"More of You, Less of me" John 3:30

It all started with...

2012-01-30T23:51:00.002-06:00

THIS! In nine days of clinics a total of 1,043 people were seen; 815 in the medical clinics and 228 in the dental clinics running simultaneously with children's ministry. The flyer above was prepared for the first 3-day site in the town of Cachi at the High School. From there more flyers were prepared for another set of 3-day clinics at a church in Tuccirrique. With the first six straight days of clinics behind us, on Sunday we stayed at the camp and worshipped as well as prepared for the orphan home/mother's ministry on Monday and a free day on Tuesday. We finished the last three days in a church in Cartago.

Saturday, the team took medicine inventory, the children's ministry team cleaned the closet and placed things back in their rightful places. The team left at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. We cleaned the Celebration Center on Sunday morning for an evening church service with Puente de Esperanza welcoming back their Youth from a Youth Retreat! Today, we grocery shopped for our family as well as took a couple with us who are staying on for four more weeks to do odd jobs around the camp. This afternoon Ken worked on the new cabin "mudding" one of the bathrooms and we hope to paint in the next day or two to finish the cabin for the weekend rentals!

Pictures and more details of the last two week team from the U.S. and Canada to follow as soon as I get some rest!

A new friend

2012-01-05T22:55:00.003-06:00

We have been really busy since arriving back home in Costa Rica. We have a team of 34 coming in on Saturday, January 14th, and have been having meetings with Pastors who will be hosting medical clinics and children's ministry in their churches with this team. With being gone for six months, our insurance on our vehicle had to be reinstated. Nothing in this country is easy or fast and it took the entire day to get the insurance again. We've had to go to the Municipality and wait in line to pay the camp's taxes. Today, we went up to San Jose and picked up the dental chair and equipment that one of our partnerships borrowed to prepare for the dentist coming on the team.

I was glad when I had a few minutes to get this "shot" of Cindy and Jordan enjoying one of our neighbors new baby parrots. She has an older parrot who is nasty in her personality, but this baby is sweet, loves to be stroked and just hang out.

Even with all the stress of running around this week trying to get things done in preparation for the team, God provided this moment of enjoyment and obvious BIG smiles!

I better get back to schedule planning and menu writing.

She's Here!

2012-01-04T10:34:00.005-06:00

This photo was taken in May after one of our Medical Clinics with a team. In this picture is a young lady named, Cindy. Cindy is 24 years old. She has grown up from the age of 4 in a children's home. She has suffered abuse at the hand of her biological family. She has a developmental delay and her mind will never progress past the age of 12 years old. Many of you may know, my twin sister has a developmental delay and has a 7th grade education. She also has an autistic child. My brother has a Down's syndrome child.

The woman who runs the children's home is an American Missionary having lived in Costa Rica for well over 25 years now. She has poured her heart, along with her American husband, who is blind, into these 24 children teaching them all English. The children's home is supported by Baptist churches all over Costa Rica and the United States. Due to overcrowding at the children's home and the government regulation that once they turn 18 they should move out of the home, Sally, the American Missionary mother has been receiving a lot of pressure by the government to rid the home of some of the older children. The government considers her home "overcrowded" and unable to take in younger children that the government would like to send her way. But where can a young lady such as Cindy go? She will never be allowed to receive a driver's license in Costa Rica due to her developmental delay. She will never receive a job. In effect, she is considered "worthless" to the government here. If she cannot get a job, she cannot pay taxes.

Through other wonderful American Missionary friends, we met Cindy last spring when they brought her down to the camp to visit with us. We listened as Cindy played the keyboard for us in the camp. Amazingly, she doesn't read a note of music, but she has a huge repertoire of Gaither music, and movie theme songs that she plays all by ear. She has helped us with our May team as an interpreter and in children's ministry.

After working with Cindy and getting to know her and in speaking with Sally, we made a committment that when we returned to Costa Rica, Cindy would move into our home and for the first time leave behind the familiar children's home. This would allow Sally to report back to the government that she had an opening in the home, and perhaps be relieved of some of that stress. The children's home has not always been a "safe haven" for Cindy with the younger children picking at her, and in the last month before we returned to Costa Rica we received word that the treatment from the other kids towards Cindy has heightened to them being at times outright "cruel". Cindy needs to be in a "safe" home where she is loved and protected. One time, Sally sent her to the corner store to get something and when Cindy didn't immediately return, she went looking for her. She found Cindy kissing an older man. Cindy has the mind of a child! She is eager to please, she is not promiscuous or sexually driven in her mindset. We have never seen her act inappropriately toward men, and what Sally thinks happened is she was talked into "trying" the kiss. Sally is scared for Cindy. There is much sexual abuse in this culture. Cindy could very easily be taken advantage of if not looked after.

She moved into our home yesterday morning, just two days after we returned to Costa Rica. She is already eager to help and has been working alongside us preparing for our next team in two weeks! Cindy is a Christian, a really strong believer who wants to have a sense of purpose for her life and wants to use it for God's glory. That is why we brought her into our home so that she could do ministry with us and experience that. Today, she is going to a meeting with us at an orphan home where she will have the opportunity to love on some kids who do not have the Hope that she has found in Jesus Christ.

Pray for us and Cindy during this transition time. Yesterday was a great day! At night she is sad and misses her children's home, but as I read scripture with her last night and as Ken and I prayed over her the Lord lifted her spirits. We do not have to adopt Cindy to have her living with us because she is an "adult". We adopted her into our hearts a last spring!

From Costa Rica

2012-01-02T14:16:00.002-06:00

Thank you for those of you who prayed for us during our travels yesterday. We returned to Costa Rica arriving around 1:10 p.m. in the afternoon. It was a difficult departure as we left our daughter, Heather, behind to continue her studies in the community college. I can't say as I've ever seen two siblings cry as much as Kyle and Heather did at the airport. This missionary service over the last four years has always had Heather in the midst of it all. Of course, it was a teary day for all of us as well. It feels strange to walk past her room here in the house in Costa Rica and not have her here. We are sad because of it. Yesterday would have also been my nephew's 38th birthday!

Please continue to pray for our family, for Heather as she continues to adjust in the States and studies, for Kyle as he clearly misses Heather (they are very close and apart from the age difference one might think they were twins, always together down here), pray for this Mama who misses both "her girls" (Danielle & Heather) and please continue to pray for healing over Karl's untimely death.

But, we are here, and we are here because of His strength and His promises that we can count on during these days!

Revelation 21:3-4 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away".

AMEN!!!!

Please Pray!

2011-12-30T11:01:00.004-06:00

Most of you reading this may already know. We left on Christmas Day afternoon for Atlanta and returned last night to our home in N.C. We helped my brother-in-law and sister-in-law put down a new ceramic tile kitchen floor. A couple of hours before we left, our daughter, Danielle, called us from N.C. My twin sister, Terri, had called her trying to track us down. Long story short, my 37-year-old, nephew, Karl, committed suicide at 1:40 a.m. yesterday morning. He is the son of my oldest brother, Dick. Please keep our entire family in your prayers.

I have little to say because all that I know to do during this time is to hold onto the truth that I know; that His ways are higher than our ways; that His grace is sufficient!

Right now, due to the nature of his death and what looks to be a bit of a delayed funeral, and the fact that we have airline tickets to return to Costa Rica this Sunday, and talking to family members, we are going to return as scheduled and take our flight. This Sunday, would have been Karl's birthday.

Thank you for lifting up our family during this difficult and painful time.

Ummm...WOW!

2011-12-04T20:24:00.002-06:00

It's really been since November 5th that I last posted on the blog? Really? What? Where has the last month gone?

Things like "presentations" have kept us busy the last several weeks with our last church presentation coming up on Dec. 18th to our home. We now have flight confirmations to return to Costa Rica on January 1, 2012. About two weeks after we return to Costa Rica we will be hosting a 35-person team from the States and Canada who will have a three-fold, two-week ministry of construction at the camp finishing the new cabin; medical/dental clinics in rural, low-income areas with simultaneous children's ministry. We've been working diligently at home here in the States doing what logistical work we can to prepare for the team, but all good, fun things must come to an end! When we return we will plan the menu for the two weeks, finalize the driver's, interpreters and other volunteers that we will use with the team, order construction supplies and get those delivered to the camp for the construction team, and make beds for the team's arrival, just to name a few things on the "to do" list.

We appreciate your continued prayers as we finish our furlough here with our families before returning to Costa Rica, Christmas Eve with our kids in our home here in N.C.; Christmas Day with Ken's Mom in her home with an early afternoon departure on Christmas Day to Atlanta, Ga. to visit Ken's sister and put down her Christmas present from her husband - a new tile, kitchen floor. We return to N.C. on Dec. 28 if all goes well to pack up our things here for our return!

Hopefully, I'll get to post more before we leave! Thanks for reading and for praying!

So much to say, so little time!

2011-11-05T22:41:00.003-06:00

Since Ken arrived home I feel like we've been caught in a cyclone that just keeps spinning us around and around; more on what we've been up to later.

It's 12:42 a.m. and we'd appreciate your prayers as tomorrow morning we will be doing a presentation at Garner Church of God during Kid's Church and speaking to children between the ages of 5 through 11 years. With talking to different age groups it usually means that you "mix up" the pictures some, and that's why I'm up so late tonight, just finishing working on the presentation. Also, on Wednesday evening of this next week, we will be speaking at Garner Church of God again, but to the adults, and wrapping up their revival services with our presentation. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we will be presenting at Lighthouse Church for their morning service as well.

Please pray! You never know who the Lord may call to the Mission field!

Have you been checking back?

2011-09-29T17:33:00.002-06:00

I'm sorry! I know I said I'd post pictures of the cabin, but I've not gotten around to it yet. It's 7:34 p.m. and I could go to bed for the night! I'm tired physically. I never sleep well in the bed by myself, though I don't mind stretching out and "hogging" the entire mattress :) I've been busy with the four kids; driving Heather back and forth to college, though because of the distance from the house and the need to conserve gas in our vehicle, that means I am on the college campus in the parking lot from 7:45 a.m. until 12:20 p.m. most days. Kyle is chipping away at homeschooling and when I return with Heather that beckons for my time as well. There's also administrative duties for our ministry that I have needed to get caught up on and got some mailing done this week which makes me happy to have it off my desk. I am ready for next Thursday when Ken comes home! Ready to have him home! Ready to be in a sleep-induced coma, at least for one good night!

I've been working on the "Furlough Bucket List" and this weekend with much cooler temperatures than we are used too, I will be inside and hopefully be able to get caught up on some thoughts and sharing on this blog!

Thanks for checking back in.

Did you know?

2011-09-23T20:53:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure that I even mentioned this in the last post, but Ken is currently down in Costa Rica overseeing a construction team. The team has been there a week now and I understand from Ken that they have made great strides in working on the new cabin. I actually have my camera battery being charged up now as I type this, but I thought tomorrow, I would go back and post the pictures of the cabin as it has been built prior to us returning for furlough in May. When Ken gets back in two weeks, hopefully, I can post some of the pictures he has been taking as he and the team work, and that should pretty much bring everyone up-to-date on where we are cabin-wise.

In case you didn't know, the camp currently has the capacity to house 70, and when the new cabin is completed, it will boost us up to 96.

So, here's an invitation to check back in over the next couple of days to read up on our newest building at El Jardin Sagarado! Hope you'll return.

Hickory Grove Children's Ministry - Part II

2011-09-18T16:05:00.010-06:00

This past Wednesday was the culmination of our working with the Hickory Grove Children's Ministry. The four weeks before we talked about what a missionary is, what the "message" is of a missionary. We talked specifically about the ministry that we do in Costa Rica with the campground and then we talked about the outreach ministries that we also do: the Orphan Home ministry, the two Children's homes, the Homeless Shelter, the Women's Ministry. We showed slides of all of the above, enjoyed some Costa Rican snacks, discussed the Wordless Book and finally finished our Wordless Book bracelets! Last Sunday, this group of kids stood up and sang in Spanish a four verse worship song we taught them over the four weeks. Okay, if ever there is a time that the Lord allows us to be "proud" - I was so proud of each of them! They sang that song like Spanish was their first language and we taught them what each verse meant in English. So, we finished our four weeks up sadly, but then found out that this past Wednesday night, the kids were planning on coming to our house to do a little service project for our family. A dear supporter and friend had been working on tidying up the landscape around the front of our house. Not having much a green thumb myself, he spent a week with me and the boys (Kyle & Jordan) educating us on the care of our shrubbery, trimming things back, killing weeds, and preparing the beds for winter. He brought fiberglass mesh, soil conditioner and he delivered three loads of mulch to the house the days prior to the kids arrival. Below are some pictures of the kids service project.

The first picture is looking down my porch stairs at one big pile of mulch!

With the fiberglass paper laid down and just a few landscape nails securing it, the kids finished placing and pushing in the nails, and then started to load up plastic beach buckets with the soil conditioner.

They were excited and ready to go from the time they got off the church van with their teachers in tow!

It was so hot that early evening and the kids only had about 20 minutes to work since they were being treated to McDonald's ice-cream cones just down the road from our house and on the way back to the church. The next day, Jordan helped place and cut the fiberglass mesh around the trees in our front yard.

I got to working on the mulch piles!

But, before the kids left they wanted us to know how much they loved us and they told us so as a united group. Holding back tears, I reminded them how much our family loved each one of them. No service at this age is complete without a cookie (or at least I thought so), and even though they were going down the road to get an ice-cream cone, I baked up some M&M cookies and put some juice boxes on ice just in case the heat might overtake anyone ;)

Thank You Hickory Grove Wednesday Night Children's Ministry for the gift of a beautifully tidied up front yard. Most of all, thank you for the gift of your smiles, laughter, love and encouragement. We love you all!

Busy Bees!

2011-09-14T20:46:00.002-06:00

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to get to this blog, but not because we have been sitting around. Tomorrow, hopefully I can post some pictures and write an update! Ya'll come back now, hear?

Rest In Peace

2011-08-23T10:05:00.003-06:00

We received an email informing us that a friend had passed away in a car accident last week down in Costa Rica. Willy the Clown, and his father-in-law passed away. Willy's mother-in-law is in critical condition. His wife and his 4-year-old daughter are hospitalized. Please pray for this family! Willy partnered with us on more than one occasion at the campground with the homeless shelter ministry as well as with the orphan home ministry. The words in the picture say, "A great friend. A great blessing. You will be remembered always". A flame for evangelical ministry in Costa Rica has been blown out this past week.

Children's Ministry at Hickory Grove

2011-08-20T14:45:00.004-06:00

Last week was our first Wednesday night of sharing to the children of our home church over the next four weeks. Our evening began with me speaking in Spanish and Heather interpreting my Spanish into English for the kids to understand. It was heart-warming to have some of the kids so eagerly share how they could count to 10 in Spanish. In preparing for our first meeting, the Lord made it clear to me not to show slides or talk about Costa Rica at all, but rather to focus on talking about what a Missionary is and what Message they share with people. I also shared the shell of the Wordless Book presentation, adding in some other verses and thoughts as well. I shared about the elements of growth in our relationship with God and about telling others that we have a relationship with him! Three kids raised their hands at the end of the salvation prayer that they had accepted Jesus, though at least two of them I was pretty sure already had. I found out later that one of those kids raised their hand because they had accepted Jesus before, but learned that he was supposed to tell someone else, and previous to that night, never had. Praise the Lord!

We began learning the first verse and chorus of a Spanish worship song and when asked after we sang how many kids in the room could speak Spanish, they all had big smiles when I informed them that they all could (because they all sang)! While we had a craft prepared, we ran short of time with it being the first night, so we'll plan on beginning our Wordless Book bracelets next week. And of course, we had to have a snack...so Ken & Kyle cooked the kids some tortilla chips and made salsa rosada (a mayonnaise and ketchup dip) for the kids. ALL of the older kids enjoyed that and some of the younger kids too.

Below are some pictures; us being introduced, speaking to the kids, sharing a snack and answering some questions.

The "Furlough Bucket List"

2011-08-20T13:28:00.005-06:00

Yep, the "Furlough Bucket List" is a no-brainer. This past week I drew a line through one of my "Wanna-do's" on my list and while it was very time consuming, it was for me, rewarding. I present to you my photo's of my pork butt that was dry rubbed, smoked and cooked on our daughter's grill for 7-8 hours. I forgot to take a picture of the slathering sauce that was made homemade and poured over pulled pork sandwiches (we are native NY'ers and this is how we eat our barbecue up there, but we mostly consume and heartily enjoy NC barbecue)!

You might be asking why I went to all the trouble? Pork is expensive in Costa Rica and considered a very high end piece of meat, usually only bought and eaten at Christmas. We don't eat pork in Costa Rica, can't afford it! Another reason is, a childhood memory of my Dad taking our family to a small town near our home in NY to support the Volunteer Firemen's annual barbecue dinner. There, they cooked the meat underground which has always fascinated me, in fact, on my recent visit with my Dad, I asked him tons of questions on this process, which probably drove him nuts like I did when I was a kid! It's always been a "dream" of mine to cook a beef brisket underground, but even though Dad answered all the questions, bless his heart, I'm still a chicken to try it. I haven't been able to find a beef brisket on sale big enough to feed our family while on furlough, but I did find this pork butt, and so following the recipes (for the rub, slathering sauce, and cooking instructions) from my "Dinosaur Barbecue" cookbook, a well known restaurant in our home town up North made famous for their barbecue and now Food Network Famous as featured on the hit show, "Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives"; I dare say, it was delicious!

I may or may not be looking for that brisket on sale. Maybe I'll cook one for the family when we visit up North in October, but mostly I'm happy that I got to finally try it!

Back in N.C. and preparing for ministry, how you can pray!

