Wisconsin and dreams

A run-down barn in a surprisingly central location in the town of Medford, Wisconsin.

I'm guessing this is a government building, I didn't see a sign.

Today I am very grateful. I drove into Wisconsin late last night after a wonderful get-together with faculty and former residents of my family medicine program. J and Cassie are amazing hosts! I drove here in my cousin's wife's car, which she has generously loaned me for the duration of my Minnesota/Wisconsin visit. I stayed overnight with them (for a few hours only, leaving at 4:30 am!) and arrived this morning in Medford, Wisconsin, for a two-day Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics course. One of the things I am doing in the States is taking needed continuing medical education courses to keep up my medical license, although I am not currently practicing. I am grateful because:

• Today I was thinking how much I miss OB, and practicing medicine for that matter.
• As I talked with a fellow D.O. on a break, I was thinking about his comments that the Twin Cities are really lacking D.O.s who do osteopathic manipulation, and how easy and helpful setting up a practice there would be.
• Yesterday I was really excited as I shared with others about the doors that have been opened for me in my work in Argentina and the thrill of sensing that I am joining God in God's work there.
• Yesterday I talked with someone about my former work in corrections, and how much I enjoyed many aspects of it.
  
• Last week I was loving being with my friends and relatives in Minnesota and thinking how beautiful it is to be with friends that are not only superb but with whom we have a long history.
• Yesterday morning I was sad that it was my last service at Messiah Episcopal Church, but also really glad at the thought of being able to worship at Epic Christian Church next week.
  
• Tonight I am thankful because my Dad was thoughtful and offered to pay for my hotel room here so I could avoid five hours of driving (between tonight and tomorrow). I'm exhausted and need to study a bit before tomorrow's test.

So I'm super-grateful to God that while it's true, I have some poignant dreams about moving back to the States (to several states at once, if possible!) and would really enjoy other jobs, it's also true that I have a lot of possibilities in my life. I live in a place where I now feel at home and work at a job where I feel that I am useful and moving with the Holy Spirit. In a rough economy I am not only supported in that ministry through donations but also have many other options.

Como Lake just after my run. Minnesota is so beautiful year-round.

Rachael and me at the coffee shop with the best baristas in the Midwest. Oh, the delectable goodness of a well-prepared macchiato!

St. Paul

The Como Park Conservatory. I've loved this place since I was a kid. Even though the suggested donation has gone up from 50 cents to two dollars, it's still worth it to see rooms full of plants and flowers like this one.

My Aunt Char, with whom I'm sure I went as a child to the conservatory many times!

Spring in Minnesota means you need a good slicker and an umbrella. One of the reasons I love Minnesota is that it is easy to be outdoors all year. Despite the cold and the snow there are shoveled paths around lakes and the Mississippi and lots of people are out enjoying the scenery.

Paul and Libby at the best pizzeria outside of Naples, Italy. Yum!

Holly came down from Duluth and Erin and her daughter drove in from a 'burb. Holly and I were youth pastors together (way back when Erin was in high school) and later that day when Holly and I were at a coffee shop with my computer we started chatting with Jennifer, another young woman who was also in the youth group. She's now in Qatar -- the internet still amazes me with its usefulness and free-ness.

Minnesota

My first week in Minnesota I stayed with Paul and Libby and their two boys. It's an immense privilege to call them friends. Here is Paul assisting Gibbie as he makes the French press coffee.

Here are Ezra and Gibbie with Grace and Kate. This was very fun -- hanging out with Libby and her boys who played really well with Jenny's girls. Jenny and her mom came up from Michigan, what a joy to see them all!


Here is my old housegroup (from top): John and Janet, Myra, Jeff, Lois, and Doug. I was part of this group (with only a very slightly different configuration) from 1993 to 1997. We celebrated Lois' birthday with venison, how Minnesotan!

I've gotten to see my college friend Teri and her precious daughter Hazel a few times, she is growing up and running excitedly all over (Dexter the dog is also proudly in the photograph).

Argentina and books

Seen at a street cafe in a touristy part of town (El Caminito). I love this pose in the tango!

