Passion and Obedience

We are thrilled that our VISAS are official now.  It wasn’t hard to get them written in the passports.  I just dropped them off on Thursday and picked them up on Friday.  Easy as pie.  PRAISE GOD!

Jenny and I are looking forward to Jen’s dad and step-mom’s visit this coming Friday.  It will be a short visit, but we’re looking forward to the chance to see and share with them.

While Caleb is pretty much obsessed with Superheroes these days, there are still glimpses of that “car loving” kid of old.  Yesterday, we began to go through somethings and are making decisions about what will and won’t go with us.  As a result, we had another “boys, you won’t get to bring all your toys with you” talks, and Caleb asks, “but can I bring my cars?”  I thought it was sweet to see him still remember his first-love and that he still wanted to make sure they made “the cut”.  Then today, he came into his room and said, “can we have three cars to take play with outside?”  Jen handed him a batmobile.  He then handed it back and said something like “no, can I have some normal, old cars?”  It so reminded me of our former life in the states.

Elijah… was REALLY fussy this weekend!  But he’s seemingly always friendly at school or in public.  I think he’s doing it to us on purpose.

After a silly family time at the table after dinner, Luke was so wound up he began singing over and over, “Oh where is my Hairbrush?” by the Veggietales.  He is a super cute and funny singer.  And to make it all the funnier, I literally have NO IDEA when the last time he saw that video was.  It was precious.

Lastly, please pray for our fellow language school student and missionary friend, Jessica.  Among a couple of other things, she has 3 kidney stones that she’ll need lithotripsy for, another she’s trying to pass, and a couple other complications.  Please pray for her and her family.  They have 4 young kids.

I have always felt that one should end a task in the same way they started it.  This has always proven difficult for me (and probably for most of the population of the world as well).  I don’t think I can remember a time that this task has seemed any more challenging.  I am ready to be done with language school.  I think my feelings have been compounded by the fact that I just missed 3 straight weeks.  I think I thought I was already done.  In fact, it’s kind of humorous to me that I am so ready to be “done” when I still have so much to learn.  That said, I am ready to turn the page and move on to our next phase of ministry.

Please pray for me as you read this that I will bear down for the next 3 or 4 weeks so that I can make the most of this amazing opportunity to learn Spanish in such a quality environment.

Unless my plans change, I am going to try and get over to the Peruvian Embassy tomorrow so that I can get the necessary stamps and papers for our VISAS in our passports.

Today I had my last appointment with Doctora Naranjo, my ENT.  She cleared me and said all looks well.  There are still a very few scabs that are yet to come off, but this is normal.  It can take up to 5 or 6 weeks for the last scab to come off.  Nevertheless, I am doing well and can eat virtually normally.  For my throat, that is.

I did get a bit more info about my gastritis.  She said I actually had erosive gastritis with a number of holes in the innermost stomach lining.  Of greatest concern was one lesion that was completely through the first lining and nearly through the second.  This would have been painful.  If I understand correctly, this is what a stomach ulcer is.

My last thing of the medical front is my appointment with the infectologist regarding my recurrence of mono.  I will see him next Thursday, the 24th, in order to determine if the virus is still present in my body.

Thank you to the many of you who have prayed for us diligently over the past year.  In 5 days we will have been in Costa Rica a year and in a month from today, we arrive in Lima.  Along the way we’ve had a couple of surgeries, mono, pneumonia, and a family edition of a parasite, not to mention the countless other viruses, ear infections and stomach bugs.  And lest I forget, we all (except maybe Elijah) had that TERRIBLE migraine virus!

But…

Praise be to God who has sustained us and strengthened us during this time of transition and the occasion sickness.  He has been SOOOO good to us!  We must, this day of a clear report, praise Him for He is GOOD!

The final full day of the trip was Saturday.  And while I’ll not recount the entire day to you, I do want to share with you one visit, our last visit of the trip.

We arrived at Miguel’s house while he and His friend, Gilberto, were hanging out and caring for their kids.  Miguel’s wife had recently left him and had had two bothers pass away in the past two months.  After talking and praying with him, I felt led to ask if we could come in and share with him and his household the gospel.  After sharing, everyone in the house over 10 years old, expressed a desire to trust Christ.  5 people in all!  It was really awesome!  And, better yet, the Pastor of the local church we were working with knows the family and is eager to disciple them.  Please pray for these men and their families.  Along with Rebecca (age 10), there were two other young ladies who trusted Christ (both teenagers) and the two men.

