Missionary Gas

In these past weeks we´ve been buying big houshold items like a sofa and bed. Purchasing such items in a different culture has its strange experiences. We chose the bed, and we're then told it would need to be sorted for us in the workshop. A few days later it arrived but with no back legs and a variety of problems. Four days later they came back with back legs but these were higher than the front ones. They took bits away again, and eventually got it right. We went to another shop and selected a sofa. A replica of the one we chose was to be made for us, and after four weeks it arrived but turned out to be different from what we had seen. The workshop is now making another one which should be ready in a month´s time. Again, weeks ago I rang up to get a broadband internet connection. "You don´t have the right documents" the telephone company said. A week later I had them and they then said "We need a technical report." A week later they said, "There is still...

I knew she would get into trouble some day. And so it was that Olwen was stopped by the military for taking a sip of water while waiting for a train. Fair enough, the regulations are clearly on display and public annoucements are made in case you´ve forgotten your glasses and can´t read the 120 or so subsections including: "No drinking or eating allowed on station premises". As our Elizabeth had previously been reprimanded for placing her foot on a stone seat, I feel as a family we´re not good Colombian citizens. But the Metro is clinically clean and a credit to the city. My ability to correlate common sense and rules took a further jolt this week when we lecturers received a consultative letter from the Seminary´s authorities outlining what they suggest to be our working obligations. It sets out in detail a 48 hour working week for 51 weeks of the year completely dedicated to the Seminary. A Colombian friend reckoned this was not intended to quickly kill off missionary teach...

The afternoons last week were dedicated to getting our visas registered and buying a bed. Both went smoothly until the immigration people said we would have to wait 4 months for our permanent ID cards and the bed people sent the bed with only two legs. The bright spot was the top the woman in the bed shop wore. It was a shinny gold one of the type you´d see at a Gala Night. Across the front it displayed in silver the word GAP and underneath, in English, was written, God Answers Prayer. She hasn't a clue about English, had no idea what it meant, but being a Christian was delighted to hear the message her unmentionables were bearing. We sleep on a mattress on the floor. Delay is the norm here and you need the philosophical, "as long as it gets done, that's the important thing". And to learn that the One who answers prayer works to a different timetable from ours. Temporary ID cards complete with fingerprint and blood group

One of the most disconcerting questions in Colombia is "Sí o No?!". It is sometimes made by rather large middle aged females or agitated taxi drivers. They're speaking about something important, you haven't followed exactly what's been said, and then in an animated way they demand of you, "Yes or No?!" To avoid embarrassing consequences, I usually reply, "Claro!", effectively, "That's right". Today was my first encounter with the 3rd year hermeneutics class; 27 of them. At the start of term they're keen to please and nod in agreement with what you say, "Claro" is on their lips. Although I know one or two well meaning souls won't have a scooby. And by next week the disagreements will have begun. The Bible tells us that our "Sí" should be "Sí" and our "No", "No". So to be able to say these words with conviction is a great thing and I suppose that's why we've come back...