2011-08-09T09:23:00.006-06:00

We arrived home safely to North Carolina yesterday morning at 4 a.m. after spending two weeks in New York visiting our family and friends. This visit was especially enjoyable and it seemed as though God multiplied our time there as the two weeks felt more like four. We got to see everyone we wanted too and didn't feel rushed in our visitations. The last two times that we have been up to New York have been because of one of our parent's funerals. This time, there were more smiles, jokes and laughing. I had a wonderful time at a long anticipated family reunion getting to see my Aunt's and Uncle's, and cousins. When we moved to North Carolina in 1997 the family always happened to schedule the reunion in August when school was starting for our kids in N.C., and we were never able to make the trip up North. I saw family members that I hadn't seen in 14 years! We also had reunions on Ken's side of the family in that Aunt's and Uncle's came to meet us for meals on the road as we traveled through States; so much fun! ALL six of us kids got to be together in NY again as well. I did get to win one Parchessi game, but of course, with no mercy being shown, I lost more than I won! Perhaps, I will have a better round of games in October when we return!

We have been invited to minister to children over the next four weeks at Hickory Grove Church during their Wednesday night program. We will be discussing Missions and it's Message, teaching the kids a Worship Song in Spanish, doing crafts, discussing and showing pictures of our ministries in Costa Rica, and introducing them to Costa Rican foods and snacks! Your prayers are much appreciated and needed...Thank You!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T07:15:00.003-06:00

Our family is so excited to be home for the 4th of July! Tonight, we will go to a park and watch fireworks and celebrate our homeland's Independence Day! Yesterday, was an emotional day in church as some of us sang through the traditional Independence Day hymns and watched a video honoring our servicemen with the song "Proud to be an American" playing in the background; I wrote "some of us" because I cried through the patriotic songs and was not able to sing, neither was Ken as he fought back tears.

One thing we have learned through this missionary experience is a deeper understanding of freedom while we've been gone and what that truly means. We have much in this country! May we not take it for granted and certainly not the people who fought for us to have it!

God, may this country turn back to you!

Jump Start

2011-06-24T11:13:00.003-06:00

I was reading a post by one of my good friends here in N.C. on her Facebook; actually I am just going to copy it right here, yes, without her permission because I know it would be okay with her anyways and I am not identifying who she is.

She wrote,
"is praying and believing that if this is His will, where He wants me to be, that He will open doors that no man can shut! Praying that my heart is where His is."

My response to her was something along the lines that she doesn't need to worry about making a "mistake", and that she should just continue doing what she is doing and that is being obedient, and He will make it known to her. Then I sent her a p.s. which just said 2 Corinthians 5:7 "We live by faith, not by sight".

As I thought about it more, obedience really is the key to God being able to use us. It is true that God can open and close doors that no man can touch! He can stop her dead in her tracks or He can push her forward in record speed!

God's biggest problem today is getting us started.

God bless you, E.B.L., as you chase after Him!

So what is "furlough"?

2011-06-22T21:22:00.002-06:00

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines furlough as a "(noun), a leave of absence from duty granted especially to a soldier; a document authorizing such a leave of absence". Let me just say, that this might be the exact reason some see missionary furloughs as "a personal vacation escaping one's duties and responsibilities". Someone recently told us, "but I don't get an extended leave from my work"! And you, my friend, have not chosen to minister in two separate, yet very different cultures, and whether I am in Costa Rica or even now home during this furlough, I am actually doing double-duty because of those two cultures. 'Nuff said! Most missionary agencies today don't even use the word "furlough" because of it's misconceptions. Rather, they have resorted to "home assignment or service" and quite honestly, it has helped people to better understand what it is we do when we have time away from our cross-cultural ministry and are back in our first culture!

So, just so we are all on the same page, our family does have some objectives for this time of "home assignment".

In Acts 14:27, 28 "On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples".

This Biblical principle was put into motion by the first missionary journey! I like to call it the "Three R's" method...dorky, I know! They a) Reported back, b) Renewed relationships, c) Sought out revival.

Our family is supported sacrificially and generously by a group of churches, and individuals, and we feel obligated to keep our donors informed of what is going on in our ministry. We do send out quarterly letters with photo's and maintain this blog (somewhat, cough, okay, I'm outright choking here, so maybe we are behind more often than not on the posting?), but I think everyone would admit that there's something about that personal contact that a missionary has with their supporters, churches and individuals, that allows you to know more about who we are and what we are doing. I know that we, personally, struggle to keep long-distance relationships going while on the field (my older sister is reading this and saying, "You think"?). Scripturally, we've been called in Mark 10:29-30 to forsake even our family and friends for His cause (some it's easier than others...just kidding, hahahaha!). We are very excited to be on furlough because it gives us a concentrated amount of time to reconnect (whether they want to or not) with our loved ones, our home church and dear friends! We have already taken the opportunity to focus upon personal spiritual revival. Rest assured, WE KNOW WE NEED IT! We are worn out by the spiritual battles that come out of living cross-culturally. We are exhausted by the overwhelming needs that are brought to us on a near daily basis while living in Costa Rica. Sitting in our home church, under preaching in our first language, delving into the Word of God and praying, uninterrupted, has allowed the Lord to show us clearly the spiritual needs that we have in our own lives.

So, pray for us. Pray for us as we prepare to report back to supporters, as we renew relationships with family and friends, and as we continue to seek after Him, to be revived in Spirit and in Truth!

Just for fun #2

2011-06-14T23:43:00.006-06:00

You probably don't know this about me, maybe you don't even care to know, but too bad, I'm going to share. I have "issues" with cake! I actually take a lot after my Daddy! I love pie! I like fruit pies, custard pies, anything but, sorry, shoe-fly; I've just never acquired a taste for it, but in the cheerleading section for Lancaster, County, P.A. would sit my husband, Ken, because he LOVES shoe-fly pies! Let me just say, that I will eat cake, but not with the ice-cream on it! Do not put the ice-cream near it! If you can serve the ice-cream in a bowl or plate separate from the cake, that's the bomb! I really dislike when ice-cream melts on or near cake. I know! I'm so weird! On the other hand, long before cupcakes even became popular and little cupcakeries started popping up all over the country, and TV shows like "Cupcake Wars", yes, I've been watching a little digital television since we got back in the States (Food Network specifically. I love that channel, always have) I have enjoyed baking cupcakes. It all started for me when my kids got into public school and no one would ever sign up for cupcakes for class parties. I worked from home typing medical records for a local hospital (someone had to do the job, so I figured why not me) and I would sign up to bring in cupcakes. I began to love making them. After all, they are kinda cute, little, two bite (that would be by my big mouth measurements) morsels of cake and no one ever offers you ice-cream with them! I make cupcakes in Costa Rica, but it's a little frustrating. Cake mixes are pricey, and I would much rather bake them from scratch, but the kinds that I would like to bake are often difficult to find the ingredients for since I like them "classy". So, I do the best I can with what I have which isn't very much selection-wise for the Women's Ministry. But, it's always been my "dream" to do something like the pictures below in Costa Rica. For a year, I've had something like this floating around in my mind to do for Women's Ministry, but again, it's too pricey to be a reality.

Imagine coming home and getting the opportunity through a local church near my house to minister to women, I mean, intentionally turning it up a notch to make them feel special just because, and it's a gift I'd like to feel God has given to me to use, and He opened a door! (Please insert a large "squeal" of excitement here)!

On Monday night 49 women came out to Johnson Memorial Church for a lesson on saving money in these economic times by learning effective Couponing methods from a young Mom in their church. I learned so much myself and I believe we all need to be good stewards of what we are given!

The cupcake is a Ghiardelli dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting! The other cupcake in the pictures was "Ken-inspired" because he loves raspberries. It's a French vanilla cupcake with a vanilla raspberry creme frosting! In the glassware are Mint Oreo bon-bon's, vanilla chocolate-coated pretzel rods. For some candy, I bought Skittles and some white mints. Ice-cold lemonade was to drink on this warm evening.

In looking for some cupcake wrappers, I was actually dumb-founded by how pricey they are..outrageous actually! So, one night, I sat down and cut away at a paper cupcake liner and made my own template for the wrappers you see here which are then cut at the top with decorative scissors. The paper I used was left-over scrapbook paper from Brad & Danielle's wedding!

I truly hope someone left feeling "special" and "cared for" that evening. Thank you, Lord, for caring for my "dreams"!

If you care to see the photo's up close, just click on them for a closer view!

Just for fun - #I

2011-06-14T23:19:00.006-06:00

Packed away in a crawl space of the house, back in a corner were four plastic bins. Before I "became a missionary", like I haven't even arrived there yet, I'm still working on it with the Lord's help; I was a Stampin' Up demonstrator. I have not had a rubber stamp or an ink pad in my hand in three years. For me, it's been difficult. I used to love to make homemade cards and I would travel down to Wilmington, N.C. a few times a year on a Saturday with a friend, and do scrapbooking all day long in a scrapbooking store down there. I guess I would reference it to feeling like you'd taken a rolling pin away from Julia Childs! So, within the first couple of days that I got home; okay, don't tell Ken this, even before I got all my clothes unpacked and organized out of the suitcase, I set myself up a little stamping work station in my bedroom (trust me, it wouldn't surprise Ken). This is the second card I've made. The first one has already been given away to my neighbor! I know I'm no Picasso with my artistic skillz; my siblings got all those talents! But for me, this is so relaxing and I'm so excited to be able to do some of it again...I can't even tell you how excited! It's so much fun!

"Welcome Home, Mrs. Dundon"!

2011-06-14T22:04:00.003-06:00

There really isn't much of anything that exciting about the actual event of "traveling" between the two countries. On one side you are painfully saying good-bye for six months to what has now become your surrogate family, and you try so very hard to hold back excitement in your voice and actions because you really are so excited to go home and see loved ones, you almost feel guilty. In flight, your thoughts race (at least mine do) about changes you might experience. How much bigger is my grandson? Is he walking? Does he say any words? What size clothes does he wear now? What's the yard look like; the trees we planted before we left, the shrubs? Since we don't have one in Costa Rica it's always exciting to see ours!

One thing that I never remember, but it gets me every time I get to come home, are the Immigration Officers who stamp my passport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We get the usual questions; "What were you doing out of the country"? And we get the same responses..."A missionary?!? Really? How do you like that"?

And then the moment happens.

The stamp is placed on the passports which are then passed back to us and we hear, "Welcome Home, Mrs. Dundon"! And my eyes produce crocodile tears! Why? It sounds so comforting to hear those words. It feels welcoming. You feel wanted. For a moment, you feel care-free and like you have a "place" to call home because quite honestly, it's true what most missionaries say, you never feel like you have a "home" anymore once you start serving in another country. Neither country feels quite "right".

And my mind shifts quickly to thoughts of our military. I wonder, who didn't hear those words this past year? I wonder if they feel the same way when they do hear them. And I say a prayer as I walk to baggage claim for those who are actively serving and their families.

The military fights in some ways the same battle the missionary fights. They fight physically with their bodies, but like us, they fight psychologically, spiritually and emotionally.

Please don't forget our military! And don't forget your missionaries! It's a battle out there! We need to keep fighting on!

Adjusting & Training

2011-06-14T15:24:00.005-06:00

Well, we've been home (that is myself, Heather & Jordan) in the United States for two weeks now. Ken & Kyle will be coming home by the end of June so that we can begin our six-month furlough as a family. For those of you who do not know, I came home earlier with Heather because she has been accepted into the Community College here (Johnston County Community College)Nursing Program, and there was a meeting that I needed to attend on June 2nd. Today, and two more days this week, Heather will be attending Orientation, Advising Meetings and doing testing (entry level college stuff) in preparation for school to begin in August. Jordan is not along for the ride. He is homeschooled and is scheduled to finish up this school year on July 26. I brought him home with me because I am the primary teacher in our homeschool and with him being so close to being done for this year comes year-end reports which are very detailed and just plain mean to expect Ken to try and figure out. It is much easier for Ken to start someone on homeschooling curriculum, like he is doing now with Kyle down in Costa Rica as he begins another year, than to have it dropped in your lap one month before it is to be finished up. So, this kind of explains why are family at this particular time is in two different locations. So, I'll just put it right out there now, Ken and I miss each other and the days seem like they are dragging. Coming home and staying in our home alone without the other half of your family is hard. So, we are all looking forward to the end of the month!

We (Heather, Jordan and myself) are actually just beginning to kind of "get out and about". We've laid kind of low the past couple of weeks during an "adjustment" period. I went to our home church, Hickory Grove, yesterday by myself. It was wonderful to be back surrounded by the familiar and yet, it was also overwhelming at the same time being swarmed by people. Hopefully, Heather & Jordan will feel more up to it next Sunday. I drove for the first time in two weeks just a couple of days ago, and at first it was difficult remembering to look at the m.p.h. rather than the k.p.h.! It seems like every road here is like driving in a Nascar race because of the differences in speed limits between the two countries we call home. Lastly, we have been sick since we have been home. Jordan actually threw up on the plane as it was descending into Myrtle Beach. He had been complaining about his stomach aching before we left Costa Rica, but I figured it was just nerves as he was excited about coming home, but expressing feelings that he was going to miss his Daddy. I'm sure he felt torn! The next day he spiked a temperature of 102.9 and that went on for two days. He's better from that mess, but then I got sick with a sinus infection and upper respiratory cough, head cold-type of thing. Danielle had it first, then myself and Heather has been fighting it right along with the both of us! We thought we might keep our cooties to ourselves the first week we were home and I imagine that was appreciated by many! There's the food adjustments and the just plain lack of self-control. For example, we pay (actually we don't pay because we don't feel as though we can afford to, so we go without); Lay's potato chips in Costa Rica are $7 to $8 per bag. We used to enjoy that brand so much when we lived in the States; the barbecue flavor, Sour Cream and Onion, Sour Cream and Cheddar Cheese. On our very first trip to Wal-Mart since returning here, what do we spy? Lay's for $2.48 a bag! Any normal person would buy one bag and be happy to have them! Not the Dundon's because they live in Costa Rica and don't have much selection as it is, so when they see ALL the flavors, in their minds they think, "Oh my word, I may never get these again", not remembering that they will be here for six months, and they buy every type of potato chip that Lay's has on display in Wal-Mart! Do you think they were able to wait until they got home to open a bag? Of course not! Do you think they could "settle" on opening ONE bag in the car? Of course not! And yes, we are still eating from that Lay's potato chip purchase today! We are currently working on training our minds, reversing our psychology, so to speak, that we will be here longer than two weeks for the first time in over three years and that we do not need to indulge, inhale or whatever you want to call it, EVERYTHING we have missed in a two-week time span. I reserve the right, I think it's called, "pleading the 5th" in regard to a recent Bojangles biscuit binge! You might be thinking that all this sounds absurd to you! But, it is actually part of re-entry culture shock and just about every missionary experiences it with food in one way or another. I won't go into the details, but you can imagine the havoc this wreaks on one's digestive system and intestines. Then there's the sleeping adjustments to deal with, or rather, lack of sleep! The first night back home I slept 15-hours straight and it was, well, I cannot even think of the proper words to describe how good it felt (okay, probably because we flew through the night after being up all day doing the last day of medical clinics with the team). So, perhaps I was in a sleeping-induced coma. I wish I could have another night like that! We are still adjusting to time changes. Costa Rica is two hours behind N.C. and we don't have daylight savings to boot, so it's dark at 5:30 p.m. year-round. We've tried everything we know to turn ourselves around the last two weeks. Maybe this will be the week we turn the corner. Who knows!

We've arrived home safe, but we still need your prayers!

On the road again

2011-05-28T16:04:00.002-06:00

Teams, busy, look for more updates soon, but this time, from the United States of America!

Matthew 11:28

2011-03-18T15:32:00.002-06:00

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"

One thing my mother taught me at a young age was that God was not some kind of distant being. She, in fact, used the illustration one time that it was almost like we could carry Him in our pocket, or in other words, He could see what we were doing, He could hear what we were saying and that He was available to us just like any other normal "friend" we had in our lives. I would have to say that this is probably the springboard for the lack of eloquence that I have in my prayer life. I wish, sometimes, that like the scripture above, words were spoken eloquently to my Heavenly Father in prayer, but rather, I do pray like I am having a conversation with a friend in the room beside me probably because I've always sensed that He's not that far away. Sometimes I pray in broken sentences interjecting not spiritual "words", but modern day jargon like, for example, this week was a particularly trying week for our family here in Costa Rica and I murmured the words during a time when I was praying, "you know, Lord, I am really sick of this crap and I cannot possibly take any more"!

You see, Ken's mother was having a lung biopsy yesterday for what was thought to possibly be cancer on PET scans. Losing Ken's Dad just this past July, and my mother a year ago also in July; the thought of my mother-in-law even "possibly" having cancer made my stomach churn and I found myself unable to deal with the emotions of that. Thankfully, the biopsy of the lung as well as all her lymph nodes came back cancer-free. They believe that she has some form of tuberculosis, though they are culturing the biopsies to identify a type.

All this to say, I am so glad He doesn't turn His back on my raw speech when I pray. Sometimes I almost imagine Him rolling his eyes when my mouth opens! Thank you, Lord, for letting me continually "Come...." and "Just As I Am"!

Cabin Spoiler!!

2011-03-09T14:19:00.002-06:00

I've been trying to get caught up on my posts of recent teams, but we've also been working on other ministry business in between teams as well. Since November, literally as a family; sometimes Ken and I would go together, sometimes we'd pull in Heather figuring she was better-looking and spoke better Spanish; and when it came to having to get past the ladies, of course, we'd drag along the blonde-haired, blue-eyed macho, Kyle! Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, we obtained the building permit for the new cabin to be built in 2011. All I can say to that is, Praise the Lord, because it literally seemed like an act of our God! Figuring they had pretty much just about gotten to the bottom of the barrel with excuses as to why NOT to issue it to us, yesterday morning the Municipality came up with Excuse #...(I've lost track of which number it is now) that they "didn't like the quality of the copy of Ken's passport". Poor Kyle, woken from a slumber to take his Dad's original passport by bus to the Municipality and meet his Dad there. Just when they were about to hand over the 8 x 11" piece of paper, they asked Ken to sign the last legal document. Then they pulled his signature up on a computer screen and told him "it didn't match his other one and he needed to sign again, like this one".

And what have we learned from this four and a half month process? Painfully, more patience, and that the government is right on in not letting people like us who are non-residents bear arms!

The day after....Christmas!

