Home Again

We are home. After a delay in Charolotte, NC, we arrived home at about 12:45am on the 29th. All are well and trying to get back int he swing of life in the US with little down time. As always is true on missions trips, we are each discovering that you just can't look at life the same way after experiecing at taste of life the is 360 degrees different than your own.

My hope is that we can help others view their world differently AND continue to affect a world view in the church that is from the heart of God. Thank you for all your prayers. We hope to show a short video soon about the trip.

Seeing a Little More of Costa Rica

Today we left at 7am and drove up into the mountains to see a huge volcano. The day was pretty overcast in the high elevations, so all we could see was there must be a "really big hole" in front of us. It was very cold and drizzling too, so we walk back down. We met a wonderful couple from France who wanted to know what brought us to Costa Rica, so we were able to share our mission's effort with them. we drove to a beautiful waterfall and several of us ventured along a ledge back behind it -- this is not Niagra Falls where everything is safe -- you're on your own here!! It was wonderful and another reminder of God's creative genius.

After a traditional Costa Rican lunch, we headed back home and spent the day relaxing around the house. Steve made sure to check on the men in the village to see if they had done the work on the piping we had purchased. They had worked had all day (their only day off) and taken care of a problem that was sending sewage, etc into the middle of their small group of homes. This is a real victory. We gave them the supplies, but they did the work!

After dinner, everyone is spending time in what they know will be the last few hours together and packing everything back up for the trip home tomorrow. We leave at 2:30pm Costa Rica time (4:30pm at home) and fly to Charlotte, NC, then home from there and hopefully landing at 11:30pm. We can't wait to share all the details of our week with you in person. Pray for our travel. We have a very tight connection in Charlotte, so we need the flight to be right on time.

Last Ministry Day

It is Saturday and it is our last day to do any ministry. But before that begins, we are all up and out of the house at 6am...yes...AM! We head off to the local street market where the ministry here buys all there vegetables and fruits and flowers. It is very large -- probably 3 blocks long. We have fun checking all the fruits we've never encountered in the states, even trying some. Steve tried a "fruit" that he determined was a cross between an olive and something sweet -- that's as close as he could get! HA! Several on the team order these typical Costa Rican "breakfast" tortillas called Papusas. They are filled with bean paste, cheese and pork in them -- just like at Bob Evans! Rodney tells us that he buys Cindy a bunch of flowers each Saturday in thanks for showing him grace. Sweet huh? Here's the rub -- a bunch of huge lillies here is just $5.00 rather than $40 plus at home. Unbelievable. It's easy to be romantic when it's cheap!!!

About 9am, we head to the ministry called Funda Vida who are having a "Game Day" for at risk teens and children in a nearby neighborhood. These games are all in a gym and we're asked to join the teams. This means we are running, crab walking, carrying kids in a "seat" made out or arms... Steve and Amanda win the award for hanging in till the bitter end while the rest of us got rug burns or where just seating far more than we were comfortable. A great time helping in a great ministry.

We stop for a quick lunch and spend a hour at a local artisans market. It gives us a chance to pick up some Costa Rican creations for the people back home who we have left behind and who have held down the fort while we are gone. On the way home, as we drive through the city, a young man on drugs is throwing himself in front of cars and begging someone to run him over! We have seen the devastation that drugs can have on a life like we never have before.

Tonight we had"church" in English together here at the house, we celebrated communion together and prayed for one another. As we took communion, before the bread, Rodney had us share "what about the body of Christ (the Church) meant most to us, then before the cup, we shared what sin we are most grateful that we have been delivered from. WOW! How wonderful God is and how much grace and mercy He has shown us.

Kingdom Battles

Late last night, Steve and Eric took piping down to a small community of homes just below where we are staying. The water pipes through the street (dirt area) have burst and raw sewage, etc. has been leaking into the street. We purchased new piping if the men of the community were willing to do the work. A "work party" is being organized for Sunday. We were also able to purchase a new toilet and piping for a family of 11 who live in a very small (300 sq.ft.) area. Steve worked with the husband, showing him how to do the work needed. The "bathroom" is at the foot of a very steep stairway and one of it's walls is a cliff side. Their previous toilet was old and cracked and was held together by caulking.

