The Missionary Deposition: Hannah Gehman

May 15, 2012 in The Missionary Deposition with 5 Comments

Welcome to the fifth edition of the Missionary Deposition. So far we’ve heard from missionaries in Paraguay, China, Liberia, and St. Kitts. Today I want to introduce you to Hannah Gehman, who is suffering for the Lord in…Hawaii.
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Hawaii huh? What are you doing way over there?
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Well basically, because God called me here. But to give some background to my Hawaiian adventure, I’m with a organization called Youth With A Mission(YWAM) and our motto is “to know God and to make Him know”. I started with a 6 month training program called a Discipleship Training School (DTS), in Brisbane, Australia. For the first 3 month we get to know God, through teaching and training. Then the last 3 month of the school is an outreach where we get to make God known, I went to Queenstown, New Zealand and got to minister to the backpackers that travel there. God did so much in my life while I was over there, and then began to speak to me about coming here to Hawaii.
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Now I am staffing a DTS with a focus on sports. The first 3 month of the school are here in HI, getting training. I get to walk along side the students as the experience and learn more about God. I’m stoked for our outreach, in which I will be co-leading a team to Romania, teaching baseball to kids there, and then heading to London to do ministry during the Olympics this summer! Our team uses the natural connection that sports give us to share Jesus with people.
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Your from Pennsylvania, where they eat cheese steaks for every meal. What is the food like in Hawaii? Any particular dish you’ve fallen in love with.
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First off, cheesesteaks are a little overrated in my opinion. But basically Hawaiian food consist of coffee, macadamia nuts, and coconut. As you can tell my culinary experience in HI has been pretty limited. I live on a campus of 1000 people from 57 countries, so there’s lots of variety. But they do have a purple sweet potato pie like the apple pies at McDonalds!
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What are some differences you’ve noticed between the church in Hawaii and the church back in the northeast?
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One of the churches I go to is literally on the beach, so obviously that’s a little different then back home. But other then that, a lot of the churches have a very island-y feel, they make you feel really welcomed, and if feels like a big family. Hawaii is super multi-cultural, and so church here is like a fusion of Hawaiian, Asian, Pacific islands, and mainland culture. There’s ukuleles in worship, and everything’s a little more laid back.
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Have you surfed the north shore yet?
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I’m on the big island, so sadly, no north shore,(well not that north shore). But I have swim close to a shark, and saw 20+ ft waves.
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Do other missionaries give you a hard time for serving the Lord in a tropical paradise?
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I don’t know if I would say a hard time, but I do get the whole “wow, your really suffering for the Lord” comment often. I know Hawaii isn’t one of your first thoughts when you think of missions, but there’s people here that need Jesus, so missions is just as important here. I  realize how blessed I really am that God called me to serve in such an amazing place.
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If I were going to visit Hawaii, what are a couple things that I would have to see or do?
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I live on the Big Island, so most of the typical touristy things I haven’t done cause their all on Oahu. But a couple of my favorites are: snorkeling at Captain Cook bay, Mile 88 beach and Pololu Valley. I hear Volcano’s National Park is a must as well, although I haven’t experienced it yet.
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Tell me something about Hawaii I did not know.
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The native Hawaiians pronounce it Ha-V-aii, with a V sound. There is also snow! On Mauna Kea, a 13000 ft mountain here, they get enough snow you can even snow board on it. It is also one of the best star gazing locations in the world.
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Is there anything my readers can do to help you guys out?
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Pray! Prayer is so  super powerful, and is so important for any ministry!
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You can visit YWAM Kona’s website here.
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Blessings and War Eagle!

