There are no words. Well, there are a few...

 The summer is winding down for us here in Alajuelita. In CR it's actually not summer, but rather rainy season. But as far as teams-related ministry, the months of May - August are SUPER busy. It's always amazing to me all that God does through the short-term groups that come. A lot is accomplished, lives are changed, and we are always more in awe of our Great God!! Here's a glimpse of what's been going on.

Olivia with our sweet friend Whitlee, waiting to pick up a team at the airport.

With the Celebration Marrieds Team, delivering a sewing machine to a single mother. She said "It's beautiful." 

With the Celebration Children's Ministry Team, we visited sponsored kids, and it was powerful to see just how much it meant to the children and their families.

Lots & lots of feeding stations this summer. This one, in Upper Tiribi, was hosted by the Sub30 team, and  almost 200 kids came out to get a meal.

With the Mandarin Presbyterian Youth Group, as they dedicated a new home to the Lord. I love the emotion on the father's face. It was a very emotional day.

The inside of Maria's home, in Nuevo Millenium, where the sewage tank literally exploded inside their house.  They live in an area where we are prohibited from building or improving, so it's very hard to see something like this happen. 

One of our Summer Interns, Kyle. This photo was taken by Olivia. It was such a blessing to have Kyle and Virginia here this summer to help. 

Enjoying an afternoon in a local park. 

The finished home at one of our very challenging job-sites. The previous house had mud/dirt floors, and the team from Ridgecrest worked very hard in the mud to build the family a new house on stilts.

This is the family that received the house in the photo above. I love the joy on their faces.

Building a new house for a family from the local church here with the Vancleave Team.

Verbena Feeding Station - every Saturday we go to one of the largest impoverished areas and serve lunch. Typically there are between 75-100 kids who attend.

FUSE team praying with families, face painting and playing soccer in the park of Alajuelita. 

One of the highlights of our summer was working with the team from Grandview Baptist, The Crash. The Youth Pastor, Allen, is an old friend of Heather's, so it was a huge blessing to serve together here in Costa. Here is Allen, handing the keys to our friend Carlos, who received a new home that week. 

The Crash picking up garbage in Alajuelinda, the neighborhood where they served for a  week.

The group of children who prayed to receive Christ on the last day of VBS in Alajuelinda.

 

Our family with Allen on their last day here.

We still have a few more teams in August, and then we will have a little time to rest. It has been such a blessing to be a part of this time, and we are very much looking forward to a time to refresh in the weeks ahead, so that we can continue serving. Please be in prayer for all the families who received homes this summer, the children and adults who are new believers, the local church here, and the 6:8 Staff. This post by all means did not cover every team that served this summer, or all the things that took place. Thanks to all of you who support us in prayer, financially, and even coming to serve alongside us here in CR. God is so good!!

Just Not Fair

It's been a ridiculously long while since we've posted on here. Thanks to many of you, we were able to spend a few weeks with family and friends over the Christmas holidays. It was a MUCH needed time of running around crazy trying to see everyone refreshment. We truly enjoyed every minute of it! While we were gone, Olivia got sick and it turned out to be strep throat. We were thankfully able to purchase the medicine for $4 from Wal-Mart. By the time we came home, everyone was starting to feel much better.


The girls and I flew back to Alajuelita on a Tuesday. The following Sunday, I did not see our friends Marielos & Franklin at church. So after the service, I gave her a call. It turns out they were dealing with a LOT of sickness while we were gone. The thing is... for us when we have a sick family member it causes a little stress. Especially since living here, where we do not have health insurance. But to this point we have never had to choose between feeding our children or getting them a needed medication. Sure, we have sacrificed some things we were "used to" having, but after a year or so I can honestly say we don't miss much of the stuff (except Chick-fil-A). 