Today we went to the school for their July 25th program. How fun to watch the children in traditional costumes sing and dance in celebration of independence. Many of the parents were there too and seemed appreciative that the Gringos (not a word of disrespect, just fact) were there with them. They school cook fixed us a traditional breakfast of rice & beans as a thank you for our work there. The parents all brought food to sell and raise money for the school. We were amazed by both these acts of kindness and charity since these are people who by almost any standard have nothing. I cannot help but remember the Apostle Paul commended Christians who gave to those in need out of their own poverty. Let's learn from this and not hold on so tightly to "our stuff".

We finished painting a 2nd large wall that we started earlier in the week and the ladies spent time doing some fun bead work with the kids. Our friend Tito helped too and he finally began to feel comfortable enough with us to start trying his English. What a blessing to see this kid strive to grow as a person and Christ-follower. We had a great time with him all day.

In the afternoon, the ladies headed off to the women's rehab center and then men went with Tito and Luis to the area of the village where men got to use crack. What a place of darkness we encountered! We prayed right there in the middle of this place that the Light of Christ would shine brightly and that the bondage of drugs would be broken -- especially in the lives of the little kids we saw earlier in the day -- this generational sin must be broken! Along the way we met up again with Elwin (now we learn it's actually Edwin). Through Luis' interpretation and Tito's strong ability to share openly with him, we believe that Edwin may yet give his life to Christ. Here is this 21 year old guy standing in the middle of the street crying and telling us how dirty and sinful he feels because of drugs yet knowing that he wants to be free. He is seeing Christ pursue him in a way he never has and that is rocking his world! His commitment, at least today is to got to rehab on Monday. Pray for him that this will happen. He is fearful that he will do crack again since he lives in the streets and has no safe place to go. There are no options for shelter here like there can be in the States.

The ladies took time to head into the village again stopping at homes to pray with people and share Christ's love. Everyone back home should be proud of the way they have overcome the fears from a few days ago and really stepped right back into ministry.

In the late afternoon, the guys headed off to meet a man whose "home" is under the big bridge near here -- not just under -- literally his roof IS the bridge! He is an elderly man who has lived there for 8 years. He believes completely that ALL he needs he finds in Jesus. O that we would have this kind of faith when we face a stuff time, let alone when we might live under a bridge with no running water, oil and car fumes filling the building. We are sure that the food we took to him is much appreciated and needed. As we prayed for him we were confident that we had met a saint of the Most High God.

Tonight, we'll spend time at a local restaurant together and enjoy retelling stories of God's grace and love and the amazing power of the spirit we have seen this week.

Watching God at Work

Today started out with everyone more tired than we have been up to this point. We split into two teams -- one continuing to prep the kindergarten for the big holiday celebration tomorrow and the other to the Funda Vida building in a neighboring community. The city is very excited about the "25th of July" Celebration. It celebrates the freedom gained by a section of Costa Rica from Nicaragua.

As the team began work at the school, Maria, the girl who attached Elwin yesterday came up (weapon in hand!) saying that she had bathed, done her hair and wanted to go to rehab. Now this is a turn of events. Our host Rodney stepped right in and with Steve, Eric and Rebecca took Maria to the new women's rehab center here. Pray that Maria stays there and gets sober. It is a very well kept place, so she should see that God has provided a wonderful place for her to get right with Him and get straight. While at the rehab center, our crew had taken tooth brushes and tooth paste donated by local dentists. When the head of the center received these, she said that they had run out of brushes and paste the day before and she had prayed that God would provide...and HE DID!
The brushes would never have gotten to the rehab had our team not gone there. Our team would not have gone to the rehab had not Maria wanted to go. Maria would not wanted to unless the day before she reached the bottom of herself in the altercation with Elwin. God works in amazing ways.

Work ends about 3pm in both places and everyone takes the afternoon to regroup, rest and some even do laundry -- it is time for that for sure!!! Pastor Brian is struggling with something physically -- sweats followed by chills, so pray for him.

