Keep moving forward!

We've officially reached the 2 month mark and I can't decide if it feels longer or shorter than that.  The Lord hasn't stopped blowing my mind in so many ways!  My personal morning devotional time has been more fruitful than ever.  It's such a relief to be able to sit for a couple of hours and just hear from His word.  I never thought I could hear so much from the Lord in a book like Leviticus.  I've also seen so many of His promises that He's spoken to me come to fruition.  He has continually done "above and beyond what I asked or thought."  He's changed my heart in ways I never thought possible and has given me peace in areas I didn't think I would ever have peace.  My heart breaks to see the impurity of the young couples I see day to day in the center of town.  I'll walk through the park in the center of town and see at least 2 or 3 teenage couples openly "going at it."  It's simply lust driven and I pray so much for their purity on a daily basis.  I've also had such peace as to spend hours in His word like never before.  For those of you that know me well, I sometimes have a hard time sitting still for too long, especially reading and studying.  I can't say I'm a scholar now that spends hour after hour in His word but I have been able to do it for much longer than I ever have been in my life. 

Besides my personal time with the Lord I want to tell you all about events passed and upcoming events.

About 2 weeks ago Sosi and I went to Dominical to do a surf camp with the street kids of Dominicalito.  It was a test of patience with these crazy unruly kids but truly turned out to be a blessing.  There was one 12 year old in particular that was able to attend whose father is a fisherman.  He goes fishing with his dad everyday from 4am-9am.  Many of the kids didn't know their fathers and spend the entire day outside staying out of trouble or looking for it.  The surf camp was a time for them to get away from normal life and live at the beach and surf for a few days.  A total of 14 kids showed up along with 7 leaders, we needed them all.  We taught the word 4 times, did worship, surf lessons, American football, and a baptism to top it all off.  All in all the kids came back home exhausted, with Spanish New Testaments in their hands, and something more to think about.  I made many connections that weekend and hope to see them again and also see them grow in the Lord.  One of the kids is hoping to formulate a team for the soccer tournament that's coming up which leads me to my next topic.  

Teaching the kids how to play "ping, pang, poing" 3 pretty hard words for them to say

Teaching on Daniel

The whole gang

Chris Angel being baptized

He's going for it!

Playa Chaman

As I've mentioned before, we are planning a soccer tournament for March 19th.  The Lord has done great things with this event and I'm excited to see what else He decides to do.  The original court or "cancha sintetika" that we were really hoping to have, wouldn't allow us to preach the gospel.  The facility to us was perfect in size and it even had some classrooms that we were looking to use.  But the policy for that cancha is no religious or political events or affiliation.  Disappointed at the outcome of this "perfect" facility, we set out to find what we thought would be a lesser cancha.  As it turns out, you guessed it, we found something much more superior to the original court.  This cancha is bigger, 7 to a side with 2 substitutions, they will provide pinnies, referees, and a field next to the cancha for no additional charge. This cancha is also $32 cheaper than the other court.  So we went from a total of 80 expected participants to 108 expected participants.  We're going to hand out Spanish N.T. Bible to all players, trophies, and shirts for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  I'm very excited to see what the Lord will do as it's obvious that He has His hand on the event already.  I think spots are going to fill up very quickly as we've seen quite a bit of interest already with many people we've spoken to about the event.  Please pray the peoples hearts as we share the gospel and for continued provision for this event.

Cancha Chincilla, where the tournament is going to be

In another 2 weeks the Bible College students will be arriving.  I will be teaching the book of James as well as heading the CCS class (Christian Community Service).  There's also been quite a bit of interest with the Tico's for future Spanish Bible College courses. 

We as a group have become good friends with one of the bus drivers whose name is Gerardo.  He and his wife and kids came to our church prayer meeting on Tuesday.  Pray for them to continue coming and for their son to come to know the Lord.  They're a great family who have been through a lot and genuinely want to seek the Lord.

Lastly, we're leaving for Panama tomorrow morning at 4:30 am for our visa trip.  Every 3 months we have to leave the country for a total of 72 hours in order to renew our visas so we don't get deported if we're over our 90 day allowance. Pray for wisdom and traveling mercies, none of us has ever done this trip and we don't really know what to expect.  Thank you all for tuning in, thank you for your love, support, and prayers.  I love you all very much and am praying for you.  May the Lord continue to bless you.

