Casapueblo in Punta Ballena. It's the creation and studio of Carlos Paez Vilaro, a noted Uruguayan artist. Fascinating and beautiful.

Did I mention that our friend (and neighbor and coworker) Rachael is AMAZING?

Dec. 26 she went to the vet to visit Ellie and besides giving her a little comfort was also able to help us get a better picture of what was going on. Yesterday she went to check on her again (still at the vet). I knew Ellie was darn lucky to have us, but I had no idea what awesome friends she had :-)

Rachael says Ellie is a different dog now. It sounds like she's somewhat back to normal-- drooling all over the place, wagging her tail, wandering around the vet's office. Apparently she follows the vet everywhere, and in order to get some work done, the vet has to lock her up every once in a while. You can't keep a good dog down. She's still on IVs (antibiotics and nutrition) but recovering quite well.

Despite Ellie's reluctance to see Rachael go (she kept pawing at her), it sounds like she is becoming quite attached to the vet and is getting plenty of love in return. Good news.

I'm treasuring Rachael's email like a love letter, rereading it and laughing out loud again (both because Ellie is hilarious and because Rachael's tone in writing is so darn funny). I'm so grateful to her but also to God when I remember that He brought us these beautiful friends in Pucallpa to help us adjust and settle in but also to help us heal from all of the tough times we've been through in the last two years. He knows just what I need and is taking care of me in sometimes surprising but always perfect ways.

PS Rachael also went and coaxed Taza out to play the other day. Apparently she was very reluctant but enjoyed herself plenty once she got going. I think she must feel pretty deserted without Ellie or us!

After two X-rays (the first was sub-par) and blood work, they determined that she had an intestinal twisting or blockage or something and went in for surgery. There was a chance that the problem would have spread too far, and we had to make the call to put her down if that was the case. Yuck.

Four hours later we got the news that she made it out just fine! The vet found a mango pit in Ellie's intestine, which had caused some lesions and bleeding as well. She feels confident that the problem is taken care of, and now we're just waiting for Ellie to heal up. I expect she will do that quickly. She's tough.

What a day (or two, really).

That kind of rhymes if you say it with the correct Spanish pronunciation!

We're finishing up our South American travel over this Christmas/ New Years with 3 days in Paraguay, 4 days in Uruguay, and 5 days in Buenos Aires (just maybe our favorite place in the world). It turns out Paraguay and Uruguay aren't much for tourism, but we're excited to see some new places anyway.

Getting to Paraguay involved yet another visa adventure (you may recall another visa adventure last month in Bolivia). Our embassy friend mentioned last weekend that visas are required for Paraguay. Surprise! Should have looked that up before we planned this trip. Often you can get your visas at the border or airport, but we found out during our layover in Buenos Aires that that is not the case with Paraguay. Oh boy.

Calling the Paraguayan consulate, we discovered that it is indeed possible to get a Paraguayan visa in one day in Buenos Aires, and we rushed out to get our photos taken, pick up some cash, and start the application. Just as I was beginning to think that we weren't going to make it to Paraguay after all, our passports were ready. Wow! We were back in the airport with plenty of time to spare before our next flight. Good thing, too, because one of our bags hadn't made it on the previous flight and we were waiting for it!

We got into Asunción around midnight and are comfortably settled into our hotel. We'll be spending Christmas Eve here and then heading on to Montevideo (Uruguay) on Christmas Day, so I brought along some Pucallpa-flavored Christmas decorations to celebrate Jesus. What do you think?

My grandfather was in the Boston Globe on Saturday, a human interest story about the fact that he was recently "reunited" with a war buddy living in the same assisted living place. Better yet is the video from the web. I really hope I'm this funny in 65 years!



Together in war, and now in old age

WWII captain, corporal end up in same adult home
By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff | December 20, 2009

NATICK - It was a 68-year-old photo on a nursing home bulletin board salute to Veterans Day that caught John Kelley’s eye as he maneuvered his wheelchair through the reception area of his nursing home.

In the upper right-hand corner of the poster was a black-and-white portrait taken in 1941 of Army Captain Robert Fulton.

Kelley, himself a World War II vet, took a closer look.

Then, nearly shaking in disbelief, the 87-year-old called over a staffer to share his incredible news: The man in the photo had been his commanding officer for more than a year in the South Pacific.