2011-03-09T10:21:00.012-06:00

Our next team arrived! They were here at the camp for a week and a half. They came as a children's ministry team with two "handymen husbands". I think that you will see from the pictures below that we strive not to be your "cookie cutter" ministry; always seeking to do things in ministry that will stretch those who God has sent to serve alongside us as well as our family!

The children's ministry team wanted to do something with the orphan home kids, but we have found that having them at the camp and working with them there is much easier on us as far as transporting the team and supplies to and from the orphan home, and we usually have much better behavior from the kids when they are at the camp because they realize that it is a privilege to be down at the camp.

The theme that the team had decided upon using was two-fold; CEF's Wordless Book and it's colors, and an overall theme that "I'm Special to God"!

My job was to take their "ideas" for programming and help them make it into a program that would work best with these kids. Much like VBS programs are run at home, I decided on a rotation of stations after an opening with songs, and the Bible story message. At this station, the ladies are coloring fingernails in the colors of the Wordless Book to reiterate that message.

With every team before you can even begin working on ironing out the team's ministry while they are here; you have to do sorting of the supplies which they bring with them. In an email I was asked what I felt that this group could focus on bringing down. I asked them to concentrate on getting donations to make hygiene kits for the ongoing homeless shelter ministry that we have, and if they felt that they could, small gifts that could be used in gift bags to minister to the Mom's at the orphanage. Here is one of the completed hygiene kits for the homeless shelter.

One of the ministries that is near and dear to my heart is the homeless shelter ministry and in our initial conversations, I asked the team leader if she thought that her group might be interested in preparing a meal at the camp to take with us to a homeless shelter and feed the men there. She was more than sure that the group would want to do that! Having our partnership with Promundo Fundacion means that we call them when we are setting up the logistics for a team with a date of when we would like to serve a homeless shelter. They then call around in their network of homeless shelters and find out which homeless shelter needs a meal on that date (the homeless shelters survive solely on donations and many shelters frequently go without the ability to feed those being housed there) and they call us back and tell us which one to go to and how many we can expect to cook for. When the team commits to doing this, we do the grocery shopping of all the supplies that they will need to carry this out; drink, plastic cups, plates, silverware, napkins, spaghetti, sauce, bread and butter. Here's two of the ladies beginning to prepare the sauce. In addition to serving the men, someone shares a testimony and other teams have done dramas.

Because this team was smaller in number, we asked a friend of ours who also ministers through Promundo Fundacion to come and help us with this group. Roberto and his wife, Patricia are Costa Rican missionaries in their own right. They live on the support of others and the focus of their ministry is children, but they also work with homeless shelters like us. Ken and I have heard Roberto's testimony and he was as a child an orphan. Who better than to lead the games and music with the orphan home children than Roberto & Patricia? Being given up by my biological mother for adoption at 2-1/2 yrs. old I understand that there is a need to have "trust" restored in the minds and hearts of these children. Here, Roberto's activity is building trust within the orphan home, by having the girls do this activity girl-to-girl as well as the boys doing it boy-to-boy. Some of the other activities that we did with the children divided them off by each individual home and we all were witnesses to God moving them toward restoration. By the end of week of VBS, 66 children from the orphan home made first-time commitments to the Lord!

After church one morning, a Costa Rican friend came to me and said, "do you know why I keep asking you if I can buy one of the bunkbeds at the camp from you"? (Of course, we need all the beds at the camp to house teams and rental groups) My reply was "no". She then told me that she had a neighbor who had five children and that they had mattresses, but not all of the children had beds, in fact, two of them had to sleep on their mattresses on the floor. I told her I could not promise her anything, but I knew with the January team that there would be construction workers coming and maybe we could help out in some way. She was happy enough that I would try to help out her neighbor-friends. At the time of this conversation with her, I didn't know that two of the husbands accompanying their wives were handymen on the team! When they got here, I told them the story, and they were more than thrilled to be asked to make them. Other jobs that they did included replacing roofs on the two cabins and the other missionary house. The family that needed the bunkbeds lives in Palomo where the church that was meeting in the camp has moved too. Below is their picture. We invited Pastor Mario to meet us there at their home to pray for them when we surprised them with the bunkbed delivery.

When the beds were complete I called my friend and found out that the day we were delivering them was the little girl's birthday! It's amazing to us how God opens doors for His work to get done!

Graduation - a testimony

2011-02-22T15:42:00.007-06:00

Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, two of the school teachers from the elementary school around the corner from our house stopped by and introduced themselves. They were wondering if the camp would host their graduation ceremony this year. We have never in the three years we've been asked to host that ceremony, but always wanted too. They've had a principal who has always wanted to have the ceremony right in the school building. Someday, I should walk down to the school and just post pictures of the building from the outside. It is a very poor school. This year the intern principal wanted the ceremony to be "special" and so we of course said that we would be more than happy to host them at the camp. We sat with them at a picnic table in front of our home and discussed their plans for the ceremony and before they left we asked if we could pray for them. As the graduation ceremony got closer we thought it might be fun to offer the kids a hot dog each and some popcorn and drink, but we weren't sure if this would be okay with the school and the teachers. We realized we didn't have any contact phone numbers for the two teachers and couldn't call them, so we walked down to the school. For four days we walked to the school and each time, it was locked up. Not having kids in the school system here, we know "about" when school breaks are, but we never know the "exact" dates. We were kind of sad because we wanted to help out the school however we could, but it seemed as though things were closed down until the actual day of the ceremony and we had a team here at the camp that we were working with. Just a few days before the ceremony and while the team from Threshold was cleaning up their supplies, the two teachers came by the house and asked if they could talk to us. They wanted to go over the "final" preparations for the ceremony. We were so glad to see them. When they had finished talking with us, we explained to them that we had a group at the camp who was just about ready to leave and return to the States, but that they had some drink mix left over and on behalf of that team, we wanted to know if we could offer it to the school children. Tears began to well up in one of the teacher's eyes. She explained to us that this last week before graduation she and the other teachers felt like they were walking in the road and trying to climb over boulders. At every turn, it seemed to them as if their graduation ceremony was falling apart. We asked what was happening. They said the person who had committed to have hamburgers prepared for the kids called just that morning and was not going to be able to donate those for their class party. The school didn't have any money to put towards those and they didn't know what they were going to do. We smiled and explained that for the past four previous days we had been walking to the school looking for someone to talk too about the possibility of donating the juice to the kids and also, Ken and I wanted to donate hot dogs and free popcorn. The teacher began to cry! And we asked if we could join hands with both of them and pray for them!

Simple and inexpensive things for Americans that we just don't think about; a hot dog in a bun, a small bag of popcorn and a cup of juice, but for some schools here, a real treasure!

We got to help with the decorating process and had a lot of fun interacting with the teachers and the kids and parents from our community. Reaching outside the gates of the camp to our community and then to the corners of Costa Rica. Thank God for the opportunities He affords us!

Thank You Scipio Center Community Church in New York State for the camp's popcorn popper!

Dundon Family Christmas 2010

2011-02-22T15:12:00.006-06:00

This is our 2010 Christmas tree. Yep, trees that are used here for Christmas decorations are a little "different" than back home in N.C. This actually looks like and smells like a Leeland Cyprus tree that we have planted as a property border back home. It's a little difficult to get the ornaments to hang as pretty as you can on a Douglas Fir, but it's something. In the previous two years we've had a star at the top of our tree. This year, I decided that we had to have a traditional N.C. bow, but I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get one since no one uses bows here in that manner, really. Then, I got the idea of looking on You Tube for a video on how to make one myself. So, this is it folks. Where there's a will, there's a way and this is my double bow tree topper...not too bad, eh?

With Danielle and Grandma visiting for 7 weeks, they were always looking for something to do. Danielle and Grandma like to paint, so what better project than for them to help "spruce" up the house a little, I thought. Actually, our house that we live in had been empty for a couple of years and when we moved in the color of the livingroom and diningroom was a very off-white, but gray color. Kinda gloomy, to say the least. Now, thanks to Danielle's and Grandma's help, oops, and Jordan too, it is a really pretty soft cream color in both rooms with new matching curtains in burgundy, navy blue and cream that Grandma made. Just a blessing to our family to have things updated and fresh!

As in previous years, we received tamales from friends and neighbors for Christmas which are exchanged instead of cookies, though we carried on our American family tradition and had a family baking day. We made six different types of Christmas cookies and handed those out in baskets that we had purchased which were cloth-lined with burgundy-colored linen. Our neighbors and friends always get so excited to receive and actually like the American tradition of cookie exchanging! We have friends who know we are "chocoholics", in fact, they are too! They called us to tell us to go to a particular bakery and pick up this cake that they had ordered for us on the day of Brad's arrival (Danielle's husband) for our family Christmas. It was so beautiful, I had to take a picture!

Children's Ministry Team

2011-02-22T15:04:00.003-06:00

The Team from Threshold Church based out of Charlotte, N.C. arrived in the beginning of December for three days of children's ministry (VBS) at the camp. We, of course, did the normal pre-team preparations of lining up their transportation, grocery shopping, snack shopping for the children, etc. This is a team that has come down every January for a week since we've been here and even actually before we were here. They are like stellic VBS pro's and really don't need too much of our help once they get here. Heather and Kyle usually help with some of the translation and program. This year, they served about 126 kids and this is the closing program. 23 children came to know the Lord in those three days...Praise the Lord!

"Oh where, oh where have the Dundon's gone....

2011-02-22T14:49:00.003-06:00

Oh where, oh where could they be"?

We're still here in Costa Rica! We have wrapped up our Team Marathon of having three teams at the camp in six weeks and things are just beginning to get back to normal, that is, kinda, since nothing is ever really just "normal" 'round here! I've had some time to sort through some pictures, get some, but still working on obtaining the rest of the statistics for the teams, have a week of vacation, be really sick for a week with an upper respiratory tract infection, and today help Amy finish the medication inventory from the January team in preparation for the medical team coming in May! So, check back and we will take it from where we left off...back in December 2010...

oh, but wait, Miss Lily Olson whom we have never met, nor do we know where you live, but does attend weekly Awana meetings and is learning about missions...

"Thank You so much for your words of encouragement that you left in a comment attached to my last post! Thank You for having a spirit that is willing to listen to the Lord when He is speaking. You may never know or understand how important you taking the time to write your thoughts to us were. We deeply appreciate it! Keep being a Light"! Love, Mrs. Sherri

Prayer Requests

2010-12-01T09:31:00.005-06:00

WE,

1. Have family visiting until the end of December and had a wonderful Thanksgiving with them and some guests that we invited in an effort to bless them.
2. With having extra bodies here (family) who are willing to help out, we have been able to spend some time "sprucing up" our mission home. The livingroom and diningroom have new paint and curtains. The diningroom now has chair covers which match the curtains. Our bedroom has a new coat of paint, new sound and light blocking curtains as well. Things are looking mighty spiffy around here! What a blessing to our family!
3. Have three teams coming back-to-back in December and January, and are busy doing logistics and having meetings with churches that will be hosting our medical clinics for those teams. Please begin praying for these teams and their ministry that they will be doing in Costa Rica!
4. Are working on obtaining building permits for a new cabin to be started at the camp in 2011. Please pray for this process, it is often frustrating and is always time consuming!
5. Just finished our Christmas letter that will be sent out through Global Outreach Mission to our prayer and financial supporters. We were happy to report that 255 people (children and adults) came to the know the Lord through this ministry in 2010 and are being followed up in local churches...Praise the Lord!
6. Are having heavy rains for the last two days and are having internet connection problems, thus, the short sentences, but some communication is better than none...right?
7. Appreciate all of you who pray for us, who think about us, who leave comments of encouragement, who financially support us, who love us, who care about us. We could not be here without EACH of you!
8. Often times don't understand why we have been allowed to be here. We are reminded that God does not need us to do His work and so, we are grateful!

Hopefully, another day when the connection will last longer I can post more, but until then, thanks for reading!

Sporadic Internet

2010-11-11T15:27:00.002-06:00

Due to having sporadic internet in our home due to the storm, and being very behind in work as well and trying to play catch-up; I realized that I am also behind in updating my blog.

We arrived home Sunday evening around 5:30 p.m. from our hotel hold up with the team of architects in the camp and working along. We left Palmar Norte before noon when we got a tip from the Transit Police that they would be opening one of the highways at 2 p.m. We decided that we would wait in line for the road to open up as many of the truckers were loading up and heading out. We drove about 35 km. and sat for very long periods of time watching dump trucks and back hoes in the distance up ahead in one lane continue to clear debris and large mounds of dirt. When I just about thought I couldn't handle the heat anymore and sweat was pouring off Ken's brow, a policeman came and shouted to us, "pase pequenos vehiculos" meaning that small vehicles were allowed to pull around the 18-wheelers and pass through. What we found up ahead that was holding up traffic was easily a two-story pile of dirt in the oncoming lane with the back hoe driven up the side of it removing dirt and loading it into the dump trucks. We saw roads, power lines and bridges (which were now somewhat repaired for usage) washed out into rivers. Travel was slow at 10 m.p.h. We had to drive through one of the hardest hit areas, Parrita, and as I looked from side to side of house-lined roads I began to tear up. It seemed as though everything that anyone owned was up at the road for the trash men to pick up; clothing, furniture, refrigerators, baby equipment. There were several water trucks and people lined up with any kind of clean container that they could find to fill. There were TV crews interviewing and photographing the devastation. The people looked dazed, tired and frustrated. As we entered the center of town where there was an obvious business district, store owners were sweeping water and mud from their buildings and we heard the sound of cans shaking from the middle and sides of the street before us begging for monetary donations.

Traveling home was emotional. We were saddened, but happy. Before us was an obvious reminder; He is coming again. Lord, let it be soon!

It stopped raining and a window into how people pass time.

2010-11-06T17:05:00.004-06:00

We are still in the same hotel, but thankful to be safe and have this room. Our room is near the office and repeatedly throughout the day we have heard the office personnel tell people they have no rooms left available, and each time I feel a lump in my throat. There are wall to wall trucks parked alongside the road and people in this hotel are walking in the parking lot to keep from going stir crazy! While Ken and the boys were out walking to the grocery store this morning to buy milk and cereal, they witnessed a landslide across the river and watched as trees and a part of a mountain came down into the river. This is the first time they have ever seen something live like this, not someone else's video or something you would see on the news here. The grocery stores are running low on supplies, such as milk, since no one can get to us at this point and we cannot get out. We have about a three mile radius that we can drive and from those points are totally cut off in both directions with the roads being blocked. The update this morning was that we will have to wait until Tuesday to leave from the transit police; the road conditions are not just landslides at this point, but also repair work where there are sink holes and large parts of the road washed away. The hotel manager said this afternoon that they have begun the "work" on the roads and "maybe we can leave tomorrow", but with every person you ask you get a different story. There are only two restaurants that we can get to, one Chinese, and one pizza. We are only eating out once a day and eating cereal for breakfast, crackers and chips, apples and bananas in the hotel between meals or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. People are starting to wash their clothes and hang them outside their hotel rooms. We may have to start doing that tomorrow if we cannot leave as well since we only brought enough for three days and we've been gone from home six days now! It's taken all day to be able to get online to write this post with the internet not working.

All this to say, God is good! No rain and for a few minutes sun and then about an hour of baby blue sky before the cloud cover. This all taken in from a very comfortable front seat of our van!

Stranded, but Safe in Costa Rica!

2010-11-05T14:28:00.005-06:00

We left Orosi on Monday morning and drove to Panama; our 90 days were up and we needed to renew our VISA's. We noticed that halfway through the trip it was very cool and raining which is unlike our previous trips to Panama. Usually, the AC in the van is running wide open as Panama is usually uncomfortably humid! We didn't know that a tropical storm had begun, but noticed that the travel was slower and it took 8 hours to get to the border rather than the usual 6. On Wednesday morning, we received our re-entry stamp to head back into Costa Rica. We got to the two-hour marker into the trip and the Pan American highway which we were traveling on was closed down ahead and we found ourselves at a "Y" in the road; meaning the only other way home was to the left, but that road too was barracaded off. Initially, we thought perhaps there was a bad accident ahead, but upon further questioning of the truck drivers around us, we found out that the roads had been closed since the day before, Tuesday, due to landslides and sink holes. 16" of rain had fallen in this area on Wednesday alone! At about 5 p.m. we decided to begin looking for a room and Ken came back to the van having received the LAST two rooms in a nearby hotel. We didn't have AC, hot water or a TV, but were thankful for the beds and ceiling fans! It is now Friday and it is still raining with only short breaks to lighter rains. We have since moved within the same hotel to a family room which is much larger and we are all together. For $5 more we now have TV and AC, but we have freed up the previous two rooms for others as well. We can now see landslides on the mountains surrounding this town as well.

It would be easy to complain, I reckon. The kids are tired of each other and we are tired of the kids....LOL!!! We could have been on a road or a bridge driving back home that suddenly washed out as so many continue to do each day. We could be at the side of the road sleeping in our van with our three kids with no bathroom, running water, AC or TV; not that we "need" those things, but it sure feels more comfortable, and there's a grocery store behind the hotel!

Three homes have washed into the river in Orosi, where we are from in Costa Rica, the driving bridge is impassable in our town.

We have had sporadic internet service, power and cell phone service here at the hotel, but His timing is perfect in that we have a team arriving in Costa Rica tomorrow to spend a week at the camp and every time we have needed to "connect" with someone regarding finishing the logistics for this team, He has provided a way, a connection!

We don't know when we will get to go home. We have the transit police office not far from the hotel we are stranded in and they give us updates. It is still raining and they tell us they will not begin clearing the roads of the mudslides until it stops raining due to the instability in the mountains and the danger to the workers. We planned on two days away, but it's been five so far. We know the team will and can go on without us because we know whose team it is as the Lord continues to provide for Global Outreach Mission and the campground expansion projects!

It would be so easy to gripe, but when I look at this picture all I can say is "Thank You, Lord" for having us in your protective Hands!

http://www.ticotimes.net/News/Daily-News/Escazu-Landslide-Leaves-at-Least-20-Dead-10-Missing-Costa-Rica-on-Red-Alert_Thursday-November-04-2010

Lo siento mucho OR sorry!

