Life in the Wilderness a Practice of Mindfulness

Life in the wilderness is a marvelous exercise in mindfulness: the spiritual practice of purposely bringing one’s attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation. To my way of thinking, the more mindful one can become, the more existentially one can live life, focused on the moment, the here and now, rather than worrying over the past or fretting about the future. 

 

The wilderness is a wonderful lab for practicing mindfulness! First, as I mentioned in my last post, life in the wilderness focuses you intensely on the basics: providing shelter, food, security. One of your first tasks in the Boundary Waters Wilderness is to find a campsite. You do not have to thrash about to do this. You must camp on designated campsites. This minimizes the impact of human presence and activity on the wilderness. A designated site has a fire grate and a latrine box. They are clearly marked on the maps, though you might have to search a little to identify some of them.

 

Once at a site your focus becomes setting up camp, which is securing shelter. This involves unloading all your gear from the canoe. Identifying the most comfortable tent pad (a relatively flat area with as few roots and rocks as possible on which to place your tent); set up the tent. Then it is best to hang a rain fly to protect your gear from the elements. Finally, you must hang a rope assembly with a pully, from two trees. This is where you will hang your food pack to protect it overnight from bears and other critters desiring to share in your good smelling provisions. This is easier to describe than it usually is to execute. Some trips I have spent hours attempting to get the two ropes up over limbs of trees high enough to have the pack hang 10 feet off the ground and at least 10 feet from any other tree. This trip we completed the task in relatively short order.

 

Once camp is established, you have taken care of shelter and security. The other basic need is food. In the wilderness this involves cooking over a wood fire (which means you need to gather some firewood, preferably dry branches up to an inch in diameter) or cooking over a propane stove. We enjoyed steaks the first night in camp, so we cooked over a fire, but all the other nights we cooked over propane. It is easier, faster, and you don’t have to protect your pots and pans from soot by coating them with Fels-Naptha soap. (We also did not have any of that soap, as the Outfitter forget to provide it in our supplies!) It is also easier to cook over propane as most of the food is freeze dried and primarily involves boiling water. Not a lot of need for that smoky, woodsy flavor that comes from open fire grilling!

 

The second way life in the wilderness helps in the practice of mindfulness is by providing an abundance of life to observe all around you! From the beautiful vistas of the lakes, sky, clouds and weather on the macro level to the micro level of butterflies, moths, dragonflies, mushrooms, mosses, and all manners of plant life. Add in the larger birds and waterfowl, and other mammals, and there is just so much to observe. I will write more about this in my next post, but if one is not paying attention to all the life around you then you are missing an amazing smorgasbord of wonder and beauty.

 

Finally, the wilderness assists you with the practice of mindfulness because there are far fewer distractions than we normally surround ourselves with in our daily life. In the wilderness you do not have electricity (other than battery power); that means you don’t have TV, computers, Cell phones; no phone calls can reach you there. (I will admit this trip we discovered that we were still on the grid where we camped. Testament to improved cellular service, most likely influenced by the demand of the Outfitter to be connected to the wider world for their business needs, and to the fact that we were not very far into the BWCA. We did explore a couple lakes and rivers further north of our campsite one day and discovered that we quickly lost all cellular service, so most of the wilderness is still off the grid.) I did take my journal and my camera but writing in my journal and taking photographs help me be more fully present in the moment.

 

 

 

A Return to the Wilderness

 

 For four days in August of this year I returned to my slice of heaven on earth: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This was my 9^th trip in 40 years. Five of those trips have been made from my homes in Miami, Florida and Savannah, Georgia, thus requiring a full two days of travel to get there and to return home. Clearly the lakes and rivers, spruce, pine and birch trees of the Northwoods of Minnesota have a strong pull on me. 

This pull even overrides the strong physical test and toll that it takes on my body each trip I make. This is a designated Wilderness Area, which means no motorized transportation is allowed. The only way to enter is by canoe or on foot. You must transport all your equipment and food for your time in the wilderness by canoe or backpack. This involves paddling fully loaded canoes up and across lakes, sometimes battling strong headwinds, portaging your canoes and equipment on rocky trails or across beaver dams to access rivers and streams that connect the lakes. All in search of a campsite where you then must unload all your gear, set-up your tent, rain tarp, hang your bear ropes to hang your food pack at night, and then see to your meals! It returns life to the basics, securing food, shelter, security. 

But this is all done while you are surrounded by the most beautiful, glorious canvas of blues and greens, browns and whites. With fluffy clouds scudding across the deep blue sky on sunny days and ominous, low hanging gray clouds when overcast. The weather is constantly changing and often in dramatic ways. The water is crystal clear and, though the outfitters and National Forest Service warn you to sterilize your water before consuming it, (and there is risk of bacterial infection) still you can drink it if you do so far enough from shore and it tastes cold and pure and better than any tap water! 