On the other hand, for their family, when someone gets sick it is a giant problem. Franklin works full-time at a local grocery store chain, in the meat/butcher department. Marielos stays home with their children, who are 8 and 4. Since October, Franklin's mother has been living with them in their very small home. She has been living with excruciating back pain for more than a year, and finally in October she couldn't take the pain anymore. She and her husband live 4-5 hours from Alajuelita, on a farm way up on a mountain. They have no running water in their house, and no kitchen. They both work the land to make a living. This type of work + back pain = a woman who can barely walk, can't sleep and constantly has a grimace on her face. 


Very long story short - in November I took her to a local private clinic, because she does not have social security here. The doctor looked at her and sent her for a CT scan of her back. She has several herniated disks in her lower back. They have told her now that she needs back surgery - but the earliest she can get in the operating room is October 2012! That is a year from when she came to Alajuelita looking for help. In the meantime, the doctors have given her a prescription for pain medication that will help ease the pain a little so she can sleep and maybe walk. There's only one catch - the medicine is $60 per month. Up to this point, they have been purchasing half of the amount ($30) and she is only taking the pain medicine at night so she can sleep. Thankfully, one of our dear friends just sent me an email saying their family wants to help with the prescription cost.

On top of that, Franklin has been sick for about 3-4 weeks, with a bad cough and chest pain. He went to the doctor, who told them it looks like it could be Tuberculosis. He is waiting until next Monday to find out the results of the exam. Please pray that the results are negative. 

Franklin, Marielos & Alison (Wesley was at school)

What is the point of this rambling story? Sometimes I just get aggravated with how unfair life can be. But then I'm reminded that God is just, not fair. He doesn't give everyone an equal life, but the one that they need. He doesn't provide how we expect, but in ways that blow our minds. And He doesn't need my input on how to handle this particular family's needs. He sees them - every part of them - and He knows exactly what needs to be done. Our job is just to ask Him what to do and then pray for His provision. Don't you think the same rule applies to our own needs? We just need to ask Him for direction and provision. And then lay it down. Stop worrying, planning, and complaining. And just trust Him completely. 

Psalm 145:17-19 -  The Lord is righteous in everything He does, He is filled with kindness. The Lord is close to all who call on Him, yes, to all who call on Him SINCERELY. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him, He hears their cries for help and rescues them.

A Lesson in Contentment

The past week our family had the privilege of working alongside the team from San Jose Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Every week that we have teams here we're so glad, but this week was especially great since the group was from our home church.

Throughout the week the team did various things, such as taking food to families, single moms, and widows. They also built new walls for a family from our church here in Alajuelita. They prayed with countless people, for their health, safety, peace.

All in all, it was an awesome week. We even saw a volcano. =)

But the moment that sticks out in my mind to sum up the week was a moment we spent with our Pastor's family on the team's last day here. We were invited up to have "cafecito", which means coffee and a snack, typically bread.

It was an awesome time of fellowship and encouragement.

Pastor Miguel took a few minutes at the end, to tell us a little about his parents. They are truly amazing people, and I feel blessed just to know them. Not only are they hardworking, hospitable people, they truly love the Lord and it is apparent in all they do. It's so great to walk up to church on Sunday morning and see their smiling faces.

Don Miguel and Flora have been married for forty years, and they have been believers for 36 of those years. Their children are an amazing testimony to the kind of people they are. Two of their children serve as Pastors, another as a Children's Minister. And they have another son who also loves the Lord.

But the thing he said that really stuck with me was this: "My parents have learned how to be content with whatever they have, in whatever situation."

I pray that I will strive to follow their lead and be content. Not content to the point where I do not try to improve, but content with what God has given us. Content with how He provides, with how He leads.

I am so thankful for having the opportunity to see such an important Biblical lesson lived out in the lives of Miguel and Flora.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4:12

Mauricio's Story in Part

This guy has an incredible background filled with darkness, but God has now transformed him by the power of his love. Mauricio’s family received a home from 6:8 Ministries and his life has been different ever since.