It's about that time, and it's about time.

Playa Dominical

      It's interesting how when the Lord is teaching you something it seems to come up in everything that you do.  You do your morning devotions and what you read that morning has nothing to do with timing but somehow the Lord turns it into that in your mind.  You read stories about Abraham and how he waited at least 16 years for the son of promise to be born.  We see Jesus escaping the mobs because it wasn't His time yet.  Joseph had to wait for the time for his seemingly outlandish dreams to come about.  Needless to say the Lord has been teaching me about timing, in what seems to be every aspect of my life!  His timing and that He is in control have been themes that I can't seem to escape and I'm excited to see what He continues to do through these lessons.

Without the Lord's impeccable timing and of course His strength, I would not have been able to confidently fill in for Curtis this past Sunday for the Spanish church.  After 2 1/2 years of teaching Sunday school and the youth group, the Lord made it possible and comfortable for me to teach in Spanish for the 1st time in my life.  It went better than I could have ever anticipated.  Once again the Lord proves His faithfulness.  Shirley, the girl we met at the local coffeeshop who I gave the Bible to, came with her younger sister.  I was blessed to teach through Genesis 18 and share on the Lord's desire for a personal and intimate relationship with Him as well as how the Lord works in His timing as we see when Sarah laughs at the Lord's mention of their son of promise.  I was encouraged to see that she was very attentive and inquisitive.  Please pray that Shirley continues to seek the Lord and fight the enemy as he has been making it difficult for her to continue to follow after our Savior.

Pizotes: raccoons of the jungle

     The Lord has continued to put it on my heart to pray for and reach out to the youth here.  I've been praying for ways to get in being that I'm not completely familiar with the culture and obviously haven't lived in Costa Rica my whole life.  It's been a question of "how can I relate" but the Lord continues to lay that burden on my heart and as I continue to pray I know He will show me how to do it, in time.  In light of that Darwin and I are planning a soccer tournament for the month of March.  We're looking to have a maximum of 12 teams play, open to ages 15-25.  Our desire is to kick off the tournament with the gospel message and end it with prizes for the top 3 teams.  We're hoping to give all participants a Bible or at least the New Testament.  We want to give the winning team a trophy and the top 3 teams t-shirts and maybe even soccer balls.  It's all in the planning stages but this is what we're shooting for.  Please pray for direction, wisdom, and provision.  Sosi and I also had the chance to attend a local youth group.  The youth pastor we had met when we first arrived in Costa Rica and had been planning to attend for some time now.  It was a great chance for us to meet some of the youth and to see how churches and youth groups operate here.  In an effort to understand the youth and the culture I'm hoping to as soon as possible go to a local roller skating rink that seems to be very popular with the youth here.  Please pray for opportunity to share and gain wisdom.

Refuge, hamburger joint

Delicious refuge hamburger!

Dominicalito youth group

     I spent this past week in playa Dominical.  About an hour bus ride from San Isidro is Dominical, a very small beach town that survives on tourism and surfing.  It's well known for it's surf but also for the American "hippies" that live there and can sometimes give Americans a bad name as lazy drug addicts.  Mike Chaves, an American from Rancho Cucamunga, California has started a church and burger stand in this small town.  I had the privilege of washing dishes and waiting tables at "The Refuge".  Besides cooking burgers  and fries, Mike is also involved in a youth ministry in Dominicalito, a neighboring town, where 10-12 street kids pile into Edgar Echeverri's house for a Bible study, small snack, and a movie every Monday night at 7pm.  I'm really praying for the chance to attend this group every Monday as the Lord has really given me a heart for street kids in general.  I really love those kids!  This coming Thursday through Saturday Mike and Edgar have organized a surf camp for these kids.  I am blessed with a chance to teach a small devotion about Daniel.  The theme of the surf camp is the blessing of giving your life to the Lord at an early age.  We will be looking at examples in the Bible such as Joseph, Daniel, and David, all of which have given their life to the Lord at a young age.  Please pray for protection as we are camping out and this is many of the kids' first time surfing.  We have very capable surf instructors but there's always potential for danger when you're dealing with something as uncontrollable as the ocean tide.  I'm very excited to be involved in this ministry and to see what the Lord will do.  We're expecting great things from Him as we should because we serve a great God! 

