My posting will be thin. I am in this conference.
Finally after so many rejections, there are those who understand what my professor and I are doing. They said that when Godel gave his theorem, they did not understand it either. Well I am far from Godel, my problem is something else.
At any rate my biggest blunder was when I entered a doctorate program. I did not realize how much it would pull me away from the time meant to be spent for loved ones. I am now tired and weary, the thesis is nealy there, but not quite. I need prayers not to throw the towel, or the 5-6 years go down the drain with nothing but memories of what I have done, not done. Could I ask for your prayers?
Anyway, if there was any un-expectations I had coming to this conference, I was not expceting to find a Filipino in Porto, Portugal. Never. It was unlikely, in Spain maybe but not Portugal. I was wrong. At breakfast today, I heard someone else in the restaurant blurting Filipino sentences. I came over to the man and I met Mike. Mike is from IBM, Philippines and he has been assigned here to help install a software system. He is not alone but a team of Filipinos are with him. They have been hired to get this system up and going.
I feel somewhat elated and semi-proud about this. I guess I am like this because all you hear coming from the home land are how things are going down to the dogs. I am happy that there are some who on the human level still try to do good and a job well.
10 comments:
Hang in there, LP! It took me 11 years all told to finish mine (what with the press of having a family and a vocation etc.). I came to think that 80% of a Ph.D. is determination; only 20% is intelligence. I'm looking forward to hearing the news that you've completed the task set before you.
The unworthy priest,
Fr. Gregory
While you're there, be sure to buy some real Port to take home. And I'm green with envy...
Fr GH,
Thanks for this, I am encouraged by what you said. The Prof said, just keep on going.
LPC
Scylds,
Yes wow the wines here are so good this is the best secret Portugal have. We are so blown away with the wine and the Port, they are so smooth and delicious.
There is even a port under my name Porto Cruz. So I bought lots of this as soveneir and give away.
Blessings,
LPC
Judas in the scriptorum, when I was finishing my dissertation I used to think now I understand why the first university students were celibate clerics!
Take heart, you'll make it.
Then you'll move on to the next set of things that will have to be dealt with so they don't pull you away from time meant to be spent with loved ones! It's life!
PE,
It seems that way, the young turks that make it normally are single and unattached.
Why is it that way, you'd think there are people out there being paid for what they like to do then you find out, they'd rather do something else.
I appreciate your encouragement bro.
I saw Gran Torino, was Eastwood being sarcastic when he says 'blame the Lutherans'?
LPC
Man, what an irony -- a Filipino returns to the land of Magellan. North Portugal too, where he was from. But he worked for Spain.
I think the surface reference was the involvement of Lutheran social agencies in helping the Hmong come here.
Here in Omaha, we've been more involved with Sudanese (who have their own LCMS parish here now) but in Minnesota where I grew up there's a lot of Hmong.
The world always rewards those who give up everything for it -- right up until it kills them.
PE,
What a laugh indeed, Magellan was not Spanish but he worked for King Philip, but he met his fate in P.I.He lost but Spain kept us for 400 years. I wonder who really lost.
Same here PE, the Augsburgers have already established a Sudanese Lutheran church east of Melbourne.
LPC
If I remember right, the whole reason the King of Portugal wouldn't finance his trip was because he thought the Spice Islands and all that was going to turn out to be in Spanish waters anyway, so the King of Spain was happy to prove him right!
They made him hire a Spanish crew though -- wonder if he learned Spanish. Portuguese is close sometimes, but about when I think I'm catching the drift it goes off the charts.
Our Sudanese parish started as a mission but is now a regular parish, in the Omaha South Circuit of the Nebraska District of LCMS.
PE,
Absolutely correct on your history, Magellan did have a Spanish crew.
Portugese takes sometime learning because they a pronounciation different from Spanish - ex. g is pronounced j (from what I can tell). Also 'no' is 'nao', 'mas' is 'mais', 'yo' is 'eu' etc. They also have no enne but the Portugese folk can understand Spanish, no worries, but the Spaniards find Portugese hard too.
They are culturally sensitive, when they read my name for instnace, they immediately detected from my name that they should speak spanish to me and so I got along well a bit. They are always trying to make it easy for you.I was able to navigate my way through.
LPC
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