The phone call

We just got the phone call about a half hour ago that Floria's mother has just passed away in the home. Please pray for us today as we try and minister to this entire family. We will go to the house after our church service to give the family more time to gather. The body will be in the home for viewing which is the custom here. Family and close friends will be expected to visit all day and stay with the family all night. Typically, it is customary for the family to stay awake all night together as part of the grieving process. They sit in the home with the body and visit with those who come to mourn with them, drinking coffee. Usually the gifts that you do bring are coffee or food when you visit the family. The burial will be tomorrow and you follow the body through town, walking behind the family, to its final resting place. This hits just a little "too close" to home right now for our family with the passing of my Mom, so please pray for the strength that we need to minister today. We can only do this with Him and through Him. Lord, we NEED YOU!

Pray for Floria

When I returned home from my Mom's memorial service in August; on my first Sunday back, a woman at the church greeted me in tears. Her name is Floria and she told me that her mother was declining and was not expected to live long. With the help of Heather, she wanted to express to me her deep condolences on the passing of my mother. I expressed to her that my mother was not suffering any longer and that she was a Christian, and that her passing was better for her. With tears in her eyes she said, "when my mother passes, I want you to be with me".

Tonight, our Pastor called our home and told Kyle to tell us that Floria's mother was passing away and we were to go to the house up in Orosi. We quickly changed our clothes and picked up the Pastor and his wife along the way and went to Floria's home. Ken and I asked the Pastor and his wife to go into the bedroom before us and after a few minutes we were asked to join them there with Floria and her mother who was in bed. Her mother was very fraile and Floria looked exhausted. We prayed together with Floria and her mother, but it was hard for me to hold back tears as I held Floria's hand knowing that so many had just walked this road with me only two and a half months ago. Floria began to cry as I held her hand and I hugged her close.

We spent just a little bit more time in the house visiting and when we left Floria and I hugged each other tightly. I reminded her in Spanish that God is strong and that He would be her strength and comfort during this difficult time. She agreed as tears both streamed down our cheeks. I told her that I loved her and that fewer words were better than many!

Times like these are difficult in ministry with language barriers, but one thing that I do know is that Floria knows and understands that we love and care for her. That is the same in every language. May God use my mother's passing in a powerful way as we try and minister to this family through these difficult hours as Floria's mother's life comes to a close. To our God be the Glory!

Please...forgive me?

One of the hardest parts of Friday night's robbery for me was the fact that the 30 year old man ratted on one of the youth that was involved in the robbery. He was then set free for giving information. It wasn't that he ratted on someone, as much as who he said it was. When Ken told me the name of the youth, my heart sank and I cried in our home. We know of this youth very well. In fact, we often pass him on the road to the camp and are greeted with warm words, the usual hug and a kiss on the cheek. It wasn't any different on Friday afternoon when Katherine and I were leaving the camp. The youth walked up on us, greeted us both and gave us each a kiss on the cheek. But, Friday night he then robbed the camp. He comes from a family with a very long history of difficulties; stealing, drugs, prostitution, alcohol abuse. We came to Costa Rica with no judgment upon this family, but knowing what may lie ahead for us with working at the camp from the previous administrators. Over the past year and a half even with language barriers we have tried to extend the love of Jesus to this family giving them the benefit of the doubt. We have loaned out ladders, tools, soccer balls and have received them back from the father and his boys. Despite suggestions from others, we have invited this family into the camp and to church to receive ministry. In some small way, it might have seemed that we even earned the "trust" of the family. I have to say, it hurt on Friday night to receive word that one of the boys was involved. Tonight, that boy came to our home with the Youth Pastor requesting that he be allowed to talk to Ken and I. We allowed him in our home and I sat next to him on the couch. Before my eyes, I saw a broken youngster, crying, shaking, admitting that he had been in the camp, that what we heard was true, it was him, and asking for forgiveness. I didn't expect that tonight. We spoke with him for a few minutes and then I asked him if I could pray with him. I have always believed that there was something good in this kid. I still believe that tonight and I told him so! God has a plan and a purpose for his life, but he has choices to make. He has attended church and Youth Group long enough to know the ways of the Lord. Only God can do a miracle in his life. He is still working in our lives too. Molding us to see people as only He does and asking us to love in ways that only He can! I am only capable of forgiving him because of what the Lord has done in and for me.

Eph. 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you".

Up for air...

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

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

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

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

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

Family Outreach Tonight

It's already been a busy last couple of days here at the camp since returning from the U.S. On Friday, we began the preparations for the Family Outreach in the Celebration Center. Here the tables are set up, though not covered, balloons are being blown up and string tied to the ceiling to suspend the balloons from.

Tonight, I snapped this picture of Ken and Heather serving of "second" helpings of rice and chili, coleslaw and brownies that we had for dinner. In the background during dinner another missionary, but a dear friend, Pastor Cameron Woolford is delivering a message on the role of parents in the family unit!

Soon after people began to trickle in, I happened to see this woman sitting at the table reading the Book of Luke in Spanish. We handed these out when people came in and it was exciting to see someone reading.

This is the whole group who attended tonight, 81 people...Praise the Lord! We started off the evening with "family-type" games, bobbing for apples, musical chairs, etc. We then served dinner and had live worship music, a guest speaker, who addressed the importance of spending time together as a family too, and then finished the evening with pinatas, of course. We had a lot of families thank us for opening up the camp for this outreach! Please continue to pray that "seeds" were planted this evening.

Safe and Sound, but needing prayer

I arrived back in Costa Rica safe and sound yesterday afternoon. It was fun to come home and have "Kooky" the stray dog waiting at the door of the house for me! She was so happy to see me and I was just as happy to see her too! Today, I made a special trip into the grocery store in Orosi to load up on some dog food for her. This morning we were at the camp by 9 a.m. blowing up balloons and preparing for an outreach that we will be doing tomorrow evening at the camp. It will include dinner and is geared to minister to families. Right now we have received reservations for 50 people to attend. Please keep our team in your prayers tomorrow. On Sunday in church, our ministry partner, Katherine, will be speaking and myself, Heather and the missionary interns will be doing a mime routine during the service. Lynae, see previous posts, will be leaving on Sunday morning to return to the States after being here serving with us for two months. Please pray for her safe travels back to Canada and her family. Well, after being away from the blog for three weeks, I'm back, so check in and I will be posting new ministry pictures soon! God bless and thank you for your prayers!