Team Hickory Grove: Day 1 of projects

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!

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!

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

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"

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!

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"

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..."

"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???

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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!

Another flare

Yesterday, Ken saw a rheumatologist for what appeared to be another gout attack. At least, we were told in the States by our family physician that he suffered from gout. The attacks are coming so frequently that he only has about a week and a half of pain-free and non-swelling living. The doctor yesterday ordered again more blood work, three weeks ago he had a uric acid level which was raging out of control; but even with three weeks of medicine he continues to have swelling and pain. He also had an x-ray of his back. Today we found out that he has a positive RA (rheumatoid arthritis) antibody. Tomorrow, the doctor has requested that Ken return to his office at 2 p.m. to talk to us. Being told the blood work results over the phone, having a better understanding of the symptoms of RA and seeing what Ken has been going through really seems like this is probably a more accurate diagnosis. Besides the joint swelling, fatigue is a very prominent condition and Ken often has to take three hour naps when he has a flare-up. So, continue to keep Ken in your prayers as we see the doctor tomorrow and as he continues to receive treatment to stop the apparent progression of this arthritic condition.

"I can do all things though Christ who STRENGTHENS me". Phil 4:13

The downside of being on the mission field was a reality again today. Danielle & Brad left to return to the States this morning after a two-week long visit. It was a tearful good-bye. The house is a bit quieter except for some gentle sobbing in the background as Heather and Jordan hug each other. Kyle has regained his composure enough to return to playing new Play Station games he received for Christmas. While saying good-bye is never easy, we are quickly reminded of how much we treasure our time as a family together. Truly, it is a very precious gift and it allows you to appreciate each other more! Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to have this time as a family, and thank you for being our strength when we are apart!

A New Family Photo and "Hello" to Hickory Grove

Here we are at the "Mirador" overlooking the Orosi Valley. We like to bring a picnic lunch here, and sometimes we come here just to pray on behalf of the camp and its ministries. The camp is on the left hand side of the river.

We had these red shirts, but for Christmas, our home church, "Hickory Grove", in Four Oaks, N.C. sent us some new ones which Ken & Heather are wearing with a picture of our church on the back! Thank you, Hickory Grove, for your love, your financial support and your prayers on our behalf. We love you, we miss you, and we are more than excited about seeing some of you for the very first time in the Orosi Valley in February!

Merry CHRISTmas...just a couple of days late!!

It's not because I have a "Bah-hum-bug" spirit that I have not posted lately. We've just been so busy with family the last week. Our daughter, Danielle, and our son-in-law, Brad, arrived from N.C. last Saturday and we've been enjoying having everyone together for the holiday here in Costa Rica! Today, since there was a Christmas Eve service on Thursday night, the Pastor decided not to have church today (a little different for us) and we took a leisurely drive through the countryside of Costa Rica. For Brad it seemed like a little bit of a "hair-raising" experience since it is very mountainous here and there are virtually no guard rails! I'm wondering if Ken pulling as close to the edge of the road with the "end of the earth" drop offs might have something to do with Brad's anxiety! There is never a dull moment when we are together as a family...that's for sure. Like my "Webble People" impersonation yesterday as I rolled down a flight of stairs at a pizzeria. Brad says I should explain the whole story, however, some details are better left to the imagination and suffice it to say, even the security guard outside the pizzeria had a good laugh, and to be honest, we all had to sit outside a few minutes after my triumphant recovery because we were all laughing so hard we had tears coming down our faces! I am, however, very thankful that I was not seriously injured in the fall! (I can only imagine my family back home roaring over this entry). Other highlights of our first week of vacation have been just plain relaxing and catching up as a family, renting videos (I finally got to see "Julie and Julia" though I was missing seeing this with my older brother, Peter, since we share a common link of being Julia Childs fans and watching her show together), before Christmas shopping together, after Christmas shopping together only to find the biggest "bargain" of the day to be Oreo cookies at 60 cents a package (we "invested" in 12 packages), taking naps, baking and of course, eating Christmas cookies, a big Christmas breakfast, a big turkey dinner on Christmas Day and homemade lasagna today! We took down our artifical Christmas tree! Seems our cat is quite talented at removing and breaking the branches and our tree was growing shorter each day from the bottom, up. No big deal if our tree remained inside our house, but since it was out on the front porch we decided against public humiliation and took it down a tad bit early this year as Heather noted, "Christmas Day...that's a first"!

Well, just wanted to take a moment and "update" the blog and wish all of you, a very Merry, Belated Christmas!

Stay tuned for more disastrous updates and some photo's, yes, we had Danielle and Brad buy us a camera and bring it with them from the States! An Oreo, anyone?

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 :)

Catching up...on sleep!

