Tying up loose ends!

Since the team left, we've been trying desperately to tie up loose ends and leave things in good order for the Mission. These are some pictures of what we've been working on this month!

In just about three and a half hours the camp will be opened up to the surrounding communities of Orosi, Palomo, La Alegria and Cachi for the free showing of the movie, "Courageous". After watching this movie ourselves at home on furlough in the States, I felt an urgency and a burden to show this as an Outreach at the camp. A lot of the issues in the movie are issues that we see lived out here. I mentioned it to Ken and he agreed! Ken in turn mentioned it to Len & Carol Lane from the GOM, Canadian office! We want to say a special thanks to the Lane's for making this Outreach possible for us by supplying the movie for the camp's use. We have spent the last week walking, riding, delivering other flyers and speaking to people about this movie. Church Youth Groups are coming to the movie as well. And another special thanks to Scipio Community Church who provided the industrial popcorn popper that we will again be using for Outreach tonight! Who knew that a popcorn popper would get so much use? What a blessing!

Please pray that God would use this movie in a mighty way!

No joke, "manana" can mean tomorrow, or the next day, or a week or so later, but four weeks after the team left...really? Ken had ordered special board to place in the soffits of the new cabin before the team arrived so that they could close in the structure to the roof. Well, that never arrived in the entire two weeks the team was here even with Ken making various phone calls, nearly begging, and then almost demanding our delivery! We went back to the place where we ordered it to buy what they had in-stock of a different type. They looked at us confused and said, "but what about the stuff you ordered back in January, you don't want that anymore"? So, we bought what they had which was enough to get the job done before any bats or critters could make a new home in the new cabin!

After spending the week after the team left sanding sheet rock mud, painting, cleaning and hiring someone to do the tiling, the first group got to use the new cabin. The Missionary group from Central America with Campus Crusade for Christ were thrilled to be the first occupants. Oddly, as we've been working at the camp over the last four weeks, some neighborhood people have stopped in to ask us, "who is the V.I.P. cabin for", and that makes us chuckle. Well, we found out from the first occupants that we had sprung a leak behind the bathroom tiling in the wall when they showed us the water all over the bathroom floors. So, Ken worked on that a couple of days to get that repaired.

The camp has been booked up every weekend for the month of February with rental groups which is normal since it is dry season. One Saturday morning our phone rang and the leader of the group confirmed that they had arrived outside the camp gate. This was the site as you rounded the corner from our house to the camp! Since we've been on furlough back in the States, we've had to have someone else handling our rental dates for us. He wasn't "quite sure" how big the group for this weekend was going to be. Turns out it was 100 people overnight! God has been so faithful over the last four years to keep everyone on Jardin Sagrado's property safe!

Another Saturday morning as I was doing some house chores in the morning, I happened to step outside and snap this picture of our camp gardener and neighbor, Coqui, witnessing to some of the neighborhood Youth. I stopped and prayed for Coqui! You can't see his Bible in his hand, but I watched as he showed them and had them read verse after verse. He usually spends a good portion of his days off, Saturday and Sunday, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ in the surrounding area.

About a week and a half ago a huge truck pulled in front of our house. Our neighbor, Norberto, is out of work and has been picking coffee. I snapped this picture knowing that this would be the last of the harvest. I was right because now as I am writing this, the coffee plants already have next harvest's flower blooms on them. I just asked if I could hop up on the truck as they were weighing what Norberto had picked in beans to take this picture. The colors of the coffee beans, the greens (not ripe) and different shades of reds (the darkest being ripe) will always fascinate me. I had to get one more picture!

Off to finish getting the camp ready for "Courageous"!

Five months and still praying!

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.

A busy week

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!

Prayer Requests

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!

Chile - Far Reaching

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!