 

The Missionary Deposition: Sean Miller

May 8, 2012 in The Missionary Deposition with 9 Comments

1.  St. Kitts and Nevis huh?  What are you doing down there?
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We are sitting on the beach serving Him with a international, interdenominational organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship (www.cefonline.com). In brief, we train and equip local churches to effectively reach children ages 5-12 in the community. We conduct teacher training for churches on effective, Gospel-centered children’s ministry and provide free, brand new, and high quality CEF children’s curriculum. We also facilitate ministry opportunities to intentionally reach all the children. My wife and I just started a Good News Club (1 1/2 hour Bible club once a week) with the children in a small village called Fig Tree where 29 children came out for the first club meeting!
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2.  Your from the south, where we like to fry things.  What is the food like in St. Kitts and Nevis?  Any particular dish you’ve fallen in love with?
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We love fried foods. Your question reminded me of Chick-Fil-A which is in top five of 1000 Southern foods missed by our family! The food in St. Kitts and Nevis is wonderful, the majority of restaurants make all their food with fresh locally-grown ingredients. A big staple dish is rice and beans with a protein of choice (fried plantains, bbq chicken, fish). Some of the locals eat a dish called “cook-up” which is a dish filled with a bunch of different ingredients, many times including pig snout and pig tail. A personal favorite is going out on a Friday or Saturday afternoon and getting some locally grilled chicken or grilled ribs. It is very popular among both locals and expatriates to get this from people grilling on the side of the road all around the islands.
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3.  What are some differences you’ve noticed between the church in St. Kitts and Nevis and the church in the US?
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Not to possibly cause controversy, but much of the church in St. Kitts and Nevis is knowingly or unknowingly liberal with their theology (depending on the person/church). The tv channel TBN has a huge presence down here, so much of TBN’s teachings (health and wealth/your best life now/works-righteousness/healing on demand) affect the theology of many pastors and church leaders. One thing that is prevalent here that is similar to the South is many people call themselves “Christian” but it is “all in the head and not in the heart, so to speak”. “Island time” is different in the churches, you say something starts at 10am and it starts really at 10:30 or 11am.
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4.  Do I have to keep calling it St. Kitts and Nevis, or can I just say St. Kitts?
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Nah, you can call it St. Kitts, that is where we live and where the majority of our experiences come from. We often refer to it in brief as “SKN”, and many of the locals also shorten it that way.
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5.  Do you take a lot of grief from other missionaries for serving in a Caribbean paradise?  Do they ask if you guys are staying at the Sandals Resort?
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Somewhat, we have missionary friends in colder climates who mess with us about it, especially during the winter months. Anytime we post pictures from a beach trip or something we usually have somebody tease us about living it up at the beach. And when we were raising support it was, is, and will continue to be a constant point of conversation. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard “ya’ll will be/are suffering for Jesus in the Caribbean, huh?”
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6.  What’s the internet/cable situation like where you live?  Do you keep up with what’s going on back home?
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We are thankful that SKN is very forward with telecommunications. We do have internet and cable, and it is different in that while back in America the cable is more expensive and the internet is cheap, here it is opposite, Funny part is that the company that is the cable and internet provider? The business is literally called “The Cable”. The internet does go out from time to time, which can be frustrating but it is just part of life so you don’t worry about it. We stay connected with online radio from Montgomery, Facebook & Twitter, email, Skype, and we have a local (334) VOIP number we can call people on. My wife and I look forward to watching the Texas A & M vs. Auburn game from SKN this year as she is an Aggie and I think “….its great. to be. an Auuuuu-burn Tiger.”
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7.  If I were going to visit St. Kitts, what are a couple things that I would have to see or do?
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You have to see the views from Brimstone Hill, an OLD British fortress on a mountain absolutely loaded with British and French history. Google it, the pictures don’t do justice to the view though. Also, you have to go down to one of many possible beaches (you can pick touristy ones or the “hidden” ones we know about) and snorkel around the reefs. If you have time you should also hike the dormant volcano and look into the crater.
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8.  Tell me something about St. Kitts I did not know.
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St. Kitts has the oldest church in the Caribbean, an Anglican church started hundreds of years ago.
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9.  Is there anything my readers can do to help you guys out? 
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Well, naturally financial support is appreciated and needed as missionaries! We need prayer support, you can “like” our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/amomentwiththemillers) to keep up with us and pray for us. I also can’t tell you how deeply meaningful it is to get surprise mail, whether simply a card of encouragement or a care package of Southern and/or American treats/items.
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Sean and Mandi Miller
PO Box 2357
Basseterre
St. Kitts and Nevis
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Thanks Sean! So, have any of you been to St. Kitts and/or Nevis?