Please pray for these new believers (and don’t forget to pray for Lourdes too).

I got back home yesterday around 11am and I have loved seeing the family again!  And while my first day of school in three weeks felt weird, I’m excited that we’re closing in on the end of language school.  In fact, I just finished purchasing our Tickets to Lima!  We fly out on TACA airlines at 10:30am.  We have a direct flight and, if the Lord permits, we’ll be on the ground in Lima by mid-afternoon.

Friday was scheduled to be the “free day” for the “adult team”, the team for which I was translating.  We had our breakfast and devotional time together in the morning as normal, but in the afternoon we went to “Termales del Bosque” or “hot springs in the forest”.  It was a neat place where you walk down through the jungle on a path until you come to a number of naturally spring fed hod pools, each pool a different temperature.  There was a natural creek running next to the pools so you could get in and cool off.  There were even a couple of little waterfalls that you could sit in and get a massage.  While relaxing in a waterfall, I met a man that was vacationing there from San Jose.  I spoke with him about the Lord, and before I knew it, he was making sure my theology was sound!  After a while we went back to the termales and he introduced me to his family.  His oldest daughter is a student at the University of Costa Rica and she spoke good English” so we “tutored” one another for a little while.  She helped me with my Spanish grammar and I helped her with her English pronunciation.  It was a good experience for both of us.

Friday Night was an interesting night.  So that I could get the experience, I had agreed to Jay’s request to translate a short testimony at the Friday night youth event.  So, in front of about 75 people, several of which speak both languages, I translated.  It was a good experience and I think I communicated fine though I made a good many errors.  Oddly, I can’t remember a thing I said.  I think I was to focused on the “here and now” of the moment.  I’m thankful for the experience (as well as for Jay’s urging).

…

WE GOT OUR VISAS!!!

All we have to do is go get the stamps in our passports next week.  We are now clear to purchase our airline ticktets to Peru.  Thanks for your prayers!

The last two days have been exciting days of ministry.  Each of the last two days have involved some late nights for us as we held a youth event in two different areas.  In fact, one night we didn’t get back to the hotel until after midnight.

On Tuesday, we got to do more flyer distribution in Buenos Aires and also in Boca Arenal, another community in the area to which the US Church is in partnership.  We were able to pray with many families, some of which lived in homes made of 2×6’s and a dirt floor with some hammocks and mosquito nets for beds.  We got to pray for them and we were blessed by many of their responses.  That night one of our outreach teams saw an entire family come to faith in Christ.

Yesterday, while passing out Bible portions during our time in Buenos Aires (it was our last time to be in that community), I had a cool experience- God gave us the privilege to lead someone to faith in Christ.  And I was the only one on our team that spoke Spanish!  I was so nervous that I hadn’t explained it sufficiently that I KEPT asking her questions of clarification.  Praise God for this new sister in Christ.  And, she is a friend of the Pastor’s wife, Nuria, at the local church we have been working with so I am confident she will be well discipled in the faith.  And, thanks be to God, the other team also saw a young woman come to faith in Christ.  Please pray for all these new believers, especially Lourdes, with whom I shared.

Today we did VBS and flyer distribution in the area near the hotel, where we are staying and where we attended church this past Sunday.  It was a rather plan day until Tony and I were walking back to the hotel when a man said to me, “You all are late!  You were supposed to be here at 4:00pm and you’re thirty minutes late.  We’re dying in here!  Satan is working in this house!”  I was really confused and wondering where either my Spanish or our plans had failed.  Then I saw the problem as two mormon missionaries make there way to our man.  He had thought we were them.  He had confused us with them, thinking we were the others since we were “North Americans”.  He invited us in first and Tony and I went in and the Mormons were left on the porch.  We proceeded to share with him the truth of Jesus Christ.  I pointed out some of the CLEAR differences between the gospel and their teachings as I spoke with him.  When we left him nearly an hour later, the Mormon young men had gone over to the house next door.  To my chagrin, she had received them into the home.  It was intense to be a part of such a strong case of spiritual warfare.  Please pray for Josue.  He has lots of issues and needs THE truth!

