El Paso/Juarez Day 2 Part 1

Day two, first full not-travel day, began with morning devotions and breakfast. Then we headed a few blocks away from the Columban Mission Center, the house where we are staying, to the Fifth Federal District Court.

Here we went through security and were led into a court room. Two young men were sentenced for drug crimes and illegal entry into the US. First, the compassion of the officials and the judge as they took into consideration the circumstances that put the young men in the position to commit crimes. There is no longer a hard and fast punishment for a particular crime, but there are recommended punishments that flex to fit each case appropriately. It is so easy to assume that all who commit crimes like these, carrying drugs across the border illegally, etc. are just "bad people" or simply made stupid decisions on their own and deserve to be put away. But there is so much more to each story that we rarely hear. There are those who do these things so they are not killed or to keep their family safe from dangerous people. We tend to ignore the circumstances that are beyond a person's control that might lead to such a crime. It was moving to see the judge's compassion and hope for each young man's future, while not letting them "off the hook" without punishment.

After observing the first two young men receive their sentences, we moved to another court room where we had the opportunity to see a portion of a trial for a couple more young men who had been caught. We walked in on the second day of the trial and I didn't catch all the details of what was happening, but what we saw was a mother testifying on behalf of her son. The emotion in the room was palpable as the son wiped tears at seeing his mother for the first time since his arrest, at seeing her tears for him, at her love as she stood up to testify on his behalf.

SANTA CATALINA WOMEN'S COOPERATIVE

We climbed back in the van and headed across the bridge into Juarez, Mexico where we first stopped at the Santa Catalina Women's Cooperative. What a powerful visit this was! These women were working with cloth, making things like table runners, purses and tortilla warmers. We were welcomed with incredible hospitality. The ladies shared hot chocolate and rolls with us as we talked about the Cooperative and what it meant for their lives. The ladies shared how their husbands make such small wages they cannot afford for their children to go to school. Working at the Cooperative brings in a little money for their children's education. They shared how they learned to sew, how they learned skills they would never have otherwise learned and developed gifts they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to develop. One brave lady shared how the cooperative had helped her find her voice. She once was too afraid to speak and she learned to speak up, to stand up for herself. It gave her a voice in the world. They sent us off with a beautiful and enthusiastic blessing. (I hope to get the words and a translation of this beautiful blessing to share!) It is once again an experience of being blessed so richly by those who have so little.

BIBLIOTECA BUEN PASTOR

Lunch happened at a little stand on the side of the road, a little spicy for this Scandinavian girl, but it was good. For seven people, the meal with bottled pop cost about $16 (USD). Our next stop was at the Biblioteca Buen Pastor (Library of the Good Shepherd) where we chatted with a lady who has boldly taken on the challenges of children not getting a good education. She, with the help of Father Bill, provides a place for the children to study and to get tutoring. They also provide scholarships for many children, early years through college. Her pride in the students and the twelve who graduated last Saturday, was bubbling out!

Day 2, Part 2 coming soon!
Pax.

Immigration Study Day 1

After racing off immediately after worship yesterday (which was fabulous, including a baptism and my flubbered up prayers of the people), we arrived at Luther Seminary for the night. Some team building conversations left my brain working in overdrive as we headed to bed for a very short night.

A bit after 4:00 this morning, we hauled ourselves up and out the door for a miserable, snowy, slick drive the airport (thank you to the Luther Sem student who braved the roads with us!) where we successfully navigated security only to sit on the plane for over 2 hours watching the snowplows doing some impressive quadrille movements around us. I went back to sleep. Somewhere in there we took off.

Thankful for the what was initially a 3 hour layover in Phoenix, we still had time to grab some lunch before catching the last leg into El Paso where it is warm and sunny. By this time having had no coffee since before worship yesterday, little sleep and a long day of travel, a couple of us went straight to Starbucks before we found baggage claim.

Father Bob met us and shuttled us to the Columban Mission Center where we found our rooms. Three of us women are in a room containing 6 beds on wheels. We are planning for bed races tonight. The others have their own rooms.

Oscar Romero mural

The effort to live sustainably is awesome. The dish water goes to the plants, not down the drain. We recycle. We compost. The solar panels on the house will come up again later in the week. Father Bob presented a PowerPoint which included a cool link that showed exactly the power usage of the house. We could watch it go up and down as he turned lights on and off. It makes me cringe to turn lights on at all after seeing that.

We chatted a bit, had some chips and amazing salsa, and climbed back in the van. Father Bob drove us to a gorgeous overlook called Murchison Park where we got some good pictures of the view over the cities of El Paso and Juarez.

