Discouragement

This week in my personal devotions and prayer time I have been in II Cor. chapter 4. Right off the bat in vs. 1 the smack-down begins with this verse "Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart"! Sheesh God, why not shout a little louder at me?

I rarely write about discouragement on this blog. Is it because I don't feel it? No! Mainly, it's because I want people to be encouraged, blessed, give people a window into missionary life in what I write. I don't want to have to change the name of the blog to something along the lines of "Doom and Gloom". And then God divinely began to place questions on my mind - So, you're writing about missionary lifestyle, yet you give people the false perception that you never get discouraged? You want to encourage and bless in your writing, but what if you asked for prayer during your discouragement, could not allowing someone to pray for you bless or encourage them when they see prayers answered?

So, here's a little window into my world as of late. I am discouraged. Um, maybe I should have written that in bold type because that would be more accurate! I mean, I am REALLY DISCOURAGED with language study! I've been taking lessons for a year and a half now, three days a week, an hour each day. Somewhere in my head, my brain, it doesn't seem to be clicking to me. English is such a formal language and Spanish is so informal. For example, we would say, "The blue car", here, they say, "the car blue". I plain have trouble with what feels like I am speaking backwards. Not to mention what seems like an unending list of conjugation rules!

Today, I wasn't even ten minutes into my Spanish lesson and started to cry. While my Spanish teacher was a comfort and encouragement to me I just wanted to share what it feels like on a very real, day to day basis not to be fluent in this language and be involved in ministry.

First, I feel like an 18-month-old in a 46-year-old's body; learning new words, having to repeat them or have them repeated to me so I say them correctly and can make the "connection" between object/meaning and word. Second, when an 18-month-old speaks to you, do you usually get what they are saying? I don't, so, I smile and look at the parent and ask for an interpretation. The only problem is, this 18-month-old has her 16-year-old or 14-year-old interpret for her! That's embarrassing and in some odd way feels like a sick role reversal. Therefore, I really don't have any independence to invite people or a friend over for coffee, or a dessert with conversation without my children nearby. This coming from a person who is very relational is difficult. I guess that is the most discouraging for me!

Well, anyways, I am putting this post up and I'm going to ask boldly, "would you please pray for me" regarding language study? I trust that since God has given us this ministry, certainly not because He needed us, but through Him, he is allowing us, that the light bulb is going to go on someday soon and I should just keep plugging along and not lose heart. Knowing that people are supporting me in prayer would be such an encouragement! Thank you so much!

"Okay God, I did it. Can I please go to bed now"? :)

The Volcano and its possible ? eruption

Not much more to report about the volcano down here. We don't have T.V. in our home. We usually have someone who calls us with any "breaking news" as they did the other day about the possible eruption of the volcano. I've asked our Spanish teacher who does have T.V. what she has heard over the last couple of days, but she hasn't been available to watch the news. She did inform us that Saturday it was clearer and she saw it spewing a huge cloud of smoke! Perhaps, that is why it was reported on the news that it would be blowing up soon, not sure. So, usually in these parts "word travels fast". I walked to the end of our road to see if I could get a glimpse of the volcano, but again, too much cloud cover. In just a little bit we are planning to head into town, so maybe we can see it if the clouds give us a little opening. I guess this is what it would feel like to be a tornado catcher! Trying to have a volcano sighting in this area with the elevation and clouds is at least very entertaining!

It's a pork fat morning!

Yesterday, I finally broke down and bought a package of bacon. We haven't had any in over six months. It costs about $6 in US dollars for a one pound package here and closer to $7 if you want "fancy" bacon such as sodium-free, hickory smoked, etc. Last night we had eggs and bacon for dinner as soon as we got home from the store. This morning, we just finished a family breakfast of the same. We have just enough left to put in the freezer for another family breakfast some time in the future. We denied ourselves as long as we could due to the expense and we are used to that, pretty much. Then, there are some days when you just cannot take it any more. Yesterday, was one of those days. Thank you, Lord, for pigs and for the simplicity of enjoying three pieces of bacon this morning!

Volcano Update

Got word today that on the news the volcano pictured below is reportedly nearly ready to blow. It is only about a ten minute drive for us to view the volcano (not up close and personal, but from a very far distance), however, that is difficult for us to do because usually it is covered with clouds! We'll try and keep you updated on what is happening.