The Missionary Deposition: Miles Coggins

May 3, 2012 in The Missionary Deposition with 6 Comments

Liberia huh? What are you doing way over there?
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I started coming over here in 2006 with my dad. Dad met a pastor from Liberia through another family at his church. Dad had been getting more involved in missions helping out around the gulf after the hurricanes and even in Romania. The pastor was building a church in Monrovia and dad offered his help if he wanted it. So, since I used to help wire houses growing up, my dad invited me to come along. We made two more trips after that one and after the second time, I knew God was calling me to come over for a longer period of time and work for Him. After that, I knew the life I was living, even though I’ve been a believer since I was 10, was more for me than Him. I was comfortable and bearing little spiritual fruit. God quickly took all my excuses away and left me with a simple choice to go or stay. In the few times I’d been to Liberia, I knew the same God that saved me was moving across this country, and I wanted to be a part of it and serve. I wasn’t running away from the US or working in the ministry back home, I was running to a different kind of ministry when God met me where I was. So for the last three years I have been working with a water ministry called Water of Life. Our office is in Greenville, SC, but we run this operation as a local NGO (non-government organization). We partner with other Christian organizations to install hand pumps for safe drinking water. We try to put the church in front so that the hand pump can be a tool to spread the Gospel through the local body of believers.
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Your from the south, where we like to fry things.  What is the food like in Liberia?  Any particular dish you’ve fallen in love with?
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They pretty much fry everything here too. The main staple is rice, but almost everything else you put on the rice is fried. We eat a good bit of fried chicken mixed up in different soups to accompany the rice. One good thing about it is just about everything that goes in the soup is grown around here. Different kinds of greens, cabbage, beans, vegetables. My favorite soup is fried beans. The beans look like field peas to me from back home, but you boil them, mash ‘em, fry them with oil, seasoning, liberian pepper and tomato paste. The other is called jallof rice. I don’t know if it is natively liberian but it’s almost like jambalaya or the orange rice you get at a mexican restaurant with beans, chicken and sausage mixed up in it. Everything you eat has spicy peppers in it, which is good for me. I like it. And Lebanese food.
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What are some differences you’ve noticed between the church in Liberia and the church in the US?
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Most churches here have a lot of pentacostal baptist roots like a lot of african-american churches back home as for as Sunday service goes. A lot of waving, clapping, singing and emotional preaching. Most churches have mics and speakers turned up to 11. You get jaded just like back home at all the different denominations too. Every single one is here just like in the states. Even, catholic, ba’hai, jehovah’s witness, mormons. Mormons have planted a handful of churches just in the last year, but you take most of it with a grain of salt now. A few churches are strong, God-fearing, ministering churches, but they’re are a lot that sell bill of goods to a naive american church for the sake of funding. So many times a pastor here is more of a job than a ministry calling, and a lot of those “ministers” love titles like “apostle”, “reverend”, “bishop”, and “prophet”. A lot of prosperity gospel is coming in too. Usually via a “title above” comes over and solicits the poor to pay for blessings, healing, and what ever else for there money. It’s tricky too because in a relatively poor society, the root of all evil is definitely the love of money. In those ways, it’s not too different from some church back home. What is different is the underlying struggles Liberians have with witchcraft and real spiritual warfare. It is so far removed from us in the states because we have no reason to think witchcraft is serious. It died out there 200 years ago. Here it is still going on because so many people give it credit. You have to look at it from the perspective that the devil is going to attack with an army at your weakest point. In the States we may struggle with sins in a more intellectual way. Greed is advanced on a corporate level and kept hidden. Adultery is taboo, but goes on all the time. Nobody even remotely thinks the consequences of those actions are because sin leads to death. If people get caught, they are put in jailed or divorced and move on without repentance and suffer more. Here the cause of almost every serious effect in someone’s life is witchcraft. If you’re blessed, it’s God. If you’re cursed, somebody witched you. It’s not because you are reaping what you so, it’s somebody else fault. That’s a huge obstacle you have to break down when you witness to and/or disciple people here. The people allow it, so the devil takes advantage.
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Your wife, Serwaah, is from Liberia.  Is dating in Liberia similar to dating back home?  Applebee’s and a Romantic Comedy?
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Not really at all. There’s definitely a lot more activities to choose from back home when you’re courting your lady friend than what we have here. It made it a little bit easier on my part because I’m a bit of a home body, but we mainly went out to eat, hung out and spent time together after church on Sundays. The thing that really got me confused about this woman was that when I first met her, she was a certified electrician, in light of that our relationship was a romantic comedy set on the stage of cultural opposites, and lebanese take out. Her sisters/cousins named me “Dweh” which in their dialect (Grebo) mean elephant, so either i did something wrong or did something right. Time will tell i reckon.
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What’s the internet/cable situation like where you live?  Do you keep up with what’s going on back home?
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My dad got a job with a contractor out of Birmingham that built the new US embassy over here over the last 2 1/2 years so we took advantage of his satellite TV. We saw all but 4 Auburn games in the 2009 and 2010 football between Slingbox and ESPN. At our place we have satellite internet so I can keep in touch pretty easily everyday. Day to day current events I get about a couple of weeks to a month behind. When AU won the national championship it was about 5 am here. I was at my dad’s, so I drove home, woke up my oblivious 8 year old Liberian stepdaughter and made her roll the shade tree in the back yard with me.
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If I were going to visit Liberia, what are a couple things that I would have to see or do?
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See the city and see the bush. From a missions perspective, you’d need to see how to meet the people where they are, and that’s hard because it is so different from what we are used to in middle class America. You’d mostly see people in poverty by our standards, but economically it’s getting better every year. What I would want you to see is how people process values, beliefs and their faith in this culture. In that way you don’t pity Liberia, you gain compassion, and in compassion there is a willingness to help. There is no love in pity, you just kinda observe and pass on by. You’ll see a major need for discipleship where Christianity is popular, a mile wide but only a foot deep. See how people survive on a daily basis, and then be encouraged in how some can be content in what we would call a state of need. 
You would have to try at least four different dishes of rice, Liberian style. You would have to drink an ice cold glass bottle coca-cola. You would have to ride on a rotten dirt road for no less than 300km. You would have to go to Sunday worship service. And, finally, you would need to sweat through a premier league (either Man U or Chelsea) match is a ramshackle video club.
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Liberian Flag. Very Original.