After supper, we took a stroll to the international bridge, El Paso PND (Paso del Norte). How different it is from the north border we are used to in North Dakota! It costs $.50 per person to cross each way.

That is all for day 1.
Pax.

For Love of Old Peoples

I could wait another two months and make it a full two years since my last blog post. Meh, we'll see if this makes it up or not.

Just an update for those who follow from a distance. The girls and I are now living in Hoople, ND where I have been serving as pastor of Zion Lutheran in Rural Hoople since mid-August of last year. The time has flown by. It doesn't seem like we should be approaching a year coming up this summer.

"The girls" now consist of the ponies, Shiney and Zoe, now 21 and 12 years, respectively. Kitty, Madelaine ManyToes Hemingway, just turned 6 a week ago. Geraldine (Boadicea Geraldine), an Australian Shepherd pup joined us in July of last summer, and is now 11 months old. So the five of us have been tootling around North Eastern North Dakota, exploring and finding what there is to find in this new state and the occasional trek up to Canada.

The congregation of Rural Hoople--yes, one must differentiate between rural and urban Hoople, as there is another ELCA congregation in Urban Hoople. You know, because the little Tater Town has a population of 240. Anyway, Zion is about 4 miles south of Hoople, 10 miles northwest of Grafton, and 6 miles northeast of Park River. An hour from Grand Forks. An hour from Canada. Two hours from Winnipeg. My closest neighbor is just over a mile away.

It's all a new adventure for us, which is not new, for adventure is what we do. All 5 of us. This is Geraldine's first adventure. The rest of us have years of experience at this calling to adventure. And speaking of callings, I have always been drawn to the care of the elderly. From early in life I've had some amazing friends who were in their last years of life, human and animal. Between years of college I found myself fulfilled by my 3rd shift job at an assisted living home in Concord, Ohio. And now, we have welcomed an older pup into our family. Her name is Dandelion and she found herself in an animal shelter in Fargo. Who wants to take a 9 year old yellow lab with hip dysplasia, among other things? I do. I saw her picture and my heart melted me to tears.

It's scary. I'm afraid. Not of caring for another being, but of falling in love with her and having such a short time with her, a few years at best. And yet, this is something I can do for her. She deserves a loving family in which to live out her days. I can provide that. The heartbreak will be worth it.

Pax.

Internship Goes Wild

A few weeks ago I got thrown into my internship work like I never expected. My supervisor left for his sabbatical on June 16. This means I'm getting a taste of what it's like as a solo pastor, minus some of the things I can't do because I'm not yet ordained. Of course there are also a few things that the congregation has stepped up to do that the pastor normally does. Yet, it's given me a nudge (ok, maybe a shove) into my pastoral role. Someone said to me today, "You've really stepped up to be the pastor since your supervisor left." Terrifying. And awesome.

Anyway, he left on the 16th. I had foot surgery on the 17th. For 15 years I've had a bone chip hanging out in my big to joint. Over time it was joined by arthritis and bone spurs. The surgery removed the chip and cleaned up the joint leaving me with a still very inflexible but already pain free joint! I am forever grateful for the congregation which humbled me by taking such care of me while I was out of commission. I didn't stay there long though. I'm a terrible patient, though I tried really, really hard to follow the rules. I do want this procedure to work and be worth all the trouble.



Before

In those first two weeks on my own, foot surgery, and all, I had three deaths. Two were members and one was not a member but was at Gloria Dei when she had her initial heart attack. Again, thankful for the people of Gloria Dei who stepped up to the plate in an emergency.



 

 

 

 

 

 



After

Since all these events, things have settled a bit. I hope it stays that way. My own life has been crazy enough without the addition of crazy work. Great foot news however. This past Monday, July 15 (almost exactly a month after surgery), I got the all-clear to start running again. I've done half a mile three times this past week, very very slowly. The foot feels great, no opposition to running at all. The rest of my body on the other hand...

Then there's the planning for fall back at school. I've got several horse-y jobs lined up. I'll work and ride at Haywire Farms as before as well as doing some Pony Club, teaching and conducting certifications (formerly known as ratings), or skills and knowledge tests for members. I am joining the local Horsemaster's club, which I've heard referred to as "OPPC" meaning "Old People's Pony Club." I will do some of my own riding and competing this fall and hopefully also next summer, depending on the ifs/whens/wheres of receiving a call.

That leads me to the last big crazy of current life. There is a good chance I'll be bringing home another horse. I can't say too much on that now because it's not official and I don't have all the details worked out yet. If it all goes through, she will be a resale project...there's no way I can afford to keep three horses!

