Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Linda Vista













Today we went fishing.

Well kind of.
David and I had to use our newly developed skills.

We went to a school Called Linda Vista (beautiful view)
It is a school founded by Latin America Childcare.
It is in one of the poorest parts of San Jose. This area has a high crime, related to gang and mafia activity.
Their is an outreach from some of the missionaries here. They go once or twice a week to minister during their PE time. They tell a Bible story, play a game, and pass out a treat.

This week the story was about Jonah and the whale. The group was divided into 3 groups. David was able to read the story of how God kept Jonah safe in the whale. He read this complelety in Spanish. He did an awesome job.

After the story, we held up blankets and the children came up and tossed our handmade rods over. Maggi and Emma and I then hooked a "fish" on it with the Bible verse and a piece of candy. The girls loved it.

After that, Dave had to teach the kids how to play a game in Spanish. He chose the game where you place your head on the end of a bat, and run around it several times and then try to run back to the group. I video taped him doing it, and will try to post that soon.

The girls were able to see first hand what it is like to minister to others. At first the girls were very shy. The kids we had this time were a little older than they were. But by the end of the day, they were playing and laughing.

I wish I had better pictures to show you, but I didn't take my camera, just Maggi's. We were excited to have the girls participate in ministry first hand.

That was why we came to Costa Rica. . . That God would burn the call to missions on the hearts of Maggi and Emma, and that they would be compeled to return to do His work.

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.

Matthew 9:36-38


Monday, June 28, 2010

The Simple Things

Living in another country you realize how convient things are in the United States. For example, today the girls had their first day of school. So we have them ready at 7:00 for a 15 minute van ride to school.

Well, after about 20 minutes of waiting, it is aparent that the van is not coming. Their school starts at 7:30.

So with the help of the missionaries that have been here awhile, and can speak Spanish, taxis are called and clear directions given. Judy will ride with the girls, and another mom will take the other children in another van and then return to school.

So what should be an easy thing, becomes an event. We have secured a new van driver and all things settled. But for us, we are unable to do that on our own, because we can't speake the language.

Yesterday, going to church is another example. We take 2 taxis to church. Then 2 taxis for lunch, and then a bus ride ride home. We left the house at 10:30 and returned at 3:30.

Life is just different. It is not bad, just different. I have tried to put myself in the shoes of missionaries so many times and thought I had some idea of what they go through. But I have not even been close.

If God has no plans for us on foreign soil, I now know how to pray for the people who give up everything to serve outside the comforts of home. We have had the opportunity to meet more families here, and have caught a glimpse into the life that they live.

I encourage you to find a family on the missions field and support them. Not only finicially, but emotionally. I watch them check their mailboxes every day. Finding a written letter, or small package makes a huge difference. Remembering a birthday or anniversary is huge for them. One friend said today, that life goes on without them in their family in the states. No matter how much she tries to communicate it is not the same.

So pick a family and be faithful to them. Get involved and share their burderns. I am convicted of this myself. We have given to family our whole married life, finicially. But I had never, until the past 8 months sent them a card. I read their newsletter, checked their blog, but never sat down and kept track of their emotional needs. Now their children are grown, and they have grandbabies.

I pray that I will be a better supporter.

(and will mail the Christmas card that I have in my kitchen to them as soon as I get home. I never took the time to go the post office at the end of my neighborhood.)

The best that God's people have to offer is ourselves. Only when we put ourselves in direct personal relationship with the people of God in the hard places do we begin to understand their needs and accompany them in the pilgrimage of faith. . . It is no longer the rich stepping down to help the poor, but brothers and sisters in Christ stepping across to journey with one another. Daniel Rickett.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Gringo Catcher

6/27/2010
My dad discovered what a Gringo Catcher is on his way to the farmers market (ferria).
(A Gringo means--white American--but in Costa Rica it is not a bad term.)
Here in Costa Rica the street signs are lower then in America. So when tall Americeans are walking they have to keep their eyes open. Daddy forgot, and look what happened!
Your guest writer, Emma

Jesus Christ Lizard


The Jesus Christ Lizard is a lizard that lives in lakes and ponds. They call it that because it walks on water. The Jesus Christ lizard is very unique because it can walk on water. God made us all special and unique. Look close and you can see the lizard.
guest writer,
maggi

Friday, June 25, 2010

It is time for a milestone


Whatever You're Doing by Sanctus Real

It's time for healing

time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time to make right
what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do
is surrender


Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos
but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to
something Heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Reevaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything

I surrender...

to whatever you are doing inside of me. . .


Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This *is* something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Something Heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time *to* breathe in and let everything out

******************

These are the words to a song I heard this past weekend.
We were in the van coming back through the beautiful hills of Costa Rica.
David was reading, the girls and Judy were sleeping, so I had some time to reflect.

I was listening to whatever was playing on the ipod,
and this song came on.


Have you ever had a moment, were God really spoke to you.
A mountain top experience so to speake.


This was mine.

Coming down from the hills of Costa Rica.
I had a meeting with God.
Where I could tell Him all my fears.
Where I told him to clean my house.
I asked Him to fix what was wrong.
It was my time to reevaluate who I am.
It was my time to release my held back tears. And they came, let me assure you.
I played this song over and over again for about an hour.


This is has been a hard time for me. We are on an amazing adventure, but I have had some strong emotions I didn't know I would have. I am trying to put myself here on a permament basis. Trying to think how I would handle things if I were here for more than 6 weeks.

And I felt like I was not doing well with the challenge.
Last week we had no running water for most of the week. Well, by the end of the week, living in a house with 5 people, not being able to wash dishes, hands, dirty feet, clothes, etc. was beginning to wear me down. That combined with other small challenges proved to much.

