I Spend the Week Well Drilling

Well, not the entire week, but I have spent a couple of days up at a neighbors camp asking Joe and Randy from Goodwin Well and Water questions about all things well related. I kind of figured if I'm going to be drilling wells in Honduras it would be good for me to have more than just the one day's well drilling experience I had with Todd and Elliot Huemann, well drillers extraordinaire from Wisconsin. (see my post Well, Well, Well,) Now, I'm still counting on this father and son team to come back in January 2013 to help me drill a few more wells, but as we all know...plans have a tendency to change and life gets busy.

So  any way, it's been a good couple of days. My knowledge of drilling, logging the well, setting casing and developing the well once it is drilled is vastly improved. Joe has been drilling wells for 27 years and really knows his stuff, but like so many guys who have done something for so long it becomes second nature, sometimes it's hard for him to explain why it is the way it is. He said, "I'm not always going to give you a straight answer, because sometimes there isn't one. You just have to feel it." Kind of makes me think of my mom when you try to get a recipe from her. "Well, just add a little of this and a little of that until it taste right". So how much is a little? A teaspoon? A tablespoon? A bag? So how much Bentonite do I add to make the slurry? "Well, you know it kinda' depends on what you're drilling through." So is it a tablespoon or a bag, Joe!

Seriously, thanks Joe for the help and just in case anybody from Goodwin is reading this...I stayed out of the way and never interrupted the work. Honest!

Hey, while I'm saying thanks, I don't want to forget Dave and Liz, the folks whose lot the well is being drilled on. They've been a huge help and encouragement in sending  us to Honduras. They have; bought at our yard sale, hired Mark and me to deliver a large bookshelf to Providence, RI and are now hiring the boys to clear brush and debris from their beautiful camp on one of Maine's nicest ponds. I tell Dave that by his hiring us instead of just giving to us, and with the understanding that his funds go into our Honduran piggy bank, that it really fits into the spirit of what we want to do in Honduras. Thank you Dave and Liz.

We've also updated our "Interns" page on our website. http://www.goandseeministries.org/Interns.html

We Join the Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries and Ministries

As we have done more research into what is actually involved in moving to Honduras, we are finding that Honduras, just like the US, has many laws restricting immigration, what foreigners can and can't do and the importation of personal goods and vehicles. For instance, we can stay in Honduras as long as we want on a tourist visa. Sounds simple, but here's the catch; we can stay in Honduras as long as we want on a tourist visa as long as we leave the country every 90 days for a 72 hour period and renew the visa when we reenter Honduras. Using this technique we can stay indefinitely. Of course you have to disrupt your life, drive to Guatemala, Nicaragua or El Salvador every three months to make it happen. Or...

Or...another option is to apply for residency. This would be for a 1 to 5 year period. The application process usually takes at least 6 to 8 months. The good news is that leaving the country every 90 days is not required while your application is being reviewed. Instead, extensions (with fees of course) to your visa are given. Of course this process is not simple or easy and requires apostilled documents (that's a special notarization from the State the document was issued in), fees, lawyers, trips to Tegucigalpa, etc. Red tape on top of red tape! Unless...

Unless... you are a member of the Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries and Missions . HFMM under John Mattica was started several years ago specifically to help independent missionaries and ministries, like ours, with the technical and governmental aspects of living in Honduras, allow them to concentrate on what they came to do. HFMM has worked with the Honduran immigration department to streamline the residency process, cutting out the need for lawyers and reducing the time and the fees involved. They do a lot of other things as well, but for us the help they will give obtaining residency and importing our vehicle and household goods is invaluable. There is the added advantage for us of being under the umbrella of an Honduran ministry and non profit organization. Although they exercise no control or authority over the network of members, we do have responsibilities to HFMM like attending at least four events each year and keeping them up to date on our ministry activities. We are very grateful for all that they are doing and look forward to being a part of the larger effort being made in Honduras.

Note: I'm a little late this morning, but I have been trying to post once a week on Sunday morning at 8 am. In these months of preparing to leave there has not been much "exciting" stuff to write about. However, the things I am writing about have been the emotional and spiritual aspect of going. Writing about these things has forced Barbe and me work through these issues in a way we may not have otherwise done...at least not beforehand. So thank you readers for allowing me to express my thoughts and feelings (right or wrong) and for hanging in there with us. We are hoping to leave Maine after Thanksgiving and arrive in Siquatepeque after Christmas.

Why Train for Short-term Missions?