Final Preparations

We are almost there...I can just about see the finish line! The past two weeks I have been working on lining up interpreters for the January team, 36 members strong, which will require at least six interpreters to carry out effective ministry. Yet to be done is the menu and the actual final schedule for the team of "where" to be "when". We also have a group rental in January who are Costa Ricans that will be using our cooking staff at the camp, so a final menu needs to be prepared for them in order to do grocery shopping as the date gets closer to their arrival. Phone calls continue to come in from headquarters about interested potential teams for the Spring-Summer seasons (in the U.S., i.e. May-July) as well as interns, those persons wishing to stay for a three-month period and serve here with us, so we are working on coordinating the "confirmed" with the "potential" schedule of the camp. Seems like things never slow down here which is good...to God be the Glory! So, back to the email list of things awaiting a reply :)

10:52 p.m...just getting home!

So much to write, so little time! We literally just walked in the door and are ending our day here in Costa Rica. Just in time to roll into bed and be on the road again tomorrow no later than 7 a.m. Here's an update of what has been going on in our corner of the world!

Ken has been sick and is now entering his third week of being in a state of constant dizziness. The first week we thought he had a virus since Jordan has had similar symptoms in the past, but for shorter lengths of time (only a 24-hour period). Last Monday, beginning the second week of feeling dizzy we visited our doctor. An IV was started in the office, we were given instructions on fasting blood tests that needed to be drawn the next day, and he was placed on complete bedrest and was asked not to drive. On Thursday, we received normal blood work results, and began another trial of different medications for dizziness, nauseousness and were told he still could not drive and should remain on complete bedrest through the weekend. This Monday, we returned to the doctor's for a return office visit and examination. We were referred to an ear specialist who we will see tomorrow at 9 a.m., undergo a full examination and hearing testing, and while Ken can be on his feet when he feels good, which isn't often, he still cannot drive and is still suffering from dizziness. So, YES, you could pray for Ken!

We have had back-to-back rental groups on the weekends at the camp and last week we had a week-long rental group for a unique Pastor's retreat with Pastor's attending from all over Central and Latin America.

Tonight, we did an orientation for the volunteers at one of the church's where we will take one of January's short-term missions teams to do medical clinics. Ken spoke about Global Outreach Mission, I did children's ministry orientation and Katherine & David did the medical clinic orientation. Tomorrow night, we will do the same orientation, different church location in preparation for the January team. Please pray for us as we talk to this church!

When we return home tomorrow from Ken's ear appointment, we will head over to the neighboring town of Palomo, just about 4 miles from the camp, and set up for a medical clinic that we will be hosting on Thursday Day (Thanksgiving Day) from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. This town is of low-income and has a lot of problems with alcohol, drugs, teenage prostitution, etc. We will also be taking volunteers from our church here that meets at the campground on Sunday mornings to help us with evangelism. Please pray for this outreach!

We have some good Christian friends, Gary & Debbie, who live in Orosi who have asked if they could minister to "us" by cooking Thanksgiving dinner and having us over on Thursday. They have really been wonderful to us; they take care of our dog when we have to leave the country for VISA renewals and drive us to the bus station in San Jose to get on the bus at 4:15 a.m. to travel. They just go above and beyond what would seem even reasonable to ask someone, and always with smiles on their faces! Gary leads our Sunday afternoon Bible Study that we take in English...whoot-whoot!

On Friday, another rental group will be coming into the camp to spend the weekend.

This Sunday, I have been asked to share a message by the Pastor. Could you please remember to pray for me as I finish preparing and then share on Sunday!

So, some of this might explain why there have not been recent updates from me, although as I read this over, I realize that in a little over one week we have a short-term team coming down from Charlotte, N.C. to do VBS, and I haven't even mentioned all the preparations that have already been made in advance of this team coming. All of this does keep us busy, and more importantly, out of trouble!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and thanks for checking in on us!

Homeless ministry - Part II

We had an awesome, busy, transforming weekend here at the camp. Thank you so much for those who got emails; churches, family members and friends, who lifted up our ministry this weekend in your prayers! I know that some of the people who you will see in the pictures below made life-changing decisions toward continued rehabilitation from drugs and alcohol, and many more made decisions toward God!