The team left on Saturday to return to the States and we slept in on Sunday morning; the first time in a very, very long time! Good thing our worship service here in Costa Rica isn't until 2:30 p.m. We finished up our Bible Study we were attending in Orosi on Sunday at noon. Tomorrow night is our last Orientation for the January team in Paraiso which is about a half hour from the camp. On Wednesday and Thursday I plan on making some Christmas cookies specifically for Friday night at our house when the Youth Group has their small group meeting here. Traditionally, the Costa Ricans exchange tamales at Christmas time. Most have never had Christmas cookies the way we make them in the States. So, this should be a fun cultural experience for them. Well, in the morning it's early to rise to do some much needed grocery shopping since we have been eating at the camp with the team most of all of last week! We are on the count-down for Danielle and Brad's arrival on Saturday night and funny as it is, even some of the Costa Ricans are counting the days down too to be able to see them again!

A week of VBS

The first day of VBS with the Threshold Team from Charlotte, N.C. brought in 120 kids, 40 team and Tico volunteers and a lot of energy to the campground! Tomorrow, it all wraps up with a graduation celebration for the parents, and the team returns to the U.S. on Saturday. This week we've been busy helping the team out, running out and picking up last minute needed items for them, working in the camp kitchen to keep up with their busy schedule, but not without at least one evening hockey game in the Celebration Center! I think by the weekend we will be thoroughly exhausted. This week, we've also been working on tying up the loose ends of logistics for a two-week January team coming down from Canada.

Next week, a clean up of the campground from this group being here, a rental group comes in on next Friday for two nights and on Saturday night, Danielle (our daughter) and her husband, Brad, arrive for a two-week Christmas visit!

Update on Ken/Prayer Requests

The doctor's appointment went well for Ken on Monday. He had a hearing test and examination. The results were that he does not have "crystals" attaching to his inner ear that could be throwing off his balance and causing the dizziness. Instead, he has 30-40% hearing loss in his left ear from his years of doing construction and remodeling work with high-pitched power tools. Unfortunately, when Ken was younger OSHA didn't have "laws" on protective hearing devices, and quite honestly, Ken wouldn't probably have taken the time to put those on anyway! His medication that he has been taking for the dizziness and nauseousness does seem to be helping and this medication could potentially cure that problem altogether. It was recommended that he have a hearing aide, but that because a portion of his hearing is still partially good, that he wait awhile on that decision until after he finished the course of medication to take away the dizziness first. If the dizziness does not go away, then he will probably need the hearing aide. But, if the dizziness does go away, the recommendation was that he would actually hear things a lot louder with the hearing aide because of the good side of his hearing, and that the $1200 hearing aide would probably drive him crazy and end up in a drawer! For now, it wasn't a hard decision since we don't have the $1200!

The second night of orientation went well even though we were exhausted from being out all day doing errands, and a prayer was answered in that we told the Lord, "we are weak, please make us strong for You". We had 68 volunteers from the church show up to hear us do the orientation. They are on fire to reach the community behind the church, a squatter village, for the Lord! So, please keep this church in your prayers as they also continue to prepare for our short-term missions team that we will bring in to do three days of Medical Clinics, Children's Ministry and Children's Ministry Training in their church in January.

The Medical Clinic in Palomo; we had a good number of Youth volunteers show up with the Youth Pastor to help us out. We saw about 100 patients in six hours and did not run out of medications or vitamins. We brought in what we thought was enough food for just our volunteers as we closed the clinic for one hour to provide them lunch. At one point, Ken looked in the supply box and cooler and said, "I thought they would eat this, but we have more than I expected left"! So, he began cutting the loaves of baguette and making sub sandwiches for the kids that were there to be seen by the physicians. We had enough to feed every single child that was waiting! God so often multiplies our supplies that it is overwhelming to us! We were so happy and blessed to be able to serve the children sandwiches. Some looked like they hadn't been eating regularly.

Our family left the clinic just a little bit early to go to our friends house for Thanksgiving dinner. We really enjoyed being able to eat turkey which is very hard to find here and quite expensive, though we found a Butterball to donate to the dinner at a reasonable price this year. We had a lot of fun just relaxing and sitting around talking afterwards.

On Friday, Ken and I prepared the camp for a group that was coming in that afternoon, doing custodial-type work. When I was finished with that, I ran home to tidy up the "drop and run" house from a busy week of ministry and prepare it for a new ministry that we are involved in. Heather has always helped facilitate a small group Bible Study for Youth with the assistance of the Youth Pastor in our neighborhood. About six months ago, Heather decided that she felt she needed to step down from that ministry, having served in it for over a year, and give more attention to her homeschooling. At the same time that she was serving in that ministry, she was also teaching a Sunday School class during the church hour. We supported her in that decision and the Youth Pastor found someone else to lead the small group in the neighborhood with him assisting them. But, like most ministries in churches in Central America, it is difficult to find someone who will be consistent in ministry and the Youth Pastor after six months came back to Heather and asked her to consider leading the small group again, since they were not able to meet regularly and the group was falling between the cracks. She, along with Ken and I agreed, and every two weeks the small group of Youth meet in our house. Last night's group was bigger than the group two weeks ago and we thank the Lord for that! So, please add the Youth's small group meetings to your prayer request. Their next meeting will be December 18th in our home, and then they will return to their every two week meeting schedule in January!

Today, I am finishing up preparations for my sermon that I will share tomorrow.