The evening brings the Thursday teen basketball outreach in the village. Over 35 teens are involved there and encounter the Gospel through loving people committed to reaching them. While there, the team met a guy from Alabama living here in Coast Rica who is a Christian wanting to get involved in the ministry of Harvest Hands. If you've never met a southern boy who speaks Spanish with a drawl, you'll have to try it. Yet another way we've seen God provide for the ministry here.

4 more days, so keep praying.

Stretching Our Faith

Today was a day for God to stretch us. We didn't see it coming, but come it did. He knew it would and used every piece of it to impact us.

Steve had plans to work with a local tree cutter to clear out a tree that might fall on a home, but the guy didn't show, so his day had to go another direction. Later in the day he was set to help a family with their plumbing, but a huge rain hit and that got nixed too. So, he worked at painting at the Planche'.

Amanda, Kat and Patty were working at the kindergarten teaching English with Holli. After that they worked at painting in the playground before a big school program on Friday. While painting, a young guy names Elwin approached them (they were on one side of a high fence, him on the other). As Amanda came to a point in the conversation about trusting Jesus with your life, a girl came up and kicked Elwin in the face (he was kneeling down while talking). "Kick" here meaning a full face, cracking sound blow to the nose and eye. She ran off and left him humiliated on the ground. This caused our ladies great fear since they were not sure what had taken place and why it had taken place. They had no way to know at the time, but it had nothing to do with them at all. Needless to say, we had to work through the "stretching" part of feeling fearful in our surroundings, trusting God for our confidence and much more.

Brian was finishing the mural at the time of the incident, so he got involved with Elwin, making sure he was OK. His eye and nose were swollen and he probably had a minor concussion. Within minutes we had him in the shade and getting ice for him. In only a situation that God could have created, this 21 year old guy, who lives in the street was crying on Brian's shoulder with his arms around him. We discovered later that this is just not a common occurrence in a culture where men work hard to appear macho and strong. Here's this guy who has no family, no home, no job, no food, really nothing, finding care in the arms and through the lives of people from thousands of miles away. He helped us the rest of the day painting, sweeping and we believe, experiencing the love of Jesus.

Eric worked again today with Jason, the guy who had been stabbed. He went with him to the hospital where they finally lanced the wound -- you don't what details! He also got to pray for and hold a little boy there at the clinic! Jason is doing better, but still watching the wound. We are hoping our love for him will continue to lead him toward transformation in a drug/alcohol program.

Heavy rains adversely affected our afternoon, but Brian got to go and share at a men's drug rehab center. Working through an interpreter was hard, but we're confident that God touched some of the men there. Only 1 out of 10 guys will be successful in the program (a Christian based, 9 month program), so pray for these men and their battle.

The evening was the weekly children's program. In spite of rain, their were 80 teens and children. We helped with a variety of areas, sharing with them, playing games and helping start a photo and information data base of all the children.

A late dinner was followed by a "mid-trip" debrief about....STRETCHING! God is challenging us to regroup, focus on our mission and trust Him fully. Thanks everyone. We are encouraged by your comments. If you haven't let us hear from you, please do. We really like reading them. More stretching tomorrow!

Everything Changes

We have broken the cardinal rule when blogging about mission trips -- don't write about what is planned for later! Why you may ask? Because it changes! Several of you have asked about our "treats". That didn't happen.

After dinner, we started a worship time and then began discussing the beatitudes again and before we knew it, 1 1/2 hours had passed. Our new friend Tito, who is 18 and touched by the hand of God was sharing with us and we were captivated. Even though we were having to listen to an interpreter, we knew we were listening to the words of a man of God. At the end of the evening, he prayed and began to weep as he prayed for his village and his people.

Today we were up early and drove to another local area where several ministries are partnering together to rehab a building to be used for computer training, counseling, a food kitchen and a ten center. Once again we were painting away! It is far more complicated here due to bad lighting and less than smooth walls. In this situation, the local municipality is actually working with the Christian organizations to bring these services to the community. Very exciting stuff.

The afternoon rains came later in the day, so we were able to get lots done. We'll return Thursday (at least that's the plan! HA!) to do some more work there.

Everyone is healthy and well and being stretched by God in ministry and in the way we view others, the world and the family of God in all its distinct forms.