72 people came to the camp from the homeless shelter, men and women both. We were asked to help as much as possible this weekend with the homeless in that while all are in rehabilitiation, some are working their programs better than others and might need continued encouragement to sit in on the meetings instead of choosing to not be a part. There were some who had only been clean for days to even a few weeks and were still going through the difficult task of detoxification. We were even told that some might be a bit of trouble and to watch carefully over particular people. God answered the prayers of many in that there were no difficult situations the entire weekend from Friday through Sunday with any individuals from this group! In fact, they all seemed very content to be at the camp, enjoy its surroundings and to be able to have meetings to sit in on! Our location here at the camp is a lot different than their lives on the streets of San Jose and at one point, I teared up as I saw many of them picking up the fruit that we have here at the camp right off the ground and enjoying the simplicity of oranges, limes, guava, and grapefruit. As I walked by one gentleman sitting at a picnic table peeling an orange I overheard him say in spanish repeatedly, "Gracias Dios", as he carefully peeled back the rind and observed the intricacies of the orange, and then began to savor the first bite!

This weekend we heard so many stories, each unique, all were difficult and heartbreaking. Some were of loss of family due to drugs, possessions like houses, eating from trash cans in the city, spending days in drug and alcohol "binges" on the streets of San Jose and then having no place to go.

Below is a picture of Jason during one of the services that the group held with their Pastor who came with them. He is praying for continued change in his life with the Lord's help. He has been drug-free for a couple of months, but it is not an easy road for him. There are many who are attempting to lure him back on to the streets so that they can buy drugs from him. Jason would ask that YOU would continue to pray for him!

This is a picture of some of the group during one of their services.

This is our church here on Sunday morning combined with the homeless shelter worshipping together. Ken and I were touched when at the end of the service, our church family reached out to each of the homeless shelter members with a small gift from the church. They did this, not at our suggestion, but on their own and then the shelter members reciprocated with a small gift back to the church! Very moving!

From left to right: Edwardo, one of the leaders at the homeless shelter, one of the members of the homeless shelter sharing his testimony with the church, Luis Diego, another leader at the homeless shelter and their Pastoral counsel and Jeffrey, the Youth Pastor of our church.

Please continue to pray for us as we continue to partner with this homeless shelter.

Our passion and a prayer request

We are so excited about this weekend's rental group we can hardly contain ourselves! We have been praying for a long time it seems like, that this day would come to fruition and it will begin on Friday morning! Over a year ago, our team on behalf of Global Outreach Mission was able to form a partnership with a homeless shelter here in the Red Zone of San Jose. I have previous posts about this partnership on this blog. The homeless shelter consists of residents who are in the rehabilitation process from drug and alcohol abuse. We have taken numerous teams, short-term mission teams, from the States as well as numerous interns along with us to serve in this homeless shelter. My older sister had the opportunity to share her testimony there when she was here with her short-term team. It's a special place with residents who are really no different than ourselves if you think about it. Haven't we all gone down a wrong path at one time in our lives? Haven't we all at one point sat down and asked, "how in the world did I get here"? And haven't we all been looking for someone who could pull us out of the pit? This weekend the homeless shelter will be here at the camp! The harvest field is ripe. Our passion is that they would find Jesus! Pray for the camp ministry this weekend. Pray for the men who are coming this weekend (the homeless shelter does house women, but this is a "men-only" retreat). Originally, we were told 40 would come and we are now up to 60, but we have heard more maybe coming...Praise the Lord! Pray for the church services on Sunday morning at the camp that the men will be sitting in on. Pray for the church congregation that they would be compassionate and welcoming! Please, just pray!

Team and Camp Preparations.