"I thought, ‘He’s alive!’ I really thought I was the only one left," recalled Kelley, who was a Cambridge boy from a family of a dozen children sent to fight in New Caledonia, a key Allied base in the battle against the Japanese in the wake of their attack on Pearl Harbor.

"They said, ‘Yes. He’s upstairs."’

Robert Fulton was indeed alive. At 93, he is partially deaf and walks slowly with a cane. But his memory is good, and he was stunned to learn another member of the 221st Field Artillery Battalion was living in the same complex.

Kelley’s daughter, visiting from her home in Hyannis, asked Whitney Place receptionist Ellen Goodman whether a reunion could be arranged. "She said, ‘Dad really, really wants to see Mr. Fulton,’ " said Goodman.

A day later, Fulton gingerly made his way downstairs from his assisted living apartment to Room 203 in the facility’s intensive-care nursing unit to visit the man he commanded a lifetime ago.

Since that first meeting two weeks ago, the men are slowly reaching across the decades and the distinctions of rank to form a late-in-life friendship.

"He just wanted to get together so he could call me names," joked Fulton during his second visit with Kelley last week.

The two now swap memories of early-morning rev eille, mosquitoes "the size of bombers," the threat of malaria, scarlet and dengue fever, powdered food in their K-rations, long-dead comrades from their battalion, and the terror of the frequent Japanese raids on their outpost.

"We used to say, "Charlie’s coming," said Fulton. "You’d wait, listen for the [sound of a whistle]. Everything shakes, and then you’d get covered in dirt if you were in a hole."

"Anyone who didn’t think there was a God certainly thought about it differently while that was going on," said Fulton, a Belmont native who attended Harvard University on the ROTC program, then was starting law school at Boston University when he was called up to serve in 1940.

The two men were on the same slow boat from New York, via Fiji and Bougainville Island, including a slow passage through the Panama Canal, where, Kelley recalled, monkeys jumped onto the ship’s deck.

They built watchtowers in the giant palm trees of New Caledonia, a former French colony off the coast of Australia, and waited for the US government, still scrambling to prepare for a world war, to outfit them with proper gear and firearms.

As an officer and an enlisted man, Fulton and Kelley didn’t mix much socially during the war.

In fact, Fulton heard for the first time last week about Kelley’s hijinks trying to procure liquor on their tiny tropical island, nearly seven decades after it happened.

"It was mostly ‘Good morning, sir,’ ‘Good morning, corporal,’ " said Kelley, who left high school to sign up for the military at age 17. "He was quiet and fair," he said of Fulton. "But when he said no, he meant no."

As for Kelley’s wartime behavior, Fulton said: "He kept his nose out of trouble."

"I got three good conduct medals," Kelley, who was eventually promoted to staff sergeant, told his former captain.

"How did you get those?" Fulton joked.

Kelley came home on a break and married his childhood sweetheart, Catherine, in their home parish, St. Mary’s in Cambridge.

He returned to Camp Edwards for duty, but became ill for several months and was later discharged from the service.

He became a jeweler at E.B. Horn in Downtown Crossing, and then manager of the jewelry department at Jordan Marsh across the street. He and Catherine raised four children and later moved to Framingham.

Fulton remained in the service and was sent to Leyte in the Philippines, where the war was reaching a feverish pitch.

He was discharged in 1944, just 10 days before his unit would make a dangerous foray into the Philippines province of Cebu to seize the region from Japanese control.

He met his future wife, Mary Carraher, another Belmont native, at a USO dance in downtown Boston, and they married in 1947.

He worked as a judge advocate general and a lawyer in private practice for many years, and the couple raised four children in Wellesley.

In 2004, his wife was hospitalized at Whitney Place, and eventually died in the second-floor room next door to where Kelley now lives.

Fulton, who retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, said he found the staff so kind during his wife’s six-month-long decline that he decided to spend his later years at the facility as well.

His youngest son, 52-year-old Bob Fulton Jr. of Natick, said last week that he had enjoyed his father’s war stories growing up. "I’m very proud to be his son," said the younger Fulton. And very glad he made it home"

Although they both worked most of their lives in downtown Boston, the men’s paths crossed again only tangentially after the war; Kelley recalls running into Fulton once at Jordan Marsh, and another time with their families on Nantasket Beach, a half-century ago.

