Costa Rica Missions Update #3

One of the wonderful ladies who
prepares our meal

            Okay, the current standings in the Costa Rica Juice Off: 5) Papaya (a distant last because of its funky mauve-ish color, nasty porridgey consistency, and aftertaste of sour death – not a fan), 4) Mango, 3) Piña (pineapple), 2) Tamarind, and 1) Starfruit (it was close, but the starfruit edged the tamarind in a five goal shootout).

            A wonderfully long, sweaty, and exhausting day. We started out with a strong devotional led by Zac, then some testimonies. Our devotional time was made extra special by the fact that the ladies who have been cooking all our meals agreed to join us. Such servant hearts – amazing women.

            Quick break – Current standings in the Costa Rica Food Sweepstakes: 2) Gallo Pinto (the beans and rice that’s served as part of every breakfast and many other meals – muy delicioso), and 1) Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice – so good it makes me want to kiss a rooster on the lips, despite the various gender complications and the fact that chickens don’t have lips). Those are the only two in the running, because if you have them then any other food is just there to fill the rest of the plate.

Typical Breakfast - Gallo Pinto, tortilla, avocado,
tamarind juice, and café (ummm...empty cup?
Mas café por favor!) 

            Mike and I spent the day training pastors and church leaders. My topic was the pastor’s heart, and in it I covered what it means to be a true shepherd, a sacrificial giver (i.e., giving all of yourself to your family first and your church second), then I wrapped it up with two sessions on the fruit of the Spirit. So many of the pastors are caught up in issues surrounding church governmental structures and what is the latest fad of leadership and church growth. My goal was to get them to see that it doesn’t matter how your church is structured or what your leadership style is – if you are not sacrificially loving your people, then your church is rushing toward mediocrity. You may have the largest church in the city, but if it is full of spiritually unhealthy people, then you've done a disservice to your congregation and failed your calling. A pastor is first and foremost called to set an example of godliness to their people – loving them with all they’ve got, serving them with all the gifts God has given them.

BAM! - The Bible Answer Man

            Sorry, enough sermonizing. Suffice it to say, it was an awesomely groovy time.

            But then, sandwiched in between my sessions stepped Mike Young (who has now earned the nickname BAM! for Bible-Answer Man). It took him a little bit at first to get into a rhythm with the translator – a difficult feat for anyone let alone someone teaching a seminar for the very first time. Then once he hit his stride, he was off! Great stuff. The people were soaking it in. They were asking questions. They were taking notes. His first session talked about why we can trust that the Bible we have today is the complete and accurate Word of God. His second session focused on why we can believe that Jesus is truly God and why He is the one true way to heaven – all backed with solid evidence, all very logically laid out. Most of the pastors had never heard anything like this before, and Mike seriously learned them a thing or two.

Andres (one of Pastor Jose's sons) reacts to some
World Cup action before the crowd arrives

            One of the best parts of the training came right toward the end of lunch. The rest of the team had come to the church to join us for the meal (this was a different church from Fuente de Vida, where we are based out of). After the plates were cleared, Jose brought up the Brazil vs. Chile World Cup game on his phone. Soon enough people were crowded around that it was switched to a tablet. The timing was perfect – just as the shoot-out was about to begin. We whooped and groaned; cheered and hollered. It’s a memory I won’t soon forget. It also helped to break down any barriers that might have still been lingering between our team and the attending pastors and church leaders. God’s timing is perfect!

Some of the VBS team hard at work

            While the pastor training was going on, the rest of the team was getting everything prepared for Monday’s launch of VBS and the Soccer Camp. They worked very hard for most of the day (and somehow a Zumba workout was included in the preparations – they said it was to teach the kids, but I’m still trying to figure that out).

            Tonight, while I’m typing this, the ladies are still at the church in their first women’s study. Joyce is leading this, and I’m so excited about what she has to say. I’ll write you more about it tomorrow after I can get the skinny from her as to what happened.

            Also, in the sanctuary at the church, Zac is speaking at the youth service. I’m looking forward to hearing how God is using him there. I’ll give you that run-down, too, tomorrow.

            Sunday will be a half-day for us. We’ll have church in the morning, then we’re back at the hotel for the afternoon. It works out perfectly, because we’re all going to crowd into the small restaurant so we can watch Costa Rica annihilate Greece in the World Cup. Then Monday is when VBS and Soccer Camp begin.

            As always, thanks so much for your prayers. You are such a blessing to us all!

            Before I sign off – Current standings in the “Really? I mean, really?” Cup: 5) Roosters who wake up at 4:30am, when you have your alarm set for 5:00am, 4) Humidity – ‘nuff said, 3) Fathers who rub their incredibly nasty, sweaty forehead on their poor 13-year-old daughter’s bare arm and think it’s funny (I personally know nothing about this, but rumors abound), 2) Justin Bieber introducing new dance groups on So You Think You Can Dance? – I mean, what gives? Please, make him go away, and 1) Smush-Frog (seriously, it’s been there three days; all it takes is a shovel, a quick scoop, and a toss over the wall into the neighbor’s yard – easy as pie).

