Infrastructure

Infrastructure rarely sells cars, but yet none would be sold without it. It doesn't appear in the advertising for Walmart, but yet they would not be a global entity without it. It doesn't show up in the glitzy ads for the latest electronic connected device, and yet most certainly we would not hunger after them if there was none. 

For a people and a country like Vietnam, infrastructure is the reason for their development, and the barrier that holds things back at times. The linguistic infrastructure of a Romanized alphabet with a virtual one-to-one phonetic basis is a major reason why literacy runs at such a high rate in this country and allows it to lead many of its neighbors in that regard. One doesn't go very far into the delta before one sees the intense agricultural infrastructure of rivers and canals, or of hand-dug ditches or fish-ponds that allow the land or the waters to yield their richness. Today one also sees numerous bridges, ranging from narrow arches across a small watercourse to allow motorbikes and narrow carts to reach homes and hamlets, on up to magnificent 2+km bridges spanning the main channels of the Mekong itself while still allowing the major shipping traffic to pass below. It's all infrastructure. 

                                   

Part of the medical infrastructure- "Medical tests- Kieu Tien #2

                                   

Should anyone wonder why there is no doubt about whether to choose a land line or a cell phone?

       

Bridges of all sizes are critical in the waterway rich Mekong Delta. But so are canals and dikes, not to mention the locks that the French started over a century ago that help de-salinate the land sufficiently to open up agriculture (a shift which has been recently challenged by rather dry, low-flow years.)

                                

   

      

While there are no "dark huyens" or no-electricity villages that we've seen today as there were 27 years ago, there may be a number of villages that are "dark" to the internet. As we wandered the back-roads of Tra Vinh province this week however, I was actually amazed to see that I had cellular phone service throughout the day. I think that is called "leapfrogging." I am pretty sure there would have been similar areas of my home state or others that would be of comparable population that would not have gotten any bars from even the best provider networks. 

                                 

        (We were the most interesting thing in months for this member's neighbors who crowded onto her bed to see what we were about, way out in the grey roads areas of the delta. But they DID have light and cell service!)

So you can probably see where I'm going to come around with this train of thought already. In bringing a mission to life, in working with a new district, young branches, young or inexperienced leaders, a "new" language as far as many church materials are concerned, one becomes keenly aware of the limitations the lack of infrastructure imposes, and the opportunity to "leapfrong" some of the methods of yore, for the chance to "do it right from the beginning."

Culture is really a sort of infrastructure. It's the operating software that governs interactions between people in the organization, the lines of instruction that dictate when or if feedback is given, and how. We are keenly interested in setting up the right organizational culture among the wonderful young men and women we are blessed to serve with here. Although they bring with them some of these elements from home, other missions (yes we now have a missionary from a mission other than Cambodia, and will soon welcome a new companion for her from yet another mission!)

                                   

or their own wards or branches, we have the chance to "get it right." In that sense we are resisting the temptation to establish a long list of extra do's and don'ts beyond the "white handbook" that all missionaries receive. Yet at the same time we recognize that many of these young men and women are inexperienced or even naive so the Book of Mormon admonition we'd like to use "O be wise! what can I say more?" May require some more substantive examples of what is and isn't wise. (We're also wise enough ourselves to know that not everything they may do gets reported, until perhaps later, but that may be when the wisdom comes.)

I could go through a litany of the practical challenges we have been coping with- from running the mission affairs with no ability to pay bills directly, thus floating the entire operation for a while on our own good credit, to trying to figure out how to make new membership records without access to the church systems for such. It's not unlike having a bumper crop of pomelo in the williwacks of the delta and nothing but a garden tractor with a glorified wheelbarrow attachment to transport it to market over a dirt road. One quickly comes to wonder if there isn't a better way!

                                

We've spent some time also this month trying to help the leadership understand the "better way" to organize branches with varying numbers of people and varying needs. Each of our branches is different- one has a laarge primary while the others may have only one or two children under 12. Some have dozens of young adults, while others have fewer. All of them struggle to staff their organizations with people who can and will watch over the saints. We tried to instill in them the concept that the purpose of the church organization (stakes, wards, branches) to create safety and protection for the saints rests largely in being watched over by a functioning presidency or presidencies and their ability to counsel together. This was a common problem for our wards and branches in Maine as well, so again we see the wisdom and preparation of the Lord in giving us that (infrastructural) understanding.

       

A branch leader explains the basics of gospel infrastructure to a member living far from church (who could have used some additional auditory "infrastructure!")

I can't conclude withouot sharing a couple of highlights from the "natural infrastructure" of this environment, here to gladden the heart and lighten our minds. (The gardeners of the world are really the most important part of infrastructure, right?)