So, while visiting the wilderness is challenging and hard on me physically, it is just the opposite for me emotionally and spiritually. The wilderness is renewing and freeing and relaxing. My mind and my heart and my spirit breathe more deeply and freely in the wilderness. That is why I have returned again and again, now for 9 times. 

It is also a place where I have always been able to journal, faithfully and prolifically. In the wilderness I am able to write freely and deeply, exploring life and my inner self. What else is there to do here, beyond meeting your basic needs for living? I easily find the time, focus, and energy for writing. In the Northwoods, off the technology grid, it is just me, and the loons, birds, fish, mosquitoes, flies, trees, lakes, and my own thoughts. It is a perfect setting for reflection, meditation, contemplation, and writing.

So, with this introduction, you have probably surmised I am hoping to revive this blog: Sabbath Tango. I have many more thoughts to share which I will be posting (be patient with me as I am now back home and no longer in the wilderness and daily life intrudes much more on this activity of writing and sharing) in the days to come.

 

A Birthday Gift to Myself

It was a type of "mini-sabbatical" today. Since it was my birthday I decided to take most of the day "off" from work. An additional round of golf for the week was my gift to myself. About 9 a.m. I called my regular golf partner, Frank, to see what he was doing for the day, and then we spontaneously visited a course we have played before, but not our regular course. The day was beautiful, bright blue skies, with clouds floating by in lazy fashion. It is a slightly easier course than we normally play, but even so, Frank shot one of his best rounds in a long time, an 81! I told him it was my "gift" to him (to let him beat me on my birthday! I shot an 87, still pretty good.) Being in a good mood after that, Frank bought me lunch at his favorite French Cafe. We enjoyed Prosciutto d'Amore on ciabbata bread sandwiches, and French coffee! Nice, relaxing morning! After getting cleaned up I then spent a little time in the afternoon engaging in pastoral care work, visiting some of my parishioners who live at East Ridge Retirement Village. I know you are not supposed to work on a "sabbatical," but I have been needing to see some of these folks for quite some time and they were very pleased to see me. Pastoral care, especially of this sort, is actually very enjoyable and even somewhat relaxing for me, sort of like visiting good friends. Especially since the conversations for these folks include some sharing of my life and of events and activities at the church, as a way of sharing news and connecting them with the wider world, as well as listening to them share about their lives, their families and friends, etc.

These sorts of days need to be a regular part of all of our lives. I know they are difficult for me to take and enjoy, as I am very responsible and very driven in terms of how much work I am aware is always needing my attention and energy. Yet I also know that God's design for humanity and the creation includes a regular sabbath every seventh day. While I am pretty good about taking my day off each week, there needs to be regular special days of rest, reflection, meditation, in my schedule for me to be re-energized and for me to do more than just the regular work that is part of a pastor's schedule. More and more that work has become task oriented and less and less the work of one who reflects on life and seeks the deeper theological insights into life.

But today was a day to reclaim some of that ability. It was a day for me. It was a day for sharing with family and friends. It was a day for thinking about life and for blogging. Now if I can just claim a day like this sooner than a year from now when my birthday rolls around again. Then I will be making real progress on implementing a learning from my sabbatical!

A Different Type of Sabbath Time

Sabbath time it definitely is. But it is such a strange type of sabbath time. I am speaking of the period of time we take for initial mourning and grieving when a loved one dies. I totally understand why it is necessary. I learned early on Tuesday morning, February 17th, that my father had died at about 6:00 a.m. Central Standard Time in Mountain Home, Arkansas. For the next three days I had to make arrangements to travel to Mountain Home; contact family members who would want to know the news; take care of details at work for me to be absent on a Sunday morning and for 5 days total; and cover some of my regular work duties for those three days. All of that I did, but with a lot of distraction. My mind constantly wandered. I found it very difficult to remain focused. And I was not always distracted by thoughts of my father. Sometimes, I was. Sometimes it was thoughts of my mother, who has been dead for 10 years. Sometimes, I could not tell you what it was, other than my mind would just wander and I did not have the energy, or desire, to stay focused on one task for a very long time.

So, I fully understand the need we have as human beings, as spiritual beings, as emotional creatures, for sabbath time, down time, grieving time. Not that we can wrap up all of the grieving we might need to do in a few days. But, it is important for us to spend this time doing very little. It is important to spend time gathering with family we might not have seen for years. It is important to spend time allowing our minds to wander, for memories to surface and be reflected upon and rehearsed and sat with. It is important to spend time sharing stories about our deceased loved one, about our childhoods, about our separate and joint experiences with the one we are missing.