An update and a lot of administrative "stuff"

I think I have been enjoying our last couple of weekends off a little "too much" since my brother-in-law, Gary, let me know on Facebook that I had not been updating my blog as of late. We were supposed to have a baptism service at the camp on Sunday, a group was supposed to rent the camp for the day, but they ended up cancelling. So again, we had a full weekend off! On Friday we took the day off and went to the amusement park here in San Jose with our children for a belated Children's Day celebration. Last year, we took the kids to the Children's Museum. The weather on Friday at the amusement park was gorgeous and we also enjoyed having a picnic lunch there. We stayed until dark and took a train ride through the entire park to observe all the lights on the rides, etc. It was a lot of fun! I personally enjoyed the water rides on what was a rather humid day! Quite unexpectedly, we got to the park entrance and it was a buy one, get one free day, so that was neat!

There's always a mound of administrative paperwork to do on a personal and a camp level. First, I have been in a slump lately with regard to writing. It is time to write another update letter to our supporters through Global Outreach Mission and there is actually a lot to report, but writing never does come that easily for me. So, you could pray for me in the next days as I scribble, erase, reword and attempt to write, that the words would be clear and that people could sense what we are doing here. And with regard to the blog, that writing does not come easy either. I like to include pictures as often as I can. Not sure that pictures of me folding laundry, organizing and moving furniture would be that impressive, but I have been doing some of that around the house during this slower time when a lot of it gets left undone. I do not function in my home very well with a lot of clutter and when we have our busy times it seems that we accumulate a lot of that from people "dropping and going".

And the camp; well, our fiscal year ends here in September and all of our receipts and book work need to be turned over to our accountant for the camp in October. With the camp being booked up now until the end of the year, and already receiving phone calls for bookings into next year, last night we had our annual discussion about rental rates and possible increases. Needless to say, this year we lost a lot of kitchen supplies, bakeware, silverware, even dishes and have had to make decisions about how we will manage that in the next year. So, the administration of the day to day operations of the camp always keeps us thinking and on our toes trying to stay one or two steps ahead!

This Sunday we will be going out of town with Katherine & David to do the logistics for the medical clinics for a January 2010 medical team. This always helps to see an area and location ahead of time to keep us within budget for the team in transportation, meals, and necessary medical supplies, etc.

And one last thing, a dear friend of mine and faithful supporter back at our home church in N.C. recently told me about a game on Facebook called Bejeweled Blitz when I was home. I heard what she said, but haven't really had a lot of free time to check it out. This last week, I checked it out and found that it is a pretty fun game. While it is addicting, I sit down with a very specific time limit on how long I will play and then return to my "activities of daily living" (I've typed too many medical reports over the years). Since I live out of the U.S. I am not able to play in the Bejeweled Blitz Tournaments. Now depending on how well you know me, you might sense an underlying level of competitiveness in my spirit. That being said, I rallied Kyle, our son, to try the game. So, now we compete (I hate that word, sounds so wretched, bwahahahaha) against each other sending little "smack" messages to each other on Facebook! We have stooped so low as to play in different rooms of the house from each other and tease each other! It's fun and keeps us entertained down here and our life balanced as "sick"as that sounds.

On a physical note, I feel exhausted from lack of sleep. You know you are tired when you look forward to leaving the country to have your VISA stamped! We do that every three months (90 days) and while expensive to do, this is when we get optimal sleep in a hotel! Last night, not sure how it happened, but even with our front gate closed, we had two or three dogs in our garage growling at each other and carrying on and one of them was the beloved "Miss Kooky". She has taken up residence on our front porch at night and feels this is her territory to protect, I guess!
I'll end with a challenge! Try Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook, just one round and leave a comment here and let me know what you think!

Blessings!

Up for air...

So many things have been happening this past week since I last posted. We did have a one-day rental group on Saturday of 80 people for a marriage retreat. The preparations for this group began on Friday afternoon with an extensive scrub down of the camp kitchen and bathrooms. Before Heather and I got done with that some members of the group did come in on Friday evening to begin decorating, hauling in a large amount of fresh flowers. We did finish the swimming pool painting and now the pool is again filled up with water and will be used this weekend by a group for a baptism ceremony. Also, last week from Tuesday evening through Friday evening Ken and I finished attending Bible study. Other than that, we have had the van break down again and had another appointment today for it to be looked over by the same repairman. We have had various dentist's appointments as well.