The BBC recently posted an article with different impressions of Argentina by a reporter who lived here for years.

I believe this is part of the Argentine zamba. We walked by these dancers while touring Buenos Aires with Barb and Melanie (the estheticians who came to give a manicure training).

Recently I read a list of books an acquaintance had read last year, which I thought was an interesting look at his life. Since the books I read last year are helping me both to form and to articulate my thinking (in fact, I'm planning to re-read a lot of them this year) I thought I would post mine.

Read in 2008:

A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren

The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

O2 by Richard Dahlstrom

The Real Mary by Scot McKnight

The Myth of a Christian Nation by Greg Boyd

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission by David Bosch

Seamos como niños: Pensar teleógicamente desde la niñez latinoamericana by various authors

End of the Spear by Steve Saint

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

When the Spirit Comes in Power by John White

Not Good if Detached by Corrie ten Boom

Read over half of the following short story and essay collections:

Doce cuentos peregrinos by Gabriel García Márquez

Cuentos Completos by Julio Cortázar

Cuentos de amor y locura y muerte by Horacio Quiroga

The Local Church, Agent of Transformation by various authors

Re-reads:

The Bible (read it through chronologically in 2008)

Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

I have had the privilege of speaking at numerous churches. Here I am at my "home" church giving a summary of the manicure training. The man on my right is one of our pastors, Jorge, and the two women on my left are Barb and Melanie, the estheticians.

Ridiculously Blessed

The Baradero team two weeks ago, working hard in beautiful late summer surroundings.

I am ridiculously blessed.

In three days I leave for the United States, and although I will be there for nearly six weeks I’ll be in four states. I am ridiculously blessed with friends and family that love me and care about me and are traveling to come see me if I can’t get to them. I will not be on vacation while there, since I will be attending medical conferences and following up by e-mail with people in Argentina and sharing with individuals, small groups, and churches what is going on in Argentina. However, I choose to look at the overwhelming amount of opportunities as a blessing. (Remind me of that if you see me stressed!)

I brought out the camera during our Baradero meeting to take a picture of this hummingbird. Can you find it? It’s green, so it's tricky to spot.

Tonight I sat out on my balcony to decompress after a busy day. I looked at the nearly full moon while Rich Mullins started singing, “Everywhere I go I see you.” I thought, how true, when we open our eyes we see God everywhere. I had been stressed all day and never really stopped to let God move in me, to give God my burdens and take up the easy and light yoke that is offered. Before stepping out on my balcony I did so, and I think that’s why I was able to see God in the moon. The moon in and of itself was stunning, but then a light cover of clouds came over it and the aura created was huge and colorful. I heard a breeze blow through a neighbor’s tree and was delighted with being able to worship God in nature despite being in a city. (Then a truck zoomed by down my cobblestone street and I heard a train in the distance.)

The Baradero team relaxing well after a hard day’s work, enjoying a long after-dinner conversation. I was thinking that night that I am incredibly blessed to be here, where one of the lovely cultural traits is enjoying one another's company for an extended period after a delicious meal.

The next song that came on was Step by Step. The first time I remember hearing this song I was in a rattling van with a bunch of teenagers heading northward in the middle of one of the harshest Minnesota winters. I thought how crazy it was that I had just started to serve God with the youth, and knew that I was over my head and that was where I was supposed to be. “And step by step you lead me, and I will follow you all of my days.” I thought about all of the decisions that I had made in life, both to serve in different ministries as well as times that I had chosen forgiveness and healing over bitterness and anger and how those decisions had opened up huge new vistas in my life each time.

On Saturday in La Plata we had the first of seven modules in the Neighborhood Transformation series for urban areas. In an expansion of the “give a man a fish, teach a man to fish” theme, after learning how to cross a rushing river and teaching others to do so (multiplication) the ones who learn how to cross get the town together to build a formal crossing at the site. This would be like forming a fishing cooperative.

Carlos of the Salvation Army explains to the class his group’s ideas on how to meet the challenge of unemployment/underemployment in the context of relief, individual development, community development and structural change.