I didn't preach this morning but as I was sitting in my pew listening to the sermon, I was convicted. The gospel reading was of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy, busy, busy and distracted while Mary sits at Jesus' feet listening to him teach. Martha gets upset because Mary isn't helping her but Jesus scolds Martha for being distracted and praises Mary for choosing the better thing. Anyway, as I'm sitting there my thoughts go to how when I am leading worship, I am distracted by the details of leading, worrying about where I need to be at when and doing what. I am too distracted to actually participate in what I'm leading. Irony? Yet, the more I do what I do, the less distracted I get, thankfully. And, not to give Martha a bad time, there are things that need to get done. I think it is not a matter of doing the work but what the mind is doing in the process. Leading worship needs to be done. I can't not do it. But I can continue to work on letting go of the worry and distraction.  Is it possible to be Martha and Mary at the same time?

So, with only five weeks of internship left, I am feeling the bittersweet of the approaching good-byes, yet also the excitement of returning to Wartburg for a final year of classes.

Pax.

Dream Fulfilled: Spanish Riding School

And... for the final destination of my trip to Europe in May:

The Spanish Riding School



 

 

I had arrived too late Wednesday evening to purchase tickets to Morning Exercise and the guided tour so I made sure I was at the door when the ticket office opened at 9:00 Thursday morning. With an hour to wait I snooped the gift shop for a bit before we were allowed in the school. Of course having my nose in dressage books in the shop kept me from getting in line and I never did get a seat. Imagine, a building this size with only a very few places to even stand.

 

The School

 

 

The white stallions came and went as riders exercised and schooled each horse.  It was great training for my eye to watch the less advanced horses next to the well schooled, and the less experienced riders next to the more experienced riders.  Some were more correct than others, some just less educated.

 

Morning Exercise

 

 

And, there was a token female rider.  The dynamics between the men and the woman (I think in her late teens) were fascinating as well... in a very sad sort of way.  She was obviously not welcome among the men.  Only in recent years have women been allowed to apply to the SRS. 

 

 

Token woman.

 

Yet, having seen Lippizan performances in the USA and watching "Miracle of the White Stallions" over and over and over again, it has been a life-long (all 27 years!) dream to see the SRS and the Lippizan stallions in Vienna.  And there I was.  Then I got all emotional and choked up as I watched.  So unreal.  And it was far too amazing to follow the "NO PHOTOS" rule.  I got scolded once, but far fewer times than the people standing around me.  "Everyone else is doing it too!"  Ok, so that was bad, but I have some neat pictures of MY OWN.

 

 

Then I spent a small fortune at a little artist's shop down the road.  She had beautiful watercolors of the Lippizans.  I bought enough prints that she gave me a small one free.  Someday I'll have this series of prints framed and hanging on my office wall. 

 

 

 

 

 

Stable area

Stud Muffin in his stall

Stud Muffin II



Tack room... where the tack was NOT Pony Club clean.

 

A day I will never, ever, ever forget.

 

Pax.

"May Term 2013" Days 6-11

 

Whoa! I know, right? Two posts in two days? Don't worry, it probably won't happen again.

May 5-7 - Spend most of May 5 on the train, sad to have said good-bye to Iga. Chug into Wittenberg, Germany mid-afternoon and find my college advisor, Dr. Kleinhans and her May Term class touring the Luther Garden. Spend the next two days wandering Wittenberg with the class and Christian from Colleg Wittenberg, eating, shopping, visiting. Tour the Lutherhaus and Melanchthonhaus. Stay in the youth hostel next to the Castle Church.





Wartburg College group in the Luther Garten

Castle Church



Castle Church doors - 95 Theses!



 







Corpus Christi Chapel where we joined the "Christus
Bruderschaft Selbitz" (Lutheran nuns) for Evening Prayer



Jewish Memorial - response to the Judensau
["The city of Wittenberg contains a Judensau from 1305, on the façade of the Stadkirche, the church where Martin Luther preached.  It portrays a rabbi who looks under the sow's tail, and other Jews drinking from its teats.  An inscription reads 'Rabini Shem hamphoras,' gibberish which presumably bastardizes 'shem ha-meforasch'.  The sculpture is one of the last remaining examples in Germany of 'medieval Jew baiting.'  In 1988, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, debate sprung up about the monument, which resulted in the addition of a sculpture recognizing that during the Holocaust six million Jews were murdered 'under the sign of the cross'." (Wikipedia)]



Katharina Von Bora, Dr. Kleinhans and me
outside the Lutherhaus



May 8 - I leave Wittenberg early, hopping on a train that will take me to the Czech Republic. I find my way (several trains and an unexpected bus trip later) to the adorable little town Český Krumlov.  Here I met Mandy (something about flying around the world to meet up with a friend from Minnesota??) and her research partner.  We explore Krumlov in the rain, discover gardens, some cute touristy shops, and some amazing food (beer). My journal reminds me that I had eaten nothing that day, until supper, except a Black Espresso Magnum bar (to die for!) and a Snickers. And we got "flashed" by a drunk dude making no attempt to hide anything peeing no-hands-style in the street outside a bar. "Thanks for telling me not to look."