Sabbath time is a time for renewal. It is also a time to honor God. And during this type of sabbath time, our grieving sabbath, we honor God by honoring the loved one who has died. By stopping our regular lives, our regular routines, we say to the world, and to ourselves, "This person was important in my life, to me. The loss of this person needs to be marked and remembered. The life of this person needs to be celebrated and honored with respect and love. This person is a child of God and their life needs to be celebrated and given back to God with gratitude and thanksgiving." All of this we say through our action of taking sabbath time to mourn, grieve, and celebrate.

All this I am taking time for right now in Mountain Home, Arkansas and St. Louis, Missouri. All this I am engaged in with my brothers and sisters, uncles and friends of my father, and with the support of my wife, Dianne, and the support of many myriad prayers being lifted up for me and my family by family and friends and colleagues and church members not present physically, but clearly felt spiritually. This is a very different type of Sabbath, but it is every bit as important as regular weekly sabbath time and periodic Sabbatical time. And it is a gift, one which I treasure.

Incorporating Sabbatical Learnings Not-so-easy!

Sixty-eight days ago I returned to Miami from South America. That is one week shy of how many days I spent in Argentina this year. It has been 59 days since I last posted an entry on this blog. I am struggling with the adaptations and changes to my life that I had hoped to incorporate following my Sabbatical. I returned to Miami a changed person. The problem is, I returned to the same life, the same job, the same church. Old patterns were very easy to slide back into and developing new patterns has been very tough.

Initially I was trying to ease back into work, into the community, into my family. I have spent a lot of quality time with family - paying more attention to my relationship with my wife, going to the NASCAR races at Homestead Speedway with my son one weekend, spending quality time with my daughter who has moved in with us full-time while she works in Miami and applies to law schools. Since I have been home I had the privilege of baptizing my three granddaughters; celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving with my wife, stepdaughter, her husband, and 3-month old baby girl; celebrated my 14th wedding anniversary with my wife by giving her a new dog, (a zukon: a bijon-frise/shih-tzu mixed breed); and of course, celebrated Christmas. That is just the family activity.

In addition the activity at church has slowly accelerated with the holiday season. It has all been good, but very busy and not a time for incorporating changed patterns. What I realize now is that the holiday season already involves changes in our regular living patterns. So, to try to make changes in a changing time is very, very difficult. Probably impossible.

A few things changes that I hoped to make I have made good progress toward implementing. Probably the one thing I have followed through on the best has been a renewed commitment to walking for exercise. One of the changes that took place for me in South America was the loss of 30 lbs. of weight. I had been fighting the "battle of the bulge" in my waist for a decade or more. In Argentina, without an automobile, I walked almost everywhere. I realize now I was walking probably better than 5-6 miles a day on a fairly regular basis. And I was eating healthier. One commitment I wanted to make was to walk 4 miles each morning. That has been difficult with morning breakfast meetings, on-call hours for VITAS Hospice, and a variety of factors. After a couple of weeks of struggling with this commitment, I made a new commitment. To walk 4 miles a day, no matter what time I must do it. So, I began the practice of walking later afternoon approaching sunset, if I was not able to walk at sunrise. As a result, I can now say that for more than a month now I have been walking 4 miles a day, morning or evening, without fail. The result is through the holidays I have been able to keep from gaining weight. (And I have not been all that good about not eating too much as we all tend to do over the holidays.) Now that the holiday binging period is almost complete, I am confident I will be able to maitain my commitment to regular walking exercise and with a return to healthier eating habits, I should be able to lose that final 15 lbs. that will get me to my goal of 185 lbs.

Two other changes I have made that I feel are positive. One is I no longer live by a list at work. Before the Sabbatical I had a practice of making a "to-do" list each Tuesday as I began my week (Mondays being my day off) and scratching off the items on the list as I went through the week. I know this is supposed to be a good time-management technique, but it can also become a constrictive practice. It was so freeing for 4 months to live life without a "to-do" list and so I decided I was not going to make a list when I returned. I have not and so far I do seem to be able to accomplish what I need to do each week. (The truth is, most of what I have to do each week does not vary much and I know what those tasks are and I get them done.) But not having a list staring at me is helping me to stay loose and less stressed.

The second change I have made is a definite reduction in my work hours each week. Before Sabbatical I am sure I was working upwards of 60 hours a week regularly. Now I am definitely below 50. I am not stressing over work as much and I am more relaxed at home. I really do believe I will be able to make some of the other changes I had wanted to make in this New Year. And tomorrow I am going to start by writing another post to my blog and share my "list" of changes for the New Year.

(The pictures I have posted include "Miami Snow on Christmas Day" [actually just foam on the water of the bay at sunrise], the NASCAR race, baptizing my granddaughters, and sunrise over Biscayne Bay on one of my morning walks.)

