Holy Week Update 04/07/2012
 
We made it through the eleven straight five-day weeks between Christmas and Holy Week! (A five-day week of school is like a six-day work week for teachers.) During the past quarter, both the upper middle school and the lower middle school had overnight retreats. Ryan, as chaplain, was especially involved in leadership for these retreats. Both retreats required a lot of follow-up with students and parents, but after all is said and done, the students had very worthwhile experiences. 

During the past few weeks, we've seen how much we've learned. We're both making progress in Spanish. We're finally figuring out where to buy certain things and how easy it is to use the intermunicipal busses. Ryan has written almost two years of curriculum for the Old and New Testament classes he teaches. Rebecca has gotten spring English-level testing down to a system. With three full semesters behind us, some things have finally gotten easier, and we can spend more time on discipleship. Students are saying things that show they are learning. Last Sunday, Ryan preached at church for the first time, with Rebecca translating. 

So it is difficult for us knowing that, at the end of this school year, it will be time for us to return to the United States. After much consideration and prayer, we know that God is leading us, just as he led us here and is now leading us into a new phase of our lives: parenting. All year, we've seen God's provision for us and our unborn child, and we place our trust in God to provide the health and energy to get through the next few months. 

Rebecca will be wrapping up her duties as sixth-grade teacher in a couple weeks, and the baby could be born anytime between now (which would be a little early) and the second week in May (which would be a little late). The Long family is planning to return to do most of the necessary subbing. Praise God! Ryan will keep teaching through the end of the year. During May, we'll have to expedite a passport for the little one, because we plan to fly back to the states on June 5. 

Ryan plans to start working soon with the same company that his brother-in-law Josh is working with in the Bakken oil field. We are really thankful for the hope of paying back our student loans much more quickly and for Rebecca to be a stay-at-home mom. Please pray that we have God's peace to handle all the changes coming. Please also pray for us to have a clear sense of purpose as a family, since we're pretty sure that oil-field work is not the only calling God has for the rest of our lives, even if it does pay well. 

For the past two school years, we've been teaching in a mission school. Even as missionaries (and especially as missionaries), we must be very intentional about practicing the presence of God and keeping an eye out for how He is working around us. Soon we'll be entering new mission fields: the home and the workplace. We know as you do that we don't cease working with God just because we're not in a foreign country, but we continue serving Him in everything we do. We want to say thank you to all of you who are serving God in the home and the workplace right now. From your mission field, you've participated in God's redemption of this world and you've set an example for us. Many of you have also used your work to help support us financially. Thank you!
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I wrote this song a few weeks ago and then sang it to my students one day because they had been curious about my ukulele (I think they mostly wondered if it was worth me having short nails on one hand and long nails on the other.). Marco, a student who arrived in the middle of first semester, identified with the song because he has had to move around a lot. He's a military kid who sometimes lives with his mom and sometimes with his dad. The week after the little ukulele concert in class, Marco found out that he would be going back to the U.S. right away. So this song is dedicated to Marco. Please pray for him and his family in this transitional time.

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Well, I've been waiting about half a year for something profound to hit me upside the head so I could blog about it. Today I've decided that I've waited long enough. I'll just write about what's going on in our lives lately. 

This school year has, in general, been easier than last school year. Being second-year teachers is a big improvement to being first-year teachers.

That being said, we did come into the school year a couple weeks late, start teaching within a few days of arriving in the country, move into a new apartment soon after that, and find out about our pregnancy all around the same time. First quarter/first trimester was crazy, but it settled down after that. 

It was really nice to spend the Christmas break here, just the two of us. We didn't do much. It was the biggest chunk of unplanned time I've had since I got my license and started having summer jobs. We read a lot, and we would highly recommend Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas.

It has been interesting to get to know the Colombian medical system better this year by going for prenatal checkups. We pay about $35 a month for basic insurance for both of us and about $1.25 for an appointment, but now that I'm enrolled in the prenatal care program, appointments are free. Of course, this is because it's all subsidized by the government, but they also keep costs low by making it simple and efficient. No big entryways with skylights and aquariums. No magazines in the waiting room. No toilet paper in the bathroom.