Afterwards, we had the night off.  We enjoyed a meal at Pizza Hut.  Then we had Pop’s ice cream (now Jenny is REALLY jealous!)  It has been another good and exciting day!  Just before typing this, I spoke with Jenny and I am glad to relate she is doing well.  She had concealed that she had felt pretty “flu like” the last couple of days but that she’s better now.  She was sweet to think of me in this way.  I know it was hard on her to be sick AND alone…

Here are a few prayer requests-

• Josue-has a ton of problems and needs Jesus
• Lourdes - that she may be discipled well and grow in the faith
• Jenny - That God’s hand would continue to rest upon her as she frees me to do this ministry
• My Spanish and the overall ministry of the team
• That these churches be strengthened through our work and that God be glorified in it all!

Yesterday was another good day.  We went back to Buenos Aires and canvased the neighborhood while the our other team, the youth team, led the kids in a VBS at the community center.  I understand it went quite well.  During our visits today, there wasn´t a national believer with us so I did MUCH more translating for our group.  I enjoyed it immensely.  We were able to pray with a few more families, including a mother and her grown son.  He is involved in drugs and doesn´t want to work.  We were even able to share the gospel with him (not through an official presentation, but by using Romans 5:8).  Please pray for Bermàn.

After this time, we went back to the house where our partner church meets and we enjoyed fresh pineapple juice, pineapple, and bread.  It was delicious… well the bread was.  Because of my surgery I still can´t have the pineapple.  We then went to dinner at a restuarant in town.

Today we have the same plan during the day, but we also have a concert for the youth at 7pm.  It will make for a long day, but I pray it will be especially good.  Also pray for us because our purpose in going out today is to share the gospel in every home possible.  Pray for divine appointments!

Also, thank you for praying yesterday.  While I still make lots of mistakes, I translated with much more confidence.

The bus picked me up Saturday Night at about 7pm.  Because the groups flight came in late, we didn’t get to the hotel until about 2am.  I’m thankful we made it safely as our bus driver has the flu.  It didn’t take me long to go to “sleepy town”!

I got up Sunday morning about 8am and had a nice hotel breakfast of gallo pinto y huevos (rice and beans with eggs) and then spent some time in bible study and prayer.  We then went to church- and it actually meets here at the hotel.  It was a nice service.  I especially love partaking in the Lord’s Supper in a cross cultural context- it simply highlights our brotherhood in Christ and His love for every person.  The message was about lying and the importance of telling the truth.

San Carlos is a nice size town with a KFC (I gauge the size of places here with how many US based companies are present).  There are plenty of people here.  After lunch, we went to an area called “Buenos Aires” (not the giant Argentine city but rather an area of rock and dirt roads).  In Buenos Aires, we went door to door inviting people to the VBS that the teenagers will be presenting over the next 3 days in the area.  We divided up into teams where there was a national believer, a couple of North Americans, and a translator.  Antonio, the national believer in my group, was an excellent communicator.  We had the opportunity to pray with a number of families.  We are going back to the same houses today to invite them to an outreach event for teenagers and then we will go back again later in the week and hopefully share the gospel.  It is going to be great!

The national church that we’re partnering with is a fantastic church of about 30 people.  They are seeing a move of God through the relationship they have with the Church from the states we’re working with and have baptized 9 adults in the last month or two.  God is doing a good work in the area.

Yesterday evening, we went and picked up the other half of our group (they had the afternoon off and went to the hot springs) and then we ate at a nice restuarant.  I had a excellent meal- Chicken cordon bleu.  And we shared an appetizer of Cerviche.  Good stuff.

Please do pray for me… my confidence is a bit shaky sometimes in translating as there is still so much I don’t understand.  Pray that I will confidently serve to the best of my abilities and that God will fill in the gaps!

Thank you for your prayers.  We arrived last night at 2am at our Hotel and we had a great church service this morning.  I found a computer at the hotel so I could post this.  Please pray.  We are going out to visit homes right now (1:30pm Costa Rican Time).