, Gumby was a very flexible cartoon character from many years ago.) Here in the U.S. we are used to things being fairly predictable. When you are working in foreign and remote places, things frequently don’t go as planned. We place a priority on keeping to a schedule, but in many societies, there is a much higher emphasis on relationships. If we are running late for an important event everyone would understand if we said “I can’t talk right now because I have to get somewhere right away.” In Latin America that would be considered very rude. One always has time to visit with a friend. The last time I was visiting Danny in Pucallpa we had to run to the market for some things. We had a relatively tight schedule, so Danny explained to me that we would not use the usual entrance to the market because we would encounter some of his acquaintances and would need to stop and visit (which we really didn’t have time to do). Instead we slipped in a side entrance right next to the stall we needed to purchase from, and we were able to get in and out without spending a long time.

I said all that for background to our call from Danny and Dalaina on Thanksgiving. As most of you know, there was a phone (satellite, solar powered) installed in the village of Tsoroja recently. They called us Thanksgiving Day and put Moses on the phone. It is so much fun to speak with him. He is conversing more and more all the time. We asked him if they ate turkey that day, and he told us no, they ate beans. Initially we thought this must have been that they weren’t able to bring a turkey out to the village, but Dalaina explained that they did in fact have a turkey, but they were not celebrating Thanksgiving until Saturday because the Caquinte were celebrating an anniversary of the church there in Tsoroja. As I mentioned above, relationship is much more important than schedule, so they were being like Gumby and celebrating later.

The Swifts (Wycliffe missionaries that translated the New Testament into Caquinte) went out to Tsoroja in mid-November. We were excited that they have a satellite phone that allows them to send and receive email. They graciously agreed to let us email back and forth with Danny and Dalaina on their system. Unfortunately, right after they got into the village their phone broke, and we haven’t been able to email.  Many of you heard that Danny made plans recently to get an internet connection in Tsoroja. He actually signed a contract with a company to have it done. It was supposed to be installed by about this time, but as of Thanksgiving, Danny still hadn’t been able to get any confirmation that the company was even ready to get started. These are more opportunities to learn to be flexible.   

Somehow I think God is pleased when we are not so bound to our schedules and plans. It forces us to rely on Him more. We like things according to our plans, but God wants us to see Him as our source of security and significance. Thank You LORD for taking care of all the details in our lives according to Your plans--even if they differ from our plans.

Grandpa Dan

I hurt my back last week bending over to pick something up. (I realize it would be more interesting if it had been while playing racquetball, or lifting something heavy, but it wasn’t). I didn’t work out for a few days, but I did sit in the Jacuzzi at the gym a few times, and I took Tylenol to help with the pain. I also found these wonderful pain/anti-inflammatory patches at the office, and they helped me recover quickly. While I was out of it, I watched a lot of sports on TV, and got to avoid many household chores.

This morning after I played racquetball again and was feeling better, I got to thinking just how wildly different our lives are here in civilized USA than much of the rest of the world. If Dan had hurt his back this week in Tsoroja, it would have been a much different thing. He wouldn’t have  the access to regular over the counter medications (except those common things they bring out to the jungle in case of problems). He couldn’t just sit on the heating pad. He wouldn’t be able to watch TV, and with the 3 little guys, there isn’t much choice to avoid helping around the house. He wouldn’t be able to sit in a Jacuzzi, he wouldn’t even be able to call dad for a consult and get a prescription to relieve the pain or muscle spasms. Things tend to heal more slowly when you can’t take care of them properly.

I hope he didn’t strain his back like I did, but I don’t know how he’s doing because he can’t just call me and tell me about it. For the last several years Dan has been one of my best friends, and I miss him when they are out in Tsoroja for weeks at a time. I’m really looking forward to when they get internet there so we can email, and maybe even speak over their Skype phone sometimes.

Grandpa Dan