"Chances are 1 in 10 million that the two of us would wind up in the same place," said Kelley.

The notion of reconnecting with a war buddy in the assisted living center never even occurred to Fulton. "I didn’t think there were any of us left," he said.

Of the approximately 160 men from their battalion, most of them Boston-area natives, neither Kelley nor Fulton has seen any others in the past 25 years, nor do they know of any others still alive.

The numbers of World War II-era soldiers are indeed rapidly dwindling. In a study conducted last year, the US Department of Veterans Affairs estimated they were dying at a rate of approximately 1,000 per day.

Just 2 million of the 16 million American men and women who served during the war are still alive, the agency estimated.

John Kelley came to live permanently in the nursing home unit at Whitney Place about 16 months ago. His wife died in 2005, and he has suffered a series of strokes and heart attacks.

His health has improved recently, however, and he can proudly still recite his Army serial number, as well as his brother Eddie’s number, from memory. "Sometimes it’s easier to remember the old stuff than what you had for breakfast," Kelley said.

"We," he said, nodding with affection in Fulton’s direction, "are just a couple of old boys."

I've seen the Nutcracker about 15 times in Winston-Salem, once in Charlotte, and now once in Lima. Tonight was my first Nutcracker in flip-flops.

Unfortunately we got mixed up about the time and arrived half an hour late. It seems like this version was abbreviated somehow, because half an hour late equaled the very end of the first act. Honestly? I almost cried. I was so looking forward to seeing the ballet, and we missed the entire plot. Somehow I pulled myself together.

Beyond the tardiness, I'd say Cascanueces was a great experience, a first little bit of Christmas to kick off our vacation. The dancing, the sets, and the costumes were all pretty great, and the theater was an attraction in and of itself.

Christmas takes more work down here. In Charlotte I can feed off the energy of Starbucks Christmas mugs, Providence Road backed up for a mile, Deck the Halls ringtones, and Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes. Sure there are a few Santa hats here and there in Pucallpa, but mostly, it seems like we have to make Christmas.

On Sunday night, our friend/neighbor/coworker Rachael invited us over for an evening of carols and dessert. Besides some delicious pumpkin pie, stollen, and other Christmas classics (Rachael is a top rate cook!), we really enjoyed the music. Tim and I brought along our instruments, and the others provided flute, piano, and cello. It was a delight.

Since our neighborhood kids love music, Tim and I mentioned to them that it might be fun to sing carols this afternoon. About an hour ago we heard two little voices outside our door. "Timoteo! Hannah!" The twins (2.5 yrs old) had come with paper crowns and a whole assortment of kid-sized instruments. Despite the fact that no one really knew the words to the carols, we had a great time. Those little faces make just about anything worthwhile.

Christmas for two can be a bit lonely, so I'm super grateful for neighbors of all ages and talents this year.

A week ago I started my first course toward a Masters in Biblical Studies through Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. I'm taking Church History to the Reformation via Semlink, their online program. Of the 20 or so courses I need for my degree, I can take up to 6 online. That's a big blessing for me, since it allows me to get started now even though I'm far far away.

So far Church History is keeping me plenty busy. I lucked out in finding the two textbooks-- one at the SAM Academy library and the other through a membership (fee)- based online library, Questia. The second one I have to read online, but for $9.95/month I have access to any of their online books in the Religious Studies section. Besides saving a little money, it made the book instantly accessible to me, which is a big deal since mail is somewhat precarious around here.

Anyway, I'm doing a lot of reading and learning more than I ever imagined. In all my studies of the Bible, I guess I had never thought about what Judaism and Christianity looked like in the context of World History. I find myself surprised again and again by new tidbits and perspectives. Tim is getting to take the course vicariously I think because of all the information I'm sharing with him, whether he likes it or not!

I'm grateful for the opportunity and definitely energized by the academic challenge. As Tim told Ellie this morning, "With great power comes great responsibility." :-) I want to take seriously the responsibility that comes along with a mind that enjoys and excels in learning and not let my brain go to waste. While I'm not sure that I'll ever use this degree for a career, I'm confident that learning more about the Bible and Christian thought will make me a better wife, mother, teacher, friend, daughter, sister, etc. And I'm excited about that.