We've also been researching options for the birth. In Colombia, most woman give birth in a birthing ward. From what I've been told, in Bogotá, a city of 9 million people, there are only seven nice private birthing suites where the mother can labor in relative peace without being moved from ward to ward. Maybe that's why elective caesareans are not uncommon in the middle and upper class here– at least the operating rooms are more private? Anyway, researching our birth options has been quite educational. We are excited about the options we do have and we're looking forward to giving birth here in Colombia. And all our Colombian friends are excited when we tell them that, no, we are not going to fly to the States to have the baby. 

The baby seems to be doing very well in there– moving faster and stronger every day. There are two other ECA couples who are pregnant. One couple's baby is due within about a week of our baby. The other couple actually had to move back to Canada because the morning sickness just wasn't going away. The altitude and the city air can make pregnancy really difficult. I had quite a bit of nausea, but not much vomiting at all. I had a lot of migraines at the beginning of the second trimester. I've often been tired and I'm on my third nasty-sinus-infection-cough-cold of the year, but otherwise I've been pretty healthy. 

Thanks to Ryan, I have been eating very well. He has been taking care of me in such a sweet and sacrificial way. It's our second year of marriage. We're getting to know each other better and we're learning to communicate better. We've had a lot of opportunities to practice communication as we talk about our growing family and our plans for the coming years. I look back at our first year of marriage and think, "…and I thought I loved you then." And then I think of all the years ahead! 

So maybe that's the profound thing I have to write about: that we are learning a lot, but as we learn we realize how much we don't know. As my baby bump grows, we realize that we will never be prepared for parenting (scary). As teaching becomes less overwhelming, we realize what an overwhelming responsibility it is. As Ryan and I grow closer, we realize we have a long way to go. We realize that there will be challenges ahead, but that God has strengthened us through the challenges in the last year and a half, so if we keep following him, we're just going to get stronger. 

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Wealth 08/11/2011
 
I (Rebecca) wrote this a couple months ago, to post here, but then we got busy with the end of the school year and I never quite finished it. I thought that it would be too outdated to post anymore, but reading it now I see that it still applies, and I'll always need to remind myself about how blessed we are.

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When we flew to Colombia back in July 2010, we had only had two months to raise support, and most of that was spent preparing for our wedding and preparing for our move. It was a while before any support money actually got to our bank account. And so when I thought about finances back then, I would worry. I didn't trust God like I should have. Everything was moving too fast for my human mind, and I got stressed out.

Today when I think about finances, I think of wealth. I've learned this year that wealth is not having a big paycheck every other week. It's not having enough to buy anything that catches our fancy.

Our wealth is seeing God bless us through supporters. It's receiving an email about some donations, just at the right time. It's being able to afford everything that we need. It's being able to fly to the states at Christmas time and again in the summer– being able to see the friends and family who pray for us.

Wealth is speaking a coveted language and learning a second. It is having the qualifications for our jobs, and (even better) jobs to match our qualifications.

Here's a huge form of wealth: family and friends who are willing to support us in a mission that can most romantically be called "a learning experience." Many have listened to us as we have "reflected on what we are learning" (aka whined and vented). We are so thankful for those who have prayed for us as we have faced challenge after challenge. Who knows, maybe someday we will see some of the impact of our work.
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We'll soon head back to Colombia for another school year, and we're looking forward to enjoying some of the fruits of our labor. People keep telling us the second year is so much easier than the first. Thank you to all our supporters for their encouragement and for allowing us to spend another year learning and teaching in Colombia.
 
 
Some of our cooking in Bogotá is the same as we'd always done in the states (such as frying eggs), but some things are affected by different ingredients, different pricing, and 8500 feet of altitude (such as pretty much everything besides frying eggs). Since we both love to cook, exploring the local ingredients has been a lot of fun. Here's a slow-paced, informative, 10-minute video about some ingredients and methods we use in our kitchen.

This video is made possible by everyone who has given us the tools that make our kitchen so functional!
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Unrelenting 03/02/2011
 
In our work with Christian middle schoolers lately, we've been "discovering our ministry" more and more, which is to say, many issues have been coming up that need to be handled with discipline and discipleship. Although our students don't face physical hunger or depravation, they are totally depraved (and so are we). The needs have been relentless, but so has God's grace. Still, sometimes we just need to cry, which is the topic of our latest original song, written today after some difficult conversations with students. It's called, "Just Cry."
 