The weather here has been extremely dry over the past couple of weeks compared with this time last year. "Rumor" has it that this is not good because it often coincides with earthquakes. While we have felt some minor trembles; it feels like someone is heavily walking across the floor of your house, I am happy to report that there has not been anything major. We are in winter season here and also that means rainy season as well. Finally, today we have had on and off heavy rains beginning this afternoon, although before the rain came without warning we lost power for a few hours. Since the rain has begun this afternoon we have had power restored, only to lose it again. For now, it has been on again for a couple of hours. Needless to say, not a whole lot got done around the house today like laundry, for instance, but it kind of comes with the territory!

Both Saturday and on Sunday following church we felt that the Lord would have us open the doors of our home for hospitality. We had a good time entertaining some Tico families this weekend and hope that it was a blessing for them as well.

Currently, the camp is pretty much booked up until the end of the year already and then in January we begin the onslaught of our "busy" season with short-term teams.

Well, hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day...with being kind of busy as of late, we are running out of clean clothes! Hope you are having a blessed week.

Around our town on Independence Day

After it got too hot to do much more painting and despite sunscreen, we were beginning to get burned; we decided to pack some lunches at home and take the kids to a Mirador (look-out) on a mountain range about 20 minutes from our home. This is Volcan Turrialba. The white in the "v" is a cloud. The white that is slightly curved to the left is actually a smoke stack that is spewing from it. We rarely see this Volcano due to covering clouds, so we were excited to get an updated picture. Right now, the scientologists here in Costa Rica are not exactly sure what is going on with this volcano as far as a possible major eruption. We do know that they have asked residents below the volcano to live elsewhere due to sulfur.
While we zoomed in, this is the best picture that we could get. We are standing at the Mirador in the town called Ujarras, about twenty minutes from our home, but on another mountain range. Toward center-right in this picture you see in the distance a small town. That's our town - Orosi in the valley of the mountain, also known as "Orosi Valley".

Now we are home getting ready to go to Bible Study. Our good missionary friends from Michigan have their Pastor here for this week. He is also a counselor and serving their church here by offering Christian counseling courses. While he only speaks English, he does have someone interpreting into Spanish for him, so what an opportunity for us to attend a Bible Study in our native language! Also invited from our church was our Pastors and their wives, and a couple of the Youth. Tonight, we are the taxi for these people as well. I know it will be a real blessing from what we learned from his teaching the other night, and a good time of fellowship with those from our church!

No rentals does not mean no work!

While we had hoped to catch an Independence Day parade today, when we woke up the skies were cloudless and light blue. This is rare since we are in the midst of rainy season here and just about to hit the peak of it which would mean more likely all day rains. While we have had the past two weekends off from rental groups, that doesn't necessarily mean that we don't do any work! What it means is that we can do "maintenance" projects that are otherwise put aside because of the almost constant influx of people between rental groups, short-term teams and interns. That being said, this past week the pool at the camp got drained and cleaned. And just as we did approximately a year ago this week, we are painting the pool again. I guess you might be able to guess what color it is from the picture that Kyle took above! Viva de Costa Rica!!!

"Dia de Ninos" y "Dia de Independencia" - A week of Celebrations!

I think I mentioned last week that this past Tuesday was "Dia de Ninos" or "Children's Day". This is a big celebration here in Costa Rica. While the children do not have off from school; they do get to have a very special day in school with most all classrooms planning a special day of activities, like going on class field trips, playing games throughout the day, having class picnics with ice-cream. Most special is that they do not have to wear school uniforms on this day and are allowed to wear jeans or shorts for the day of activities!

This next week in Costa Rica we also celebrate "Dia de Independencia" or "Independence Day" and much like the 4th of July in the United States, it is a huge celebration. Everyone has the day off from work and school. There will be fireworks and parades all over the country!

Today in church we celebrated both holidays since this is the only Sunday in between both of these special days. Last year on the blog I posted some pictures of the Youth and Adult Youth Counselors in typical Costa Rican dress and dancing. The dance is very historic and cultural in nature. All of the children are taught how to do these very specific dances in school and they are done in church to honor their country. Below is a picture this year of only Youth Group dancers in typical Costa Rican dress. I guess they figured they didn't need the "old folks" to help them out this year! They did an awesome job!

While we do have a worship leader in our church, rarely do we have leaders in the front doing hand motions or dancing while singing, but because it is "Children's Day" special music is learned by members of the Youth Group and the Children's Ministry Director complete with movements and dance steps. Everyone is encouraged to move up front to participate in the music. As was said this morning, "it doesn't matter if you are an adult, we are all children in spirit".

