Living in God's Laughter

Doris M. Schoenhoff

Description

This book will appeal to readers who enjoy adventure, travel, the rich variety of humankind, and the spirit of laughter.

During her many travel adventures, Doris Schoenhoff has learned that clear eyes, an open heart, humility to adapt, and a ready laugh are invaluable when crossing the border of a country and embracing a different culture. Some, she suggests, may find, as she did, that it is really about being an explorer of one’s spirit.



In a fascinating retelling of her world travels, Doris chronicles diverse personal experiences including a move to New Zealand and a brush with the fated Air New Zealand Flight 901, as well as life in South Africa during Nelson Mandela’s term as president. Her reflections about the healing power of laughter along with her original photographs vividly bring her travel tales to life.



Living in God’s Laughter details the adventures of an avid traveler who embraced the rich variety of humankind and the spirit of laughter while seeing the world.

Sujets

• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 30 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665737739
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

LIVING IN GOD’S LAUGHTER
DORIS M. SCHOENHOFF


Copyright © 2023 Doris M. Schoenhoff.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Cover Image Credit: Fr. Mark Dolan
Interior Image Credit: Doris M. Schoenhoff
 
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3772-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3773-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901647
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 03/28/2023
CONTENTS
Preface
 
Chapter 1 Moving to New Zealand
Chapter 2 The Good Shepherd
Chapter 3 Air New Zealand Flight 901
Chapter 4 Island Hopping
Chapter 5 Dipping into Europe
Chapter 6 Egypt and Israel
Chapter 7 Okavango Delta
Chapter 8 Galapagos Islands
Chapter 9 Kenya
Chapter 10 Iceland and Greenland
Chapter 11 South African Journal
Chapter 12 Brother Giovanni
 
Postscript
DEDICATION
In memory of my mother, Anna Duff Schoenhoff, who alone raised three children in a small one-bedroom home, yet still provided what was most necessary: nourishment, education, faith, and love.

DORIS WITH ROLAND AND MARY ANN (TWINS)
The child laughing in the buggy became a woman who saw laughter as essential to life and faith.
PREFACE
The COVID-19 pandemic changed and challenged our daily lives. Nothing is quite the same. Still, it has given some of us more time to reflect on life, tap into old experiences, and remember laughter in other difficult times. My life began under unpromising circumstances, but even as a child, I wanted to see as much of the world as possible. That aspiration came true. In 2021, I took the time to write some short memoirs—what I called Travel Tales—for members of my family. Some of those stories are included here, not in the order of time but in the elusive order of heart and mind. They reveal something about me but mostly about people from other countries and other cultures. Many of them touched my life, and some became friends.
In 1993, my book, The Barefoot Expert , was published. It was about knowledge systems, those programmed for computers and those in the minds and cultures of indigenous people. A few years later, I was asked by UNESCO to submit an article, which I did— Catching Dreams on the Web . As a result, I received an email from Bunker Roy, a remarkable man who started Barefoot College in India. Through Barefoot College , women in the poorest villages, most of whom could not read or write, learned how to install solar panels and water pumps, changes that would improve their lives and those of their neighbors. Bunker invited me to India, but said, with his sense of humor, that I could not help with the work because I was “too educated.” Of course, I understood. At times, education can get in the way of necessity and imagination! While I never made it to India, I continue to admire Bunker’s efforts and respect for the poor.
Surprisingly, in 1995, I received a Fulbright Award 1 to pursue my interest in computer technology in a culture different from my own. My tenure, however, did not begin until early 1996. It was an exciting time to be in South Africa while Nelson Mandela was president. 2 A journal, again created at that time for my family, is offered here with minor edits. From informality, often a better truth arises.
As for me, I have navigated my life with laughter. Harmless laughter is grace. God is in us, and we are in God. So, laughter must be in God too. Certainly, it would be difficult to imagine Jesus not laughing, especially at wedding feasts or invited dinners, and not evoking laughter at times with his parables and sermons. Was there laughter when Jesus said the meek were blessed and would inherit the earth? There likely would be today.
Sometimes, laughter might even save lives. The 1997 movie Life is Beautiful was partially based on the autobiography of an Italian Jew, Rubino Salmonì, deported to Auschwitz in occupied Poland during World War II. Roberto Benigni’s character, Guido, tries to shelter his young son, Giosuè, from the pain and horror of a similar camp in northern Italy. He does this by moving outside his grief to create a game mimicking life in the camp and reviving laughter in his son. At this moment, my thoughts are with the children of Ukraine, that someday their laughter, scarcely heard now, will heal the wounds of war for their families, their countrymen, and all who watched from afar as evil spread.
The random memories that follow celebrate the healing of laughter in one uncharted life.
1
MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND

S ome unforgettable adventures begin rather conventionally, even in the most conservative of places. In 1977, Touché Ross & Co., a prominent accounting firm, placed an advertisement in Computerworld , the leading trade publication in information technology. The ad was soliciting résumés for a hospital project in New Zealand. At the time, I was working as a senior systems analyst and programmer at University Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. New Zealand had never been a country I had my heart set on visiting. I knew very little about New Zealand except that it was way down in the Southern Hemisphere. Only the tips of Chile and Argentina are closer to Antarctica. Maybe that is what intrigued me. In any event, I sent a résumé. The response was quick, and I flew to Detroit, Michigan for an interview.
The project was to design and program a computer system that would tie all the public hospitals in New Zealand together. It necessarily involved a lot of travel throughout the country’s islands—North, South, and Stewart Islands. Not only was the firm recruiting prospects in the US but internationally as well. As it turned out, I was offered a job. This move would be over 8000 miles away, on my own, with no relatives, friends, car, apartment, TV, or map awaiting me at the other end. Instinctively, I realized that nothing the interviewers could say would help me grasp what that move to New Zealand would be like. So, I simply decided to accept the offer and embark on both an adventure and a challenge. I took the proverbial leap of faith!
The usual thing to do at that point would be to start packing my bags and booking a flight. However, with the OK of the project managers in Detroit and Auckland, I opted to go by container ship, never having done that before or even knowing exactly what a container ship was. They are huge cargo ships with large containers filled with just about anything that needs to go from one continent to another, all neatly stacked one upon the other and occupying most of the surface of the ship. Often there are a few cabins for passengers who do not mind a no-frills journey.
On June 8, a Wednesday, I flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Friends who lived nearby in Laurel Springs, New Jersey picked me up at the airport. For part of the time that I lived in Jacksonville, I rented a room in the home of Grace Smith. With Grace were her daughter, Kippy, and her son-in-law, Danny, who worked for the FBI. Grace was visiting them and seeing me off. The next day, on my own, I went into New York City to get an Australian visa. When that was accomplished, I attended noon Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and ate a brown-bagged lunch in Rockefeller Plaza. No, I do not have what neurobiologists call super autobiographical memory. Fortunately, I came across faded letters that recorded those details. There was a time when history depended on letter writing and so did curious human beings. The world learned of Jesus because of letters, like the epistles of Paul, and about the eruption of Vesuvius because of the letters of Pliny the Younger. Later, historians, scientists, and an array of academic disciplines and technologies came along that have enhanced human knowledge over time. Today, of course, there is more information than any human being could assimilate or would want to.
In any event, on the following Friday, my three friends drove me to the Port Newark Container Terminal in New Jersey to board the S.S. Austral Ensign, owned by the Ferrell Lines. The ship was 813 ft. long, could carry up to 29,500 tons, and cruised at 22.6 knots or about 26 mph. The passenger accommodations were a pleasant surprise. The cabin deck was completely air-conditione