Dear friends,
Sometimes you just gotta’ get down and dirty and fast.
That’s what these UNFILTERED mailings are about. If God has placed us Baers and our calling on your heart, read on. If not, please go back to what you were doing. No hurt feelings.
√ Getting to Colombia
Our house has not yet sold. That’s a concern. We need to sell this puppy.
The percentage of the funds United World Mission has established for us to raise that we’ve seen come in has hit 56%. We’re told this is a jaw-dropping outcome for six months of trusting effort; that’s the good news. There’s still 44% to go; that’s the other side of the coin. Missionaries do develop a special sense of tender dependence upon people of good will and common cause in a process like this one. There oughta’ be a word for the peculiar gratitude that ensues.
Karen’s Spanish lessons continue apace. Her teacher Magdalena wrote a side note to me about Karen’s ‘discipline, passion, perseverance, and great attitude.’
We are a month away from moving East to move South, on which more below.
√ Our health
Karen is well after a series of uncharacteristic medical crises the landed her in the ER and the hospital. Many tests later, we’re without a diagnosis and probably won’t get one. Wo we do the next thing, and trust.
I’ve been in agony for five days with the worst sore throat of my life. The doc says it’s a virus that will pass. She did not say ‘Stop your whining and belly-aching’, but I could see it in her eyes.
√ Moving east
We have decided to move to our temporary home at the Haven House of David’s Community Bible Church in Millersburg, Pennsylvania. This is the church were I grew up, where my parents still are, and where I was nurtured into deep faith in Jesus as a teenager. We can hardly wait. We’ll be based in this beautiful, rural, Pennsylvania Dutch (German) location for the duration of our support-raising process. When we’ve finished that process, we’ll head to Colombia from there.
√ Current ministry
How to describe this? It’s just kind of burgeoning (I can’t remember the last time I used that word in a sentence). Almost too much to keep up with.
* I’ve had the enormous privilege of two week-long work sessions of the Vital Sustainability Initiative with phenomenal teams in Lebanon and Colombia.
* A series of talks, including ‘Five Things I’ve Learned by Failing at Leadership’ at LeTorneau University and its Honors College, out in Longview, Texas.
* Continued every-day progress on translating BIBLE MESH’s Hebrew-language teaching into Spanish for the Biblical Seminary of Colombia and Spanish-speakers everywhere, together with my Colombia colleagues Eduardo and Milton.
* Coaching and counseling, as part of my new role leading the Theological Education Initiative, with gifted people at various stages of finding their way to God’s calling as missionary scholars.
* An invigorating role on the Executive Committee of the Global Forum of Theological Educators’ as we plan for a 2nd gathering in 2018/2019.
* Near daily blog-writing on Isaiah as an early stage of preparation for a Spanish-language commentary on this biblical book.
* Coming up: a series of sermons and meetings at the Wethersfield (Connecticut) Evangelical Free Church, where Karen and I met; this church, with its growing Latino subgroup, is pastored by a guy I grew up with in Pennsylvania. His father pastored me in that church I mentioned earlier. Both Brooke and Ruth Solberg remain a force in Karen’s and my life.
* Also coming up: a small role at Langham Partnership’s annual ‘Vision Weekend’ in San Diego. Langham is one of the missional families in which Karen and I feel like adopted son and daughter. We love these folks and what they do.
* And coming up after that: one of the ministries I most admire in this world has asked whether I’d serve on their board. For reasons I could poke around at with a stick if you asked me to do so, this represents both a great opportunity and a huge, inviting affirmation at this stage in Karen’s and my transition. Plus, the organization is simply stocked with committed, talented, visionary, wonderfully enjoyable people.
√ Family
Karen is with family in Alabama as I write this. She’s bonding with little Cooper, our youngest of eight grandchildren.
Son John (Captain, US Army) will compete in and lead a series of two-man teams in the Army’s grueling ‘Best Sapper Competition’ in late April at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. And I’ll be there to watch! John’s brigade commander has provided him with all the resources he needs to ‘bring this thing home to the 101st Airborne Division’ (in which son Christopher also serves). Although I would have thought that Ranger School and Sapper School were likely the hardest thing a person could sign up for, John claims that the much shorter, three-day ‘Best Sapper Competition’ (this year will mark his third participation) takes the cake.
My father, in Pennsylvania, is in a nursing home for rehab. Karen and I are looking forward to being close to Dad and Mom soon.
√ The vision
Ever clarifying, ever invigorating, always challenging, much larger than we are. If God is not in this, we’re toast.
With deep affection,
David (and Karen)
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You are receiving this email because we believe you may want to stand with our work in Latin America and beyond.
Relax. It’s about Karen this time.
Our house in Indianapolis regularly rings with laughter as Magdalena (in Medellín) teaches Spanish to Karen (seen here in full combat gear) via Skype. Two peas in a pod.
You’re doing WHAT at your age … ??!!
¡Hola! ¿Cómo está?
I know this is a very basic phrase, but I know how to say it. David says my accent is pretty darned good.
I’m using three different tools for learning Spanish. Each uses different teaching methods.I listen to Pimsleur CDs, which is all about listening and repeating; no writing. I also work with the amazing DuoLingo online site, which is free and involves hearing, speaking, and writing.
But my favorite is Skyping with Magdalena, my wonderful Colombian Spanish teacher. She is really getting me into the nitty gritty of the language. She challenges me. My learning experience with her will be exponentially increased when I’m able to be with her in Medellín, Colombia—immersed.