Infact, during class last week, I had to excuse myself, because the tears were coming faster than I could stop them.

I am not sure what or how it happened, but it was a low place. I thought that I could put myself in the missionaries shoes so many times, but I don't think I had come anywhere close. 3 weeks away from home, and I already felt so far away. I am able to communicate to my family pretty easily with the use of the computer, but felt so lonely and far away.

Also, having the opportunity to talk with some missionary families, they didn't express the feeling they had left anything behind. I don't know if I can ever feel that.

I am truely my own worst enemy. I am harder on myself than anyone could ever be, so it all came to boiling point. I felt like, this was God's way of saying that this was not what he had planned for me.

But God, in His perfect timing, and the way I needed, gave me this song, (and many many many Scriptures, emails, card, and skypes, and new friends this week).

And I realize, that He is up to something. Bigger than I can see.
And that "how small am I to think I am suffering". Or that I am lonely. Or that I am sacrificing.

Everytime I turn around this week, God has comforted me.

To sum it up, this morning, I opened my Bible to find this. . .
Therefore we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away (which by the way We are not)
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweights them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
II Corinthians 4:16-18.



I surrender, to whatever you are doing inside of me.
Time to breathe in and let it all out.

Time for a milestone.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

monteverde and crocodiles maggi 095.MOV



This is the video shot by Dave doing the superman zip

Emma And Maggi zipping away in the jungle

He Does Not send Angels



God brings imperfect people together to perform His work on earth. He does not send angels. Angels weep over this world, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened, broken-hearted, weeping men and women.

David Wilkerson

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Crocadile Hunter
























Part 2 of last weekend.

On Sunday, we took a side trip on our way home from Monteverde to Tarcoles.
We wanted to take a riverboat tour down the Rio Tarcoles.

This river has gained a reputation of being the country's dirtiest, because all the rivers from the central valley drain into it. Then the Rio Tarcoles flows into the Pacific ocean. While going down the river, it was hard to ignore the piles of trash along the side of the river.

Suprisingly it is an impressive refuge for wildlife. There is a huge diversity of birds, crocodiles, herons, storks, spoonbills, and other waterbirds. This is also one of the only areas in the country where you can see scarlet macaws.

We took the two hour riverboat tour through the mangrove forest and the Tarcoles River. We were able to see so much wildlife. We had our binoculars, fieldguides, and cameras all ready. Maggi and Dave were able to capture some great videos.

We saw some amazing things. One thing was exceptionally exciting for Maggi, but I will wait and let her tell you about it in another post.






At one point on our tour, our boat driver got out, and fed the crocs. It was so crazy. He went out in his bare feet, with some raw chicken, and taunted these things. They took the bait, and gave us a wonderful show. Watching the video later, the tour boat driver, was watching the birds more carefully than those crocs.

While on the tour, we learned that they have named many of the crocs in the river. Some of the names I can remember are. . . Ossama Bin Laden, becasue he is the hardest to find, Monica Lewinski (she is the biggest female in the river), Bill Clinton, and Madonna. . . The only famous one we saw was Monica.

We were able to see the scarlet maccaws, the picture doesn't do it justice, it was hard to shoot those things.

We all had a blast. It was a great way to spend with Dave on Father's Day. He jokes and says that is what every dad wants, but I couldn't help but think about how blessed we are to be on this amazing adventure.


































































O Lord, Our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth! you have set your glory above the heavens. . .
When I consider your heavans, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him. . .
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8

Monday, June 21, 2010

Getting a breath of fresh air

After a long week of class last week, we headed for the hills. Getting out of the city limits of San Jose, you realize what an amazing country Costa Rica is.

We were blessed with beautiful weather for our trip.
We packed so much in, I will have to put the events up in stages. The most memoriable by far was the zip line adventure. So we will start there. We went to Monteverde which is about 4 or 4 1/2 hours from our apartment. It is another one of the beautiful rain forests here in Costa Rica. But in this one you are not in the tropics, but in the cool gray misty cloud forest. One way to tour the cloud forest is what is called a canopy tour. There are 2 different kinds of tours, one gives you a chance to see animals from bridges and platforms, and the other lets you swing through the trees on "zip lines." It is a once in a lifetime experience. You are attached to a zip line (a cable from one tree to another) with a safety harness, and then you "fly" at about 30 miles per hour from one tree platform to the next. You may be anywhere from 60-300 feet above the forest floor.

You need a heafty dose of courage to take the first step off the first platform. After we got our safety harness on, they give you a brief, and I do mean brief, safety demonstration, and then you start.



Emma lead the way for our family. For months she has been talking about how she did NOT want to zip line. Infact, she was going to cancel her trip because she didn't want to zip. Not on Saturday. She stepped right up, hooked on, and went zipping through the forest. Dave and I were standing there watching her disappear in the jungle.



Maggi followed soon after. Showing little fear, she quickly followed her sister. Then Dave and I hooked on and went after them. Judy showed no fear either.



We came to a part of the tour, called the tarzan swing. This is where you climb up about 40 feet to a platform. They attach two ropes to you, and tell you to walk off the ledge. You then have a free fall of about 30 feet,and then it swings you in the jungle. It is CRAZY.


The last part of the adventure is called the "superman". This is about 3700 feet long and almost 400 feet off the ground. You have the option on the this one to be strapped in and zip hands free, face down, arms out flyng like superman. I personally chose to do the normal zip, Dave and Judy did the superman. Dave held the camera on video mode during his flight so you can see how fast they were going, and what it looked like. Well, one day you can, I tried for 2 hours last night to get the video to post, but no luck. I will keep trying.

So proud of the family for being courageous and brave!
What a wonderful family memory.