La Carpio

For some time now I have been spending my Wednesdays in La Carpio, the newest ministry area for CLFCR. I have quickly grown to love the people in this area and look forward to this part of the week.

About 6 weeks ago, some 60 people began the journey through the first book in the discipleship series we use. More importantly, they are learning through God's Word what it means to have New Life in Christ and guarding God's Word in their hearts.

I have been blessed to watch four women from Los Guido, Lucia, Rosa, Sandra and Luisa, not only desire to make disciples in this area, but take in action and begin these groups.

This may seem like a relatively easy task, but it involves quite a bit of planning on our parts as missionaries, as well as theirs, as the teachers. Coco has taken the responsibility of overseeing new ministries and so is overseeing these new groups. Melinda is working with the women to coordinate and organize our time and efforts their. They both work together to ensure transportation to and from La Carpio each week. This is where it gets tricky. The women get picked up near their homes in Los Guido each week, as well as one of the LG leaders, Evelyn. Then all travel to a hospital near La Carpio to park the van. (we still have no secure place to park the van each week, so we do not drive in- we take the bus). So, the car gets parked and we all walk to the bus stop nearby and wait for the next La Carpio bus. We take the bus into the stop that is closest to the first group and get off the bus. We then walk downhill about 2 blocks or so through a rough part of town you could say to get to la casa de Don Juan. The house where the first group meets is where a man named Juan lives. There is a little girl that lives in this house named Stephanie who is 4 years old and needs oxygen to breathe. She has been told she'll be on oxygen for the rest of her life. Melinda and Coco teach this group so they stop there and we walk on another 3-4 blocks downhill on a dirt path that cannot be considered a road but leads to a road. Granted this "road" is another dirt path but cars make their way over it every day. When it rains it is nothing less than a river flowing through the city. Doña María's house is next and is where Sandra and Evelyn have their first group. I've talked about this family before. Matt and the kids and I were able to go with Mark and Meg take this family out for lunch and to buy shoes through the gift of an offering a couple months ago. I love being in this house. It is nothing like any house you have probably ever seen and my heart breaks thinking of the conditions this family and all the others God has touched our lives with from La Carpio, but the love and happiness we feel from this family is unmistakeable. Luisa, Rosa, Lucia and I walk on down a little farther on this road and Luisa and I reach our first group, Doña Helen, a single mom in her twenties with four small children. She is so sweet and her little boy Daniel has a smile that will light up any room! Rosa and Lucia walk down a few houses to their first group that meets in a small pulperia or corner store. After Luisa and I finish with Helen, we walk back up the street, greet Doña María again and head to our next group which is in the home of Doña Adrianna. Also in this group are Glenda and Sabina who are both single mom's and Adrianna's teenage son Emilio. A couple of weeks ago, Luisa and I learned that Sabina's brother is the father of three children whose mother and grandmother were shot and killed. She had been taking care of them for a while for her brother and told us that the oldest, the only girl, had witnessed the murders. The life these precious people live is so very different than anything I can even imagine and I am with them every week. So I understand if you are gasping with your hand over your mouth right now. It is tough to write about, tough to read probably, but it is real and it is every day for them. My daily prayer is that it be through God that they find hope. It is that hope that saved us a little over 10 years ago and that brought us here and is what keeps us here. Each pair has one other group as well and so all in all we spend about 2 1/2 hours there each week. Time that I cherish each week. After the groups are over, we all meet together in a desiganted location and walk up the hill to the bus stop. We generally have to wait anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the bus. Once we catch the bus, we take it to the hospital and walk the 4 or so blocks to where we parked the car. Then, I usually get dropped off at the spot where I meet Matt and we head on to Tejarcillos for the Wednesday night prayer service. The others head to Los Guido to return the ladies to their homes and families and then the members of our team return home. I usually get picked up around 10:30 and I meet Matt around 3:00 or so. Matt and I arrive in Tejarcillos about 3:30. I prepare to disciple a young lady at 5:00. Then the prayer service is at 6:00. We usually get home around 9:00. It is a long day for everyone, but well worth it! The kind of day you feel good about being tired about!