Still Waiting for Dianne

The way life has been going recently, this is no surprise. It is 11:15 a.m. in Buenos Aires and I am still waiting for Dianne's arrival. For some reason, she was not told why, her flight from Miami was delayed 13 hours. That meant she spent last night in the airport Marriott in Miami (courtesy of Lan Argentina, with dinner and breakfast on them) and her flight is scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires now at 8:25 p.m. local time. Complicating her life beyond that event yesterday was the fact that there were terrible thunderstorms in Miami on Sunday night, one of which knocked out the power at our home for several hours. It also messed up the Internet connection and the telephone lines, (even after the power resumed) all of which complicated her efforts to prepare to leave. But I just spoke with her 15 minutes ago and she was sitting on the plane which appeared to be on-time for departure. So it will only be 9 more hours!

In spite of this glitch, life is returning to normal and my outlook is definitely improving. This morning I was finally able to pick-up the locks to the closets in my apartment from the locksmith with the new keys. I had been very bothered about this because I did not return in time on Saturday to get them and he had closed. He remained closed not only Sunday (which was expected) but also all day Monday (which had me very nervous). On top of the anxiety it added to the fact that every time I had to go out since Friday's trauma I could not secure my computer and other valuable inside the apartment. Nothing happened (actually there is pretty good security on the apartment building itself), but after Friday, my paranoia is definitely on level orange if not red. (I think that is the order for the Homeland Security alerts?) The locksmith was also able to open the lock on my suitcase so I could put a new lock on it (the keys to that lock were also in the backpack) and again have access to my passport! So, the suitcase is now accessible again and the locks are back on the closets. I learned you can use a steak knife as a flat-blade screwdriver. (All sorts of things I am learning on this sabbatical!)

I am listening to the two Tango CDs I purchased this weekend as I write these words, so my attitude toward Buenos Aires is growing more positive as life slowly returns to normal. I was able to reschedule the taxi driver late last night when I found out about the change in Dianne's arrival, which was quite an accomplishment. He speaks almost no English. Plus I had lost his telephone number in the robbery. But I found it on my Skype history. I was able to find a late night locutorio (public telephone shop) to call him. He answered his cell phone so I did not have to leave a message. I was able to communicate what happened and renegotiate when he would pick me up to go to the airport, all in Spanish! (I did write it out before I called, but still...) So I am feeling more capable, more positive about things, than I have for several days.

I also want to say "Thank you" to all those who reached out to me during this difficult time with kind words of support and encouragement. Some did so through my blog, and some through direct emails and some on my Facebook page. All of your comments were strengthening to me and it was good to know I was truly not alone in this situation and, even though distant from me, I was still surrounded by a community of love, support, and concern. God is good and God does provide, almost always in ways we do not expect, but always God demonstrates we are not alone. Thank you all.

Preparing for Dianne - Physically & Spiritually

Dianne arrives tomorrow! This has been a day of preparing for her arrival. The maid came and cleaned the apartment. I have bought groceries and sweets for breakfast tomorrow if she is hungry upon arriving. The flowers have been replaced with fresh flowers. (I would take a picture of the beautiful violet iris and the scarlet and white amalias, but I can't because I don't have my camera!) I have rearranged my belongings so Dianne has space to put her belongings upon arrival. Everything is pretty much ready, now all I have to do is wait for the time the taxi arrives and I head to the airport to meet her.

As you maybe could tell by the snide side comment in the above paragraph, I very much need her presence for I am still working through the trauma I suffered last Friday. I basically turned into a couch potato this past weekend. On Saturday morning I did trek down to the Police station near the central government area. A very nice and gentle policewoman assisted me in looking at pictures on a computer of men and women that matched my general description of those I felt I might be able to identify. There was one woman who was very close and I had a strong sense it could have been the woman I had the most interaction with during the "sting." I could not come up with a man I felt strongly I could identify. She was going to circulate the woman's picture in the general neighborhood where the event took place. I realize they probably will not catch the people who did this and even if they do I will not recover anything they took (if I could just get the journals back that would be tremendously healing for me) but I do think it was helpful to spend the morning engaged in this task of trying to identify them. I feel that it was an important step in the healing process of dealing with the trauma, the sense of helplessness that it evoked, and trying to move on. After all, I have done all that I can, now I can, I hope, begin to let it go.

I am having trouble doing that, though. I find myself caught in negative thoughts about the city, about those people, as I walk around. Saturday after completing the task with the police I returned immediately to the neighborhood where I live, picked up some empanadas for lunch, and went back to the apartment. I spent the afternoon replacing the camera by purchasing the replacement on-line with Best Buy for pick-up in the local store near my home in Miami, where my daughter went to pick it up. Of course there was a glitch! My credit card company, for some reason, froze the purchase request because it was done on-line. It took three times as long as it should have for me to get the equipment, because I had to call the credit card company, approve the purchase, call Best Buy back twice to get it straightened out. Right now, life is not easy!