Tell me something about Liberia I did not know. 

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Liberia is the oldest republic in west africa, maybe all of africa. It was never colonized although kept closest relations to the US after a large number of freed slaves were transported here. The set up almost everything in government and administration right after the US. Liberia also has the richest deposits of iron ore, arguably, in the world. There’s enough on the northern border with Guinea to dramatically affect the worldwide demand if it was mined fast enough. Harvey Firestone cut a deal with Liberia to lease about a million acres of land to develop and harvest latex from rubber trees back in the 1920′s to even out the global competition with Michelin, who was developing rubber in South America. Firestone is still running strong but only using about half the original acreage. Liberia elected the first woman president in Africa’s history back in 2005 (Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf). Liberia went through a civil war after a violent change of power in 1989 and finally settled in 2003.
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Is there anything my readers can do to help you guys out?
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Get involved in missions. “The body of Christ has many parts” is said so often but what it means to me is there are millions of Christian, and if we wake up in the morning as a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ, and actually seek God’s will, then he has a calling for us to serve Him. He doesn’t need us to fulfill His will because He is God, the God. But the amazing thing about having a relationship with our Creator is that He wants us to be a part of what He is doing. He wants us to trust & obey, to seek and find, so that He may be glorified and we understand why He should be praised. For some that is moving 2000 miles away and sweating our sanity off. Others it’s supporting the missionaries far off, and being a faithful witness to a co-worker or encouragement to a friend in need. It sounds corny but it is that simple. We can’t tell God we want to be missionaries on our terms. Many Christians thinks it’s too mundane just to give money to foreign and domestic ministries. God blesses some with money so because God created them to glorify Him by giving freely. God blesses some with strength and humility so they can work for Him. God blesses some with awesome gifts of word-smithery to write books and delicious satire to encourage other Christians. If people want to get involved with water ministry like what we do, there is plenty of opportunities and amazing results. To meet a simple, basic and crucial need such as having access to clean water, then using that as a tool to show and share the love of Christ is a huge open door all over the world. We have an operation here, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and India. Talk to other Christians at church, work or neighbors and sponsor a well or get a team together to come over and work for a week or so. Or send money to support those who are on the ground working for God. Born again Christians have no excuse, we must get involved in the Kingdom’s work.
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Thanks Miles! Click here to learn more about Water of Life’s work, and please consider a donation, or maybe a trip to Liberia.