 



Mandy and me!

 

Oh, and some logs. Can't forget the log story. As we are wandering through gardens, we come upon a couple giant hollow logs just sitting there. Of course we decide we must climb in them. In my excitement, something happens and BAM! I'm on my face in the mud puddle. Don't worry, my feet went so high my new shoes stayed clean.

Logs!

Good thing this was my clean outfit.

We drive back to Mandy's place where Mandy and Joey pack up their bird stuff and we crash.

May 9 - Basically a travel day with a bit of time to explore once in Vienna. Back in German speaking territory, I reflect on how much I appreciate the little bit of German skills I have. I pay a small fortune for an amazing Cordon Bleu and a Coke before I get very lost in the dark trying to find my way back to the world's coolest hostel: WOMBATS!

St Stephan's Cathedral

 



"Monument against War and Fascism"



Wombat's hostel.

 

Wombat's kitten.

Coming up next: The Grand Finale!
Pax.

"May Term 2013" Days 2-6

It's been almost 2 months since my trip to Europe and I haven't done any blogging since the first incident in the Eugene airport. Several times I have tried to sit down and write out what happened each day, what I saw, what was interesting, what was funny, and what didn't go as planned. Yet, for whatever reason it's not working. I will give a brief overview of my itinerary and share some of the highlights.
 
[April 29 - Airplanes. See previous post for the beginning of a crazy trip.]
 
April 30 - Land in Frankfurt, catch connecting flight to Vienna. Take bus (under-the-table transaction, I believe) to Budapest and meet Teagan.
 

May 1 - It's May 1. Duh, right? But that means not much is open for the EU holiday. In 8 1/2 hours of exploring on foot, I saw:   
 


Liberty Bridge

Chain Bridge, Air Show, and Országház (Parliament)

Szent Ivlán-barlang (Saint Ivan's Cave)
Now Occupied by the Pauline Order of monks.

Looking up...the path to the Citadella

Promenade along the Danube



Buda Castle from the Danube's Promenade

More air show over the Danube and Parliament

Matthias Fountain

Szabdság Szobor (Liberty Statue)

Budavári Labirintus
(Underground Labyrinth, Buda Castle)




















 



At the end of the day, I spend some time with Teagan and buy a train ticket to Dresden online.

May 2 - 4:00a.m. Taxi driver shows up to take me to the train station where I find out that the ticked I purchased online was for a train that did not exist. Ticket says, "NO REFUNDS" so I buy a new ticket and sit at the train station for 2 hours. New train crosses Slovakia and drops me off in Warsaw, Poland in the middle of the night. I dare not stray too far from the train station, but a walk around the block reveals some neat buildings.

Warsaw Central Station

Palace of Culture and Science

Short on time, I try to get a ticket from the machine to Gorzów. Machine won't take my credit card. Very nice lady at customer service desk gives me a ticket. "What time does this train leave?" Answer, "1800." My reply, "But it's 18:02." Then I get sent to a different service desk. On the way, I decide to try the ticket machine again. This time it works. Only I the ticket I buy is to somewhere that looks a lot like "Gorzów", but is indeed, not Gorzów. Should have just gone to the other desk. Eventually, I end up with a ticket to, yes, Gorzów that departs at 23:20. 
 

I think this was a mall...

May 3 - I arrive in Gorzów at 6:30a.m. and Iga meets me at the station shortly after. Uffda. Iga, her family, and I hang out, chatting and eating. Go for a walk in the woods to find a lake. I think we found it. Iga and I argue about dressage. I crash on the chair-bed at 9:00, never to notice everyone else jabbering away around me, going to bed, or getting up in the morning. Thirteen hours later everyone is sitting around jabbering just like when I went to sleep. SLEEEEEEEP. It's been a while.





Looking for the lake.

May 4 - Zoo and flower shop adventure. Iga, her mom, sister-in-law, and I look at critters of all sorts and play on the playground where I proceed to miss the swing Iga is on and sit in the dirt. Wipeout #1 of the trip.

 




How can you resist the urge to snuggle this?

 

 

Enough for tonight.
Pax.