It's been a busy week with two days of it being spent out of the house in meetings with Pastors at churches as we are in full gear preparing the logistics for the January construction, medical and children's ministry teams. David and Katherine spoke to each group of Pastors about the medical aspect of the clinic and its set-up, while Ken spoke about construction, what the camp ministry is and thanking the Pastors for their willingness to host our team on behalf of Global Outreach Mission. I spoke on the children's ministry and what we hoped to accomplish through that ministry during the clinic. We then had a staff meeting putting together the tentative schedule and logistics for the two-week team. In addition, as more information filters to us, we are working on the December team's schedule as well, transportation needs, etc. Today, we have a smaller group at the camp, only 15 persons, who arrived this morning at 8 a.m. and will be spending the night. It is a Youth Group, so that is always fun to see and hear as they do ministry. Katherine and I spent another day this week cleaning at the camp in preparation for this group. Needless to say, today as soon as I finish this post, I will be working here in our home getting laundry caught up and our house tidied from another "drop and go" week. There has been a more steady progression of rain in Orosi the last couple of days with it raining more in the afternoon and evenings which makes for excellent sleeping weather. The rain keeps all the dogs and animals quieter at night. As I said before, it seems that this rainy season has been much drier than last year's here and this month is actually supposedly the height of the rainy season. Last night, we got a phone call with an invitation to come over to our missionary friend's home for dinner. They had just returned home from a three-day mini vacation. We thought that it might minister to them to get away and Heather and I offered to watch their children in their home to let them have some time away. I wanted to stay in the home with Heather who is their regular babysitter and called her every day at least twice to check in, but she didn't want her Mama hanging out with her in the house. Needless to say, they were very appreciative and invited us for pizza! We had a good time of fellowship with our families together. Well, I suppose I should get some chores done around the house and think about what we might have dinner as Heather has invited a guest for supper before the Youth Group meeting tonight! Just wanted to let everyone know...we're still kicking!

Cops & Robbers, Fruit & Fun, and Prayer Requests

On Friday morning, David & Katherine with some help from Alianna, Ken & I picked fruit at the campground for a trip that we were taking today to do some logistical work. Pictured here are oranges, lemons, limes, guava and grapefruit loaded into the back of our van. We had a good time talking and laughing together! I wish I had my camera with me to snap a picture at the camp of Ken pushing Alianna around in the wheelbarrel full of fruit...so cute!

This morning we traveled about three hours away from the campground to the Caribbean, near Guapiles, to visit churches in more remote areas. This is the area that we will be bringing a short-term missions team to in January to minister through medical clinics, construction projects and children's ministry and training. In this picture is Pastor Jose, a Global Outreach missionary who introduced us to these churches and their Pastors; Ken and Katherine, who are discussing the logistics for this upcoming team.

Here's a picture of Ken & Katherine distributing the fruit that we had picked and brought with us on this trip to the Pastor's wives and families. We hope that this will bless them in some small way.

While it was much hotter and more humid than we are used too here on the Caribbean side of the country; it also seemed that everything grew bigger and prettier. I saw these hot pink flowers along the road and couldn't resist taking a picture. So vibrant and dainty.

On Friday evening, we had a rental group of ladies at the camp. After we finished picking fruit, we worked together to clean the kitchen, the bathrooms and cabins in preparation for this group. They arrived a bit later than we had expected them on Friday evening. Running behind schedule, they stored their baggage outside the Celebration Center and immediately began their evening service. Much to our frustration, three to four young men entered the campground and stole one of the ladies pieces of luggage. We are grateful for the quick response of the area police who were able to capture two of the men; one who was released (the laws are very lax here) and one who was taken into custody for possessing stolen items that were identified by one of the ladies as hers. Most of all, we are very grateful that no one was hurt!

How you can pray:

1. Pray for the upcoming teams coming to the campground to do ministry in December and January.

2. Continue to pray for our neighborhood which is experiencing more thefts and crime, and for the added police who have been called in to patrol our area.

Ministering to the Orphans and a full day!

This is Kimberly. I found out quickly today that she LOVES to work with beads! It was interesting to see her gently touch the beads and look them over as she carefully "chose" which ones she might use. Very politely, she asked if she could make another bracelet today. She doesn't like to have her picture taken and it is hard to get her to smile. I talked with Kimberly today about not knowing my biological mother and being dropped off at social services and my adoption. That's when this smile crossed her face. Today, I got a big hug when she left and I feel like we made a connection.