Prepping the VBS materials

Joyce honing her balloon animal skills

Arroz con Pollo - the perfect lunch

The VBS team getting their dance on! 

Joyce leading the women's Bible Study (more tomorrow)

Zac teaching at the youth service (again, more tomorrow)

Karen proudly sporting her Japanese tourist look

Costa Rica Update #2

          Today was a wonderful day of dreams fulfilled, hopes dashed, relationships deepened, and praises sung. Just an FYI before I launch too deeply into this tonight – Sorry, but I don’t plan on launching too deeply into this tonight. It’s past 10:00pm and the all-day pastor-training seminar begins at 8:00am. So, I’m going to do my best to keep this short and sweet (as all the members of my congregation snicker behind their hands at the thought of me keeping anything short and sweet).

Zac working the Ferrari

Dreams Fulfilled:

·      Today was Canopy Zip Line Day. Most of the team spent the morning harnessed to cables ripping at lightning speeds through the jungle treetops. Zac was given the one set of rigging they called the Ferrari (with a name like Diamanti – who else would they give it to?). It turned out to be a very apt name. Overall, it was the adventure that many had been waiting for, and it lived up to expectations.

·      Two words – Más Café (this is a personal dream that I seek to fulfill every time that I am down here, and one that I hope to repeat each morning, afternoon, and most evenings).

We were fine until we saw the coatimundis and kinkajous
going by two-by-two

Hope Dashed:

·      We all hoped that the torrential rains would wash away the pancaked, gut-purged bullfrog that we have to pass every time we walk through the parking lot. Alas…

·      Actually, that’s pretty much it for this category.

Relationships Deepened:

A little pre-breakfast family worship

·      Our team (and by this I mean Americanos y Ticos alike) has blended together like a delicioso plato of beans and rice (which just happens to be one part of what we are served at most every meal – and is so ridiculously good that we couldn’t be happier!). We have truly become family in every sense of the word (well, not in every sense – for instance, “The Family” can refer to the mafia and we’re not like that; “Family” can be used in a taxonomical hierarchy as that classification which lies between order and genus and we’re not like that; “Family” can also be used in an etymological sense to denote the wider relationships of like words and we’re not like that. Instead, I use “family” more in line with the Sister Sledge declaration of having “all my sisters with me” [a phrasing which opens a whole new can of worms that I’m really loathe to delve into at the present time]). That family-making, my friends, is a God-thing.

·      There are many other examples of relationships deepening, but it is now past 10:30pm. So…yeah.

The Youth Pastor/Worship Leader getting his dance on
(so much so, it was impossible to get a non-blurry pic of him)

Praises Sung:

·      We had our first church service tonight. One thing I’ve found as I’ve traveled many places is that you don’t have to understand the language in order to worship. Worship is so much less about the words that come out of our mouths than it is about the focus of our hearts. So, together we praised God as our hearts sang out the adoration that our minds couldn’t verbally comprehend.

·      By the way, the bassist for the worship band makes Geddy Lee look like an amateur.

·      Oh, and the lead guitarist ain’t no slouch either.

Here are a few things to be praying for:

·      Pray for the pastor training that Mike and I will be leading tomorrow 8am-4pm (by the way, we’re mountain time zone down here). Especially be praying for Mike – he’s never done anything like this before. I’ve got so much respect for him stepping up and going way out of his comfort zone in order to fulfill this call that God has given him.

·      Pray for the ladies as they spend most of the day planning and preparing for the VBS.

·      Pray for Zac as he speaks at a youth service tomorrow night. God’s given him such an amazing gift for connecting with kids and speaking on their level. Ask the Lord to use him to share His truth.

That’s it for me tonight. I’ll add some extra pics at the end to make up for my lack of flash and polish tonight. Thanks so much for your prayers!

Prepping and communicating back home

Geared up and ready to go

See Previous Caption

Madeline cruising the treetops

See

Playing in the Pacific

Alternative Beach Enjoyment

Costa Rica Update 1 – 6/26/14

            I’m writing this from the front seat of a van on a freeway about two hours outside of San Jose, Costa Rica. For many reading this, the exciting portion in that previous sentence may be “San Jose, Costa Rica”. For me, the most exciting word is “freeway”. Any time previously, my travel experiences in Costa Rica consisted mostly of slowly moving uphill, trapped behind a black-smoke belching box truck, mentally counting down my average life expectancy with every breath I took. This freeway is wonderful – smooth roads, adequate speeds, and room to get around the box trucks. In the immortal words of someone I can’t remember who occasionally speaks immortal words – “We’re totally sitting in butter.”

