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Dear friends and family,
It is Saturday on the eve of Easter, 2005. I've just landed and claimed my baggage after a return flight from Arizona. Now I sit and wait for the remaining 26 of our party from Hinson Baptist Church (minus 2 who are driving the distance back to Portland, OR) whom I shared a week with in Nogales, Mexico. This was my first time to Mexico, and my first time working with a group of missionaries sent outside my own country. I am amazed! After having been immersed in a different culture with a different language for a week, I am sure that I will do it again. What a blessing! The reason I'm waiting alone in the airport for another 3 hours (or more--I don't know yet for sure) is that the others are on a different flight; one which I might have had an opportunity to be on if I had made my commitment to be on the team sooner than I did. This is not merely a result of poor sensitivity toward the organizers of the trip, but more accurately, a result of narrowing time constraints and windows of opportunity. I could have easily paid for a more timely "commitment", but at the point in time where this would have been it would not have been a commitment as the word is defined. All notwithstanding the cost-risk, which was exorbitantly more as well.
Interestingly, third-world peoples have to deal with levels of cost-risk just like I do.
Their technologies and innovative processes are limited because of this, and I noticed
that this is despite their awareness of the existence of newer and better technologies.
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Photo by Andrew Burnett |
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While in Nogales, Mexico, our team worked with local experts in building a foundation wall
of piedras (Spanish word for "stones") and cement mortar. We built the wall which was
20 meters long, 1.5 meters high, and a 0.4 meters wide in 3 days. Though this was a
modestly 'miraculous' feat, I learned some very important personal lessons.
I see now that there are huge influences made not only by the social dynamics of language and personal differences, but also by communication methods and process. I now want to apply what I've learned to what we're working on. The live workflow descriptives we rely upon to work on the right project, take the right approach, etc. are not easily communicated in dynamic work environments. Directives can be coldly outlined or vaguely described (leaving them "inapplicable" in other situations, even similar situations), or they can be abruptly brought to light--sometimes obtrusively. Individuals who posses leadership skills can be trained to interpret and communicate workflow descriptives to the rest of the team. This allows concise, accurate, and most importantly, relevant information exchange. The recipients of our efforts need our dependability and reliability. They in turn, have an opportunity to provide these to the recipients of their efforts. To gain this, we must have above all other considerations, a willingness to do the right thing. Thinking in terms of doing the right thing: Whether it is creating an elegant data system for relevant data reporting or building a level wall of piedras as a foundation for future construction; it takes more than contemplating good reading material or swallowing one's pride. We must sensibly apply any means we have toward a discipline, and take a devoted approach to all that we are called to do.
Sincerely yours,
Jess Fahland |