2010-10-29T13:26:00.002-06:00

We've been really busy. More on all of that later!

The reason for this post is to ask you to remember the ministry at the campground this weekend with the homeless shelter in your prayers. We have just a couple of hours behind us and already the walls are being broken down and God is moving. Several street weapons have already been turned in (a picture later). God is moving!

Thank you so much for praying!

Housecleaning...in more ways than one!

2010-10-21T20:40:00.002-06:00

I enjoy cleaning at the camp for the most part. Of course, there are always the not-so-fun cleaning jobs that need to get done. Mostly, I enjoy the times that I get to work by myself without interruption; I take in the sights and the sounds of the camp, the small animals, hummingbirds and birds or just enjoy spying different flowers and trees in full bloom as I walk the paths between cabins and buildings. Today, I wished our camera wasn't broken. I caught a glimpse of a flowering bush that for some reason hit me in a comical way; the plumes of bright yellow flowers reminded me of the hair on some of Dr. Seuss' characters! I noticed an orange tree that I couldn't ever remember so many oranges on at one single time!

I also like to spend my cleaning times talking to God. These are often "self-evaluation" times for me. Times when I feel God is revealing changes that need to be made in my life, and then there are times when I recognize I need to change, but I need to ask for His help!

Today, as I saw the oranges and the guava falling to the ground and onto a walking path I was reminded of "The Fruit of the Spirit". Galatians 5:22 & 23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". As I looked at the display of God's handiwork in the campground today, I questioned myself about what my personal, every day life display looks like to the community in which we live. Am I displaying something that is attractive and what others might want? Is God able to appeal to people in this community through me?

Housecleaning, not always fun, but necessary!

Five months and still praying!

2010-10-19T13:20:00.003-06:00

Heather had a dentist appointment today in San Jose. Today, her and Ken opted to take the bus rather than drive the van, but doing this will take the better part of a day which means a late return home this afternoon. The van is scheduled to go in for more repairs again tomorrow. Last week, we were still having problems with the oil leak, but it seems as though that might have been fixed, but when one thing is corrected, it has meant that we have difficulties with something else. Now we have a new problem of leaking gas; from what location, I don't know, only that Ken told me that it is. The van has not been operating correctly since we got the new motor put in, and none of the repairs that anyone has done on them seems to last very long. It is stressful for Ken because he needs to make sure he is getting back to the mechanic before the work warranty runs out. Personally, we are ready to just begin taking the bus everywhere since the repairs are costing us so much money! They weren't kidding when we came here and we were told that it is costly to maintain a vehicle.

Today, I cleaned the green cabin that the Messick Family stayed in over the weekend, folded a large amount of laundry, and did more camp laundry.

This week will be a week of preparation for a large group rental the entire weekend. They plan on arriving Friday morning between 8 and 9 a.m. and leaving late Sunday afternoon. It is the homeless shelter that will be returning, one of our partnerships through Promundo Fundacion, and they always would request your prayers for their work during the weekend. Please pray for the participants who are continuing to work through a restoration program both spiritually and from the addiction of drugs or alcohol.

Well, time for me to prepare for my two-hour English class this afternoon. Megayle is 18 years old and is a Christian, and she is an outstanding student, doing her homework and scoring a 101 on her "other" teacher's exam last week. She sure was excited and returned to my home at 9:15 p.m. last Thursday night to show me the results. Continue to pray for me as a strive to help her learn.

From Kristy

2010-10-19T13:04:00.002-06:00

Below is a comment that Kristy left on our blog after returning home from the camp. I just wanted to share it with everyone and to thank you so very much for praying for her, Matt, and the kids as they enjoyed the camp this weekend. They too, were a blessing to us as we attended church together and spent some time just getting to know each other, and encouraging each other! May the Lord continue to bless them, their ministry and their family!

Kristy said...
What a gift it was to be able to come and RUN, PLAY, SING, and collect fruit in such a beautiful garden! We had a fabulous time as a family taking a break from Spanish and just being a family! Thank you for letting Christ's love shine thru you guys and gifting us with exactly what we needed! So thankful to be in His hands! Culture shock isn't fun, but remembering it won't last for ever, and remembering that we all go thru it to some degree makes it a little easier! Thank you for being willing to walk with us thru a bit of ours!

"It's Finally Friday" & Culture Shock

2010-10-15T10:54:00.006-06:00

My kids loved that song on Q*DR when we lived in N.C. We would sing it altogether while waiting in carpool line and crank it up! Buncha' rednecks!

It is Friday, but it has been a productive week here at the camp with getting a lot of spring cleaning done. Yesterday, Ken and I spent six hours cleaning out the two main bodegas (storage rooms) in the Celebration Center. One of them is the tool room for construction, and the other houses our medications and medical supplies in a secured storage locker. The other half of that room is divided off by a wall and doorway and has another large storage area with shelving and stores household items for the cabins and the mission homes, and sports equipment. Yesterday, Ken & I literally pulled everything out of the large storage area and into the Celebration Center, cleaned the shelving and reorganized. The "plan" is to move all of the Children's Ministry supplies out of the cabinets in the office of the white house and into the storage area with the shelving.

Last week, I had been reading a blog on missionary blogs.com (a web site comprised of blogs written by missionaries serving all over the world which our blog is a member of) written by a missionary family located near San Francisco, Costa Rica. Their post literally made me tear up in that I felt helpless to help them as they deal with the issue of culture shock. Culture shock is something that all missionaries know they will at some time have to deal with, but it is not something that you can predict the timing of, nor in what manner it will effect you, therefore, you cannot fully explain it to another missionary and tell them exactly how they will experience it. Culture shock by definition is the trauma you experience when you move into a culture different from your home culture. Simple enough, right? Not really...It is a helpless feeling when you go through it, a feeling of literally hitting a wall. You feel as though you have lost what little "control" you might have in living in a foreign country, where you do not always understand the language, where the culture is new and you are walking on eggshells trying not to intentionally offend anyone, and on a daily basis struggling just to achieve simple tasks. I think that about sums it up! There are five stages to culture shock: the first is the stage of excitement and fascination with the new culture in which you live. The second is the crisis period where you begin to feel disappointed where you are, overwhelmed and easily irritated. The third is the adjustment phase when you begin to accept the culture and you begin to have a more positive attitude toward it. I can laugh now, but it took me a full year to get to this phase! The fourth stage is acceptance and adaptation; you have accepted where you live, and you begin to make connections with the people, and are involving yourself in outside activities. The fifth stage is the re-entry shock. When you go back to your homeland and at first you are in a euphoric state, happy to see everyone and be connected again. There is also a crisis state associated with this phase in which you realize that you are not really "home", things have changed, people are not the same, you in some ways feel disconnected because you have been gone and you feel disenchanted. This happens to us every time we go home. We "thought" we were going home, yet, it feels less and less like "home" is there. It initially feels wonderful to have so much available to us when we go back, yet we often shortly upon our return feel angry or frustrated with how much the States has available to them. (Trust me, you really don't want to know all the details of my melt-down in Food Lion in August just trying to satisfy a craving for some American store-bought cookies. End result: Tears of frustration, no cookies, and the inability to literally make a choice because there was SO MUCH to choose from after standing and staring in the cookie aisle for twenty minutes)! When we leave, it's a confusing feeling.

To make a long story short, as I was reading the blog post by the other missionary, the Lord compelled me to leave a comment inviting them to come and stay at the camp.

Please pray for Matt & Kristy and their four children as they come to the camp tonight and spend the weekend. They are here in Costa Rica staying about a year for language study. They are going to be ministering in another country once they have completed their language studies, and will have to make new adjustments to that culture. The Lord has required them to give up much; they have no vehicle while here in Costa Rica. I could not do that with four kids in the States, let alone another country! Matt & Kristy have "hit the wall"! They are frustrated and tired with language study. We can relate to that! They are desperately trying to adjust to the culture. I'm not sure at times I even totally understand this culture and I've already lived here two and a half years. Pray, that the Lord would flood their souls with peace and understanding as they go through this period of culture shock, and that they would hear His voice this weekend as they seek rest in the campground. Pray that the language would "click" in their minds and that they would progress in it! I know that they will deeply appreciate you praying for them! May the Lord work this weekend for His honor and His glory as we offer them respite care!

Rise and shine tomorrow morning for us is 4 a.m. as we travel to Pavas, a suburb of San Jose to join our ministry partners, Promundo Fundacion - "God Festival", who will be infiltrating this suburb for one day with the Good News of Jesus Christ where 90-plus volunteers will work in children's ministry, hair stylists, cooks, lawyers, medical doctors and nurses, pharmacists, and the evangelism team. We partner with them to reach the poor and oppressed in Costa Rica and be His hands and His feet.

"Taps" - Sing with us!

2010-10-12T12:16:00.004-06:00

Yes, we are singing Taps AGAIN as we throw away another camera here in Costa Rica! This one was pronounced DOA (dead on arrival) when pulled from Ken's back pocket at the orphan home after three or four of the kids climbed on his back and he heard a very generous "crunch" sound! And our daughter's response back home when asked to please shop for another camera to bring down with her in November when she visits? Something to the effect of "we go through as many cameras as she does diapers for our grandson ...LOL"! That makes three cameras in two and a half years. Others have had more miserable deaths; like the last one going through a wash cycle in Heather's jeans pocket. In other words, our daughter does not arrive in Costa Rica until November 13th and there won't be any pictures posted to our blog before then....sorry! But please, don't let that be the only reason you follow us here.

Well, our visitors have returned to the States, sadly. It's a little lonely now around here. Yesterday after Spanish lessons I cleaned the camp kitchen, doing dishes, cleaning out the refrigerator, sanitizing the countertops and mopping the floor. Ken cleaned the peach cabin, stripping bedding from the Meyer's family visit and cleaning the cabin, doing laundry.

Today, I have been doing laundry in our home after not finding time to do much of any with company. We have an abundance of bananas ripening at the camp, so today I made two loaves of banana bread and two banana cakes; one for us and one for Amy & Alex. This afternoon, I have a new English student; one of Isa's relatives (the camp cook) that I am beginning lessons with. She is studying English in Orosi and paying for her lessons. I won't be charging anyone who wants to learn English because here it means the difference of a better job and pay, and I consider this a means of ministry. I am not sure if this student is a Christian, but my focus will be on building our relationship and earning the right to share my faith with her. Please keep me and my English student in your prayers!

Well, there is always enough to do here whether for ministry purposes or just the care of our family. I need to check over the last two weeks of school work the three kids have done as they progress in their homeschooling. It all keeps me out of trouble!

Thank you for reading and for praying for our family. We certainly need it as we endeavor to serve here in Costa Rica, bringing the Light of Jesus to the Orosi Valley!

Amy's First-Aid kits

2010-10-07T11:27:00.005-06:00

When Candace first arrived we took her on a tour of the Carpio Clinic where she is ministering each day this week, with the exception of Tuesday, when it is closed; and then we went shopping for first-aid containers. Candace and Amy put together 18 of these kits for each home with Heather & Javier's help, and while there is a nurse on staff at the orphan home, I know that it will go a long way in helping the mothers to clean scrapes and cuts in their homes, keeping germs at bay until the nurse can get around to check things out!

Ministering at the Orphan Home

2010-10-07T10:32:00.008-06:00

We ministered at the orphan home for two days; last Friday and also this past Tuesday. These pictures are from last Friday while the previous post was from this week on Tuesday.

Since the kids in the orphan home go to school for a half day it gave us the opportunity to fit a lunch break into our schedule. We thought that Candace might enjoy having lunch at the Mirador in Orosi (the look-out) to give her the opportunity to take some photo's and also to just enjoy the beauty of the valley in which we are allowed to minister.

This photo is taken from one side of the Mirador, a cleared field overlooking some of the opposite mountains and valleys.

This photo is overlooking Cachi, a town past Orosi. This is the same river that flows behind the campground.

On both Friday and Tuesday we packed a picnic lunch, kind of a "make-your-own" sub-type lunch with baguettes, lunch meat and toppings as well as chips, soda and cookies. Everyone seemed to enjoy this and the team fellowship as well! This is taken from the Orosi Mirador and on Tuesday we went to the Ujarras Mirador, across the valley on another mountain.

And the parachute, a gift from Global Outreach Mission, is still a big hit in children's ministry!

One of the really fun things that Amy & Alex prepared in the hygiene teaching was a video entitled, "The Batman". Amy had found it online and it demonstrates the proper way to protect a sneeze from spreading germs. Of course, Amy didn't have too much problem finding a volunteer on the team to demonstrate "The Batman" following the video, live to the kids! Here's our Batman, Jordan!

Thank the Lord for Heather, always willing to lead music and with Becca & Tate's help, we were well prepared to minister through music with beautifully decorated posterboards!

Keep us in your prayers as tonight we go to minister at the homeless shelter. Candace and Emil & his family will be joining us in that as we prepare in the campground kitchen this afternoon a spaghetti dinner for 90 people. Tomorrow, sadly Emil and his family will begin their trip back home in the late afternoon, so please keep them in your prayers for traveling mercies. Candace will leave on Saturday as well and would appreciate the same prayers. It will be kind of lonely around here, that's for sure!

Visitors & Ministry

2010-10-07T09:20:00.006-06:00

On Monday, Emil & Stacey arrived at the camp with their two daughters, Becca & Tate. They are prayerfully considering full-time missionary service with Global Outreach Mission and came from California to see the ministry in Costa Rica! Part of our ministry here is to share our lives with other potential missionaries by involving them in what we do on a day-to-day basis as well as having them joining us in ministry. This week has been awesome because it has felt like we have had a "mini" team here and we are always able to do so much more with a few people than just by ourselves! I really like their family and I wish that we could keep them here. Their girls are so special and Heather has enjoyed having "little sisters" around. It's hard for us to meet people for a short time, bond with them in some way and then have them leave. We don't know if Emil & Stacey will feel that God is calling them back to Costa Rica, but we know who does the calling! I do know that they would make great missionaries and so I ask that you add them to your prayer list for us; that God would give them very clear direction in the future. May God bless their family!

This picture is of Stacey at the orphan home introducing a craft with Heather translating for her.

As I mentioned before in a previous post, Candace is here from Arkansas for one week. She is an R.N. and has been ministering with Amy from a medical aspect in that her and Amy devised a plan to teach general hygiene while we were at the orphan home. Candace has been a hoot while she has been staying in our home. When I think about the scripture, "The joy of the Lord is my strength", I will always think of Candace in the future. She floods a room with "joy" in all circumstances and a love for the Lord that is contagious. She will be greatly missed when it is time for her to go as well.

Also as part of our ministry at the orphan home, we have always tried to minister to the mothers as well. I emailed Candace in advance of her coming and asked her if it would be possible for her to bring some small gifts for the mothers. When she arrived I was thrilled when she opened a suitcase of donations from her home church and friends of small bottles of lotion, candles, notepads, washcloths, etc. and when Ken was out one day he found these cute purse-like gift bags for us! Some were white with silver beaded handles and also red. At the end of the day of ministering on Tuesday to the orphan home kids, Stacy, Candace & Heather went to each home, prayed with each Mom and presented them with a special "ladies only" gift bag! Thank you so much, all of Candace's family and friends who made this possible for us to do. It was a tremendous blessing for the ladies to receive and I know that it encouraged each one of them!

In talking with Amy about what kind of thing we could do "new & different" in ministry at the orphan home, she came up with the brilliant idea one day as she was up to her arm pits in suitcases and sorting medical supplies, that with the extra that we had on hand, we could make miniature first aid kits for each orphan house. From that idea came another to have general hygiene kits for each child, and to set our "program" for the children around scriptural verses relating to God's temple (our bodies) and the care of our temple. Then, came the email to Emil & Stacey who were still preparing back in the States to let them know what we were doing and how they might be able to help us. Never did we expect that Emil & Stacey would take our ideas and prepare so much for us; what a blessing! When they arrived, they had two suitcases full of 60 prepared hygiene kits, each in an individual travel bag and complete with a washcloth, travel toothbrush, a regular toothbrush, soap, hair brush and shampoo.

On Tuesday, Stacey prepared a devotional that pulled everything that Amy & Candace had been teaching on hygiene together using one of the hygiene kits! The kids lined up to leave and go back to their homes after the ministry, and Becca & Tate, along with Stacey placed a kit in each child's hand. The kids were so excited! I saw one little boy, not even looking through his bag as most of the kids were, but clutching it close to his side as if to send the message that it "was his"!

As simple as water

2010-09-28T07:11:00.004-06:00

Yesterday afternoon the town crier informed us that the water would be turned off today for line repairs. It's always nice to have advance notice! So, this morning Ken and I were up early to fill the necessary containers to be able to do today's chores; filling pots to be able to boil water to do the dishes later (we only have cold water here and always boil water to ensure the dishes are clean) and for cooking. Of course, taking a shower was high on the list of priorities as well before the 7:30 or 8 a.m. "turn off".

It's not so hard to recall how much easier things "appear" back in the States having just returned back to Costa Rica a little over six weeks ago. What is more amazing is how God has allowed us to adapt back and forth between our two homelands. It's odd how the mission field "changes" you. Most people come here and can't believe how long it takes to do the dishes for a family of five, boiling the pots of water. I go home to the States and struggle with remembering how to load and operate our dishwasher, and my daughter or son-in-law have to hold a "reminder session".

Simplicity, it's not as bad as it sounds, and later today, I will be reminded of how nice it is just to be able to turn on the tap and watch the cold water flow.

Scipio Center, NY

2010-09-20T11:16:00.011-06:00

One of the churches that we were invited to while we were home in the States was the Scipio Center Community Church located in Scipio, NY (Central NY). They asked us to be their guest speakers for their week-long VBS program. The theme of their VBS was the Rain Forest! We came armed with all the fascinating photos for their kids that we could find on our cameras; you know, the tarantulas, iguanas, bananas on the trees, the monkeys, all things Rain Forest and Costa Rica! We had a great time sharing with them on a number of different levels; what it means to be a missionary, what a missionary does in a foreign country, what our family does in Costa Rica for work and for fun, etc.