 
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The idea for this post actually began to germinate way back in undergrad studies. In the class 'Jesus and the gospels' we learned about New Testament eschatology. Which is just fancy speak for, "This world ain't all there is." And while many religions believe that this material world is not alone in its existence, few if any believe that the 'other world' is actually trying to break into this world.

More common is the belief that we as human beings are trying to get to that 'other place'.We adhere to laws, regulations, and rituals in order to earn favor with the power(s) of the world beyond that we might be granted a cushy situation when we get there. Christianity has unfortunately bought into this belief, with its image of heaven being as a static location waiting for us when we die, our fire insurance. But the gospels and Jesus himself challenge this notion. The earliest gospels, Matthew and Mark, both put these words into Jesus' mouth, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven (or God) has come near." (Matt. 4:17 & Mark 1:15) Quite literally they are stating that the kingdom of God is not a reality that is distant and far away, but it is touchable.

And not only has the kingdom of God come near, it is constantly seeking to invade or intrude upon the lives of human beings. Modern human systems of economics seek to give order, provide security, and deliver a regularity of goods and services. Modern human economics are based on convenience– i.e what can we do with what we have for the most of people with the smallest amount of resources? But the kingdom of God is not founded upon convenience; God's kingdom rests upon sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Thus, in our modern lives, when the kingdom of God intrudes upon us, it often occurs through nuisance and disruption.

Enter Isaac
Last week Friday, as the teachers were waiting for their bus to arrive, one of our colleagues said 'hello' to a cute little puppy in a raggedy red harness. With that cue, the puppy followed our coworker into the midst of our group and began making rounds begging us for attention. As we waited some things became clear. The little dog was dirty (filthy is a better description), his harness was second or third hand, and he had a wound on his back paw. What struck me was that he would not eat a piece of bread that was offered to him by another teacher... this seemed very odd– usually street dogs will take any food they can get. What's more, this puppy seemed to feed on attention, his sole desire at that time was for physical affection.

As we showered wanted tenderness upon this wee pup, the first bus pulled up. Something did not sit right within me. The presence of the bus commanded me to board, to leave the feeble creature on the corner to fend for itself. I stood there staring at the furry beast, and he looked up at me in canine submission wagging his little black tail.

This would not have been so gut-wrenching was I not a Bible teacher at El Camino Academy. This semester the 7th & 8th grades have been wading through the Old Testament survey course. The passage that came to mind as I stood there was Genesis 6:1-13. In this passage, human sinfulness, human rejection of God's presence, human defiance of God's will and desire has brought the entire creation down into a deep hole of corruption from which neither human beings nor animals can escape. Even though they were living 900+ years, human beings were using their time to excel in viciousness and degeneracy and they were taking everything around them down with them.

Since we have arrived in Bogotá, Colombia I have been growing in my love for this city and her people. From the beginning of our time here, whenever Rebecca and I go out, my heart would be wrenched whenever I would see a 'street dog'. Dogs are mangy, stinky creatures sometimes, I'll admit. But dogs as a domesticated animal are dependent upon human beings. If human beings refuse to care or steward these animals, they will end up reverting to pack societies. One of my good friends down here told me that wild dogs kill more people per year in Africa than lions... we should not take creation care lightly.

Maybe it was Genesis. Maybe it was my love of canines. Maybe it was the Holy Spirit. (I hope it was!) When the second bus came, I took off my hunter's green jacket and swaddled the wee puppy in my arms. On the ride to school he fell asleep in my arms. Clearly, he had been on the streets for some time and was exhausted. He came to school and met quite a few school children. We bathed him, and he made us laugh. One of the students tried to give him the name 'Spot.' "But he made us laugh," I said. "Let's name him Isaac."

For liability reasons Isaac could not stay at school. I understood– he had no vaccinations and well, he did have fleas. But what was I to do? Rebecca knew very well that we could not have a dog yet. We have no yard and as teachers we are at the school ten hours a day. The only thing to do was pray. Three anxious days passed. Isaac spent an evening with us. The hospital said they could not come until a week later to pick Isaac up. The school was firm in their resolve; the puppy could not stay for the safety of the children. I have never bitten my nails before… I was about to start.