This Wednesday, Matt and I took our kids and we all went to La Carpio. We left to pick the ladies up in Los Guido at 9:30 and went through the whole routine. We ended up with a packed van as several of the youth had no classes and so were able to come with us. Coco and Melinda had planned to make arepas for Doñ Juan and his family and the rest of our team, so we spent an hour or so in his home. It was wonderful time of fellowship and he told me so several times. He is such a sweet humble man. Isabelle came with me to the groups Luisa and I have and Matt and Audrey and Ethan went with Mark and the team here now. We met us a little later and Ethan came with me to the last group. He apparently was really tired because at one point Doña Adrianna got my attention and said "Look, he's sleeping!" Poor guy! But they were wonderful the whole day! It was great and I love watching them mix it up and play with the kids in the ministry. After taking the Los Guido team home we made a quick stop at the Golden Arches to grab supper and headed to Tejarcillos or our Wednesday routine there. After the prayer service, we met with Pastor Rogelio, Neris and our four leaders to cover some things about an upcoming church event. We arrived home about 9:30, all terrbibly exhausted, but happy from a wonderful day. We were able to be in all three areas today and it was so cool. The time spent with the ladies and youth of Los Guido was really priceless.

I am amazed at what God is doing in La Carpio. We ask you to pray for these discipleship groups and the people in them. Pray for long term fruit in that these disciples will go on to make disciples and so on.

On September 7th, our team is planning an outreach where for the first time ever all three ministries areas will be together at La Finca! We look forward to this day with eager anticipation.

Here are a few pictures of the day in La Carpio.


Don Juan, Melinda and Coco


fellowshipping in Don Juan's house


Doña Helen, Luisa Brooke and Doña Ponchita


Isaura and Sharon, Helen's daughter


Mi amigo Daniel. ¡Qué Guapo! ¿verdad? (How handsome, huh?)


Doña Adrianna, Sabina, Glenda and her baby Rachel, Luisa and I

Please pray for these families as well as the others that are being discipled in La Carpio.

The Surreal Life

Sometimes life is so surreal. I can still remember my first trip to Costa Rica like it was yesterday- that first drive into Los Guido, painting the school buildings, my forever friend Jeffrey sitting with me for hours, the first time I met Neris, who has quickly became a dear friend. Little did I know then all God had planned for me and our family- how intricately He would one day wind all of our lives together.

Tonight is one of those moments where I sit back and think, "WOW God, you truly are amazing!" Tonight one of the youth from Los Guido, Isaura, whom I met on that very first trip here over just two years ago, is spending the night with us. I looked at her playing with our girls and could not help but feel the utmost gratitude for our God and His majesty and His willingness to give us the desires of our hearts when we truly seek Him first. I remember the countless prayers I prayed for this young girl during the months after being here. Matt and I exchanged penpal letters to her for alomst a year before we moved here. I remember the way she embraced our children when we first moved here, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to have a little "machito" (blond haired kid) and two little "gringitas" (little American girls) around her (which it is not at all normal here.) But Isaura welcomed them all into her world without blinking an eye and it has been that way ever since.

Tonight she sits watching a movie with our kids and it is all I can do not to weep from happiness at this moment. For those of you that read this blog and have been here to Costa Rica- I am sure you know her. Her sweetness is hard to miss if you have spent any time in Los Guido.

Anyway, I wanted to share this night with you. The girls have played Barbies, made crafts, played dress up and we've been able to just sit and talk with her, too. Isabelle has not stopped talking- all in Spanish and it has been absolutley fantastic to hear her speaking!

I'll be trying to post a blog with pictures from our trip and also one about La Carpio tonight if the internet continues to work!

Please pray for 12 year old Isaura. Pray for her life to be one that is one full of the abundance spoken of in John 10:10. Pray that God would keep her from temptation, protect her from evil and allow her opportunities to glorify him for the rest of her life!

The following pictures are of the girls playing dress up. Isaura was the princess, Isabelle was the ballerina and Audrey was the cat.

We're back...with internet troubles

Hi! Quick note to say we're back from Nicaragua. It was great- we LOVED it! I'll post pictures and more at a later time (I know I always say that...) but I only have a few minutes right now.

We are having some major troubles with our internet...still... Today is the first day I've been able to even get on the blog.

Please excuse the lack of posts and forgive me for not updating very much until we can get the problem fixed. Thanks :)

I wanted to post about a conversation I had with Isabelle today. She casually mentioned to me the other day that she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up. Then again today she mentioned it. After a few minutes she said..."well, I either want to be a doctor or I want to own my own store." I said "Really? You're own store? What kind of store would you like to have?" She said either a McDonald's or s Burger King. Then she said, "Well, I really like Taco Bell, so maybe that."

It was pretty cute. I am not sure where she got those two ideas but we'll see where God takes her!

We're heading to Nicaragua...