Of course, I am writing this as I listen to Wolf Blitzer on CNN talking about the $1.2 trillion stock loss on the US stock market today! I cannot even fathom what is really happening at home right now. I know that this financial crisis is filling the local papers and even the local news here, but the concerns are not the same, I don't believe, as what is possibly taking place back home. People here are certainly concerned, but it appears to me that they don't feel their economy and other world economies are so tightly tied to the US economy that it will destroy their lives. Whether that is true or not, being outside of the US during this certainly brings a different perspective.

One of the pieces that has helped me was the UCC On-line Devotional this morning, written by the Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, Pastor of Victory for the World Church, United Church of Christ, Stone Mountain, Georgia. The devotion is called "Deep Calls to Deep" and is a reflection on Psalm 42: "My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me." Here are his words:

From the dark dungeon of a deep distress, the Psalmist discovers something that persons who live only in the shallow plateaus of comfort and convenience may never know. The Psalmist discovered that the profound depth of a person's distress causes that person to tap more deeply into the inner recesses of spirit and soul. In fact, it often takes a deep debacle or a cataclysmic calamity to reveal to us that which is really at the core of our being. Trouble, adversity and trial show us who we really are by causing us to tap more deeply into the depths of energy, hope and resilience that we never knew we had. Deep depression and deep disaster call us, beckon us and invite us to explore the depths of faith, hope and resilience that are deeply embedded in the souls of all who cultivate faith in God. And the good news is that like the Psalmist, we can discover that our faith in God is much deeper than the disasters of our circumstance.

Reading this I realize that some of the practices that connected me with God had been ignored by me this past weekend. I have not been reciting my mantra "Ubi Caritas" (honestly, I have not felt like there was much "love and charity" present in my life since Friday). I did not resume writing in my journal until late yesterday, with a follow-up this morning. (And as I had discovered earlier on Sabbatical, when I don't journal I don't deal with life as well. Since I resumed journaling, I do think I have begun the slow process of healing, as I already feel a little more positive.) I had not been meditating (at least not actively) during the weekend. Quite honestly, I think what I did was retreat into my "cave" and lick my wounds. Which was possibly what I needed to do at that point. But now I want to get out of the cave. I want to engage the city once again (which I began to do as I prepared for Dianne's arrival with all the errands I needed to complete) and which I know I will have to do with Dianne, for I want her to have a good experience. As hurtful as this experience has been, as much as it is threatening to color my view of this city, I still believe that this is a great city, with wonderful aspects and amazing people.

It was helpful for me to read that Devotional and hear the Word of God speaking to my deep hurt and my deep fears. As it spoke to me, I shared it because perhaps it may speak to whatever deep hurts and fears you have in these troubled times.

Don't Wake Me From This Dream!

For some reason it hits me late at night. Each night when I turn out the lights and lie in bed waiting for sleep I realize that I am looking out the window of a ninth floor apartment in Buenos Aires, a major city in the southern hemisphere, in South America. Before I fall asleep it already feels like a dream! I walk around the streets of a city that in many respects is the most cosmopolitan city of Latin America, perhaps in the Western Hemisphere (I know I will get debate from my friends who love New York, Chicago, LA, even Miami.) But just living here is an amazing experience and I keep waiting to awaken from this dream.

Every afternoon I spend a few hours visiting a museum (yesterday I visited the Eva Peron Museum and today it was the Nacional Museum of Decorative Arts) or visiting a special park. As I walk the streets I see buildings from the 1800's and early 1900's in the French Renaissance style, the Belle Epoque style, right next to more modern high rise structures. I go out for lunch every day and go the large supermarket about twice a week. Then I visit the corner fruit and vegetable market about every 2-3 days. My lunches are casual, not rushed, my dinner's late and simple.

There is ample time for reflection, on my life, on the world, on my work life and my call to ministry. Some of that reflection comes in quiet moments spent writing in my journal. Some of that reflection comes when I am walking the streets, on my way somewhere. Some of it comes while enjoying lunch, or a late afternoon café espresso. My spiritual moments come in times of reflection, or in times of standing in wonder in the middle of a beautiful park or plaza, or while walking and reciting my Latin chant mantra: "Ubi caritas, et amor; ubi caritas, Deus ibi est." (Where there is charity and love; where there is charity, there is God.)

This has been a wonderful time of growth and reflection for me. I have grown through gaining the knowledge of how to speak Spanish and the skill to do that with some capability. I have grown through the experience of living in a different culture, a different nation, a different part of the world. I have grown through moving outside my comfort zone, pushing my boundaries, learning that I can adapt and am still fairly flexible. I have grown through the times of reflection that have allowed me to take stock of my life and my ministry. It has been and continues to be a marvelous and amazing sabbatical experience, more than I ever imagined it would be.