This first picture is of Jo Beth and Heather leading the music. Jo Beth has actually been to Costa Rica and served alongside of us on a children's ministry team. Heather and Jo Beth hit it off and since this is my sister, Wendy's, home church; whenever we get to visit her and her husband, Gary, Jo Beth and Heather get to see each other. They make a GREAT team, along with Jo Beth's sister.

This is just a few of the preschool kids. They are so much fun! Many had a lot of questions about missions and living in a foreign country. You never know what seed God might have planted in the heart of one of these small children.

I found a Dr. Seuss book entitled, "If I Ran the Rain Forest" and while it didn't have any Biblical basis, the book itself, had lots of whimsical drawings of rain forest animals and the four floors of the rain forest. This was an educational tool and I read it to the younger groups of kids while I was there one day. They all had lots of questions about the rain forest which this book helped to answer. Though, the rhymes in true Dr. Seuss style were real tongue twisters!

Five days of being in front of the kids, while only for five to ten minutes, by the last day, I was hoarse! I shared a couple of different illustrations, tye-dying a coffee filter with different colored food colorings each representing a "difference" that we saw in the Costa Ricans when we first arrived to Costa Rica, but explaining they too are made in God's image, and that God sees them as equal to us. When I held the folded coffee filter up and began to unfold it, the kids began to squeal at the beauty in the tye-dyed filter and I explained that "differences" make us all unique and beautiful before God.

One day, Heather, Kyle & Jordan joined me up front, and we just sat casually and answered all the questions they could think of to ask; what do we eat in Costa Rica for food? What is our favorite foods in Costa Rica? What do we miss eating while we are in the States that we can only get in Costa Rica? Did Heather or Kyle have a boyfriend or girlfriend in Costa Rica? What do we do for fun as a family when we are not working?

On the last day, as I was wrapping up all that we had talked about, I had one of the Youth Group help me out on an illustration using a remote controlled car as I did an invitation. I used scripture from Romans and had the Youth represent "me" and demonstrate how without Jesus, and me controlling the remote car, I tend to steer my car in different and sometimes wrong directions. But, when I accepted Jesus, He took control of my life, and the car was on a much better, direct path. Praise the Lord that 7 children accepted Jesus at the end of the week! Thank you, Scipio Community Church, for investing in the children of your church and community. Truly, they are the future of your church. And, thank you for allowing us to participate in your VBS. You were a blessing to our family and we enjoyed feeling like part of your family!

Not "Big Steve's"

2010-09-20T10:37:00.003-06:00

One place we love to go to when we are at home in NC is actually only about three miles from our home. The name of the restaurant is "Big Steve's" and he's located in the Food Lion Plaza at Hwy. 210 and I-40, Exit 319. He specializes in bagels and I really do mean "specializes". They also make The Best chicken salad..."evah"! I love to go there for breakfast and especially when my son-in-law, Brad, takes care of ordering for me. I guess he knows me, probably more because he is married to my daughter, Danielle, and we have similar tastes in food. I always order the croissant sandwich, bacon, egg and cheese and wonder how in the world I am going to finish that! And Brad always adds in a cinnamon-raisin bagel with plain cream cheese for me knowing that's really what I want too. (He did it to me last time I was home too and when we sat down to eat at the breakfast table and I questioned the bagel in addition to the croissant, Brad rolled his eyes, and we both busted out laughing!)

Needless to say, we don't ever get to eat bagels here in Costa Rica because we can't afford them at over more than $1 per bagel, frozen, Lender's bagels. There is a restaurant called, "Bagelman's" here, but it is so far away, about 45 minutes from the house, that we can't justify driving to get a breakfast sandwich there. The other day when reading another missionary blog, I found that she had made some bagels from a recipe she found and posted a link.

Well, they are NOT "Big Steve's", but they are whole wheat and cinnamon-raisin, and they are easy and taste so good! Some days on the mission field, we just thank the Lord for being able to eat something that comes somewhat close to familiar from home.

I forgot

2010-09-18T16:36:00.002-06:00

Would you believe that I brought my camera to take some pictures last night in the Celebration Center and I totally forgot to take any pictures! Ergh! Last night we had low numbers, 10 women and 5 children. In the June meeting we had 26 women, but I found out that the church in Orosi was having a major fundraising project and that almost the entire town was attending that. I believe that God had attend exactly who He wanted to get there. Amy's testimony was amazing and I saw some teary eyes. The children had a really good time too. One really neat thing I noticed was that the women stayed around a lot longer this time to eat snacks and just to talk. That really is a cultural difference that I have noticed. They kind of eat and leave here real quickly where we live; whether you've invited someone for dinner or its a ministry activity. That was a really, really nice change last night and I am grateful for it. Today, I've been cleaning up my kitchen after making the brownies and cookies (did I mention they were high heeled shoes?). So stinkin cute!

Pray for seeds that were planted last night!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read...

Women's Ministry Tonight - Praying?

2010-09-17T13:02:00.005-06:00

I hope if you are a regular follower of this blog that you remembered a previous post about the Women's Ministry Outreach being held tonight at the camp. This ministry is now a regular Outreach into the community of women and is being held every three months under the name, "Noche de Chicas" or "Chick Night"! The Lord placed this ministry on my heart back in late winter and I formed a Steering Committee of two other very fine Tica Christian ladies to help me launch our first Women's Outreach back in June. At that time, missionary intern, Tamara Maycroft was here and she was the guest speaker. There is more of a "need" for this ministry than I even understood back in June, and as of the last couple of weeks, my two Tica friends on the Steering Committee have been virtually "hounded" about the next meeting, when it was going to be, etc. Today, I have been working on the last of the preparations and I will take more photos tonight, but here are the brownie bites on a stick. Then they are dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut, macadamia nuts or just fun confetti sprinkles. As a rule, my Tica friends informed me that "chocolate is necessary" at a Women's gathering, so I am prayerful that this will fit the bill! Tonight, Amy Givens, our new ministry partner here at the camp is sharing her testimony and what the Lord has taught her especially about Biblical "finances". Our next meeting is scheduled for December 4 and will be a Mother-Daughter Christmas Tea theme.

Please pray for our outreach tonight as Amy shares from the Word about this very specific topic, but a much needed one with regard to women here in the Valley! Also, at the same time that the women are having their meeting, we will be having a simultaneous children's ministry, so that no women has to be left out of attending tonight's activities!

My father-in-law & Psalm 73:26

2010-09-16T16:19:00.003-06:00

A couple of days ago Heather and I were in the house standing and talking in the kitchen when Heather came to me and nuzzled her head into my shoulder and began to sob. It took a few minutes to be able to understand what she was trying to tell me, but while we had been talking in the kitchen, someone had come to the house (a homeless man, who we have been ministering too for a while now); and he had been at the camp when Grandpa Dundon was here visiting in April. This triggered a memory of her Grandpa, and she became overwhelmed with emotion and missing him. We are now just realizing that when we were back in the States we went through the "motions" of grieving. Ken's plane ticket was for the day of his father's burial and he actually left without attending the graveside service for Costa Rica. The kids and I continued in NY for another whole week to do a week-long VBS, and then return to NC for a speaking engagement, and then returned to Costa Rica. It seems now like one day we were surrounded with our family and a week or so later we were back in Costa Rica by ourselves. On a recent phone call with Ken's Mom when we were checking in with her, I never could regain composure enough to talk to her as I didn't want to upset her anymore than she was already. She was sharing some of the difficulties she was experiencing as she adjusts to her new life as a widow.

I was reading in Psalms the other night and came across Psalm 73:26 which says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever". I highlighted the verse in a neon yellow Sharpie marker and then wrote, "Dad Dundon" in ink next to it. For me, it embodies all that he believed.

One day, I hope that my children can highlight a verse and remember me. I pray that it is a verse as strong as this one; testifying that God is all that I need and that He is everything to me!

Independence Day!

2010-09-15T09:43:00.003-06:00

Feliz Dia de Independencia, Costa Rica!!

"It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood"

2010-09-14T21:02:00.007-06:00

Not really!! This is how quickly the rain can swell even a small creek during rainy season. This creek is directly across from the front of our home. We had some important errands to run this afternoon around 1 p.m., but noticed that it began to rain really, really hard. In ten minutes we were grabbing brooms and anything we could find to try and block the water from our next door neighbor's yard and front door who is away at work during the day. We were not very successful, but the boys, Kyle & Jordan didn't need to go with us on this errand, and as they have always done with us in the past; they took a break from what they were doing to clean our neighbors house once we called his relatives!

A busy week

2010-09-11T09:30:00.002-06:00

This week has been very busy. I spent most of the week painting in the other mission house preparing for Amy and Alex to arrive. Amy is an LPN and will be working with us for a year; hopefully longer if her funds can continue to come in. On Monday, Ken joined me at the house and spent the entire day doing odd jobs at the house, repairing locks, working on plumbing issues, doors, clothing storage units, etc. On Thursday in the evening we went to the airport to pick up Amy. Yesterday, we spent the entire day shopping with her; grocery shopping and then outfitting the house kind of shopping. It was a long day of stopping at multiple places, but she got new furniture and mattresses, dishes, etc. We accomplished a lot and now have her list down to next to nothing. Today, she is still unpacking and getting things put away in her house. This weekend is a weekend "off" in that there is no rental group. This morning I am off to meet with one of the other members of the Women's Ministry Steering Committee. She helps me as I plan our Women's Outreach to keep within the cultural boundaries and out of trouble since she is a Tica! This Friday night we will launch the ongoing Women's Ministry after the first meeting three months ago was such a big hit, and the local women are asking for it to continue. It will continue on an every three month basis with an outreach especially for women at the camp. The name of the Women's Ministry will be "Noche de Chica" (Chick Night), and Amy will be sharing a devotional this Friday night!

Well, look for more posts over the weekend and pictures from our visit back in the States. Thanks for reading!

We ate....a lot...while in the States

2010-09-02T15:45:00.003-06:00

A 12-lb. turkey in Costa Rica costs $80. Needless to say, we don't eat turkey at Thanksgiving or any other time of the year for that matter. Actually, Costa Ricans don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day and so the turkeys are imported from the States. Most Costa Ricans have never eaten turkey! When we do get to come home, a turkey dinner is something we very much look forward too. We spotted frozen Butterball turkeys in the Wal-Mart freezer for 86 cents per pound! Danielle, our oldest daughter, is at the end of the table and her husband, Brad, is to the right of her. They come to Costa Rica and spend every Christmas with us, but we make it a point when we are home to celebrate Thanksgiving with them as a family. So, here we are around the kitchen table at our home in N.C. enjoying 100 degree temperatures and our Thanksgiving meal...TOGETHER!! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, a little early!

Sharing about Costa Rica

2010-09-02T15:13:00.003-06:00

One of the first presentations we did was to this group of kids during our second week at home in N.C. These pictures were taken at Kids Faith Camp outside of Smithfield, N.C. We were invited to share about our missionary lives and our ministry in Costa Rica. The kids were really inquisitive and asked some great questions! Of course, we came armed with the "cream of the crop" photos for kids that they all want to see; the tarantulas we have photographed at the camp, monkeys at the beach, the Macaw's, etc. Heather, Kyle and Jordan are dressed in "sort of" the national costume (the boys should have been wearing white long-sleeved shirts rolled up, but we needed to get back home to purchase those, and hadn't yet at the time of this presentation, but red is a national color). They performed a typical Costa Rican dance that you would see here at a parade particularly on Independence Day! And of course, we talked about "spiritual" things too. I explained that we don't have to really go far to be a "missionary" if we open are eyes wide enough! Seems even in the States there are plenty of people in need. You never know, maybe one day, one of these kids will be a missionary, if not at home, than another country. Thank you Kids Faith for the opportunity and the blessing of being asked to share with your kids!

M.I.A. - Not really!

2010-09-02T14:24:00.003-06:00

Some might think we have been missing in action! I have been in a "writing funk" as of late, I think, because I have had so many other things on my mind like, confirmation last evening from the main office that a medical team is coming down at the end of October and the urgent need to begin the team's logistics, the need to write to our supporters and give them an update on the ministry in Costa Rica through the main office, a camp schedule that needs to be prepared for the main office, a financial statement that is complete in a "rough" copy, but now needs to be typed and sent in to the main office, homeschooling the three kids here in Costa Rica and a mound of papers to be corrected for them, painting the other mission house for another missionary arriving one week from today to stay for a year and help us, a mound of thank you cards from our stay in the States and the funeral services; oh...I could go on! Somedays, it feels like I am working "backwards" instead of moving forwards! Ever have that feeling?

We did make it safely back to Costa Rica from the States. After being there for five and a half weeks it was a difficult readjustment to the time changes alone. Costa Rica has no daylight savings time. The States is two hours ahead of us. So, the first two weeks we were home in Costa Rica, I was dragging by 8 or 8:30 p.m. which felt like 10 or 10:30 p.m. I would go to bed around 8:30, but then wake up for a few hours around 2 or 3 a.m. here in Costa Rica. Of course, our little section of the world here wakes up beginning at 4 a.m. and everyone is up at about 5 a.m. So, just about when I would fall back asleep, it was actually time to get back up for the beginning of the day! Needless to say, that torture is over and I am now back on my usual Costa Rican schedule.

There are, of course, dietary adjustments to be made as well. Gone are the Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts, but on the other hand, we have been consuming more smoothies again made with natural fruit from the camp; bananas, oranges and we add a little bit of liquid strawberry yogurt, and of course, ice. Nothing tastes sweeter or better than one of Ken's homemade smoothies on a hot day! Now, if he could just figure out how to make a Bojangles biscuit :) No, that's a bad idea! We all could stand to drop a few pounds from our visit in the States!

Because our "busy" season here is January through July, and I do mean pretty busy with short-term teams, missionary interns; the house stays pretty clean, but sometimes things don't quite get put away in their proper places in between having people here to do ministry with. This past week I have been doing some "spring" cleaning, even though it is September, of the house. Doing the "low priority, I don't want to do this, somebody shoot-me" type-jobs, like cleaning out and scrubbing the refrigerator and freezer, although I gotta say the end result is pretty nice! With the newest member of the team arriving next Thursday, Amy and her son, Alex, we will hit the ground running when she arrives with getting her set up here in Costa Rica; bank accounts, driver's license, home furnishings to purchase and that will consume a good bit of our time in the coming weeks.

To all of you who prayed for our trip and our safe return. Thank You! Just know we are home here and as you have read, well, we've got plenty to do! I've sorted through some pictures and will begin posts of what we did while in the States in the days ahead since I know inquiring minds want to know! Thanks for praying and for reading, well, I know of at least one person who reads this blog...Love you, Gary (my favorite brother-in-law)

Ken's Dad

2010-07-29T08:57:00.002-06:00

Ken's father passed away this morning. We are sad because he is no longer with us, but we are grateful that he is no longer suffering! Please keep the entire Dundon family in your prayers as arrangements are being made. We will be traveling to NY for his funeral after a memorial service here in N.C.

Traveling

2010-07-21T21:16:00.002-06:00

Ken did get in the U.S. safely on Sunday, not Saturday night due to a three hour delay in take-off from the airport in San Jose. This made it impossible for him to make his connecting flight in Dallas and he spent the night there. On Friday night his father had been admitted to a hospital in Atlanta, so on Monday morning we headed out early for there. We arrived in the afternoon, went to his sister's house, and then to the hospital with his Mom to see his Dad. Before we left his Dad's doctor came by to see his Mom and to talk with her. We were told that his father's condition is now terminal and yesterday he was placed in a Hospice Hospital. We have been told that his father has a few days to a few weeks to live.

Tonight, we are back in our home in N.C. and this weekend Ken will return to his sister's home in Atlanta. His brother and sister from New York will be coming down to Atlanta this weekend as well. Heather, Kyle, Jordan and I will try and keep the speaking engagements that we has committed to here in N.C. regarding our ministry in such places as churches, camps and the first week in August a VBS program in New York.

While Ken was a little surprised that his father has so little time left, we want you to know that it does not come as a total shock to our family. His father has been fighting this cancer for a very long time! One day soon his body will be free from pain and while we will miss him dearly here on earth, we rejoice because we know where he is going! God's timing is always perfect and we are thankful to be home during this time to support his Mom and to spend with his father.

You can pray for our family as we travel and as we go through the process of letting go of his father. Thank you!

We're back! You've been warned!

2010-07-16T07:26:00.002-06:00

It's nice to be typing this post from our home in N.C. There's so many things you don't even realize you miss; simple things, like walking bare foot on carpeted floors, flushing the toilet paper down the toilet, showers with a lot of water pressure, Dr. Pepper, donuts. While I've enjoyed meeting my grandson, I've also enjoyed sleeping and sleeping soundly! It feels so good to be rested up! We live in sleep deprivation mode in Costa Rica. Tomorrow night Ken comes in from Costa Rica and we are all looking forward to that. Kyle is already at his best friend's house spending a couple of nights getting caught up. Heather has seen one of her friend's and Jordan's best friend is at his Grandma's for a couple of days; so pretty soon they should be able to get reconnected. So, what's next on the agenda? I need to start making phone calls and setting up appointments with some churches and some other people who have asked us to come and speak about our ministry. When Ken arrives with our other laptop, I need to begin going through photo's and work on a presentation for the VBS that we will also be doing for a week in New York State. I need to begin working on an update letter to send out to our supporters through Global Outreach Mission as well as a ministry report to send into the office in Buffalo. Our homeschooling curriculum has arrived here in N.C. and I need to begin teaching next week. At least for this first weekend home in the States, I have absolutely nothing planned except to rest. I know I've needed that most!

It's July???

2010-07-02T20:59:00.002-06:00

We've been busy here with a three-week team; this being their first full week here in Costa Rica. It is a children's ministry team and we've been working on the VBS program that we will be doing at the campground for the orphan home kids. Tonight, in between smelling bags of popcorn popping in my microwave, I happened to flip the calendar over (having already missed the first two days of July) with working with the team. That means in 9 days, I will be traveling home to the States with Heather, Kyle & Jordan on July 11th to wait for the arrival of our first grandson, Mr. Liam Scott Towle, provided he cannot wait to meet his Mom & Dad before then! Let me just say right out that "no...I have nothing done towards getting ready to leave Costa Rica for five and a half weeks", but with all that is going on here I am trusting God to carve out some time for me!