HI! Just wanted to post that we'll be away from the computer for awhile. We are heading to Nicaragua to renew our Visas. We are now here in the country of Costa Rica as tourists, which means we have the right to remain here for 90 days at a time. After 90 days, we have to leave the country for a 72 hour period, then we are free to return again for another 90 period. This is a process we will repeat for the entirety of our life in Costa Rica...

Hassle? You might ask...At first we thought so. And to some degree it is. But also, we are extremely excited for the uninterrupted family time we will have and the time to actually relax!

The hardest part will be the 8 hour bus ride. We always pray for safety when we ride a bus like this, whic has only been about three times. Those three times though have all been a little scary at times. So you can pray for our safety as we travel on the bus.

We are somewhat nervous about crossing the border and also about getting from the bus stop to our destination which is about 30 minutes away. Aparently NIcaragua is not like Costa Rica in that they are buses running every 20 minutes or so. In NIcaragua there are only so many buses that run at the same times every day and if you miss those, you are out of luck...

There are taxis at the price of $70 a taxi per four people- which won't work for us...

So, anyway, you can pray for that part of the trip where we are trying to get from the bus stop to the hotel. We have to check the time the bus leaves from the stop and also find a grocery store to get groceries from before we leave the city as well!

(Sounds like it will be exciting, huh?)

We will be gone Monday through Friday. Thanks for your prayers!

GRADUATES!!!!!!

Today we officially graduated language school!!! WOHOO!!!!

After a long year of classes, tutoring, homework, endless notecards and exams...we are finally done with language school.

While we are no where near fluent, we have a great base to build on and we'll have the rest of our lives to perfect what we've learned the past year...

What have we learned? you might be wondering.

We've learned 15 different verb tenses and how to conjugate any verb into these 15 tenses. We've leaned 14 rules to the subjunctive verb tense. We've taken both oral and written exams; prepared, presented and moderated Bible Studies in Spanish; written countless papers on various topics and even debated some "hot topics" like death penalty, abortion and stem cell research both orally and through written papers.

It has been a great year and the teachers and staff at the Institue are really top of the line. We've grown to trsut and love many of them and it is great for us to have them here to lend us an ear and share life here with.

The fellow students we've met this past year will, in just a matter of days, be scattered all over Latin America as well as back in the states and other parts of the world as well. Countries like Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, Columbia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Argentina just to name a few. For us, in part, today was a little sad. I, of course, shed a few tears. I have made some dear friends this past year who I will miss terribly. However, I have great joy because I know they will be taking the life-saving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations! My sadness was momentary today because I know this is part of the plan God has for them and if they don't go, how will the people in those countries hear the good news of Jesus Christ?

Today, if for nothing else, was a reassurance of the good things God has done this past year. He has brought us so far in such a short time. He first created us, molded us over the early years of our lives, called us here, provided for us to be come here and remain here, and has created us for the purpose of being here. Today was the end of a great chapter in our lives. We now begin a new chapter sure to be full of things unimaginable to us now. We thank God for giving us the stregth to get to today and we petition Him for all we need for the days ahead.

Here are a few pictures from today...ENJOY!!


Matt and Brooke carrying the Costa Rican flag


Our family with the Costa Rican flag. Don't the girls look ADORABLE??? They have on their traditional Costa Rican dresses.


Some dear friends who will be returning to the states to start a Hispanic church plant in their city. Brian and Rebecca Harrison and their kids, Katie and Nick.


Our son, Ethan Matthew


Our Iz (or Isa, if we are speaking in Spanish)


The one and only Audrey Ann (with her "popi" or sucker)

the house, haircuts, goodbye friends and more...

Here are some more pictures that I've been meaning to post...I'll briefly describe each as we go :)


Iz and I both recently got haircuts. I went way short (like it?) and Sis got several inches cut herself. She loves and it looks so cute! I really like mine too. :)


Brooke with new hair!


The other day, Alex was over and he and Audrey had some bonding time reading Winnie the Pooh :)

Some pictures from some friends who've moved on to the countries they'll be ministrering in

Isabelle and her friend Megan


Ethan and Andrew (Audrey's buddy and friend from school, also Megan's little brother)


Brooke and some of her friends


Brooke and a few friends after a girls afternooon at the salon :)


Conner, Evan and Julia Van Minnen and the McClain kids :)

Finally, pictures of the house

Our living room


Audrey and Isabelle having a tea party in the school room :)


Ethan's room


The girls room


The kids bathroom


The dining room area


The kitchen


another view of kitchen


Our bathroom


Our bedroom

no internet...