I have not been taking many pictures lately, and the museums here in Buenos Aires do not allow photos, even without flash, so here is a link to some photos I took in an art museum in Cordoba with a taste of Argentine artists. This link will take you to a Kodak Gallery Album: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.a4avvx16&x=0&y=-ybuggz&localeid=en_US

My New Home - All My Own!

I am sitting in my 9th floor apartment in Buenos Aires watching Sunday Night Football (yes, the American version: Pittsburgh Steels vs. Cleveland Browns) but with a Spanish soundtrack. So I get to do a very US activity, but practice my Spanish at the same time! (Although I admit, this is not much practice, since I mostly just watch.

I have returned to Buenos Aires and am living in an apartment in Palermo, which is west of downtown by probably three or four miles, maybe more. It is several subway stops, that is for sure. It is a very nice, quiet neighborhood. And the apartment building seems very quiet. It helps that I am on the top floor, so there is no one above me to make noise. The apartment is small, one big room, but on three levels, so it adds some separation. The bedroom is on one level at the end with the sliding door and the little balcony. The living area is three steps down and includes a seating area, a TV, a small fireplace, and a dining table. Then there are three steps up to the entry area and the bathroom and kitchen. It is nice and cozy.

But it is not Bariloche! Instead of the gorgeous view of the mountains and lake, I have a gorgeous view of the backsides of several old and worn apartment buildings, looking nine floors down into a crummy looking little patio area. I don't even had a view of the city, other than the view you will see in the pictures.

However, it is my own space! That is the most important part at this point in time. I really enjoyed what I learned and the hospitality shown to me, by the four families I stayed with the past 6 weeks, but after living in a bedroom in someone else's home for that long I am ecstatic with any space, as long as I can call it my own (at least for the next 4 weeks!) This place is quite cozy and comfy and I know I will be very happy here the next 4 weeks.

To see pictures of the apartment, follow this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.9blitwfq&x=0&y=98qyob&localeid=en_US

My New Home in Bariloche

I have moved! On Friday during break the Headmistress of the school needed to talk to me. She informed me it was necessary for me to move. Senora Valentina’s niece was arriving unexpectedly this weekend and needed a place to stay. So, the school had arranged a new home for me. She assured me it was a very nice place in a good location with a very nice woman, and she was right! I moved on Sunday morning to an apartment on the sixth floor of a building located two blocks from the lake and four blocks from the very heart of downtown. I have a magnificent view looking west up the lake with the town cathedral squarely center in the view. The apartment is owned by a very nice woman who is taking care of her 95 year old grandmother. I can still walk to school if the weather is nice (it is only one kilometer further and the road along the lake is actually better for walking, wider shoulders.) I don’t have to deal with the killer hill going back up to the house from downtown, which is very good since I have to visit the bank each day to draw out enough money for my apartment rental in Buenos Aires on Sunday. (You can only withdraw up to 600 pesos per transaction in Argentina. This is a federal law passed a few years ago to prevent a run on the banks. I have not tried to make more than one withdrawal per day, partly because I worry about triggering a security hold on my Visa debit card. Which probably wouldn’t happen, but I don’t want to have any problems this far from home.) This will also be a very good place for me to spend more time in quiet reflection and in study. The view helps me with this, and the fact that I cannot get on-line in this apartment. There are only secure networks sending signals in this area which means I will need to do my Internet work on battery power in some local café/restaurant which has WI-FI availability. I can work with the situation.

One of the lessons this experience of living in a foreign land and culture for 5 weeks and with four different families has taught me is the importance of flexibility and adaptability for life. I have always prided myself on being very flexible and adaptable, not requiring a lot of creature comforts to be comfortable; willing to eat almost anything; able to make most any space I inhabit feel like home. I think my experiences camping in Boy Scouts helped me develop this attitude and skill. I am sure my leaving home for college in distant Salt Lake City, Utah, far from St. Louis, Missouri helped with this ability. I became very independent pretty early in life. I know my other travel experiences have shaped this as well.

But as I have aged I worry that I will become more rigid in my needs, likes and dislikes, so that I will be less flexible and adaptable. Either this trip has proven that fear baseless, or it has been a good booster shot to restore this ability. This is an important attitude and skill, not only for traveling, but for life in general. We like to think we can control our lives, but my experience is that we really control very little. Life always throws us a curve when we least expect it and how we react and deal with those bumps along the way can seriously affect our general enjoyment of life. When we are more rigid, we are less able to go with the flow. As a result, life becomes more of a burden and less enjoyable. When we can adapt with some flexibility to whatever situations arise in our lives, then we can find the good, even in the bad, and we can continue to see the beauty and blessings in life all around us. This is not why I came on this trip, but it is a lesson I am glad to have reinforced. It is a lesson I hope I have passed on to my children.