This is Onry. After our Bible lesson today he asked if I had anything to color. I happened to bring some Bible story coloring books with me as gifts for our music students today. He was so content to sit alone with me since none of the other music students had arrived yet for their lessons; to color and not have to share the crayons of have anyone to pull his book away from him. He is the sweetest boy.

This is our intern, Lynae. She is teaching Steven to "count" out measures by clapping his hands for "notes" and to stop clapping for "rests". Steven was so embarrassed that I was taking his picture. He beams when he gets to the hold the guitar and strum away.

Here is Luis practicing finger placement with Lynae. Today, they worked on "A" and "D" note finger placements. Music seems to come pretty easily to Luis and he really settles down to enjoy his lesson. We sometimes have a difficult time with him since he is kind of rough around the edges...aren't we all?

This is Daniela. Hmmm...I wonder why I might like her name! She is in the morning classes since she is younger. She's a bit shy, but has a huge, beaming smile. She is a graceful young lady and is new to the orphan home just over the past couple of months. She is just one of those kids that when you see her in a place like this you wonder, "why"? But God knows and in Daniela, I believe He has big plans!

We worked with the children today from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. I had made a commitment to be back at the campground at 3:30 and was late in getting back because we took the bus back. Once there, I helped set up and cook dinner for around 50 Youth Group kids. The American group is still here and today through Saturday morning they are hosting four other local, national, church Youth Groups at the camp. They are all spending the next two nights with the American Youth Group. Heather and Kyle have been at the camp since 9 a.m. working with the small groups as interpreters. They seemed to be having a good time with all the other Youth. They were invited to spend the night at the campground too! It's been a busy day today, but a lot of fun! Days like these I just go to bed at night exhausted, but thankful for the really fun and enjoyable ministry that we often get to be a part of with children and Youth! It makes me so happy!

Youth Groups...American and Tico

For the next week and a half we are hosting a short-term American Youth Group at the camp from Michigan. Some of the kids are pictured here, granted their backs are to you. Standing up in the foreground is Heather translating into English for the American Youth Group the directions to a game that she will be leading. There are 14 kids from States and the rest of the kids are from our church Youth Group. The groups met for the first time tonight and next weekend the American Youth Group will be hosting a Youth Retreat in which they have invited four area church Youth Groups to attend at the campground.

Here's a picture of "almost" the entire group together. There was a total of about 60 kids in attendance tonight. Afterwards, the Tico Youth Group treated the American Youth Group to fireworks since they wanted to honor their Independence Day in the United States. After Bible Study, games and dessert the two groups hung out together until about 10:30 p.m. playing indoor tag, indoor hockey and just talking. We all had a lot of fun! Happy 4th of July!

Ministering at the camp

One part of our ministry involves being a conduit for groups to use the campground facility through rentals. This is this weekend's rental group at the camp. A Youth Group from an evangelical church in Cartago, a nearby town, about a half hour from the camp. Today, we did a lot of "behind the scenes" ministry; washing dishes, helping our camp cook with food preparation, running the camp store, working on a clogged kitchen sink. I found a little break in today's schedule to take some pictures of the kids as they had a time of praise and worship. For me, I really enjoy this part of our ministry. Today, I got a chance to participate in the audience and sing along. Mostly, I enjoy praying as we do the behind the scenes work of the campground so that God can work through others. My prayer today was that hearts and minds were open to be changed for His glory!

Saturday catch-up

Saturday is usually a catch-up day in our home. A day to do laundry, clean the house, clean through the refrigerator, try and catch-up on emails, etc. I've not been sleeping well as of late. While I was gone in the States our neighbor added a fourth dog to his entourage! Somehow, Ken has adjusted to the neighborhood "noises" of chickens, turkeys and dogs and sleeps pretty well with the exception of his sleep being interrupted due to robberies. Again, last night someone was in the camp even with renters on the grounds. They broke into one of the cars parked inside the closed gates. As soon as the car alarm went off they fled the campground. Ken was up until 1:30 a.m. with police filing reports. Well, while I feel like going back to bed already; I suppose that there is much that I could be doing here on behalf of our family. Maybe tomorrow I can sneak in a nap!