First week in review: Team arrived last Saturday afternoon, beginning of the week was spent working on details of the VBS program, learning music in Spanish, tracing and cutting out crafts. Wednesday was the free day (Britt Coffee Tour) and souvenir shopping. The rest of the week was much the same with the exception of Thursday afternoon when we cooked a spaghetti dinner for 95 men at the homeless shelter and took that to San Jose to serve. Three team members gave their testimonies, Kyle & Heather did an awesome job interpreting! The team also performed a drama. I think they were really humbled by the experience and many of the team members said they were taken out of their comfort zones.

Tonight, the small group that Heather heads up of Youth is meeting in our garage and the team has joined in with that meeting tonight. Tomorrow, we will polish the program for next week, and the team will attend the Youth Group meeting in Orosi to perform their drama.

Kind of an update of sorts. Post pictures hopefully over the weekend. Please continue to pray as the Lord opens up doors for this team to minister and for the VBS Program that will run out of the campground for the next two weeks; pray for the orphan kids to hear the word of God, for safety in all the activities, for team members to be stretched and strengthened as we serve Him! Thanks! See some of you soon....in the USA!!! :)

A comedy of errors, as of late

2010-06-23T20:01:00.003-06:00

We got back home later last night than we expected from Panama because we were not even halfway home to Costa Rica and our van broke down. Fortunately, our insurance covers towing and a taxi ride home! Our 90 days were up in Costa Rica and we had to go to Panama to have our VISA's stamped. For the second time, we had a difficult time getting back into Costa Rica, and thought we were going to be stuck at the border between the two countries. This time, we had to produce documentation (a flight schedule) that within the next 90 days we would be leaving the country and returning to the U.S. Fortunately, with our grandson due to be born in three weeks, we had just made flight arrangements last week and were able to go to an internet cafe and pull those confirmations up out of our email. Otherwise, the fine would have been $1,000 and we would not have gotten back home into Costa Rica. We have done everything by the book here, and as our Costa Rican lawyer has recommended, as far as leaving even before our time is up and we are still having to jump through hoops it seems. On Tuesday morning before we even left the hotel we got a phone call that our house back in Costa Rica had been broken into. When we got home, it was obvious that some things were moved around, but it doesn't appear that anything was stolen. The door had been left halfway open, maybe for someone to come back, but we got back home before they could. Tonight, we got a phone call from the mechanic that we need a new motor to be placed in the van. This mechanic is one that we trust and he does good work. The cost will be about $2,600. Please keep us in your prayers. I wish that I could say we weren't discouraged. I'm off to bed to have a good scream into my pillow....ahahahahahaha!

Finally...some picture updates!

2010-06-09T20:48:00.012-06:00

I don't know why I've had so much trouble lately uploading pictures, but finally, I got these to get through! These are ministry pictures from our week with Team PBA here in Costa Rica.

This is Kyle's best Costa Rican friend and our neighbor, Osvaldo, or as we call him, "Osvi". He can often be found in our home hanging out with Heather & Kyle, or at work in town at the local grocery store, but on this day, his day off, he asked if he could join with us in ministry. He is working with the kids in Children's Ministry.

This year, for the first time on a team, we had a dentist and dental hygienist, Dr. & Mrs. Hesser. In between patients, Mrs. Hesser was reviewing with one of the students, Amira, the "correct" flossing technique! Just another educational moment for PBA!

Dr. Hesser averaged about 37 patients a day in the dental chair; examining adults as well as children; making recommendations on problem teeth treatments, and pulling decayed teeth. He was unable to do actual teeth cleaning due to the expense of purchasing as well as transporting a generator for cleaning.

As always, we try to invite our Pastor and Youth Pastor to join us in ministry whenever we have a medical or outreach event. This time, Jeffrey Prieto, our Youth Pastor represented our church and partnered with the church where we held the clinic in evangelism.

On the second night the team was there we had a "man snack" for the guys that were on the team; but of course, there was enough for everyone! Chicken Wings that tasted like home, made by a U.S. Expat who owns a restaurant right in nearby Cartago!

Wherever we go the kids squeal when we bring out the parachute!

Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, there is always a waiting line to see the doctor!

Before the clinics even started, we had a team who counted the most used supplies and placed them in small bags; vitamins, Tylenol, children's vitamins, prenatal vitamins, etc.

Along with the Maycroft Family who are three month missionary interns, came their family friend and babysitter, Miss Sarah Ax. Here's a picture of Sarah with some new friends that she made while doing children's ministry.

This is a picture of patient's waiting outside of Triage to get their vital signs taken before seeing the physicians.

On one of the days in the early morning headed out toward the clinics we got a rare, clear glimpse of the Turrialba volcano! Because the clouds usually cover this volcano early in the morning, we pulled the bus to the side of the road and all got out to snap some pictures....even me, since it had been weeks since we had seen its progress due to the start of rainy season. She still continues to smoke steadily! You too can follow her progress at http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/videoturri.html where I often have to take a look at the live web cam located 600 meters on the side wall of the crater to see what's going on when the clouds obscure our view from the valley!

Man Down!!

2010-06-05T12:50:00.002-06:00

The team left on Tuesday morning, but because of mechanical problems with their plane, they got out of San Jose and had to spend Tuesday night in Atlanta. We have received various messages, that they did get back to Florida safely on Wednesday morning, so that is an answer to prayer! I've been dealing with an upper respiratory tract infection and am now on medication for that as prescribed by Dr. Ferrell which was a blessing. I'm feeling better, still coughing some, but on the mend which I am very thankful for. I realized yesterday that almost after every single medical clinic, I have gotten sick. I guess that the alternative would be not to hug on the sick people at the clinics, but that ain't happening! I need to remember to boost up my vitamin C before a medical team arrives.

Jeff Lewis and Pastor Jeff Gardner from Threshold Church in Charlotte, N.C. are in Costa Rica just for the weekend and asked to meet with Ken and I; so we just finished that meeting this morning. Kyle has just left with them now and is translating some other meetings for them this afternoon.

Yesterday, after a couple of days of rest from having the team here we took the Maycroft Family to the amusement park for a day of fun with our kids! They all seemed to enjoy the park and the kids had a great time riding rides together. The rain held off and we sent their family home in a taxi, and our family proceeded to the airport to pick up a three-week missionary intern to work alongside of us! His name is Fred Smith and I am sure that he would greatly appreciate your prayers while he is here ministering. Fred is considering full-time missionary service. You never know what God is going to do in a person's heart while they are here. We do the best we can to educate them about "missionary life" by showing them a window into ours.

May the Lord continue to bless our work together with the Maycroft Family and with Fred. May they clearly hear His voice and His direction in the upcoming decisions that they need to make!

I tried to post pictures on here the other day, but they just weren't uploading, so I am off to find the camera and try it again. Hopefully, there may be another post later of last week's team activities!

Busy Day

2010-05-25T16:26:00.002-06:00

We still do not have internet at the camp and the team has walked over to Orosi with Dr. Ferrell to use the internet cafe and make contact with loved ones at home! Today, was a fun day of unpacking medications and supplies from suitcases and repacking by category the medications that we will use for the first two days of clinic. The team also counted vitamins, Tylenol, etc. thirty day supplies in preparation for the clinic knowing that these medications are prescribed most often for simple pain relief. Dr. Hesser spent the afternoon seeing and treating the Costa Rican "staff" who work here with us at the camp; Coqui the camp gardener had a tooth pulled, as well as his sister-in-law, Gloria, the camp baker, and Isa's niece also had a tooth pulled that was causing her tremendous pain. Dr. Hesser was also able to do examinations on them letting them know which teeth might need attention in the future. He also took the time to see each one of our children informing us that Jordan had a cavity which will need attention soon; Kyle needs braces; and Heather has wisdom teeth coming in. He also turned his attention to the Maycroft Family, short-term missionaries serving here alongside us at the camp for two more months. What a blessing to all of us to get some dental attention! The team said that they slept well and tonight will be an early dinner at 5 p.m. followed by anniversary cake that I had Gloria make for Ken and I. Today, we are celebrating our wedding anniversary...25 years! God is faithful and while He loves us unconditionally and with an unfailing love, through Him, we have been able to love each other, not perfectly, but in a way that is difficult for man without Him! We Praise the Lord for this milestone in our lives! Then we have a special "man snack" planned for the entire team tonight; last night the ice cream social was with the ladies in mind, and I know they think they've figured it all out, thinking that it is Pollo Crispy, but they are wrong! Seems like everyone is feeling rested and ready for tomorrow to begin the clinic! So many new faces on this team this year, but already, I can say they are a very special group of young people and they are once again, stealing our hearts! So blessed to have them back!

Team PBA is in the house...umm...

2010-05-24T21:31:00.002-06:00

I mean they are in the camp! They arrived safely today with ALL their luggage and ALL of their medications made it through Customs - Praise the Lord! Dr. Hesser and his wife also came in on time and were able to hook up with the team. Dr. Hesser is a dentist! We are excited about them working with us for the first time and we know that this will be a real blessing to the people of Costa Rica to receive "free" dental care! We have internet in our home, but the internet is still not working at the camp. Tomorrow, is our preparation day with sorting and preparing the medications for the first clinics scheduled for Wednesday, and Thursday. We hope that we can finish this task before dinner and if the internet is not restored at that time, we will walk the team over to Orosi to the internet cafe to make contact with their families. Tonight after a light supper, we had an ice cream social and while it is early here, it is two hours later in the States, and the team as already retired for the evening after their day of traveling. Please continue to keep the entire team, interpreters and other support staff in your prayers as we minister through the medical clinic, dental clinic, evangelism, music, children's minister, and ask the Lord to allow us to be ministers of His hands and feet!

Internet...FINALLY!

2010-05-23T22:11:00.002-06:00

Wow...this weekend has been crazy with the rain. So many of the Costa Ricans keep telling us, "this is like October" which is the height of the rainy season! It has been raining here torrentially over the weekend. The first year that we were here I remember that the rains "built up" from May until October. It just seems like we are wide open already! We have had "in" and "out" internet service all weekend in our home (more "out" than "in") which has been irritating with Ken's father still in the hospital. Last week as you probably know from the news, we had an earthquake in Costa Rica which is to blame for a lot of the telecommunication problems that the country as a whole is experiencing. Today, we needed to do some last minute running around to pick up just a few things for the team and noticed a large water pipe that was broken on our way past the camp. I called the kids on the cell phone and told them to stock up on water from the tap, filling the washing machine and plastic buckets, so we could flush toilets; thinking that they will be turning off the water tonight or very early tomorrow morning to make the repairs. Well, I better run. I have to get up early in the morning to post the schedule at the camp, clean the bathrooms from the church being at the camp this afternoon and make sure everything's in place for Team PBA to arrive! Please keep us (the Team and our family) all in your prayers as we minister to bodies that seek healing both physically and spiritually.

Dad again and now Ken

2010-05-20T22:52:00.002-06:00

What was supposed to be a work-in doctor's appointment, ended up being a five hour stay in the hospital emergency room as well today! Ken has flared again with his rheumatoid arthritis and he has been walking with the use of crutches for the past week. With Team PBA arriving on Monday, I suggested he call the doctor and have his knee and ankle looked at since it didn't appear that the new drug cocktail was really working too well, and working more on our bank account than his body! The doctor was gracious to fit him in today and drained six tubes of liquid off his knee, and injected it with an anti-inflammatory medication. We then proceeded to the ER for IV fluid to help with the swelling in his ankle.

Meanwhile, back in the States in N.C. since we have left the area, Ken's brother and two sisters have driven from Atlanta and New York State to check on his father who is again readmitted into the hospital this time for a very debilitating state of mental confusion and aggressive behavior. His MRI came back normal, but some other exams and blood work shows that his multiple myeloma is spreading. The physicians have discontinued any medications that may have caused this state of confusion, and it seems at this time that there is no real clear answer for his behavior.

I've wanted to post some pictures that I haven't been able to get up due to preparations for the team, that have been taken over the past two weeks. Maybe tomorrow. Today, was supposed to be grocery shopping day for the team, but we ran out of time with the morning spent in the hospital.

We have a group coming in to rent the camp tomorrow evening into Saturday evening, so tomorrow as early as possible we plan on getting out to do the grocery shopping and then return to the camp to finish preparing for the rental group. We've got one more cabin to clean after having the exterminator here on Monday, not because the camp was infested, its something we do routinely every six months! Maybe over the weekend I can get those pictures up! Please continue to pray for Ken's Dad and the family in any decisions they may need to make for him in N.C., and for Ken's recovery into remission from this round of rheumatoid arthritis!

Re: Dad

2010-05-06T13:06:00.005-06:00

Carolyn, my mother-in-law called this morning to talk for a few minutes and we appreciate that. When loved ones are sick it is hard to be so far away! She said that my father-in-law, Richard, has been diagnosed with pneumonia. This was confirmed by x-rays as well as a scan. This is good news! He is recovering, still in the hospital. He is taking a bit of time to recover because of all the medicines he is on for pain management from neuropathy which are making the antibiotics a little weaker. But, overall he seems to be on the mend. Thank you to all those who prayed!

It's a busy day here finishing up "preparations" and working around the campground. I will try and post some pictures tonight.

The question was asked by a commentor whether the Maycroft Family would work here with us as missionaries if all things went well with their young boys on this trial run. I believe if they continued to feel called to be full-time missionaries, that they would sign on with Global Outreach Mission. At this time, I do not think that a country or a specific ministry has been discussed with them, as they are really seeking the Lord for direction during this internship period. I know that they will covet your prayers during this period of service! It is an extremely important time in their lives!

On another note, last year we had a member of last year's Global Outreach Mission January team stay an extra week rather unexpectedly and last minute to work more closely with us. This was Amy Beth Givens. Amy did return to the States after her three weeks here and felt called to full-time missionary service and in November she was appointed to Costa Rica as our newest team member. As many of you do know, she is currently in the fundraising process through the mission. God is moving in a lot of different ways; ways that one could never expect; but, we serve that kind of God! Her house sold quickly, but recently she was unexpectedly laid off from her job! Please pray for Amy that funds would come together for her to move her to the field. We certainly can use her help with the loss of our previous ministry partners, Katherine & David Huitz, who were called to serve in Guatamela and left Costa Rica on April 30th. In other words, the Dundon Family is here alone right now, but not really, because God continues to help us through this transition period! Amy is a licensed LPN and will be taking on the role of Medical Coordinator for our medical teams! I know Amy would appreciate your prayers as she works full-time to raise support and prepares to move here! She has 100% raised of her outgoing expenses, and is currently at a little over 50% of her monthly support...To God be the Glory!

Please pray for this vital ministry of the campground which serves as a "base" so to speak for those considering full-time missionary service. It is a place where interns can work on the field, be exposed to missionary life and experience this country's culture. It is an absolute joy, and a privilege, whenever we get to share our missionary lives with those "considering" full-time service! Global Outreach Mission has always allowed us the "option" of whether we want to host people here. We have been blessed in so many ways through this opportunity. Our prayer is that we too, have been a blessing! I personally enjoy having the opportunity to have company and use my gifts of cooking and hospitality.

Okay, I guess I need to get back to work!

Prayer Requests

2010-05-05T22:56:00.003-06:00

We've been busy "preparing". Seems like we are just in that stage. We've been moving bunkbeds at the camp, stoves, refrigerators all in preparation. This weekend we welcome back the homeless shelter for a weekend long retreat and renewal at the camp. They confirmed yesterday that they expect to bring 70 people! That takes preparation on our part! On Monday, the Maycroft Family along with Sarah Ax arrive at the camp for a three-month long missionary internship. Thus, the moving and setting up of a stove and refrigerator! On May 24th Team PBA returns to the camp for a week of medical clinics. We've been working on this team's logistics for two months; talking to Pastor's, doctors, a dentist, a tourism company. We are very excited about their return! So, how might you pray for us?

1. Pray for this weekend, that the people coming from the homeless shelter would sense love and caring at the camp. That they would feel Jesus drawing near to them. Pray as they make commitments to change their lives from drug and alcohol abuse.
2. Pray for the Maycroft Family and Sarah Ax as they travel to Costa Rica, that they would be safe. Pray for all their luggage to arrive with them! Pray specifically for the Maycroft's who are considering full-time missionary service depending on how well their three young boys do over these next three months here in Costa Rica. Pray for a binding together of all of us here as team and a family while we work and play together!
3. Pray for Team PBA (Palm Beach Atlantic University) as the students are now taking final exams before their mission trip. Pray for their packing and safe travel to Costa Rica. Pray as they minister in medical clinics to the people of Costa Rica. Pray for a binding of their spirits as a team. Pray as they put into practice their education as pharmacy students on the mission field.
4. Please pray as I am currently working on a Women's Ministry project scheduled for June 19 at the camp. This will be the first time we have done something like this just for Women. Pray for the details to come together!
5. Pray that heart's will be open to hear the Word of God as we minister with the above people and groups and that souls might be saved.

Not because of Us, but because of what He has done!

Much needed prayer!

2010-05-01T21:31:00.004-06:00

Tonight we found out that Ken's Dad, Richard, is in the hospital back in the States. He has been home from being in Costa Rica here with us just over a week now. What we know is that they have found a large mass on one of his lungs. (About six months ago he began treatment for bone marrow cancer). At this time, we do not know what the lung mass is. What we do know is that my father-in-law is in the Lord's hands, the Great Physician. We also know from the experience last year of my mother's illness, that the Lord truly does not give you more than you can handle and He is Faithful! Please join us in prayer for Dad!

