Instant Communication

Sunday, Jan 30, 2011

It is now 7:30pm and the Pentecostals are either still at it or back at it. We’ve been gone most of the day, so I can’t say for sure. I’m thinking perhaps they are still at it because the singing, although still loud, had taken a serious turn into the off-key. If I’d been singing for 9 hours, I’d be tired too.

I skyped Janice in Mapleton yesterday and when I check emails today, she said Marj and Steve would be over tonight for dinner so if I wanted to call back this evening we could video-conference. So that’s what we did. We found a restaurant that had free WiFi (all the internet cafes are closed on Sunday afternoon) and ordered some soup and beer and got set up to make the call. There was nobody else in the restaurant, so it worked out fine. There was some pretty loud marimba music playing in the background, but I like to think that just added to the atmosphere. The waiter seemed really curious about what was happening and hung in the background watching. He could see the video screen, so he must have seen Janice and Marj. I know they could see him. Too funny.

After we hung up, Jeff and I were talking about how amazing it is that we can sit here in Guatemala and see and talk to Janice and Marj in Dad’s kitchen. Truly, it is amazing. I remember the year I lived in England (1982/83) and how expensive and difficult it was to call home. I think I only called home a total of 4 or 5 times, and when I did, I had to stand at a pay phone chucking in 1 pound coins the whole time. Mom, ever concerned about the cost, would only keep me on the line for about 5 minutes, and then I would get her famous line “Well I don’t want to run up your phone bill, bye.” Bzzzz. Now it seems we can be just about anywhere in the world and for just pennies, we can call home and talk and/or video-conference with our family and friends. Or we can, at the very least, connect via email or Facebook and enjoy nearly instantaneous communication. No more sending a letter through the mail and waiting two weeks for a response.

I also thought about that same year spending Christmas in Rome. I was so incredibly homesick, but the only way to call home involved going to a phone center and getting in line to place my call. It was a large building lined with private phone booths that had light up numbers above the doors. You went to the main desk and gave them the phone number you wanted to call. Then you paid them for the number of minutes you wanted to talk and they gave you a number and you waited. When you heard your number called, you looked for the phone booth that had the same number lit up above the door and you went into that booth. When you picked up the phone, your party was at the other end. I don’t recall the conversation or how long it lasted, but I’m pretty sure I cried through the whole thing and it was too short a time.

Thinking back on that time, just 30 years ago, I feel such amazement at the technological advances we have seen since then. I could be a time-traveling pioneer whisked from my Conestoga wagon on the open prairie into a mini-van on the L.A. freeway or Neil Armstrong on the moon. It is nearly that unbelievable to me. I know that the young students at the school don’t even think twice about it. They have never known any different. But for me, it’s nothing short of a miracle. It sure makes being away from home easier.