Next week on Tuesday, we will be preparing the Celebration Center for a wedding that will take place on Thursday evening as two teenagers (in their 20's) who attend our church and have grown up in the neighborhood tie the knot! We will also be working on the final preparations for a short-term mission team coming to us from the Great State of N.C.; arriving on Saturday to stay for a week and do VBS! We need to do the grocery shopping and final preparations at the camp on Friday for this team.

On a frustrating note, when we returned to the States in August we bought a new digital camera and for some reason, it has died already! I apologize for the inability to post pictures on our blog. Please know with all the exciting things that God is doing here it is extremely frustrating for us not to be able to share that here!

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!

"Baby Towle"

We made it safely to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua yesterday afternoon for our 72 hour visit to renew our VISA'S. Last night we got an urgent email from Brad & Danielle to get on the computer on Facebook chat as a family. We did so as soon as we got the message to have these words cross the screen, "we are expecting a baby"! So, as you can imagine we are excited, but feeling a little "old" knowing that we are going to be Grandparents!

We ask that you please pray for our little grandbaby as he/she develops. Pray for Danielle's health. All I can say is, it wasn't an easy road for me, gaining only 6 lbs. the entire 9 months from being so sick, and she weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. I pray that she will have a much easier road!

We "SURVIVED"

We're feeling a little like "Rocky" this week! We've survived the year-long process of red tape, waiting, changing of appointments, surgical recommendations (jaw realignments....ummm, gracias, but "No"), teeth pulling, molding to get to this picture of Heather with braces on her teeth! Kind of makes you want to run up some steps and throw your hands up in the air in true Rocky-style, but all I have around me are highly elevated mountains and while I should for health reasons, it's already raining here. I was really beginning to wonder if this day would ever happen!

On behalf of Heather, Ken & I; thank you to an anonymous donor who 11 months ago sent money to Global Outreach Mission, not because we asked, but out of love for Heather that she might have her teeth straightened. They are about half the price here as in the States. We are very excited and thankful for this dental work and for your sacrifical giving! I never thought I would witness the day when a teenager would be so happy to have this much work done on their teeth, but she truly is. We can't wait to see the end result of an already beautiful smile made even more confident! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for blessing us in this way!

The height of rainy season

We have internet back up and running! Right now, there is thunder rolling in over the moutains and 1:48 p.m. in the afternoon is moving toward looking like 8 p.m. at night as the skies are beginning to darken. I am not sure how long the internet will continue to operate. This is the height of the rainy season, so we frequently have internet and electricity that comes and goes which always makes life exciting. Just want everyone to know that we are doing well and we are busy. Right now, I think I need to dig up some spare candles just "in case"! Try to update tomorrow in the morning with better "details". And, another missionary friend from a nearby town just called and said on the afternoon news just a few minutes ago, our town is expected to have very severe weather this afternoon and evening. Off the internet I go!

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.

Homeless shelter ministry - Part I

Please return later today for some great pictures of the homeless shelter ministry at the campground!

Gracias,
Sherri

"Oh, Those Golden Grahams"

Yes, I ate the bowl of cereal pictured here! It has been 19 months since I have had a bowl of Golden Grahams; one of my absolute favorite cereals! Finally and a very rare find, a sale on this cereal here in Costa Rica at a mere $2 a box...we bought 2 boxes! You literally feel like you won the "lottery" when you find something like this. Look at me! I'm so excited I am blogging about it! Normally, this cereal is a little over $7 here a box. $7 and given that we live on the sacrificial giving of other people just ain't happening in this household!

God has stretched us a lot in the area of contentment while we have been on the mission field. We were simple people back home. We are even simpler now. I am thankful for the things that we have had to go without because of importation. I am also thankful for how we are learning to "find" replacements for what we are so used to having available to us. Having to learn to go without can be a good thing! It makes you appreciate all that you previously had.

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!

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!

You pick apples, we pick...

Coffee! It's that time of year! While we read Facebook entries about you picking apples, here it is harvest time for the coffee beans! I had Kyle take this picture across the road from the entrance to the camp. The coffee beans are called "cherries" and the red ones are now ready to be picked. As you can see there are still many cherries which are green. Picking coffee beans will last through January and IF the weather cooperates in that the harvest is good, picking can last as late as February. Picking here in our area is still done by hand; almost exactly the same way apples were picked while I was growing up as a child. Right now there are many new people walking the streets in our area, immigrant workers who reside in the area only during harvesting time. The air here in Orosi often times smells of a pungent, bitter odor; okay to be totally honest, everyone in our family says, "it stinks like cow poop"! Thankfully, there is no coffee processing plant on this side of the river. The smell comes from the plants drying out the coffee beans. Honestly, I drink coffee and if I had to smell that in my neighborhood all day I wouldn't be drinking any longer! What does a person earn for picking coffee? 800 colones for what amounts to about a gallon container OR in American $1.50 for the container. That's a lot of picking and a lot of teeny-tiny coffee beans! In Costa Rica, every single coffee plantation grows the same exact plant or type of coffee bean. It is the law! Seems to make things pretty fair. Hope this post makes your cup of Joe today even more enjoyable :)

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!

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!

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".

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.