Here's a very short video of the Youth Group leading some of this music and Jordan participating in one of his favorite celebrations here in Costa Rica! And of course, no celebration here in Costa Rica happens without a pinata. Immediately following the church service which included a very special sermon just for kids, there was a pinata to be broken, ice-cream cones, and every child received a decorated bag filled with candy, just to make the pinata all fair ;)

I've been thinking...Be very afraid!

I am frequently on Facebook to keep in contact with my family and friends. Just a couple of days ago a dear friend posed a question on her Facebook to anyone that would dare answer. See, she is a gifted writer and is praying over a future book or as the Lord directs, possibly writing another Bible study. Here's what she posted: How do we lose our compassion? Become complacent? Sit, rather than move for His kingdom? I must say, as I told her, "could you possibly ask any deeper questions"? I thought for a bit, and I guess I answered as best that I could, assuring her that I didn't know the "right" answer, but was just sharing my personal thoughts. But really, I have to say, that over the last few days those same questions have been burning on my soul. How do we get to this point in our Christian walks? Why is it that my friend is seeking answers to the same concerns that Paul had for the churches back in his days? He (Paul) certainly wrote and warned about being lukewarm. One thing that I very simplistically touched on in my response to her was some of what we are dealing with down here in our churches...the Prosperity Gospel; the "God blessed you, now you bless me gospel" or the "Santa Claus gospel" as our team kindly refers to it; i.e. The, "sure, I'll accept Him, now what's He gonna do for me gospel". Rather than call it any of these, I most often refer to it as the "Satan Factor". Satan was hard at work during the day of Paul and he continues to do a mighty deception within the Body of Christ today. Somewhere along the way, it seems to me that Christianity has been redefined to "fit into" our culture. I found this to be true when we were accepted under Global Outreach Mission to full-time missionary service. Never in my life have I felt more "strange" about my beliefs than in sharing this news with a good Christian friend, when she informed me that my children would never amount to anything by taking them on the mission field. What was already for us a real battle in obedience and surrender; (what we perceived to be authentic Christianity), was frowned down upon and labeled by my friend as "legalistic". I believe that A.W. Tozer hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "That this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of fundamentalist Christians. They are facing both ways, enjoying Christ and the world too." Perhaps, we have settled in our Christian walks and we have compromised. Again, I don't have the answers.

"As Christ's soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army. Follow the Lord's rules for doing his work, just as an athlete either follows the rules or is disqualified and wins no prize". 2 Timothy 2:4-5

Thank you to my dear friend, who has caused me this week to do some soul searching, concentrated praying for myself (it's easiest to pray for everyone else, isn't it?), and to keep in check how I am running and how I might finish the race! Lord, help me not to be disqualified.

Numbers, receipts, expenses...

Taking a very short break from working on "the numbers" with Ken. No, we don't play the lottery! Just doing campground bookkeeping, looking over receipts, numbers, expenses, budgets...all the kind of stuff that after a few hours plain gives you a headache! But, there is a nice, cool rain this afternoon and gentle breeze blowing through the diningroom window near the table we have been sitting at. So, that's how we've been spending today; enjoying each other's company and checking over each other's numbers to submit our August report to the mission. Hope you are having a nice Thursday as well! Oh and last night, El Salvador 1, Costa Rica NADA and out of the run for the play-offs! Ah well! Something to tease Katherine about when she returns on Monday since the United States is still in it :)

Boo!

Mexico 3, Costa Rica NADA!!!

Personal opinion, I think there was some bad refereeing and some "dirty" plays! Of course, when Costa Rica plays Estados Unidos, I still cheer for "home"...Go U.S.A.! (Lo siento mucho, Pastor Mario and Jeffrey)!

A weekend off...AND a Happy Birthday!

For the first time in a very long time, (like so long that I cannot even remember) there is not a weekend rental at the camp! Therefore, we have a weekend off! Besides sleeping in late on a Saturday morning; (when we have a rental group that comes in on Friday night, usually they request the camp to be locked up around midnight and the camp kitchen opened as early as 5 a.m.); this is how we spent the beginning of Saturday afternoon...OFF. Ken and I watched the Syracuse University Football game via laptop on ESPN2. Unfortunately, Syracuse lost, but it is the simple things that we often don't get to see because of time constraints that make life down here a little more "fun"!

Well, the games over and I have a sink full of ripening bananas. Time to get up and make some banana bread!