Then on Tuesday one of the school custodians came and found me. There was a man visiting a friend at the school work project. "What is a puppy doing here?" he asked. The custodian told him the story. "May I take him? I have been looking for a puppy." Praise God. "My plan is to have him vaccinated today." Praise God indeed!

Behavioral problems have been coming up this past quarter. Middle school students have been impinging on my ability to work and correct papers and prepare lessons. What an inconvenience! What a bother! What are they thinking? Can't they just behave?! And then a leading of the Lord. "Celebrate my supper. Celebrate my sacrifice." At the chapel on Wednesday, many students broke down and wept as they were given an opportunity to extend forgiveness and show forgiveness to each other. Many continued to shed precious tears as they came to receive the reminder of our Lord's death for us.

Is the kingdom of God inconvenient? Yes, indeed it is. But does living in God's kingdom surpass any earthly thing, any worldly salary, any care or concern we humans can invent? Yes. Yes indeed it does!
 
 
This weekend is a long weekend because there is a festival on Monday, and we hope to spend some time outside the city on that day. The violin and the bubbles in the video above make Bogotá seem more romantic than it really is– it's a lot of buildings, a lot of pidgeons, a lot of puddles, the noise of the highway, and over 8 million busy people, of which we are two. Somedays we desire to garden or just to see a cow eat grass. Some nights it would be nice to hear crickets. But in late October, it's nice to know it won't be getting any colder. The weather will just stay the same, and the sun might come out some more. There will still be fruit brought up from hot country, cala lilies in the landscaping, hot soup, and warm sweaters. There will still be much to do, much to teach, and much to learn.
 
 
On June 13 we were exchanging vows in chilly Colorado and by July 19 we were on the plane to chilly Colombia. The month in between was quite an adventure, and getting our visas was a special challenge.

Our work towards getting our Colombian temporary work visas started early in the summer, when Rebecca made a timeline of important steps we would need to quickly take in order for her to change her last name on many important documents, including her passport, and for both of us to compile all the necessary paperwork for our visas. 

So when we got back from our 3,000-mile honeymoon, we knew we had to get to work right away. Our first step was to update Rebecca's passport. It was at that time that we realized that Ryan's passport was going to expire in November, so we had to renew that too. We decided to make a trip up to Minneapolis to the regional passport agency so that we could be sure to get them back on time.

Then we had to compile all the paperwork. ECA sent us several envelopes of important papers that would prove to the consulate that it would be a good idea for us to work in Colombia. We checked our stack of papers against the list on the consulate's website, and it seemed like we had everything in order. 

Then, a few days before we were going to leave Sioux Falls and head towards Chicago for our visa appointment, we realized that the passport pictures that we had paid good money for at Walgreens were not exactly what the consulate website asked for– instead of 2 small rectangular photos, they needed 3 tiny square photos. So we set up a photo studio in the living room. We opened the shades. We brought flood lights in from the garage. We took dozens of photos before we finally got some decent, professional-looking shots with a nice white background. Then we ordered prints in various sizes so that we could cut them down to 3x3 centimeters. 

Then the next day, as we were filling in the visa application form, Rebecca came to a question she didn't know quite how to answer. So she looked on ECA's website to see if they had any more information that would help. That's when we saw a list of visa paperwork requirements that was longer and more detailed than the list on the consulate's own website. So we had to run around Sioux Falls that day to get Ryan's seminary transcripts and our criminal background checks. We also had to get these documents notarized and apostilized. (Apostillization is a process that basically notarizes a notary so that even other countries can trust it.) Since the South Dakota apostille is in Pierre, we couldn't go there. We found out that there was an Illinois apostille in Chicago, so we would have to go there on the way to our visa appointment. But since Illinois apostilles only recognize Illinois notaries, we had to figure out a way to get our papers notarized in Illinois. 

Our visa appointment was on a Thursday morning, so we were driving to Chicagoland on Wednesday, so Rebecca called a bank in Rock Island to see if they had a notary on staff. We figured that would be the closest Illinois notary to South Dakota. There was a notary who worked there, so we made plans to get up at a descent time on Wednesday morning and get there by 4:00pm. 