Three Things

April 30, 2012 in General with 7 Comments

1.  The American Airlines deal I posted about two weeks ago ends today. If you’d like to go to Europe, or South America, or Asia, or just about anywhere, for free, these cards could do it for you. Email me if you have any questions.

2.  The Manchester Derby is today.  A Man City win over Man United will give the Blues control of their own destiny going in to the last two matches of the season.  City have won England twice, the last time in 1968.  United have won 19 times, 12 of those coming in the last 20 seasons. C’mon City!

3.  The blog is going to be a little slow this week. I’ll have a Missionary Deposition on Thursday, but that will probably be it. I’ve wrapping up work on my rivalry book, tentatively called Love Thy Rival, and will have much more to tell you about that soon.

To Catch a Beatle

April 26, 2012 in General with 7 Comments

The Missionary Deposition: G.L. Johnson

April 25, 2012 in The Missionary Deposition with 7 Comments

Last week on the Missionary Deposition we met Ken Haggerman, who is serving with his family in Paraguay. This week I’m proud to introduce you guys to G.L Johnson, who is teaching at a Christian International School in the People’s Republic of China. Know a missionary I need to interview, let me know a emailchadgibbs@gmail.com.

China huh? What are you doing way over there?

I’m teaching in a Christian International School. It’s a fledgling school with more elementary kids than high school students. Parents of little kids are more likely to venture overseas for a job than parents of teens. Some families like China and stay for years though. I’ve only been here for about 14 months and plan to stay another year. It’s a wonderful way to enter retirement–graduate oneself to service in a foreign country. This is a place of change! It’s energizing! I recommend it. Listen for God’s call.
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Your from the south, where we like to fry things. What is the food like in China? Any particular dish you’ve fallen in love with?

Mmmmm, jellyfish

The Chinese food is nothing like the stuff you find at home. Occasionally you can find something sweet and sour, but mostly everything is fresh. Sunday I ate Ghinko beans, yes from the tree. It was served with roasted cashews. For the first time I ate jellyfish and duck feet and drank a liquid from corn. Most of the time the food is just very, very tasty and utilizes every part of a plant or animal, like garlic stems or bamboo shoots. If I eat in in a place I don’t know it’s always safe to order a tomato and egg dish as well as fried rice, which has a few miniscule vegies, eggs and meat chips in it. That’s what you asked about, fried stuff. Anything fried is good, right? KFC has been here for 20 years and there are more chicken places here than in America. So you can find the original recipe here, except it’s usually got a spicier and hotter batter than at home.

What are some differences you’ve noticed between the church in China and the church in the US?

Church? You should hear our Chinese brothers and sisters punctuate prayers with Amen like a cheer; or listen to fervent female preachers; or watch them sing songs to numbers instead of notes on a staff. The pews are packed and church buildings are used by several congregations or multiple services are held in a day. And then there are house churches. That’s a completely different topic.

Here we love college football. What is the sports scene like in China?

