The Last Journey
Article #13
“Obstacles and Improvising”
It is Sunday, again. No matter where I am on the planet, no matter
what I am doing at any given time, it seems as though Sunday is always the one
day I know what the date is. Things are
just different on Sundays, in a good way.
I get caught up on these kind of days.
I took a shower which really is a nice thing out here. I am so impressed that there is even a shower
area available and believe it or not, there is hot water. You take a shower differently here, for
example…you turn the water on, get wet, turn it off and then lather
up. Then, you turn the water back on
rinse off and then turn the water off again.
That’s how it’s done and it works perfectly. I’ve taken these types of showers
forever in the past and I always appreciate that there is running water and now
it’s even hot water. Sunday is a
good day to be thankful.
I turned some laundry in
right behind where I stay. It will be
done later this afternoon. That too
facinates me out here that laundry can be done.
What a blessing. Then, I had
breakfast in the chow hall. I had
pancakes with some syrup and could eat it with a plastic knife and fork. I even had a remarkably good cup of hot,
black coffee. And joining me for
breakfast was Sgt. Doyle, who unfortunately is still stuck here awaiting to go
on R & R, due to the inclement weather.
So for re-cap, I took a shower, turned laundry in, had breakfast and
enjoyed good company. I have a lot to be
thankful for here in FOB Boris. After
all that, I went over to the MWR tent and found that the computers were up and
was able to catch on the instant message part, my son and my wife. Due to all the rain we’ve had lately,
the computers and phones have been intermittent at best, but, I was able to
spend some time on the internet and get caught up on things back home.
Today is a bit of a slow day and the rain has really
put a hold on some things. For some
reason, I believe I severely miscalculated the meteorlogical status of this
region. Usually, I’m pretty good
at all that but I think I messed up on that one this time pretty good. There is a lot of rain here and it is wet,
pretty much everywhere. I’ve been
catching some news about all the flooding in
There is another thing I did
not think about before coming here. I
learned the other day when interviewing the folks at the hospital in
One of the hardest things for
me to do on these journeys is stay organized and simplified. It is a constant battle. What kicks my butt mostly are these new techy
tools I have with me now on this journey.
For example, this time, I have a small little lap top, an external hard
drive device for storage, an external DVD rom drive for downloading programs,
two audio recorders, three cameras, five batteries, a wireless mouse, a mouse
pad, all kinds of plugs and chords and adapters, two flash drives, and a few 
other things that take up space. Getting them all to work correctly when
needed, and set up properly is a huge obstacle for a guy like me.
Everyone of these things has
instruction booklets that make no sense to me.
I have always said these items should come complete with some
15-year-old kid to show an old guy like me how it all works. I explain to people who meet me that I never
once have ever sent a text message nor have I ever used an ATM machine back in
the states. How on earth am I going to
be able to figure out all this techie stuff and get the photos and writings out
there for all to see. Well, I learned a
lot of this stuff on the go, and last time in 2007, I did not even carry a
computer with me. Getting it all
organized and set out, and always having it ready to wrap up and move on to the
next place is really a challenge. But
I’m getting it done. I cleaned up
my quarters real well yesterday as the rain kept coming down all day and
night. I figured I was going to stay on
top of my own set of organizational procedures and get a handle on keeping up
to date with my reason for being here.
I spent a fair bit of time, hooking up this drive and
that drive, transferring photos for safe keeping, moving audio files from here
to there and somewhere else and at times, not exactly sure what I did or how I did it. I got batteries charged, vitamins set out for
the week, malaria pills organized, clean clothes on and dirty clothes in the
wash, bed made, place completely cleaned up and I’m beginning to feel
like I can see light at the end of this interesting tunnel. I have to confess, I’m pretty much
spoiled after 36-years of marriage.
Candi has taken excellent care of me but when it comes to this high tech
stuff, she pretty much has left me on my own for good reason. I usually learn how to do it and then try to
explain it to her. She has taught me
everything else, but I have found that I have ended up teaching her this
computer age stuff and I’m not exactly sure what I’ve learned or
messed up for that matter. The moment I
left 
the internet and pass a message to Candi via having
one or more friends give her a call while I kept writing messges over the
internet. It was a real corporate effort
and in the long run, it made some good friends back home really feel a part of
this journey. With the help of John in
I’ve always known that
this journey is not being done by myself.
Many are always helping me, scores are praying for me more numerous than
I can list. I like Sundays because they
always remind me of how to slow down, how to get things caught up, but most of
all how to be thankful. Historically,
Sunday really is the first day of the week.
It is referred to as “The Lord’s day”. The process between obstacles and improvising
issues in overcoming. The best soldiers
overcome with the help of each member of their unit. Some say if it wasn’t for the
obstacles, they would have made it. I
pray, “Lord Jesus, make me an overcomer.”
Jim Spiri
mailto:jimspiri@yahoo.com?subject=The
Last Journey