     The Bible college students arrive in about a month.  Please pray for provision for housing and furniture and for life changing experiences for these students.  We're getting more settled in now where I feel like our house in San Isidro is home.  I wait with great expectations for what He will continue to do in and through us.  Thank you so much for your prayer and support, it means so much to me!  May the Lord continue to bless you all!

The Lord continues to work!

This past week or so has been more different than I could have anticipated.  After hurting my back I had no choice but to lay down for the majority of the week trying to baby it and nurse it back to health.  Those of you that know me know that I like being active and laying down or sitting down for an extended period of time can drive me crazy.  However, I knew the Lord had a purpose and that was to draw me closer to Him.  I read and I prayed and really enjoyed my fellowship with the Lord.  During that time the Lord used the stories in Genesis to show me that He wants to do a new work in this world, in Costa Rica.  Just as the norm for Abraham and Sara at their age would have been no chance of having children so the Lord has shown me that He wants to do a huge work here and do something that breaches cultural and sinful norms.  The things of the Lord in this country seem to be for the older people and something that the youth leave for when they get all the young crazy things out of their system.  The Lord spoke clearly that He wants to break that norm and raise up youth in this country that follow hard after Him.  Whether we have the privilege in partaking in that and where to even start I have no idea, but the Lord is faithful, that I am certain of and I'm excited to see it happen.


After the Lord performed a speedy healing on my back I was able to get out of the house and do things around town.  Tuesday morning we took on the task of evangelizing in the town plaza. It was truly challenging, the first time I had evangelized in Spanish.  The 1st guy I talked to was an American from NY just passing through to hike Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica.  We often see Americans hanging out in the plaza with their backpacking packs.  His new age mindset made it difficult to get any sort of point across but he has Christian friends back home and I pray they don't give up on him.  I also talked to a Costa Rican dating couple, very devout Catholics.  The girl was going on about the virgin Mary and how great she is.  The conversation provoked me to thought and prayer.  I invited them to church, unfortunately they did not show up.  I hope to see them again and continue to share the freedom we have in Christ and the relationship they are lacking with Him.  They did however thank us for coming out and sharing with people in the plaza.  They shared that it was very daring and bold.  Glory to God!

Scrubbing the walls with Gerry

We continue to work on the church building scrubbing the walls and preparing them to be stuccoed.  We're excited to see things come along.  We had church in that building on Sunday for the 1st time ever with a gravel floor and unfinished walls.  We don't however need those for the Lord to be praised and indeed He was!

I was able to give a Spanish Bible to one of the girls in a restaurant we go to normally, she was very excited to read it.  We are slowly but surely building relationships and simply representing our Savior as best we can.

Leaf cutter ants

Saturday we had a very active and beautiful day at the river.  It's the same river we went to a few weeks ago except this time we took the whole family and we got to hike to the Nauyauca waterfall.  It was a beautiful time of admiring God's creation and learning respect for the power of His features.  I came pretty close to drowning as I tried to swim out to the rocks just below the actual falls.  As I swam out, Ryan held out his hand to pull me in.  That moment was like something out of a movie.  I swam parallel to the falls and swam hard as the current pushed me away.  After the first falls there was a break until the next set of falls.  That's where I cut in and swam for my life to Ryan's hand.  The current still strongly pushed me away but I had that hope of reaching something that would surely relieve me from danger.  I saw a wall of water then his hand, then water, then his hand, until finally I reached him and was pulled in.  I'm not a very strong swimmer so this was especially challenging.  I realized I swallowed a lot of water but also realized the Lord had a lesson for me here.  No matter what, if I don't think I can possibly go anymore, if I think I will be overtaken, His hand will be there to pull me out precisely when it is needed.

The beautiful and muddy hike up

The waterfall where I almost died!