If you wish to see more pictures of the view from my new home, follow this link to the Kodak Gallery Album: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.6rsukd7u&x=0&y=8ee63o&localeid=en_US

The Things that Make Buenos Aires Home-y

After the three day weekend, I went back to school and language classes. But most important, I went back to my regular lunch place! Phillip and I found the Cafe/Bar La Nuevo Martone at the end of week one, after trying several other places and having so-so lunches. We fell in love with this place from the moment we walked in and sat down at the counter. The prices looked good, the food turned out to be very, very good, and the waiters very helpful, friendly, and hospitable. We were at home. Even though we struggled with the language, and for the first two days had to basically point at some other patron's plate or a sandwich or quiche-like tart in a display case to indicate what we wanted to eat it was okay. The first few days they smiled at us benignly, the patrons sitting at the counter around us worked hard to hide their smiles, but it was all very warm and cozy feeling. We went back there every day during the week after class the second week, and even took other students with us: Eve one day, and Rhys the last two days. Each day we went we were growing more able to order in Spanish, growing more capable of understanding what was on the menu, ordering with more confidence we knew what would be brought to us by the wait staff. Today, I went back alone and both waiters came up and greeted me: "Hola! Que tal! Como estas? Muy bien!" I ordered from the menu in Spanish, even asking for a half bottle of red wine (un vino tinto media) and knew what was coming and sure enough what came was what I was expecting: ravioli with meat sauce (but the meat is chunks of beef!, not ground up hamburger or sausage.) The pictures above are of the two waiters. The one behind the counter is our usual waiter, named Marcello. I have wondered whether I should go and try some other places for lunch to get more variety and a wider taste of the cooking, but I have decided that for the rest of this week what I need is a place that is comfortable, where I know I am going to get a good meal at a good price. I have been trying other places on the weekends, and I am going to Cordoba and Bariloche for the next three weeks and when I return to Buenos Aires I will be living in Palermo, which is too far to go to La Nuevo Martone each day for lunch. So, I have decided this will continue to be my place for this week, and then on Friday I will say ciao! Adios! and be on my way. (Although I know I will return probably at least once when I get back, and definitely will need to take Dianne to visit the "gang" and enjoy lunch there one day when she arrives.)

Learning to Appreciate Small Pleasures

One learning I was reminded of by the time in the Boundary Waters was how important simple pleasures can be toward bringing comfort to us in our daily lives. Dealing with the basics of living in the wilderness is so difficult that you become much more aware of the simple things which can bring true pleasure and joy to life. For instance:

1. It was a great thing when I finally cleaned off the lenses of my glasses with soap and water in the lake rather than using the soft lens cloth I was carrying, which only worked to a certain extent in removing the grease and grime of daily life. Having a clean pair of glasses I realized was almost a greater joy than having clean skin or hair. To have my glasses clean and have clear vision again - a true joy!

2. When you are truly hungry and physically spent almost anything tastes delicious - even Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches (which I ate for three lunches, and which I could not even begin to remember when I last had a PB & J sandwich before this). Even freeze dried fruit, which actually tastes sort of like Styrofoam, with a little bit of flavor added.

3. Being able to spend a lazy afternoon with my son, laying on the rocks by the shore of a beautiful lake, gazing up at the clouds floating by, changing shapes as they go, watching what they turn into and transform into and just chat with him about whatever comes to mind. A true Sabbath experience.

4. And the hot shower when you emerge from the wilderness that the Outfitters provides. This is by far the best shower, most luxurious feeling, you can have, after spending 6 days in the woods with only cold lake water to provide bathing options for you and even then tempered by the need to almost immediately recover your body with DEET mosquito repellent. Every time I have ended one of these trips I have luxuriated in the hot shower for at least 30 minutes (I know, probably very wasteful of water to all my eco-friendly, green friends), totally scrubbing my body with soap twice and shampooing my hair with large quantities of shampoo and conditioner. It is a true taste of heaven!

5. The taste of Dairy Queen hot dogs and Blizzards for a first meal after eating freeze dried food for a week. There is a Dairy Queen in the Two Harbors, the first sizable town we drive through after leaving the wilderness and heading south along the northern shore of Lake Superior. We stopped there five years ago for our first meal when I first took Paul and Rebekah on one of these trips with me and Paul and I stopped again this time. I would never, ever, order a Dairy Queen hot dog any other time or place, but at this moment after emerging from the wilderness it tastes divine.

The dilemma is how to be aware of these simple pleasures upon returning to the hustle and bustle and daily grind of regular life. I am sure that if I could be more aware of life at this level my life would be much richer and less stressed. I will have to keep meditating on this truth during the sabbatical.