The game at home is American football, but here Football IS soccer. There is a professional baseball trainer here in my town scouting for talent. You know how Linsanity is big for the Nicks? Baseball wants a Chinese star! Of course baseball is BIG in Japan and Taiwan, but this is China and it hasn’t caught on here yet. Basketballs are sold in grocery stores. I just don’t see many hoops so I don’t know where they play.
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What’s the internet/cable situation like where you live? Do you keep up with what’s going on back home? 

It’s hard to keep up with the news from home. I don’t pay for cable because there would be a hundred Cn lang. stations and only one English language news station. So I pay for a VPN, virtual private network, and that way I can trick the computers to thinking my computer is based in North America. So I can stream movies from Netflix. And only that way I can get FB and You Tube. I listen to podcasts from NPR and I love TED Talks. China has its own social networking as well as 30,000 monitors for the internet as it tries to make sure protests don’t get too loud. I can’t get to my Delicious bookmarks easily enough because of the Chinese firewall.

If I were going to visit China, what are a couple things that I would have to see or do?

You ask about a couple of things you might want to see in China? Only a couple of things you might want to see? There’s at least a half dozen must sees… The Great Wall, the Li River with its knobby mountains pictured in old Chinese ink drawings, the modern architecture of Shanghai as you only visualize in sci-fi illustrations of a new world; you must feel the smooth ride of the fastest trains on earth; climb the Yellow Mountain; ride a boat down The Grand Canal ,which I live on. It’s the world’s oldest and longest canal… and then there are are 13 cent stores, not dollar stores, to shop in!

Tell me something about China I did not know. 

There are more Christians in China than in Italy where the Pope lives. The largest publishing company for Bibles in the world is in Nanjing. Millions are sold here in China with a small percentage sold in Europe. Check out Amity Publishing.com

Is there anything my readers can do to help you out?

Pray for God’s work in China. The economic growth and change in a person’s life time is staggering. Will people be mezmerized by consumerism? Will the government allow change within its structure to tend to the needs of the poor? Americans talk about the difference between the rich and the poor. That difference is greater here. House churches are growing but the members who are business people and government workers need to take the scriptures to the real world: 24/7. “Gift giving”, which in other parts of the world is called bribery, is just a part of the culture here. There are different degrees of boldness for Christians. I have a Chinese friend handing out a tract she wrote and illustrated herself. For delivery she met the printer in a neutral public place and didn’t identify herself by name and he didn’t give her a receipt. So even though she ordered 5,000 and in the last week since its printing has prayed with four people to accept Christ, she is careful to not get her supplier “in trouble”. Really the government is quite accommodating and wants to work with reciprocity with the church. However It fears a united front of protest. So if the church will work together to help the old or disabled or orphaned or poor, that’s ok. If the church will work together to push for protecting the environment, that’s ok. But if the church should want to protest the low pay of factory workers or push to change laws, then that is not ok. Or that’s how I understand it. God is here. Pray that He is exalted and worshipped in a Daniel kind of way. Or in a way like Paul.

And now a question for you guys…have any of you been to China?

Turn To Page 333 in Your Hymnal

April 24, 2012 in Faith with 16 Comments

Quick question today.  What is your favorite hymn?  

Mine is Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

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We Can Meet Heroes

April 23, 2012 in Sports with 39 Comments

From the moment Bo Jackson blew out his hip until, well, until this morning, I’ve been slightly obsessed with Deion Sanders. We even invited Prime Time to our wedding, in hopes that he’d show, or at least his assistant or someone would send us a toaster. But Deion didn’t make it to the wedding, and as of today I have still never met the man. Closest I got was in 1991 at a Braves game. We got there early so I could try and get an autograph, and I remember standing over the dugout screaming at him as he walked in from warming up. From the field he pointed at me, but kept walking into the dugout, and that was it. The closest I ever got to my hero. But I’m not giving up yet. Maybe he’ll show up when we renew our vows!

What about you, have you ever met your hero?