A "Very Happy Birthday Wish" to my brother, Peter, back in Syracuse, NY. Hope your day with your family is as Special as you are! We love you!

The van...(insert eyeball roll here)

Ergh...Ken just called and is at the side of the highway as the van has broken down. Our insurance does, however, cover free towing. I am frustrated because we had to cancel our dinner plans for tonight. We had been looking forward to it all week long! Since our friends are also missionaries, they are church planters, it is hard in our ministry schedules to get together! We have a lot in common with them and enjoy any time that we get to be together. They also homeschool, love board and card games (very competitive). Sometimes, when we are together, we just sit around and laugh at our stories of adapting to this culture and how things are done! Oh, the stories!

Hopefully, the cost of the repairs won't be too much. That's why I put at the top, "insert eyeball roll here". Somedays, it just feels like you cannot get ahead!

Guess I best get in the kitchen and see what I can come up with for dinner ideas!

P.S. To my brother, your question about which team we will cheer for: We will be supporting Costa Rica because it would be scary to do anything else but that since soccer is taken very seriously here! We will wear red, white and blue since the flag here is the same colors as back home! No wigs!

R&R...just a little

I cannot remember the last time we did not have a rental group at the camp on the weekend! While we enjoy having groups, this weekend and next no one has booked the camp and we will enjoy having some time off, free weekends! Tomorrow night, some missionary friends (Americans) who used to live in San Jose, but have now moved closer to us, have invited us over for dinner with their family. They have three kids, two girls and a boy. On Saturday night of course is the BIG game, soccer, Costa Rica vs. Mexico and the Youth Group will be over at the camp watching that and of course, we might have to "crash" that party! While we miss the interns and the ministry that we have been able to do because we have had more help here; this week I have been able to get "caught up" on some much needed housework. When we have teams, or when we are in "ministry mode" with interns, or on our own, things often times fall to the wayside which after a while drives me nuts! While not all the jobs this week around the house have necessarily been fun, like scrubbing our bedroom walls this morning...okay, I realize some of you are asking why I am doing that! It is rainy season here now and we have no insulation in our home. Literally, our inside wall of our house is also our outside wall. With it raining every day, moisture is beginning to build up on the walls of some of the rooms of the house inside and growing mildew. Having a lull in ministry has allowed me to begin the scrub down! While it isn't the most "exciting" job, it is nice to have the time to be able to get it done and you certainly feel as though you have accomplished something just in the sense that the rooms smell cleaner! So, this week, that is what I have been doing, cleaning, moving beds around, organizing and putting things "back to normal" in our humble abode. I am thankful today for the time to get it done and time to sneak in a little nap besides.

Sorta been down...

Okay, found the camera...PTL! Jordan on the other hand has strep throat and is taking an antibiotic, but not really feeling that well. He has been having dizziness because he has an ear infection which has made him a little scared not having really experienced it (dizziness) before. At the time of this post he will take his third dose of the antibiotic, so hopefully tomorrow he will feel better. I didn't find the camera in time to take any pictures of the football tournament.

The last couple of days I have been feeling kind of down myself, and the distance from here in Costa Rica to my family feels huge at this time. Thankfully, I feel better today. I think it is just part of the grieving process and the fact that last week would have been Mom's birthday. Though I would have to mail a card weeks in advance, pray, cross my fingers and hold my breath that it would get to her on her birthday in time; I certainly missed the chance to call home, which is what I have always done on her birthday even when we lived in the States, and say Happy Birthday and remind her how much I loved her!

One thing she did always teach us kids when we have faced difficult situations is to always focus ourselves "up", so I have been spending a lot of time focusing on Him, who is able! I've spent more time in prayer, reading the Bible, listening to music and instead of focusing on something that makes me feel sad, focusing on something that makes me feel happy. Oddly, it is the one thing that my Mom and I had most in common, cooking and baking, though she would tell you, "I don't know where Sherri learned to cook because she never wanted to spend time with me in the kitchen when I wanted to teach her". That is true! But, what she didn't know is that I did spend time watching her! Yesterday, I spent the entire day cooking and baking for my family which brings them as well as me a lot of pleasure.

Here is a verse of a song that echo'd in my mind as I played worship music in my kitchen yesterday while I was cooking and baking.

"These sufferings,
This passing tide.
Under your wings,
I will abide.
And every enemy,
shall flee.
You are my Hope and Victory"!

He continues to work in my life and without Him, I am nothing.