Hanging the Pack

One of the tasks you must deal with at each campsite is identifying one or two trees which you can use to hang your food pack. This must be done to protect it primarily from black bears, who are voracious scavengers, but also from other critters such as chipmunks and squirrels. This is always a difficult chore because you must hang the pack at least 10 feet off the ground and at least 6 feet from any tree. The area is loaded with trees, but not many of them are good bear trees. The outfitter provides you with two ropes, one with a metal pulley attached to one end, which you can use for this project. Paul and I were able to hang our pack the first night by having him climb on my shoulders against one tree to wrap the rope around a high branch and the trunk and then eventually through a stick with the other rope attached over another tree, high enough so we could get the pack elevated. It was more than 6 feet from either tree, but we not quite 10 feet off the ground. Paul, who is 6 feet could just touch the bottom the pack with his fingers stretched high, so it was probably about 8-9 feet high. But it worked and we had no problems that night. The next campsite was on an island about 100 yards from shore. The water was very shallow between the island and the shore. Nevertheless, knowing a bear could probably get over to the island if it really wanted to, we did not hang our food the three nights we were on this campsite. We took this risk primarily because we absolutely could not find a decent tree to use. There were trees, but either they did not have large branches, or they were way back from the campsite area in the woods. So we closed everything up tightly, covered it with the tarp, and prayed. Again, we have no problems. The final campsite we did find a pretty good tree to use by throwing the pulley over a thick branch, lowering it to the ground and running the other rope through the pulley and then tying both ropes off to another tree. This time the pack was much higher than 10 feet. But, it was also right up against a lower branch of that tree that looked rather dead and I was trusting it would not hold the weight of a bear. Again, we had no problems. This rather lengthy post illustrates the amount of concern this chore elicits in me. The above pictures illustrate the two different times we got the pack hung.

Mosquitoes!!!!

There is another piece of the wildlife in the Boundary Waters which I did not mention last post. MOSQUITOES!!!! They are extremely numerous in the wilderness and you must find creative ways to deal with them or they can ruin a trip. Since we booked the upgraded outfitting package this time they gave us mosquito netting we could wear on our heads (The picture shows Paul wearing his netting as a "hoody" so it was at the ready and he could flip it over to cover his face whenever necessary.) This was a tremendous asset. The nets were especially handy on the portages, for this is one of the worst areas for mosquitoes. Especially when carrying a canoe over your head. It becomes like a long, hollow hat and the mosquitoes become trapped in the hull with you. The other handy place for this netting was going to the latrine (which is lovingly depicted in the other picture), another location where the mosquitoes congregate, waiting for fresh meat (or I guess it is really the blood they are after.) The mosquitoes were especially bad this year since they have had such a wet spring and early summer. The blessing to that is the water levels are high which sometimes means shorter portages because you can paddle up some of the beaver creeks and ponds. It also means there is no fire ban so you can have a wood fire, although we only did that twice. (More about that later.) There are two refuges from the mosquitoes: out on the water for they do not fly out there, unless they have attached themselves to you when you push off from the land. But those few mosquitoes you eventually kill or the breeze on the lake blows them away. The other refuge is in the tent. So, besides applying massive qualities of DEET mosquito repellent, far beyond what the manufacturer's label recommends, we often stayed out on the water in our canoe, or we went to the tent, often turning in before daylight was completely erased from the sky. (At this northern latitude during the summer the sun rises about 5:30 a.m. and does not set until about 9:30 p.m. We did stay up late enough to see some stars on one of the evenings and I saw the millions of stars that appear when the night is darkest on one of my late night latrine trips. It was disappointing that we did not get to see the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. We were especially hoping for them on July 4th to be our fireworks show.

Wilderness Camping Brings Life Down to Basics

It was most definitely the best decision I made to begin my Sabbatical with 6 days in a wilderness setting where I was literally disconnected from the rest of the world. It helped me to begin making the shift from working pastor to renewing pastor and I am confident it helped the Church to make the shift from relying on me to trusting their own resources and capabilities. In the woods life is reduced to its most basic functions. You spend your time preparing your meals, eating, sleeping, bringing water from the middle of the lake (where is more pure) to your campsite, taking care of your campsite, moving camp -- in otherwords, you basically spend your time taking care of yourself at the level of very basic needs , along with taking care of those immediately with you. There is not time to strive after things, possessions -- not much you could do with them if you had them anyway. There is just basic life, taking care of yourself and those you love. Which is really all life is about and all it really needs to be about. We have laid so many layers of expectations over life in civilization that at times we really lose the essence of life and what is most important at its core. Taking care of our basic needs and taking care of those we love. That is what Jesus called us to remember: Love God and love our neighbor as we love ourself. He also expanded our circle of love to include everyone around us, including those we don't much like or are afraid of. Take care of those you love! Do that and in truth most of life will take care of itself.