Quality pre trip training is absolutely critical to a successful STM trip. Teams and individuals who have not spent at least some time learning about the culture in which they will be serving are 100% more likely to commit social faux pas, 100% more likely to encounter difficulty connecting with the culture and 100% more likely to experience inter-team tension and personality conflicts while in the field.*

On the other hand, a team that has spent time getting to know the culture, has spent time together as a team fundraising and interacting will have worked through many of the cultural differences and personality issues long before they arrive on the field. An added benefit to this time spent together is that the team will find fulfillment in working together for a common cause while bringing people together who under normal circumstances would not have much in common.

Our policy on pre trip training is this; Go and See Ministries will not host any team that has not spent some time in pre trip training, planning and team building.

These are the areas we want to see team training in as well as activities participated in prior to arrival.

1. Cross cultural and cultural studies.
2. The area of "personal rights" vs "the good of the team".
3. The spiritual effects of STM in yourself and others.
4. Quality planning for any project or ministry you are initiating, i.e. VBS, sports, etc.
5. At least 2 major fundraising or home missions projects.
6. As many social "get togethers" as you can manage.

I know that for many people this seems like a huge commitment. And it is! And it should be! This will be an epic event in your life. You will probably be using vacation time and money. Usually many other people will have given generously to help you go. There's an old saying that goes like this, "You get out of something exactly what you put into it." It is my sincere belief that when you put your heart into a missions trip you will reap the rewards in ways you never imagined.

Are you planning a missions trip? We would love to help you in any way we can. There are also ministries whose sole mission is to help train churches for STM. Delta Ministries is one that we recommend and have used before. The Next Mile book and curriculum are excellent resources. This article by Mark Woodward, Standards for Short-term Missions is a must read for any church or individual seriously interested in a short-term missions that produce results.

We believe that whatever we do, it should  be done well and to the very best of our abilities. Join with us in helping make that happen.

*Estimates are my own.

Our First STM Team Training Session

This afternoon my son Mark and I will be in Jacksonville, FL at New Generation Fellowship. We will be facilitating Go and See Ministries' first team training session for our first short-term missions team, Honduras 2013.

Fourteen people ranging from 13 to 80 years old have committed to raising enough money to not only drill a well, but also come to Honduras and help with it. Thank you so much NGF. We are looking forward to working alongside you as you prepare to come to Honduras and when you arrive!

Today's training will focus on team development and commitment to each other, cross cultural studies, a Spanish lesson and a look at the spiritual side of why we do short-term missions. And of course there will be food!!! It's going to be a great day.

Acknowledgement:  Although I am not using Delta Ministries' curriculum or program in our own training, I want to thank Mark Wogaman and Delta for their invaluable assistance in the past. Their vision for strategic, purposeful pre-trip training and a commitment to follow up after the team's return opened my own eyes to this critical need and has fueled my passion for preparing short-term missions teams to serve. Thank you Mark for your friendship and encouragement over the years.

I also want to wish my wife Barbe Happy Birthday today!

Are You a Square Peg in a Round Hole?

I am. If there's one thing I have learned over the past several years it's this; I do not fit into the realm of "normal" or the business as usual mold. Sometimes, truth be told, I'm not sure I fit in anywhere. I'm not as far out as some people I know, but I'm always dreaming, searching, questioning and thinking...usually out side the box. I think it makes some people a bit nervous, maybe even uncomfortable. They're not sure what to think of the questions I ask, the things I question, the status quo I challenge, the things I do and the way I do them. Like going to Honduras, for instance. It used to bother me.

When I first became a Believer, I had some of the most amazing men as mentors. People like J. Vernon McGee, Ravi Zacharias, R.C. Sproul, James Dobson and Woodrow Kroll, but the man who meant the most to me, the one who's exuberance for life, who's love for God and for people challenged me the most, was Charles Swindoll.

In that first year of new life I listened to more inspired messages from Godly, spirit filled men than most people listen to in a lifetime. As I drove across the United States in my semi truck I was able to listen to these men via the airwaves day after day. These were and are men of great faith, who believed deeply in the things they spoke of and who themselves have accomplished much. These men are the ones who shaped me, who mentored me. I am very grateful for that time in my life and to these men.

My wife knows how much I respect Chuck Swindoll and she knows how much I have struggled with square peg, round hole syndrome. Several years ago she gave me, as a gift of encouragement, the article reproduced below, framed. It has hung on the wall over my desk until recently. I have read it often. Thank you Barbe for your love and encouragement and thank you Chuck for the impact you continue to have on my life.

So, here's to all of you dreamers, thinkers and askers of questions, but most of all...here's to you radical doers!