R.I.P. - "Kooky"

2010-05-01T12:26:00.002-06:00

We've been looking for Kooky for the past week and a half. A couple of times a week, she could be found here in the picture, on our front porch, and we would always give her a little something to eat. Whenever there was a group over at the camp, you could always count on her to find her way to camp, and indulge our guests with her "charm" which would then result in her receiving hand-outs of leftovers! This dog has even had photo albums on-line with her name used as the password by groups! One of Kooky's "addictions" was always chasing cars. She had been hit one time, but with every ounce of spunk that embodied her, she bounced back to good health in a relatively short amount of time, well, and of course, a little doctoring from our family :) Whenever we walked with her down the road from our house to the camp, she would know not to chase a car when she was with us; I guess because she would get scolded! With our family dog, Cassie, left back in the States, we quickly became attached to Miss Kooky, though she was never fully our dog, as her owner lives just down the road, but was willing to share! (Cassie has since passed on)

We recently found out from the owner, that Kooky was chasing a car and was hit and killed.

It is funny how animals make you feel like you have a sense of "home" when you are away from your home. We miss our porch friend and our campground companion! Thanks for being our buddy, "Kook-Kook-A-Choo"! You are missed!

Bananas, homeschooling, RA, rain...

2010-04-27T15:45:00.005-06:00

I believe rainy season has arrived! It's been hot and sunny during the morning hours with the almost "like clock-work" 2 p.m. cloud cover and then cool breezes and rain! I love this time of year because it is so nice to sleep during the rainy season at night! Of course, by Oct. and Nov. I will be sick of the rains! It is a rather long season! Also, the last couple of days we have been having thunder which we rarely hear that often. So, that has been a nice addition to the rain showers! The camp is loaded with bananas and even the gardener is wondering what we are going to do with them all once they fully ripen from green to yellow! Today, a tree of bananas fell over in the camp before the Hand of bananas (as it is called) was even harvested! I did some calling around today to a friend in Orosi who is a Christian. She usually knows of families who are in "need" and bananas go a long way nutritionally as well as making belly's feel full! Today, I made four loaves of banana bread out of bananas we had left over from my in-laws visiting last week. I still have more to make tomorrow as I have a hard time throwing them out! Our schooling year is almost over, ending May 28th and the kids and I are working away; them on school work and me on year-end reporting. Ken has had a bout of his rheumatoid arthritis. The two and a half month remission was a welcome change, but due to pain, he returned to the doctor to find out that he is in a flare state again. This time the doctor did some joint injections with anti-inflammatory medicines because his knee was swelling up. The doctor changed his medicines and one of them costs $150 U.S. for a one month supply. This was a bit of a shock since we don't have prescription coverage! Seems the new medicine is helping, though, as today Ken is out of bed and feeling much better. His flair is in both wrists, and there is a lot of fatigue associated with this disease. Last night, I ACE bandaged his one wrist which was most painful, and thankfully today, he said he felt that it helped alot.

May through July is going to be quite busy around here! I will post more on that later. Right now, the campground is booked into September!

Please continue to pray for our family and for this ministry that God has entrusted to us!

The last two weeks!

2010-04-25T18:56:00.010-06:00

Here's a pictorial review of what we have been up to over the last two weeks!

Yesterday, we were asked to do some children's ministry teacher training in a church about an hour from the camp. Two churches in a small town invited us and we arrived at 8:30 a.m. The training began at 9 a.m. and lasted until 4 p.m. This is Kyle doing a demonstration of some gospel magic and explaining how to do a rope trick.

I did a session on Bible Storytelling and one on Bible verse memorization for kids and this is Heather demonstrating just one of the fun ways that we illustrated an important concept of "bridging" from different parts of a children's program i.e. from the main story right into the Bible memory verse.

Ken's parents just returned to the States on Thursday after being here for almost two weeks. In preparation for the children's ministry training, I have Carolyn, Ken's Mom, helping me trace felt squares which we then sewed into Wordless Books.

Yesterday, at the training, each teacher was given a wordless book of their own and after teaching it, we divided them into small groups for them to practice what they had learned.

Seems like a blur, but somewhere in between having family visit, getting ready for teacher training; I also did a few days of inventoring medicines for the upcoming clinic that we will be doing with a medical team coming for a week in May. After about three days of this, I decided I needed a break to spend some time with family, not to mention that I was nearly blind even with glasses on trying to squint to check expiration dates so that those meds that were expired could be disposed of.

Here's a picture of all the things that my in-laws brought to us from our home church, Hickory Grove, in Four Oaks, N.C. We had asked for donations for the "needy" church in which we did the teacher's training, however, so much was brought to us, that we were able to give some to our church here and we were also able to restock our children's ministry supply closet. Thank you SO MUCH Hickory Grove. We couldn't do this without you!

And with all the supplies came a need to tidy up the children's ministry closet so the supplies could be put away. With needing to inventory medicines, I enlisted the help of Ken's Mom, Carolyn, and Heather to organize the closet. Thanks Mom and Heather!

Thank You Hickory Grove Church/Grandma & Grandpa Dundon are here!

2010-04-15T18:58:00.003-06:00

Grandma & Grandpa Dundon arrived safely on last Friday around noon.

We were more than overwhelmed with the ministry supplies that our home church (Hickory Grove Advent Christian Church, in Four Oaks, N.C.) sent down for a very needy church here. There was so much that we gave some of the items to our home church here, and they were so grateful to receive items that they cannot even buy here! We even still had enough to restock our children's ministry closet, that is after Grandma and Heather spent two days reorganizing it so there was enough space for items to be put away!

On last Sunday evening, we drove about an hour from here to go to the church that we knew needed the supplies for their evening service. I presented the Pastor with the supplies before the church service began. I imagine she wondered why I was hauling around a suitcase! To Hickory Grove she said toward the end of the service in front of her congregation, "Thank you so much to this church in the United States who cared so much about our church. We have been praying for a long time about our children's church program and the lack of supplies that we have. Tonight, through your church, our prayers were answered".

Now that's what it's all about! Thank you Hickory Grove. What you sent helped two churches and the campground ministry!

While Grandma & Grandpa have been here the kids have enjoyed showing them around the campground, introducing them to favorite fruits and foods to eat. The boys have been sleeping at the white house on the campground with them which reminds them of when we used to live in the States and they would get to spend the night at the Grandparents! I've already heard Kyle and Jordan comment to them that "time is going too fast" and "how they wish they could stay here with us". That's the kind of "low" side of being a missionary and having to watch your kids go through those growing pains of not having enough family around. We keep reminding them that in just about three months we will be home in N.C. again with so many people who are waiting to see them! By the way, while we are home in July, if you would like to have us come to your church, or you're an individual who would like to host a small group in your home to hear what we've been doing in Costa Rica and have your questions answered, we would love to hear from you at: sherri.dundon@yahoo.com. We would love to set up a date to do a missionary presentation in your church or home.

We've been enjoying the last couple of weekends off as Global Outreach recommended taht we close the camp from rental groups in the entire month of April. More details will come in another post about how you can be specifically praying for us! We have a lot of work coming in the next few months and are in need of your prayers!

Amazing Love

2010-04-02T09:11:00.004-06:00

Sometimes we sing songs and that's all we do, just sing, the words. They hold no significant meaning to us probably because if you grew up in the church, well, you've been singing them it seems like forever. There's a worship song, that everytime I sing it, I start to cry. It's a song I've noticed of "opposites" and when I focus on the words I get emotional, every time. Being the mother of two boys, I cannot comprehend the sacrifice of even one of my sons for the human race. Which one would I choose? Today, as I reflect on the events in Christ's life, I am reminded of all that He went through for my sake. I find that I don't understand fully His love for me, for I know that if it was up to me to lay one of my sons down on a cross for you, it wouldn't happen. I wish that I could love like Him. For His love is perfect.

"I'm forgiven, because You were forsaken. I'm accepted, You were condemned. I'm alive and well, Your spirit is within me, because You died and rose again. Amazing love, how can it be? That you, my King, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor You. In all I do, I honor You".

Holy Week: Bread, bread and Buns!

2010-04-01T22:34:00.003-06:00

I feel like we've all gained at least five pounds this week! It seems like every day, someone has stopped over with bread which is the custom here in Costa Rica in celebrating Holy Week! My neighbors have been busy all week baking all different types of breads for this weekend, beginning tomorrow, Good Friday, when family members and friends will stop over to visit and celebrate the resurrection! We've been given bread with coconut, dried fruits, and with figs. So good, but so fattening! Even though we've had a group here all week renting the camp; missionaries from all over Central and Latin America; the boys jumped in to help me crank out some "sticky buns" to give as gifts back to the neighbors!

Here's a picture of my handsome helpers! I make the dough from scratch and they know how to do the rest!

Our buns rising!

All done, gooey and warm! The neighbors were so excited to receive these, but more importanly, we (the boys and myself) had a great time together making them!

A quote

2010-03-31T14:19:00.002-06:00

"While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation"..Maya Angelou

Dear Lord,
Take a cast iron brander and burn it on my soul!

Moss

2010-03-21T11:42:00.004-06:00

"Let all the heavens resound with His name; let all the earth sing His glory and fame. Ocean and mountain, stream, forest, and flower echo His praises and tell of His power" ("Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power" Horatius Bonar)

I took this photo in Feb. when back home in N.C. they were having snow storms. The particles of moss up close reminded me of the intricacies of each snowflake that falls. (You can click on the picture for a closer view). They say that no two are alike. I was also captivated by the colors of the moss. This, coming from a person who likes to snap pictures of rust! Simple moss...a declaration of His artistry!

Isaiah 40:8

2010-03-20T12:04:00.002-06:00

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever".

"Small" Group is...

2010-03-19T11:19:00.004-06:00

...getting "larger" Praise the Lord! This is the small group that began meeting in our house this past November, twice a month. It's a group of kids that attend the Youth Group of our church on Saturday nights; but the entire Youth Group is compromised of members from 4 small area towns. Each small town now has their own "small group" which also meets twice a month in a home, in addition to meeting with the large Youth Group every Saturday night. This picture is of the teens that meet at our house in our town, La Alegria, across the river from Orosi. It started in November with 5 kids and it has been growing ever since! Last night we had 17 attend. Heather and our Youth Pastor have planning meetings and have a strategy for the direction of each small group meeting held in our home, but last night it was outside in our garage because of the games they were playing. Before eating snack which we provide for them, they got into a circle to share individually something that they were thankful for and to pray! Please continue to pray for these teens, and for our Youth Pastor and Heather as they share the Word of God through these meetings!

Getting caught up!

2010-03-14T23:16:00.002-06:00

I just realized it has been a little while since I have posted on here. What have I been doing? Well, getting caught up on some things. We are supposed to send an update letter to our supporters every four months through Global Outreach Mission. I am a little behind (sarcastically). Like, a year behind! Our last letter went out last March when I wrote it from my Mom's hospital room and sent it into the Mission. As most of you know, my Mom then passed away in July. We also had the wedding last May, and I guess I just lost my "groove" much to the dismay of Global. Some of you may have already received our March 2010 update. Then, there's tax "season" back in the States and so, of course I had to prepare those in order to get them back in time. And, we are in the process of working on the logistics for a medical team coming for one week in May. Then, there's camp business to assist Ken with, homeschooling, Spanish lessons with homework, and the household "stuff" too. It all helps to keep us busy and more importantly, out of trouble!

Chile - Far Reaching

2010-03-05T14:49:00.002-06:00

We had a rental group scheduled for this weekend. When we made a "confirmation" phone call this morning we found out that the group would not be coming after all and that the person who did call us from this group a couple of days ago was supposed to let us know that, though they had forgotten. Apparently, the group that was renting the camp for the entire weekend, while a Costa Rican church, had invited a group of Men from another church in the same denominition located in Chile to have a retreat at the camp here with them this weekend. At least that is what the Costa Rican church had planned for until the earthquake hit in Chile. While all of the Men from Chile who were supposed to come are safe; at this time, they cannot make the trip and the Men's Retreat is postponed until they can coordinate another date together in the future; we will just roll-over this weekend's deposit into their next date.

Please, don't forget to pray for Chile!

Inside the "Crater"

2010-03-02T17:24:00.003-06:00

I check the web cam located 600 km. on the east side of the crater of Volcan Turrialba at least once a day. Just a few minutes ago, while it is cloudy and overcast down here in the Valley, the sun is apparently still shining on the Volcan, though getting ready to set! Today is a quiet day from the crater as you can see just a bit of gray smoke rising on the left side. We have that once in a while. Cross your fingers, and maybe on a smoldering day I can get a clear picture off the web cam!

Sick, another team is here and....

2010-03-01T10:24:00.003-06:00

It's been a couple of days of bleh! Got the Hickory Grove team to the airport and off on Thursday morning. On the way home from the airport we did the grocery shopping for the small team arriving on Sunday morning. By early evening I was beginning to not feel "so great", but with a rental group arriving Friday late afternoon at the camp; I continued to help get things organized for their arrival. During the early morning hours of Friday morning it hit me and hard. I got the same "bug" that some of the members of the Hickory Grove team had, what I really think was rotavirus from past experience with one of our kids having it and today, I feel, FINALLY, a bit better, though still having some stomach pains. Anyway, the rental group never showed up which proved to be a blessing in disguise and the small team arrived safely and are now working at the camp. I haven't met them yet; thought I'd stick it out one more day at home and not share my "cooties" with them. This morning was very special here in Costa Rica for our family! Via Skype we saw sonogram video of our grandchild, ultrasound photos and we got the special news that our first grandchild will be a boy! We are so excited and happy for especially Brad who wanted a boy! In our family, we could careless...boy or girl no matter, just healthy and for that, we thank our Heavenly Father that all things seem to be going well for the development of this baby!

Sad

2010-02-25T16:18:00.004-06:00

Ken = :(
Sherri = :(
Heather = :***(
Kyle = :(
Jordie = :(

Here's what we look like! As if today was not sad enough for us with our church family going home; it has been raining torrentially and is so gloomy which makes it feel worse! Blah!!!

Thank you to the Hickory Grove Team for all your love and encouragement! We were so blessed to have you here and in the same way, we pray that we were a blessing to each of you! May God bless you BIG in the coming days!

And now...off to lay down for a nap!!!

The angels are singing!

2010-02-24T00:44:00.003-06:00

Today, we finished all the projects with the team that Ken had on the "list" for us to do. After a 3 p.m. snack, the men cleaned up equipment and got things tidied up around the camp while the ladies headed to the kitchen to cook a spaghetti dinner for 100 men and women at the homeless shelter. At 5:15 we left the camp and made the trip into the Red Zone of San Jose, safely got into the shelter and set up to serve the dinner. Unfortunately, for the second time in three weeks, another church group also showed up and had dinner prepared to serve as well. We called last week and reserved tonight to be able to bring dinner in, and so this was a little frustrating for Ken & I, as many nights the homeless shelter, which operates solely on donations goes without having food for the men, and tonight again they had two dinners. The "new" Director infomed us that this would not happen again. When the residents had gone through the line and been served the Director sent word for our group to come and share their devotional as the group ate. I shared tonight since everyone felt uncomfortable having to work with an interpreter. When I was finished I gave an invitation and two men put their hands up asking for prayer. I asked them if they would mind coming forward and I would get the men that were with me (Norman, Gene, Freddy and Ken)to come back with me to pray for them. When I returned with our men just a minute later, the two men standing there had changed to eight! All the men gathered in a circle and I asked if any had come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and one man said, "yes, I would like to pray for that". The others had very specific prayers and I stepped out of the "Man Circle" and let the men from Hickory Grove take over! I know that the angels are singing tonight and we were all so thankful to have this 1 come to the Lord! Pray that the Lord might work with the seeds that were planted here tonight. I am so thankful that our church group was willing to help us minister in the homeless shelter tonight!

Team Hickory Grove: Day 1 of projects

2010-02-22T17:13:00.014-06:00

On Sunday, since our church service here does not begin until 2:30 p.m.; Ken & I took the team out after breakfast to see a couple of interesting, nearby sites. We stopped in to the wood carver and then also went on to the Ujarrus church ruins. We were back to the camp in time for lunch and to piddle around the camp before the service started. After the service, I invited our Pastor and his wife to stay and have dinner with our group. Some of the team played cards while others sat around the tables and talked before turning in for the evening.

This morning after breakfast we began our first day of work after having team devotions near the river which borders the camp property.

Here's a couple of snapshots from the last two days!

Kyle took this picture of me scrubbing the pool concrete deck with a metal brush. Helen, Debbie and Bonnie had already been doing this a little while, but I showed up late having to plan another menu for another team arriving this Sunday and staying until March 8. I needed to get that to the cooks, who will make my shopping list for me, and when we take the Hickory Grove team to the airport, on our way back to the camp we will do the grocery shopping for the next team.

Here is Heather with a watered down bleach solution leaning over the edge of the pool scrubbing the tiles with a toothbrush!

I guess Mr. Gene couldn't stand it any longer, borrowed Kyle's bike and rode with Jordan around the Celebration Center, and Mr. Gene did pass him and take the lead, but Helen thought it best only to post the pictures with Jordan in first place!

Here's Ken pulling the benches off their stands next to the fire pit. He wants the men to refinish them for him as they are rather weathered.

When the ladies finished scrubbing all around the deck with metal brushes to break up molds, etc.; it was dry enough to begin rolling on some paint. But, the clouds and rain soon rolled in and we actually didn't get a lot accomplished today as far as the painting project. We plan on trying again right after breakfast tomorrow!

Around the chain link fencing of the pool are small areas where the big frogs that we have down here can slip under and get into the pool. Once in the pool area they make a mess of the deck, jump in the pool and lay eggs. So, Norman and Gary (a GOM missionary visiting from Spain) got some chicken wire and placed it below the chain link fencing now making it impossible for the frogs to take up residence in the pool area.

On Sunday morning this picture was taken in the Ujarrus church ruins. It's the Hickory Grove Family and the Dundon's together. This is the church that for a split second Brad & Danielle has thought about coming down and getting married in. We love it here and wanted to share this with our family.

This is the beginning of Mr. Gene making the camp's corn hole game. After playing at Gene & Helen's beach house last spring, we knew this would be a wonderful asset to have at the camp for short-term teams or rental groups.

Jordan tried to get a game in, but Helen said it HAD to be painted. Here she is putting on the finishing touches AND we just got back from having a tournament in the Celebration Center!