The New Costa Rican Freeway

            Praise the Lord we’re here! Thank you so much for your prayers over the months leading up to the trip, and especially over these last few days. Crazy things have happened leading up to our departure – good and bad. Team members getting hurt. People blessing us with huge amounts of soccer balls and unexpected financial donations. Itinerary plans blowing up. A Frontier employee who decided to overlook the oversize nature of one of our bags. God is so good!

            Airplane stories are typically pretty boring. However (he writes, confident that his airplane story will be the one exception to the rule), our flight was God’s first test of “Do you really want to be down here?”

            An 11:59pm flight will shake up your world, even if everything goes perfectly. When things get wonky, though, then they really get wonky. We were greatly anticipating getting on the plane, listening to where the emergency doors were located from which we would calmly exit the plane in the off chance it crashed into a mountain, then promptly falling asleep. That was our plan. It was a good plan…

            Then, onto the plane came the Siren. I call him the Siren, because the first time he opened his tiny mouth, the ear-piercing sound that came out of his sugar-encrusted lips had me looking for shelter in a basement – a feature Airbus neglected to include on our particular airplane. Seriously, this kid has a future with the Aurora Department of Public Safety sitting on top of a pole looking for cloud rotation.

Photo shot from my aisle seat

            Mike, Zac, and Joyce sat toward the front of the plane – out of the immediate blast zone, but certainly not out of earshot (word is that Nepalese yak herdsmen sleeping on the lower roots of the Himalayas, at the first auditory assault, quickly grabbed their spears and formed a defensive wedge against an impending Yeti attack). Karen, Nancy, Madeline, and I sat toward the rear. The Siren, quite unfortunately, sat (then jumped, bounced, rolled, flailed, and tangoed) with his mom in the seat directly in front of me.

            When he screamed into his mom’s human buffer (i.e., her shoulder), it was just this side of lethal. However, when his head popped over the seat (outsmarting nature’s sound wall), I became like that guy in the old Maxell advertisement – what little hair I have on my head blowing back into my seat, my martini glass (if I had a martini glass, which I didn’t since Frontier Airlines’ new a la carte fare structure charges you for everything except the air you breathe [and I hear as part of their go-green initiative they’re working on a fuel-saving plan to cut the available cabin oxygen by half {first-class passengers will be given the option of using the drop-down mask for a nominal premium]) flying off my end table.

            An hour into my audible nightmare, I finally got out my phone, slipped on my ear buds, and cranked the music to full. The first song that came on was Jeremy Camp singing “We Cry Out”. Seriously. Who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor? However, by the time I was halfway through the third song (the second song – Carlos Santana jamming to a cover of Riders on the Storm – having finally sent me to my happy place), I realized that the Siren had stopped sounding. It was amazing. I pulled out my buds, and immediately my ears started dancing a happy dance – right there on the side of my head – just dancing (I’m so thankful that the cabin lights were out – that could have been embarrassing).

For those of you dozing over my story:
Madeline and Pastor Jose's daughter, Sharon

            Blissfully, I put my ear buds back in, turned the volume down, and prepared for a wonderful four hours of sleep. Unfortunately, the travel gods were not smiling upon our plane. No more than two minutes later, Siren Two: the Revenge of the Siren (this time it’s personal) picked up the cloak that had floated from the shoulders of Siren One as he was being ushered into the Sandman’s glorious presence on a chariot of fire, and followed in his mentor’s footsteps.

            Siren Two was a lesser prophet – he had the volume, but lacked the ear-pierceosity. One small blessing. Thankfully, also, Siren Two was not in the row in front of me. Not quite so thankfully, Siren Two was in the row behind me. Yes, that’s right – I (and by extension, my family and Karen) was the warm bologna sandwiched between two slices of auditory misery. Occasionally, Siren Two would be passed to a second parent across the aisle, which actually made it worse (see sound wall comment above).

            Eventually, Siren Two ran out of power and remained silenced until the last fifteen minutes of our flight, when he decided to bless us with a parting gift. It is at the feet of this utter lack of sleep last night and what I believe to be a resulting case of temporary PTSD that I lay the blame for this extremely long “blog about nothing.”

Quick Bites:

The Tico/American Dream Team

1.     We were met at the airport by the INCRESE team. Amazing group of folk! We’ve been traveling with them since, and had a wonderful hillside breakfast with them of Gallo Pinto, huevos, and Costa Rican coffee (FYI, heaven’s barista is Costa Rican – it’s in the Bible Code or something). I can’t wait to spend the next two weeks with them.

2.     Even the Ticos (Costa Ricans) think guanabana juice is disgusting – tasty, but disgusting.

Shot from our breakfast stop out to the Pacific

33. Flexibility is always the first word in missions – rather than Mike and me doing the pastor training over two days (Monday/Tuesday) – we’re leading it in an all-day session this Saturday. So, please be praying for that.

4. Costa Rica is the most beautiful country in the world. There are worse places to suffer for Christ.

Thanks all for your prayers. We’re heading to the hotel for a cold shower and a long nap. Then we’ll get together for dinner at the church tonight with the local team. I’ll shoot you more tomorrow.