The Missionary Deposition: Ken Haggerman

April 20, 2012 in The Missionary Deposition with 15 Comments

Today is the first installment of my missionary interview series, tastefully named The Missionary Deposition. First up is my friend Ken “The Barba” Hagerman, who is serving down in Paraguay with his family.

1.  Paraguay huh?  What are you doing way down there?

FYI, Barba is Spanish for beard.

After we confirmed we had a call to full-time missionary work I got the offer to go with a friend to visit one of his friends, a missionary, down in Paraguay. I thought “Great, a chance to pelt this guy with questions.” We landed and when my feet hit the ground here I felt “at home.” We hadn’t planned on moving here but the opportunities just opened up. I grew to love this country in the 12 days I was in it and began thinking in terms of moving to it. That changed the climate of my trip dramatically. It was incredible that a chance happening and the miraculous events that took place to get me there were orchestrated by God to whet my appetite for living here.

We mainly focus on the youth. Overall Paraguay is a young country and working with youth is our forte. We had a youth center (although the locals called it a pub) in our home. We opened up a large room in the front of our house every Friday night for games, music, a devotion and usually a meal for the stragglers. We had concerts (local garage band), hosted UNO tournaments and projected movies. This was all geared toward the unchurched, and using Christian Paraguayan youth as “staff.”

During the week our home was open to any of these folks to come back for hang out time and meals, and a couple nights a week we had Bible studies and taught free English classes.

FYI: I have retold all of this as past tense because we have since moved from this area. I had open heart surgery down here in December 2010 and two months later my wife took a direct hit from a Landcruiser to the back of her leg while riding a motorcycle to tribal language class. She shattered her femur and has had a couple of surgeries and a lot of therapy (both of these events have been chronicled on our blogs). These things played into our necessity to move closer to the capital for her PT. So we left behind 2 years of work and moved. We have identified our next ministry locale and are making plans to move there and do it all again in a new town.

2.  Your from the south, where we like to fry things.  What is the food like in Paraguay?  Any particular dish you’ve fallen in love with.

Chipa Guasu (pronounced Cheepa Wahsoo). I know it sounds like a wrestling move from the 80’s but it’s actually a moist, dense cornbread made with crushed whole kernel corn. It has a little Paraguayan cheese and some onion mixed in and, hang on I’ll be right back. Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, Paraguayans love to do an asado.  Grill meat over a flame. Yay! Also there are Empanadas. They are like Hot Pockets but made fresh and cheaper and without the scientifically created food products inside.  Most everyday foods are fried here.

3.  What are some differences you’ve noticed between the church in Paraguay and the church in the US?

Overall, the Paraguayan church scene is a little delayed in terms of what we North Americans might call cutting-edge churchiness. Most evangelical churches are very small. The ones I have been to remind me of church when I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s in South Carolina. That has been a little comforting to us because of the challenges for us in the language difference. There are a few larger congregations around, and they have more of a US flavor to them.

4.  Be honest, how much do you hate Uruguay?

He cheats, he dives, he hates the Jackson 5, Luis Suarez

I don’t hate Uruguay per se, but I am less than a fan of a player on their national soccer team. Suarez, number 9, is a cheat. He has taken a game I have fought to like because of the cultural significance and made it even more difficult to sit through. It’s bad enough that a tie is allowed, that’s un-American. It’s worse that it is 90 minutes and can end in a 0-0 tie. It’s ridiculous that a breeze can cause a player to react as if hit by a car. It’s cruel to prolong that by adding the time lost for the theatrics to the end. But now, if they are playing, I have to watch that foot gangster slip behind the referee and stir up trouble. I guess they balance it with Forlan, a classy player with top skills. I hate soccer by the way, but it’s the only thing on the air.