This was takn after church on Sunday. This is our Pastor here in Costa Rica at the church planted on the campground. His name is Mario and his wife's name is Dinia. Here with the help of Heather, Gene is having a conversation with them.

Once Ken got the boards up to the Celebration Center, Freddie pretty much got to work on sanding the boards down with Norman and Debbie's help, making minor repairs and then helping the boards get setup for a new coat of varnish. Freddie & Norman having more experience with wood were helpful in instructing Ken on what type of varnish he should be using outdoors for the tropical weather conditions.

The sun was out this morning when the ladies began working on the pool and it wasn't too long before Bonnie & Helen needed to find a place to rest in the shade. Most people think that we live in very humid conditions, but we don't. In fact, we have very low humidity where we live, but when the sun is out, it can be very intense.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up some projects around the camp. In the late afternoon the ladies will be cooking a spaghetti dinner to take to the homeless shelter. We will go as a team to do the serving of 100 people! On Wednesday, we will have a free-day beginning after breakfast with going to the Britt Coffee Tour, lunch out, souvenir shopping, a butterfly garden and then dinner on the way home. Continue to pray for the team as we work at the camp and minister at the homeless shelter.

Hickory Grove Arrives Safely!

2010-02-20T14:37:00.003-06:00

Bonnie L. just called on Ken's cell phone to tell us that they are on their way "home" to the camp from the airport. That was kinda weird to have her call me from within the country!! Unfortunately, they did not get lunch on the plane, so Ken is stopping to make sure they have a snack and drink (it's 2:39 p.m. our time now). Poor folks! I just wanted everyone, their families who might be reading this, the church to know that they are safe and we would appreciate your prayers over the next few days as we minister together! I'll update tomorrow night! P.S. I wish it could be every single person from our church on this team! Now that would be a mission's team! We miss you all so much! Okay, better go, I'm getting teary-eyed!

God is So Good!

2010-02-18T07:40:00.008-06:00

Just a little history. Global Outreach Mission sent their first team to the Camp back in January of 2005. They had just a few weeks before that team came down, officially obtained the property in the end of 2004. We were appointed by Global Outreach Mission to serve as full-time missionaries in Costa Rica in November of 2004, and because Costa Rica was a brand new opening field for Global, having no other missionaries here in the country, Global invited Ken and I to be on the first team that went down in January 2005. Ken's focus for the two weeks that we were here was to begin construction on what would be called the Celebration Center building. My focus was to work at the camp, but also put together our family budget to be able to begin the fundraising process since Global was not quite sure how much to set our missionary budget at. It took us three years to raise our funds, another trip by Ken to come down and work on the building, and at the end of March 2008 we reported to the field of Costa Rica as licensed missionaries under Global Outreach Mission. For the last two years that we have been here, construction has still continued on the Celebration Center and some of the projects that we have worked on with teams/interns have included putting up the insulation into the ceiling, parging the interior and some of the exterior walls, adding new adjoining bathrooms, new windows and doors; and as you can see in the pictures below, we now have a brand new ceiling, ceiling fans and lights! For us, being on that first team that dug with shovels the holes for the beams and now five years later actually being here and seeing a ceiling going in is a five-year reminder to us of God's faithfulness to Global Outreach Mission! Below are pictures, before and after, over only a two-week period...To God be the Glory!

This is the old ceiling with the placement of new tracking for the ceiling panels.

This the brand new ceiling completed with the ceiling fans and new lights! Stunning!

This is the part of the construction team that did the work! Truly, with a "let's get it done" attitude!!!

This week, the next team and prayer requests

2010-02-16T11:04:00.007-06:00

So, hope you've enjoyed the recent slew of updates!

Another team arrives in Costa Rica on this Saturday. This week's schedule includes last minute repairs to our van to be able to transport this smaller team around, the menu and schedule for the team is complete, but we still need to do grocery shopping and supply shopping for the team.

This team is special to us! We've been here two years next month and this is the first team from our home church, Hickory Grove Advent Christian Church, in Four Oaks, N.C....whoot-whoot! They travel to Myrtle Beach on Friday, so please pray for their safety on the road. They then depart Myrtle Beach on Saturday and arrive here in Costa Rica just after lunch. Please pray for safe air travel! They will only be able to stay for four days and we have a lot to do. While our church has seen "pictures" of the ministry here, this team is coming to "see" and understand better what we do, and our prayer is that in the future, more teams from home will be coming to Costa Rica! Pray as we serve in the homeless shelter and one team member shares with the people there, pray as they serve in the orphan home, pray as they work at the camp on a couple of different projects that they would be safe in their work, pray for our free-day and our time together here as we work side by side for Him. Needless to say, our family is very excited about them coming and being able to spend time with them!!!

For church family and friends, I will try my best to update the blog every day while the team is here!

Back to "Ministry"

2010-02-16T10:38:00.002-06:00

The lady facing the camera is Ruth. She is a missionary intern staying at the camp for two months. She came with last year's January team and stayed behind for three months. Ruth helps us with chores and maintenance projects at the camp, but her biggest ministry is that of encouragement! It is such a blessing to have her with us. She even spoils us with homemade bread and cinnamon rolls! I call her "Mama Ruth"! The other lady in the picture is Amy Beth with her son, Alex, who is facing Heather in the background. Amy came with last year's January team, talked us into letting her stay another week and then returned to the States. In the last year, Amy has signed on with Global Outreach Mission as a missionary candidate and is currently in the fundraising process to be able to serve as a full-time missionary. And the country she has been appointed to? Costa Rica! So, that makes Amy and Alex part of our team! She is an LPN and will be serving as the Medical Missions Coordinator. Please keep her and Alex in your prayers as they continue to raise the necessary funds to report to the field and quite honestly, we need them ASAP!

Back at the camp, we cooked a homemade spaghetti dinner, buttered six loaves of bread, made drinks and brought it here to the homeless shelter in San Jose to serve 90+ men and women. Here, the team is putting together the plates and serving the homeless. This was the first time some of the "stragglers" got to go with us to the homeless shelter.

Dole and Chiquita - BANANAS, of course!

2010-02-16T10:32:00.004-06:00

One last picture that I took while we were at the beach is of these banana trees. Dole and Chiquita are well known companies out on the Carribbean side of the country. The blue bags protect the bananas first from bugs and disease, but also helps to "push" the bananas along toward harvest. This was taken from up on the road and for as far as our eyes could see all we saw were banana trees! Ours at the camp look puny compared to these Big Boys!

A day off with the "stragglers"

2010-02-16T09:53:00.007-06:00

This year after the two-weeks of team ministry was over, a couple of the members ("stragglers") of the team stayed one extra week hoping to see another part of the country. Ken and I felt that it was our "duty" to take them to the Carribbean side of the country to a small town called "Cahuita" (Kae-We-Tah) well known for it's waterfronts and national parks. Here's a few pictures of our travels there!

While we are very blessed with beautiful flowers right in the campground, whenever we get a chance to be out and about in other areas I always try and look for ones that I've not seen before. We have this type of flower, though I do not know the name, in the camp, but we have a different color combination. This flower was outside a hotel. I just thought the colors were so pretty!

Living in N.C. for a little over 12 years and traveling to Cape Cod, Mass. as a child; Ken and I have always been big fans of beaches. I have now lived in this country for two years and one thing that always captivates me and takes my breath away is the lack of commercialism along the beaches. This is actually what we would consider a "rest area" at home in the States. We just pulled the van off the road and into the sand, and we set up our tailgate lunch! When we came through the next day to return home, there was a tent set up in this area with a family sitting around a campfire. They had spent the night sleeping there. I wished I had a folding chair to sit in because I could have sat here all day just watching the waves.

Having been to Honduras, sugar cane fields always bring back fond memories for Ken. I love the shade of green leaves and beauty of the plant. In our travels to the beach we drove along roads with miles and miles of this sugar cane growing with an occasional processing plant off in the distance.

Ken took this picture of this monkey ironically perched upon this sign with a "What-Evah" attitude on his face! This is in the national park in the town of Cahuita right along the ocean. You just pay a donation to come into the park.

And apparently our family cannot read English or Spanish! Really though, everyone comes here to "feed the monkeys"! We watched various people feed the monkeys bananas, but Jordan, having been here last year knew exactly what these monkeys liked most. Creme filled cookies! This little guy has watched an Oreo commercial or two. He took the cookie apart and licked out the creme!

Our family has had the opportunity to see McCaw's here in the wild and also like this. When we passed this small reserve, I made Ken turn around and go back so our stragglers could get some pictures! There were rows of very clean cages with McCaw's, only two to a cage in them. You can actually go in and get a guided tour and learn more about these birds at this location, but it looked like we came through on a day when it might have been closed. What they are doing is actually mating them and returning them to the wild. I believe that they are becoming extinct in this country.

This was on our way out of Cahuita coming upon the Port of Limon. It is one of the only stops for cruise ships in the Carribbean and here they are in the distance at Port.

"Better to..."

2010-02-16T00:34:00.002-06:00

"Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it" - E.Lutzer

And when a team leaves???

2010-02-16T00:04:00.003-06:00

Well, the team left Sunday, January 31 and we headed back to the airport on Monday, February 1 to pick up a two-month missionary intern. Four members of this team also stayed an extra week in Costa Rica...AND...well, someone had to take them to the beach!! Here's how Heather finally found some peace & quiet after translating in Children's Ministry for two weeks. More photo's tomorrow on our day off, and how we ministered with those who stayed behind!

Global Outreach Mission - January 2010 Team/Part 3

2010-02-15T23:21:00.011-06:00

Here is a "glimpse" of only part of the work that got done during the two weeks that the team was here. There were 5 simultaneous ministries taking place through this team; children's ministry teacher training, orphan home ministry, children's ministry during the medical clinics, construction at the camp and construction at a church. I will try and get some pictures of the new ceiling that got put up at the camp in another post as well as some orphan home pictures.

Here's one patient no one expected to have to see! Ken unfortunately hurt himself when his thumb got smashed between two blocks at the church while he was working there. He had a huge blood blister form and then pop. Gary, a Paramedic, on the team is making sure it is cleaned and bandaged well before Ken can return to work!

A picture of some of the new walls at the church.

In this picture, to the left is the Triage area where a patient is seen to have their vital signs taken before seeing a physician. To the right is the waiting area to be seen by a physician.

This is only part of our construction team this year. Half of them stayed back at the camp to install the new ceiling in the Celebration Center. This small team did a lot of work under very hot conditions. We know it blessed the church in a BIG way!

8 days of medical clinics with simultaneous children's ministry!

In the Triage area Adrianna was one of the nurses who took the patients History & Physical before seeing the physicians.

Global Outreach Mission - January 2010 Team/Part 2

2010-02-15T23:00:00.005-06:00

For the first time in the almost two years that we have been here, we decided to also take the construction team, who normally stays at the camp and does projects there, mobile with the medical and children's ministry teams. This year, the construction team spent four days working in a very small, low income church in Cariari, just down the road from where the medical clinics were taking place. While the church had most of the supplies, they had very few bodies to help them build another wall around their existing church building to expand their church. Here's a picture of the wall taken on the second day of work.

Ken had to find our camera and take a picture of this! He couldn't believe how the Costa Ricans placed block! This was physically exhausting work, not to mention that this location is about 3 hours away from the camp, near the coast where it is very hot and humid.

While it took most of the children's ministry team to sort, inventory and prepare crafts for the upcoming ministry that would take place during the medical clinics; there were a few who put together 100 teacher's training manuals that was also going to be taking place on the first day of each clinic. These guys were bent over this table for a few hours putting the manuals into the binders, but we couldn't have done it without them!

Here's the entire team, missing just a few bodies to the left of the picture on the first night beginning to go through orientation.

Global Outreach Mission - January 2010 Team

2010-02-15T22:40:00.005-06:00

A team of 35 people arrived at the camp on January 16, 2010. After orientation, the fun began of sorting and inventoring all of the supplies that they brought into the country to carry out their two-week ministry. This is just a small portion of the children's ministry supplies: Bibles, children's tracks, and all the necessary craft items.

This is a neat and tidy picture of how a pharmacy is made mobile for a medical clinic. All of the medications pertaining to "GI" (gastrointestinal) conditions are placed in one plastic bin or suitcase.

This is the pharmacy back at the camp coming to order; placing all the GI medications together in one location and then inventoring what we have to work with before the clinics even start. This has to take place for the neat and tidy picture to happen.

Wow...

2010-01-31T00:53:00.002-06:00

I can't even begin to tell you how busy we have been with the team here. It's 12:55 a.m. and I should be getting to bed, but wanted everyone to know that God has been so good to us the last two weeks with no one on the team getting sick; safety as we traveled and minstered; and lives were changed on the team as told through testimonies as well as Costa Ricans who received the Lord!

The team leaves tomorrow so if you could remember them in prayer as they travel to the U.S. and Canada that would be awesome. A couple of team members are staying an extra week to see more of the country as well as hang out at the camp!

Well, Ken leaves at 4 a.m. to take a small part of the team leaving the country very early to the airport while I stay back at the camp and see off the bigger part of the team after a 6:30 a.m. breakfast. I will try and get some pictures posted this week to the blog of the team's ministries. For now, I just need some sleep. Buenos Noches!

Please pray, team arrival and last preparations

2010-01-14T11:01:00.002-06:00

The team, 35 members strong, arrives this Saturday afternoon for two weeks of ministry. They are coming from the U.S. and Canada and their ministry will consist of Construction both at the camp and a remote, poor church; Medical Clinics; Children's Teacher Training; "The Pueblito" orphan home and Children's Ministry during the Medical Clinics. This morning I finished combining the Children's Teacher Training manuals (we are combining some CEF material with our previous manual), and now those are off to the copy center. Last year, we trained about 60 teachers with this training. This year we have had an even greater response and are planning on training 90 teachers. Last night we got the grocery shopping list back from Isa, our camp cook, after giving her the menu, and Ken is off doing the grocery shopping this morning. With the size of the team, plus our volunteers (doctors, interpreters, drivers) we will be housing 55 plus people at the camp; two or three people will actually have to stay in our home for everyone to have a bed. Today, I will be moving beds around in our house to make room. We will be traveling with this team to four different locations to minister. Mon. & Tues. half of the children's ministry team will be ministering at the orphan home. The entire construction team will be working at the camp on the Celebration Center building. The medical team will be at a poor church in Cartago along with the other half of the children's ministry team who will be ministering to the children during the clinic. On Wednesday, the 20th we will be traveling with the team to the Guapiles area and along the way having our "free day". On Thursday through Sunday we will be holding a medical clinic in this area along with simultaneous children's ministry. Thursday we will also be doing teacher's training. The construction team will be working on a building project serving a very poor and remote church. On Sunday afternoon we will begin our trip back to the camp. On Monday, the 25th will be another "free day" just to rest at the camp or walk over to Orosi. Tuesday, the 26th, we will be going to Tres Rios, right outside of San Jose. On Tuesday we will be doing teacher training again, the medical clinic will begin with simultaneous children's ministry, but the construction team will be back at the camp working on the Celebration Center building. We will continue ministering in Tres Rios through the 28th. On Friday, the 29th we will do a clinic and children's ministry for one day in Paraiso. On Saturday, the 30th we will be at the camp, cleaning up our mess, resorting ministry supplies and on Sunday, the 31st, the team returns to the U.S. and Canada.

How can you pray for us?
1. Pray for this team as they travel to Costa Rica on Saturday.
2. Pray for the clinics, that people might receive physical as well as spiritual healing.
3. Pray for the children who will be ministered to in children's ministry.
4. Pray for the teacher's training, that this would bless these remote, poor churches and that their teacher's would be encouraged and blessed!
5. Pray for the team members as they minister and our family as we minister (Ken as he heads up the construction projects back at the camp as well as in the remote church, Sherri as she teaches in the teacher's training and works in children's ministry, Heather as she translates in the Pharmacy, Kyle as he ministers in children's ministry and translates, Jordan as he helps in construction).
6. Pray for a harvest of souls, men, women and children.
7. Pray that all that we say and do would glorify God, not because He needs us, but because He allows us!

Volcano Update, Dr's appt...

2010-01-06T22:03:00.003-06:00

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night at around 1:30 a.m. to what sounded like very small pellets of ice hitting the windows and roof of the house. I thought it was just the usual wind that blows the banana tree leaves that are very close to our house. I found out this morning that the Volcano (Volcan Turrialba) has begun to erupt and that had I gotten out of bed I would have seen the ash (which they say looks like snow) and small particles of debris in the air! A now 4-mile radius near the volcano has been evacuated. Today, scientists say that there is evidence that the inner walls of the volcano near the crater are cracking, yet, they do not know for sure when the "major" eruption will occur, but they are saying it wll occur eminently. They are not reporting large rocks or lava being seen with this eruption, but on the eastern side of San Jose (the capital city) which is about an hour and a half from our location here, there was reports of fallen ash as well.

I went with Ken back to his rheumatologist today and his pelvic x-ray does show rheumatoid arthritis lesions on his sacroiliac joint, but nothing that the doctor was surprised to find or at this point was grossly abnormal. All of his blood work, rheumatoid factor, and a number of other blood and antibody counts which I cannot remember all of the names of, were off the charts in numbers pointing to rheumatoid arthritis and inflammation. He has been taken off of his gout medicine that he has been on for a number of years since he obviously does not have that condition and is starting new medicines for the rheumatoid arthritis; one of which is also used for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to help with the side effects called Methotrexate. This medicine should force his body into remission and also help limit the progression of the disease. He should be feeling much better in two weeks. He will return to his doctor in two to three months with follow up blood work, and in one year have to have repeat x-rays. Right now he is not on a rheumatoid arthritis diet so to speak, although we will be monitoring his diet closely as we always have with his gout diet, and are well aware that certain foods can contribute to flare-ups of rheumatoid arthritis.

That's about all for tonight's post. Been a long day in the city and tomorrow is packed with a meeting with the accountant for camp business, a trip to the municipality for camp documents, camp bills to pay for the New Year, a trip to the city to get the three-month supply of Ken's Methotrexate...it's time to hit the hay!