Dave Shirley and his son have been out here since Saturday and we've had the joy of spending time with them. Talking of different ministry opportunities, the idea of sponsoring a local youth soccer club team came up, or even holding our own tournament, was brought up.  A way to get to talk to people about the Lord, to break the reputation of Christians here in San Isidro of asking for money, we want to pour into them and show that we don't want their money but want to simply show them the love of Christ and that money is no idol or motive to us.  I'm excited to continue to pray and consider what the Lord will do through things like this.

Thank you so much for your support and prayer!  Know that you also are being covered in prayer.  I pray to hear from you all and know that the Lord will continue to work in your lives as we stay submitted to Him!

Yeah, it was cold

We finally made it to our destination, 1 3/4 hours later

The waterfall we were aiming for

Jesus is our Sabbath, Jesus es nuestro reposo

 

Friday, Christmas Eve a.k.a. 

I'm faking it

“Noche Buena”, is the main day of Christmas celebration in Costa Rica.  The tradition is that around Christmas time you give tamales to those whom you sincerely care for.  We were blessed to have received tamales from our next door neighbors who we’ve been building relationships with.  In the spirit of this tradition we went on to pass out tamales in the town plaza to the less fortunate and homeless.  We came across a man that refused to talk to us and was covering himself with a cardboard box as he slept on the sidewalk next to the highway.  We gave him one anyway in hopes that when he came out of his drunken state he would see the tamale and somehow remember and the Lord would use it to speak to his heart. As we continued on in the town, how humbling it was to speak to a one-legged man that begs everyday on the streets and another man with a severe speech impediment, shriveled hand, and crippled leg ask us “¿porque me hizo Dios asi?”, “why did God make me this way?”  Lord willing we will be able to continue to minister to this gentleman as he makes his daily trip to the bus station.

Darwins Peruvian dinner

In honor of the countries tradition we had a big dinner with friends at our house.  Darwin prepared a typical Peruvian dish that was delicious.  It had pork rib, cassava, white rice, and “Russian salad” (potato salad with beets).  We topped of the night with our own small fireworks show, (also a tradition here for Christmas eve, I can’t imagine what new year’s eve will be like) an unplanned worship session right outside our front gate, and casual conversation with our neighbors.  Unlike in America it is very common for people to be in front of their houses hanging out and talking to their neighbors.  It is a very relaxed and social setting, very beautiful!  We had a truly blessed night.

At Williams house

We spent Christmas night at a missionary friends' house.  William  has a semi secluded house up in the mountains where again we were able to set off fireworks.  We had dinner with some other brothers and sisters from Williams church.   It was a good time of fellowship and meeting new people.  

Me writhing in and Darwin hard at work

They're almost done!

Monday was an interesting day.  We had the great opportunity to lay the gravel and sand for what will be the floor for Calvary Chapel San Isidro.  We had a few yards of gravel and sand to move from the front of the house to the back where the church building is.  We used short handled shovels and shallow wheelbarrows with solid rubber tires.  Unfortunately, about 30 minutes into the process I threw my back out while shoveling gravel into a wheelbarrow.  I had a kink in my back the night before and my inattentive shoveling put it over the top.  I went home early and simply laid in bed and prayed.  At first I was really frustrated with myself because I let this happen even though I learned in the past how to avoid back injuries while working construction, but then I remembered that this incident didn't escape the Lords eye. I don't know what the Lord is going to do with all this but like the disciples should have remembered while they were on that stormy sea with Jesus, I need to remember that the Lord is in absolute control.  

As a reward for the guys hard work we got to go to a river up in the mountains that was unlike anything I've ever been to.  It was a time that I desired to share with so many people like the kids from CCHS youth group and my parents, brothers, sisters, and friends.  The Lord has truly blessed us here in so many ways!  The coldness of the river helped my back loosen up and we got to enjoy swimming up and down the river as we got hit from above by a warm rainfall. What a blessing!

view from the bridge

Enjoying the river

Left to right; Darwin, Gabo, Sosi, Joel, Curtis

I've been thinking a lot about reaching out to people here and how intimidating it can be, when the Lord shared with me a simple truth in the book of Mark.  In Mark 4:26-29 Jesus tells the parable of the growing seed where a man plants a seed only to find it fully grown the next day.  Puzzled by how quickly it grew he goes on to harvest it.  The Lord showed me the simple truth that it is He who does the work in peoples hearts, who readies them for salvation and it is our job to step out and harvest the ripe crop.  We go and share His word and in turn check to see if they are ready to be harvested.  It is all in His timing and it is His work.  Thank you so much for your prayers, I will continue to pray for you all, that the Lord continue to bless you and your families! Grace and peace. 