Magdalena will take me to buy groceries, teach me how to talk with the cab drivers, and help me to learn not only the language but also the culture. She’s a gem. She’s a Christian believer and she takes on missionary students in addition to her work as a public school teacher as her way of giving back to God and to missionaries who have left what’s familiar to them to travel to Colombia and serve her people.
45%
Medellín’s most famous artist is Fernando Botero. He paints and sculpts mostly large people. He had me (Dave) at ‘large people’.
I’m really excited for David and me to actually be able to begin our ministry at the seminary (FUSBC). Magdalena will teach me language and culture, and I will teach her how to cook. Did I mention that I’d love to use my cooking skills for the Lord? As I become more acquainted with life at the seminary, I can see with my own eyes all of the different areas of ministry God has for me to serve. But what touches my heart are the people I’ll be able to minister to, not only on the campus but also in the surrounding community.There is a preschool and school on campus for many of the children from the surrounding community who don’t know the Lord. I love kids and this is one place I feel I can serve well. There is a clothing/household-needs ministry that distributes clothes and other items to not only neighboring families but also to the students and the seminary employees. Right now, there are only a couple of people available to help with this.
Next there is a whole room dedicated to touching people’s creativity. All the supplies and sewing machines were donated and run by a previous missionary who is no longer serving there. So this is right up my alley. I can’t wait to share the creative spirit God has given me to enrich their lives. So I am super determined to master the language to be able to communicate and love on the people of Medellín.
And last but not least, I am so looking forward to working with a wonderful lady friend named Wanda. She and her husband Guillermo are UWM missionaries like us, and Wanda has gone through the Spiritual Formation training that I’m coming up to speed on. So I am very excited to see how God will use us to help lift up his name among the students, colleagues and fellow missionaries in Medellín and, who knows, possibly the wider country of Colombia. Our calling as we understand it is to strengthen and enliven the lives of Christian leaders and their families. That’s what we’re about.
The other day, David was exchanging emails with a seminary colleague who is directing a large research project for the seminary on the topic of displaced people. 11% of Colombia’s nearly 50 million people have been displaced by the long civil war that is now coming to an end. This FUSBC New Testament professor has been traveling to remote parts of the country to conduct the interviews that are part of the project. David read me a part of yesterday’s email. Our colleague wrote in response to something David had said:
As to doing field research, it really has been an amazing way to get to understand more of Colombia … Today I had an interview with an astounding woman who helped found a Christian school in a heinously unsanitary and dangerous barrio de invasión (translation: squatter settlement). Her story was alternately riveting and heart wrenching: years of working in mud and poverty with no remuneration, scorned and exploited by the Secretary of Education of Cartagena, forced to engage in civil protest to get access to government benefits for the students, taunted at gunpoint for hours by a deranged guerrilla officer, and yet, after more than 2 decades and with the help of diverse NGOs and missions groups from Sweden (!), she has succeeded in creating a thriving Christian school that is bringing gang leaders to the Lord and just saw a graduate get a full ride to an excellent public university.
Geesh. These are some serious Christians.
This is the kind of people the seminary is touching. I’m really looking forward to being part of the seminary community and team and making my own contribution to the lives of people like this.
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This marginalized neighborhood of Medellín is called Carambolas. I (David) plan to visit soon with Pastor Andrés, who with his wife shepherds a church in this challenging environment. Read on if you’re interested in knowing why.
During the week we have planned for seminary work in Medellín, I’ll have the opportunity to visit a tough neighborhood that is being served by a pastor who graduated from the seminary together with his wife. Although these situations represent no unnecessary risk for a visitor like me, you should know that the Presbyterian church that’s serving the people there does so in a context where violence and gangs are part of the landscape.
Why this visit to Carambolas?
Well, a church in Tennessee has some money put away for a Majority World congregation that wants to build its own building but lacks the means. They’ve asked whether I can help them find the right one. As it happens, the church in Carambolas has acquired a lot and seems like a connection we’ll want to make. Pastor Andrés will come to the seminary and we’ll be off to see what we see.Oh, and have I ever mentioned the playgrounds? What, I haven’t??!! Good grief, we have got to tell you about the playgrounds one of these days. No ordinary deal. Maybe even in Carambolas.
Pardon me for saying so, but this could have your name all over it. ‘Better get your passport.
Stay tuned.
We didn’t think we’d be needing one of these.
For the last three weeks, Karen’s been battling significant medical issues and has been in and around our nearby emergency room and hospital more than we ever imagined she’d be. Our intercessory team, the Guardians, has been deeply involved with us in this struggle. So too our marvelous church group and our family. So deeply, in fact, that a few of them are likely feeling a little nauseous themselves. (You know who you are.)
We believe we’re getting close to a diagnosis, but some test results and their interpretation are still outstanding. We’ve had to cancel some Theological Education Initiative travel in Latin America. As I write this, we’re crunching all the medical input in order to make a call about whether we can travel to Colombia this Sunday for scheduled FUSBC work that involves a bunch of people coordinating schedules to fly into Medellín from abroad.
Maybe the best way of giving you a sense for how we’re navigating this situation, which has involved some bewilderment and a lot of waiting, is to repeat for you what I wrote last evening to our Guardians:
This we know:
√ God is still here, even *especially* here in moments of bewilderment.
√ We are surrounded by good medicine and great people.
√ Our enemy usually picks his fights to line up strategically with the vulnerabilities that accompany kingdom risk-taking. But he’s a loser, and sometimes pretty clumsy.
√ Our times are in our Lord’s hands.
We’ll keep you posted on a situation we hope will soon lie behind us, to the degree that seems appropriate.
Captain John Baer (center, facing camera and shaking hands) returns from Iraq any day now.
Baerly There ... 
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