So it's Tuesday night and most of our stuff is packed and we finally have figured out how to fill out all the visa forms and so we have to make a copy of everything, which means we have to scan in every paper and print it out once or twice. This took several hours, plus we had some more packing and cleaning to finish, but we finally fell into bed around 4 a.m. We set an alarm for 7 that morning. 

At 9 a.m. we awoke to a knock on the door. "Would it be alright if we had breakfast now?" Ryan jumped out of bed and Rebecca looked and saw that she had turned off the alarm in her sleep. We drastically condensed our plans for that morning and we were on the road within an hour. 

Throughout the day of driving, we knew that we had to keep moving to make it to the Illinois border and our Illinois notary on time. We also had to try not to die from the incredible humidity that day. At about 3:45 p.m, we saw a sign that read "Davenport: 76 miles." Rebecca picked up the speed a little while Ryan kept a lookout for cops. We crossed the Mississippi at about 4:45. The bank closed at 5. Neither of us had ever driven in Rock Island without taking several wrong turns, so we were a little nervous about our ability to steer our way to the bank before it closed. At about 4:57 we pulled into the bank parking lot. Ryan ran in while Rebecca turned off the car. So there we were, in the bank, in Illinois, short our morning showers, windblown hair, sweat poring down our backs, legs shaking– and all that mattered was that our transcripts were being notarized. 

Our next stop that evening was a photo center in Northwest Indiana, where we needed to pick up more of our homemade visa photos, because the first time that we had printed them we hadn't gotten enough of the right size.

The next morning we woke up and got ready to head downtown. We had to stop at the apostille and then be at the consulate by 10 a.m. We thought we had left ourselves plenty of time, but then we took the wrong exit and got a little turned around. We finally got to our pre-chosen parking garage just a little before 9 a.m. We took off running towards the apostille's office. 

At the office, we eyed the clock as people who had come in after us got to take their papers and go. Finally, at about 9:40, she called our names. We grabbed our apostillized papers and started jogging the 0.8 miles to the consulate's office. Drenched with sweat, we showed up at the consulate's office at about 9:50. 

The secretary began looking through our papers. It seemed like everything was fine. Then she asked for the transcripts. "Where are the copies? You need to have another copy." Our hearts sank. We hadn't known that we needed two copies of that. She told us we could get copies in Suite 1514. 

Then she asked for our photos. She looked at them, shook her head, and said, "Those will not do. The background is not white. You just need regular passport photos!"

What were we going to do? Thankfully, we had taken the Walgreens ones along too. But there were only two of those, except Ryan had three because somehow one of his passport ones had been returned to him. So Rebecca went down to Suite 1514, an accounting office in the same building, and asked for some copies and some visa photos. A nerd emerged from his cubicle with a polaroid camera and took her picture against a wall of their office, then copied the transcripts. While Rebecca waited for him to return with the cropped photos, she paged through the transcripts. It was then that she noticed that the notary had written Ryan's middle name instead of his first on the notary form. It was notarized to the wrong person. There was nothing to do about it, and so she went back upstairs and presented the final pieces of visa material to the secretary, hoping she wouldn't notice the mistake.

We waited for many minutes until the secretary emerged from her back office. She had our passports, and in our passports were our visas. Our beautiful visas. We signed them and left the office.

So that's how we got our visas. We don't recommend that exact plan, but, all glory to God, it worked out and we went on to enjoy a weekend of seeing friends and church people and a beautiful wedding and some family, and on Monday morning we got up at 3:00  and Rebecca's uncle brought us to the airport and we flew to Bogotá. And here we are.

School starts this Saturday– pray that we are ready!

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So close! 07/10/2010
 
A week or so ago we bought round trip tickets to Bogotá, Colombia. It was that final step of faith to say, "Yes, we're going." We bought round-trip tickets and we're coming to the U.S. at Christmas!

We have about a week before we leave to Colombia, and we have a lot to do! Please pray that our packing goes well and that our visa appointment in Chicago goes without a glitch or hitch. We have a plane to catch!
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