A Study in Contrasts
Monday, August 11, 2008
Context makes for some big contrasts. Yesterday we woke up in the Southern Hemisphere to a cool, dry Quito (3,000 meters elevation in the Andean highlands) at a large three-ish-star private house featuring laundry service, WiFi, and sumptuous local cusine on command. At the end of the prior day we had pulled on coats and celebrated the close of our seven-day children’s program out at a swank crepe and ice cream joint that would shame San Francisco’s finest offerings (at about a quarter of the price). mosQUITOes were nowhere in sight. Large bedrooms ensured comfortable personal space for everyone. No danger of digit whackings by common household fans (you have to ask Jacob for the story. Oh, and when you do, ask to see his thumb… ) It was, in short, a great base; an easy introduction to this major banana exporting country where Jim Elliott was killed not six decades ago. Markedly different than our customary definition of civilization, certainly, but not necessarily an environmental challenge to one’s faith.
Today’s context was a complete contrast. We stepped up the offensive a notch and dove into one of the poorest provinces of Ecuador: Esmeraldas, touching both Columbia and the Pacific Ocean. It’s time to peel off a couple or three comfort layers, let any silly lingering notions of a romantic missionary existence fully dissipate, and find a compelling difference.
The first thing you notice is the heavy humidity. The second and third thing you notice are roughly the same as the first. The next thing you notice (once you’ve recovered enough sensory perception to notice) is the ramshackle nature of what in the first world is termed real property “improvements.” This new context is a direct encounter with poverty – not the kind of faux “poverty” that social scientists amuse themselves with in Estados Unidos, but real poverty. Welcome to Esmeraldas. As I write, smoke from burning something mixes with the heavy air making me cough. Here’s how I explained it to one of our translators: Quito was about as similar to home as it was different. But Esmeraldas is more different than similar.
But context makes only so much difference, and in some cases it doesn’t matter. “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” (Proverbs 11:4.) The people here, though living a stark contrast to much of western civilization, have all the same problems as anywhere else. We can share with them the same love we enjoy from the same God we know.
People lined up to attend the Basic Seminar.
This is a big fishing area – like the context for many New Testament stories. Tonight the children on my team illustrated the principle of God’s creative design by making clay models. “Did you make that model por accidente o a proposito, Ariel?” “O, a proposito?” Si, that’s just how God made us: with a deliberate and loving intention. In Quito, the kids made models of dogs, flowers, and people. In Esmeraldas, the kids made models of boats, sea urchins, and elevated houses with ladders going up to them.
The context here is different, but the hearts are the same. We have a great debt that our Savior and Lover is willing to forgive (Luke 8:47). May we all have the poverty of spirit that makes deep friendship with Him not a contrived ideology, but our core identity.
Christopher, for the team
Banana trees grow everywhere here.
The beach is just a short walk from our hosteleria and is seen frequently from various sites in Esmeraldas.
It's amazing how Jacob and Pastor Salazar can communicate just by looking at each other and be exactly on the same page.
Christopher talking with one of the young boys here in Esmeraldas.
Pictures courtesy of Christopher Schweickert and Christina Dickson.