Last night I met with a couple of women for an English conversation group. I had met once before with one neighbor, but she couldn't come this time. Another neighbor and a friend/ fellow (Peruvian) missionary came along this time. We met up at a tasty juice shop, where I tried my first guanábana juice. I'm sold.

I was super relieved to have my friend there, because to be honest, I was a little intimidated by the neighbor that came. Until this week, the only exposure I've had to her is hearing a piercing high-volume voice from next door (no glass in the windows = no secrets), but at our neighborhood BBQ on Tuesday, she mentioned that she wanted to practice her English. Since I already had a date scheduled for the group, I threw out the invitation, in no way expecting that she'd actually come.

Surprise! She came and was perfectly lovely. I really enjoyed talking with the two women, and their English was pretty darn good. I think that the three I've met with so far are at about the same level and will fit together well.

I'm glad to have a place to get to know my neighbors (and my other friend!) better. While I have plenty of interaction with Peruvians at the market, the gym, and church, I haven't had (made?) lots of chances to make friends. I hope this will become a weekly time I will enjoy and that it will be a springboard for my relationships with the three women.

Also, I'm always eager for opportunities to share what Jesus has meant and means in my life, so it's exciting to have a group that's mixed in that sense, two of us who are devoted to life in Christ and two who have a different take on life. Last night while we were introducing ourselves, my neighbor had lots of questions about what it is that my friend and I do here, what it means to be a missionary, etc. I would love to see those questions move more into what we believe and love and what she thinks about the same topics. We'll see.

Today I went for another check up on my ear. The doctor said my eardrum has healed up nicely but then concluded that the bottom of my trumpet is clogged and prescribed me some decongestants (I'll let you figure out what that means, because I really have no idea).

Unfortunately, after visiting 9 pharmacies I couldn't find the prescribed pills. Finally the last one told me the pills I was looking for (Cetiler-D) only comes in a syrup or drops and that Cetiler (no D) is the pill form. However the doctor was very specific that I get Cetiler-D and not the plain one. Oh well, I guess that means another trip to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully he won't charge me, but no guarantee.

I thought you all might enjoy a photo of my doctor's office, and yes it is that dingy.

Yesterday's Alpha breakfast turned out quite well. Although only 10 people confirmed, 24 came representing 8 different churches. I was very pleased with the turnout, although I wish a few more pastors would have been there. Everyone seemed interested in Alpha and I expect a decent turnout for the conference in January. Hopefully I'll be able to meet with and get a few more pastors on board prior to the conference.

I had placed a little old lady in charge of preparing the food and she did a great job. She's been helping to cook for families and groups with SAM since 1966 and brought her own bowl and mixer to ensure that the pancakes came out perfectly. We ended up having more pancakes than needed, but everyone was more than happy to take the extras home.

This was my first time doing a presentation like this (in any language). After a week of planning, recording and listening to myself give the presentation half a dozen times, I felt pretty well prepared and I think I did a decent job on focusing on the main points I wanted to make and giving everyone a good idea of the strategy of Alpha.
Now begins the preparation for the two 8 hour long days of the conference, please be praying for me during this time. I want to spend about a 1/3 of the time of the conference as more of a workshop where people can brainstorm together and also have the opportunity to practice leading the small groups. I also am looking into a different meeting place that can handle the setup and food so that it will be less stress on myself. I want to get the cost down to $3-5 per person.

Tomorrow morning I have a breakfast meeting for several pastors in Pucallpa presenting the Alpha course and as an introduction to an Alpha conference I'm going to have in January. For the last month I've been promoting and preparing for this breakfast and I'm really excited to see it happen. I'm a bit nervous about being able to communicate clearly, so please be praying for me.

I'm quite curious to see how many people end up coming. I have 10 confirmed attendees (they called to confirm this afternoon) and then there is a group of 16 pastors that I'm pretty sure will be there. I suspect there will be at least 25 and I'm a bit concerned that 10-20 more might come and if that happens, the food will be running a bit short. Please pray as well that the right number of people will come and that there will be plenty of food for those who do come.

The breakfast is from 8am to 11am tomorrow. I'll make sure to let you know how it goes.