View from the mountains

....and so we continue on in the service of our Lord

This week has been quite eventful as well as a learning experience.

Nearly 200 homemade tamales

Saturday, all day, we had the privilege of making Costa Rican tamales.  Similar only in shape to the Mexican tamales, these had a different base and were wrapped in banana leaves.  We prepared almost 100 "pinas" which is a group of 2 tamales tied together, which made almost 200 tamales in total.  We went through this all day process in order to pass them out to families in the home fellowship as well as to homeless people in the town plaza.  We plan to pass them out on Christmas eve.  I am excited to see what will come of this as we share the love and hope of Christ.

under construction

Along with all the other things the Schockey's have going on they are also constructing a small expansion building in their backyard for the home fellowship.

Sketchy bridge, Curtis' fav

Coffee beans

Sorry, this picture does not do justice to the beauty of the Lords creation that we saw

The following day, Sunday, we had the opportunity after church to go on a drive up to the mountains.  The drive reminded me a lot of the drives me and my family would make when we were younger and my dad would drive aimlessly and find some random abandoned warehouse to which my mom would object to further exploring.  One of these aimless drives led to
an entire police squad in full tactical gear pulling up in a van and drawing their guns at us.  Another story for another time.  We enjoyed a clear view of the entire city and passed by many coffee farms.  We even enjoyed some fresh coffee beans off the plant.  It was a beautiful relaxing time. 

Before we set out to the mountains we drove through a section of town called Kokori.  It's what we would call the ghetto of the city.  It's known for it's poverty and heavy drug use.  We hope to reach out in that section of town sometime in the future.

Monday was especially fun for me.  I finally got to play soccer at a turf court down the street from our house.  I paid just about $2 to play for an hour.  There was definitely some talent out there, fortunately somehow I was able to keep up.  I was even invited back to play the next day by the owner of the court that plays there regularly.  One of the guys that was on my team turned out to be a youth pastor.  He took my number and is going to invite me to his youth group hopefully sometime soon.  There's about 60-70 kids that show up weekly to his youth group from the community.  Lord willing I will be able to participate and get further connected.  We also had the blessing of seeing one of the spectators from the soccer game come out to the Bible study this Wednesday night.  Her and her mother came out and seemed very interested.  From the looks of it they will be coming back week after week.  Praise the Lord!

We've also been talking to a sister down the street from us, consequently she lived in NJ for 14 years in none other than my hometown Elizabeth.  It's amazing, I'd say about 98% of Costa Ricans I've met that have lived for any period of time in the US, lived in NJ.  I really believe it has been a further indication of the Lord using me in NJ again sometime in the future.  All in His timing.

Giving out the gifts

Wednesday we had the awesome privilege of spending time with the kids that Calvary Chapel Hot Springs sponsored for Christmas gifts.  It was a great time of games, food, and gifts.  What an awesome time it was to see the excitement in all the families as they participated in this activity.  The best part was that the gospel was preached and many families got to see His love and provision in their lives. Thank you so much for your support in that!

All the gifts, from other donors as well

I look forward to many more adventures and feedback from you my loving brothers and sisters!  Continue to keep us in prayer and I am definitely praying for you.  Thank you for your love!

So far in Costa

Gerry in Lax

Apparently Sosi thinks we're stopping in Alaska

Bus station in San Jose

Little dis he know we would be on the bus 1 1/2 hours longer than expected, that we'd feel motion sick and have the awesome privilege of watching a baby puke in the center aisle as a result of the driving.

Super excited

The bus sans baby puke in the aisle

Some cool guy on the bus

Coming out of the clouds

Yeah that's right fireworks are LEGAL!

Chop shop 2 doors down, never seen it like that before

Devo's a the internet cafe, thanks for the bookmark Sophia!

Little market restaurant, I think it's going to be a favorite

Coffee

Christmas gifts for the ninos

Strolling into town

Our street

LAX

Stuck on the bus due to construction

lots of fog!