Just a quick post to say we've had no internet for about a week...sorry for the delay in posts...I'll get something posted here in a few days- I hope :)

pictures...pictures...pictures!

Here is a massive picture post of the many I've been meaning to post for the past couple months.
ENJOY!


This was taken on one of the last nights the four teenage girls were here. Our girls have this dance game that has a DVD with it and Chelsie and Jessica got hooked on it. They had fun dancing with Isabelle on this night.


Even though we are in another country, we still try to find time to make life normal and just be silly. This was one of those nights :)


This was taken the morning the girls left. They were such a pleasure to have here for the summer. They helped the ministry in so many ways. We saw huge growth in them from the day the arrived to the day the left. God was definetly working on their hearts while they were here and we continue to pray that he continues to work on their hearts now that they are back home. THANKS Cherilyn, Chelsie, Heather and Jessica for serving Jesus here in Costa Rica!


This was taken one night when we had several families over whom we have become friends with over the past year. Of all the people we have met through school, these families have become very special to us. We will miss them as they prepare to head off to the countries God has called them to, but we are thankful for the time we've had to share life with them!


Our kids have all really bonded and our hope is that they will stay friends forever and one day look back to these days as the beginning of all God had planned for them!


This by the way is in the front open patio area of our home. Along the side of the house is another concrete area that is great for Ethan to practice soccer or for the girls to just play. It has become a great area to grill and spend time fellowshipping with friends. We have also been able to meet many of our neighbors this way, too.


Ethan had to get in the picture :) This is our dear friend Ale and Sandra, one of our Canadian friends :) She is SUPER sweet and a has been a great friend to me :)


This was on Audrey's birthday. Ethan made her a card and put some of his own money in the card for her present. How sweet, eh? (That "eh" is the result of the influence of my Canadian friends :) )


Isabelle gave Audrey her Dora doll for her birthday present! :)


Mommy and her girls


When Alex came back from his visit to the states, he brought a few surprises- one of which was a Game Boy for Ethan (in hopes to solve the gameboy fights we have in the house). Ethan was very surprised as you can see :)


Alex and Ethan hugging. Alex has definetly done a good job this year filling the role of Uncle for the kids :)

Pray for Mateo

Matt has his final oral exam today for the language school. Please lift him in prayer today. This is a stressful exam, but worth the evaluation we get from the teachers. Tomorrow he takes the written grammar exam. Please pray today and tomorrow for clarity and today especially for smooth speech and for God to give him the words to say.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY!!!!

Audrey Ann four years old :)

Today is Audrey Ann's 4th Birthday! Please remember her today as she has turned a year older! Isabelle said Audrey must feel like a whole new person today because she is 4! :)

I remember the day we found out we were having her, being pregnant with her, the day she was born- all like they happened yesterday! Where have the past four years gone? - that is the question I keep thinking today...


About 18 months- this is one of my favorite pictures of her


18 months


In the early potty training days :) (fall 2006)

What a gift God gives us in our children. We have them as a loan for such a short time. I am thankful for the three wonderful gifts he has given me and rejoice today to see the growth in her over the last four years!

A family first

About a week ago, we ventured out on a Friday afternoon, which is rare for us, and went to a mall about 10 blocks or so from our home. There is a movie theatre in the mall and our goal for this adventure was to see the movie Wall E.

We realized that this theatre only had the movie playing in Spanish and we thought that would deter the kids, but there were all for it- not minding at all that it was in Spanish. So, we bought the tickets and headed in for our first family movie in a theatre- ever! We realized we had never been as a family. It would have cost us a fortune in the states and Audrey has never been one to sit through a whole movie...those two things combined I am sure is what has kept us from this adventure in the past.

But this was the day and we were all excited! Mark (Kuzdas) and Ethan have been talking about seeing this movie for months, so the excitement has been building! So, the movie was FANTASTIC!!! We all enjoyed it! Matt thought it was one of the best movies he'd seen in awhile...(yeah- we're pretty much in that stage where Disney movies are still the bomb for us!!!) We laughed so hard in some parts and it was just a super sweet movie! We had a great night together!!!

Ethan came home and began the search for all the parts he would need to construct his own Wall E out of Legos! A few days ago, he finally had all the pieces he needed and after about half and hour or so he came out of his room with his very own Wall E and his little cockroach friend!


Ethan, Wall E and Wall E's friend, the cockroach


Wall E and his cockroach friend

I was simply amazed that he put this together out of the pieces he had- no kit, no instructions, just his imagination! He absolutely loves Legos and God has given him such creativity and imagination! Isn't it just amazing?? He is such a great kid!