5.  What’s the internet/cable situation like where you live?  Do you keep up with what’s going on back home?

We try to keep up. We currently use a USB modem for net service. It’s slow but at least it has semi-reliable signal. And for cable, we had service for a while to project World Cup games (big draw). We had 10 channels. Some were fixed, and others traveled up and down the dial. Today’s ch. 3 is on 8 and 8 isn’t there at all. We could turn on the set and watch the guy surfing the menu of the satellite on our screen. We would scream STOP at the TV if something good passed. Some channels were a direct feed from a DVD player at his office. That got real sketchy after say, 9 pm. Cable Guy liked his porn. Yes, it was broadcast early and could pop up on any channel. Once, I turned on the TV and found, of all things, Monday Night Football. I raised my hands to God and said “Thanks.” I watched from kick-off till 10 minutes into the 3rd quarter and Cable Guy changed the satellite. AHHHHH! He stopped on a Formula one race. Ok, fine, I’ll watch the race. Three laps to go and he changes it again. I don’t have a gun but I am rethinking that by now. I was heading out the door when my wife stopped me.

“Where ya going?”

“To talk to the cable guy.”

“It’s 10 PM! And why do you have that machete?”

“So what.  It’s only three blocks and I can’t take it anymore.”

She talked me off the ledge and we put in a DVD instead.  Now we just get the local channels, all in Spanish.  We have to be careful because the news is very graphic and what they consider obscene on regular shows is different than what we’d imagine.  Nudity or almost-nudity is pretty common.

6.  If I were going to visit Paraguay, what are a couple things that I would have to see or do?

Can you find Paraguay on a map? Hint: It is red.

You really need to see the ruins of the Jesuit Reductions –just awesome. The Itaipu dam is a “Wonder of the Modern World.” It is the largest hydroelectric plant in the world and it’s right here in little ole Paraguay. The Basilica in Ca’acupe is beautiful and is quite a sight to see during the walks in December. Finally, the falls at Iguazu are a must see. Ironically I haven’t seen them yet. They are supposedly breathtaking.  And of course, you’d want to see my beard.

7.  Tell me something about Paraguay I did not know. 

Because of the near annihilation of the populace of Paraguayan men in war, it is a melting pot of peoples. The country began allowing aggressive immigration of foreigners to fill the gap. There is a huge population of Germans here that really swelled during and after WWII. There is a sizable Asian population as well. Paraguay also has two recognized official languages, Spanish and the tribal language, Guarani.

8.  Is there anything my readers can do to help you guys out?  

Prayer is our biggest request. It is the thing that has sustained us. It is what protects and guides us. We need prayer for our family, our work here, our health and safety, decisions and finances. We are independent missionaries meaning that we do not work for a mission agency or church. That is to say we do not draw a salary from a larger group. We live on donations. We are supported by friends, family and partners who believe in what we do. We are kingdom builders looking to change the spiritual climate of Paraguay.

They can keep up with us at my blog Rambling with the Barba or my wife’s page that is our ministry blog at Hagermans on a Mission. We also have a web page for Tapé Missions.

Got a missionary you think I should interview? Email me at emailchadgibbs@gmail.com.  

A Written Post About the Unwritten Rules

April 19, 2012 in Sports with 17 Comments

Me stretching a double into a triple even though my team had a big lead late in the game. During my next at bat I was justifiably hit in the face.

Last weekend I was driving home to Auburn, listening to a baseball game, when the team with a big lead stole second base. At this point the announcer became incensed, saying it was against the unwritten rules of baseball to steal a base when your team had a large lead. He went on to say that baseball is a gentlemen’s game, and that the baserunner should be careful, because the next time he comes to bat the pitcher will be aiming for his ear.

Hearing this led to two thoughts.  1) The announcer has no idea what the word gentlemen means, and 2) We need to figure out a better way to punish those who break unwritten rules than by rewarding them first base. I mean technically a team could continue to break unwritten rules, forcing the opposing pitcher to hit every batter, eventually walking home enough runs that the score would be out of reach. So I propose MLB add a fifth umpire to each game, this one in charge of keeping up with the breaking of unwritten rules. And after the last out is recorded, those who have broken unwritten rules will be lined up against the wall where a hard throwing reliever will throw baseballs at their ears.

How can other sports punish unwritten rule breakers? 

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