He is working on Eva (or "Eve" in the English version) as we speak!

By the way, for all five of us and popcorn and two drinks it was less than $25.00! A BIG thanks to the special offering from First Presbyterian Church ladies Bible Study (Sue Wolfe's group) designated for "Family Fun!" It covered the cost of our movie night!!! Much thanks to you, our faithful prayer partners!!!

AND PAPPY, TOO!!!!!

We just found out that Matt's Dad, Roger, ("Pappy" to the grandkids and "Pops" to us) will be coming in September with Mimi!!! It took some persuading, but he decided to come and the tickets have been purchased!!! We praise God for this future visit and trust that He has big and wonderful things planned for our time together!

Mimi is coming to town!!!!

Just had to post that Matt's mom, Sue, ("Mimi" to the grandkids) will be coming to visit us in September! YEAH! She will be our first visitor and we are very excited!!!

Please be praying for her trip and her travels and our time together!!!

YEAH!!! :)

water update

Hey...well we were without water for 48 hours- plus! It got to be pretty nasty, but we made it through! It is funny how at times, it was so aggravating to not have the easy access of water. How inconvienant to have to "shower" with a bottle of water. We would leave the house for hours at a time, hoping that when we returned there would be water...and alas there would not be...

It made me think of the way it must be for God. How often he must sit patiently waiting on us to come to him. I am ashamed to admit that I know I cause him to wait on me often. I am so unappreciateive of his never-ending unconditional love for me at times, he must want to throw up his hands and say "Forget it, she's a lost cause..."

However, he does not. He loves me unconditionally and promises that he is always with me and will never leave me. He has promised me to answer my calls. He has promised me a place with him in eternity. So many things he has promised me. He gave his only Son to a fallen world so that I would could receive the gift of salvation through him and eternal life.

Recently, Matt and I have been in somewhat of a rut. No real reason to explain it...but never-the-less, here we find ourselves. Nothing really earth shaking, either- I don't want to alarm you...I don't know if it is the absence of worship in our heart language, the absence of those who have always held us accountable, maybe the need to decompress after such an intense language learning experience or maybe just life in general in a third world country first time in ministry with three young kids...Whatever the reason, my request is that you pray for us- that we would wait on the Lord. That we would thirst for Him and that we would remember to call out to him.

Pastor Rogelio recently shared scripture with us from Hosea 6. It is one of my favorite scriptures and I loved hearing it come from him...

"Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us in pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
In a short time,
he will restore us so we can live in his presence.
Oh, that we may know the Lord! Let us press on to know him! Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of the rains of early spring."

My pray is that the Lord would tear me and break me because it is in the moments where I sit wounded before him, but bandaged by his own hands, that I learn the most, that I grow the most and that I love the most. Wierd, huh? That I would ask for God to break me? But, I never want to be in the place where I am confident in my own ability- that is the point at which I will have fallen the farthest. It is not by my strength but by HIS power that I am able to live life day to day. May I always remember that and, yes, may God continue to break me and tear me each time I get close to the self-confident feeling I fear the most.

No hay agua...

We have been without water for over 24 hours now...uugghhh! Randomly across Costa Rica, the water will periodically be out. Sometimes, there are announced shut-offs for extended periods of time. This, however, is the longest time period we have experienced since moving here almost a year ago.

Yesterday we left the house mid-morning and stayed gone until the evening, stopping only for a short time in the afternoon. We had been hoping to come back last night to running water...not the case. So, off to the local supermarket to buy a gigantic bottle of water. Matt used the rain to fill buckets of water for the toilets and we used the bottled water to brush teeth and to drink. Matt and I slept on a unmade bed because I had been washing the bed sheets when the water went out yesterday morning and they were not sone yet...

This morning when we woke up...still no water...ay...yay...yay!!!! There was a little trickle from the kitchen sink for about 30 minutes so we utilized it and got the breakfast dishes from yesterday and today washed and filled some more buckets, but now the trickle is gone.

It is really eye-opening the things you take for granted. How often I have walked to the sink over the past day and turned the faucet knob without even thinking about it...and of course no water came out, but the action is so automatic. We generally never think twice about the basic neccesities of life NOT being there. Living here has caused us more than once to stop and remember the great wealth and abundance God has blessed the United States of America with. Living in Costa Rica definetly has its third-world moments, but all in all the city and its surrounding areas (where we live) is very modern and becuase of this we are able to live with many modern conviences. We are thankful God has blessed us in this way and thank him for the opportunity to live here and for moments to remember the great provisions he gives us.