Here’s a little bit about Mauricio:


Mauricio has a pretty rough past to my understanding. Mauricio has a couple of tear drop tattoos coming down from one of his eyes. The story around here is that when you have those tear drops tattooed on your face like that, it means that you have taken someone else’s life. Now whether that is in an act of self defense, or an act of hatred and anger, does not matter. What counts is that you took someone else’s life. Mauricio has 2 tear drops on his face. His “wife” has one as well (I’ll explain the quotations later).


Mauricio lives at the entrance to one of the worst barrios we work in, this barrio is called Tiribi. It is a river front barrio. Riverfront property in the central valley of Costa Rica is highly undesired. The educated, more wealthy Ticos refer to these as “barrios del sur,” which means the neighborhoods of the south. Now south does not refer to the direction where they are located, it refers to the fact that you always have to go “down” a slope to get to a river, as they are always at the lowest point of the area, running towards an even lower point.


Now Mauricio, his wife and their children, live at the entrance to Tiribi. In the past our ministry has received threats that we would be robbed when leaving the area. Now remember, he lives at “the” entrance to the area. There is most often, one way in and one way out of the barrios. To my understanding, the ministry stopped working in this area due to the level of danger. However, when Mauricio and his neighbor heard of this, they told us they wanted us there and that they would protect us.


Mauricio’s family was one of the first families in this area to receive the blessing of a new home. As a result of this, he and his family have become faithful attenders at Celebration Church in Costa Rica.


I remember the 2nd time we hired Mauricio to help us build a home for a young family in a barrio called Juan Pablo. Mauricio himself was blessed by God with a home. Now he is being blessed by God with the opportunity to build another family a home, and to provide for his family in the process.


Well, about the 3rd day of the project. One of the team members from the USA received a terrible phone call. This man named Gary was a retired fire fighter. One of his adult aged children was watching his home in Colorado along with his grandchildren. The phone call he received was to inform him that his home was in that moment, burning down. Now that’s horribly ironic! This man gave of his time and finances and was in another country building a home for another family, while his was burning to the ground.


I handed the phone to Gary when the call came in, then one of our staff rushed him to a place where he could call home. Everyone on the construction site could feel that something terrible had happened. Everyone hesitated to continue working, but tried to keep going, as we knew he wouldn’t want the progress to stop. I remember that Mauricio was up on a wall setting rafters in place when he asked me what happened. When I conveyed what happened to Gary, he paused for a split second, looked at me and said, “I’ll go to the United States and build him a new home.”


Tears came to my eyes as I saw the love of Christ flow out of this man that had tattooed tears flowing from his eyes. I knew that he was sincere and that he meant it with everything that he now was. Christ was living inside of him and aching for this new brother of his, Gary, whose home had just burned down. The tears flowing from his eyes marking his past were no longer defining who he was. He was now filled with the compassion of Christ and weeping with his new brother who was weeping. I knew from that point on that Mauricio was the real deal. That Christ had indeed changed his heart from the old wretch that Satan and all of his evil army had influenced him to be in his past. He was no longer a man that would take the life of another, but a man that was learning to die to himself. He continues to be one of the most gentle, humble and compassionate man that I've met. You can see that Christ is living inside of him.


Recently, we were taking a group of youth up the mountain to a stream to be baptized. Little did I know that Mauricio and his family would be coming along to be baptized as well. As Pastor Miguel began to share God’s Word with the 10 people who were to be baptized that day, I noticed something. Everyone was paying attention, but Mauricio was up in Pastor Miguel’s face hanging on his every word, eager to grasp the weight and the meaning of what he was about to experience. When he was baptized he came up out of the water with his hands lifted in gratitude to God and a big smile on his face. It was an awesome sight and such a privilege to witness. The crowd joyfully clapped and shouted to share in the moment. It was a good day.


A week later, Mauricio communicated to one of our staff that he wanted to get married to the woman he has been living with for years and has children with. He felt convicted that he never married her before God and the church. So on August 28th, Mauricio and Mariella were married before a crowd that consisted of their family and 6:8 Ministries staff members. The 6:8 staff worked to decorate the church and provide everything needed for the ceremony. Our Executive Director, Spencer, performed the ceremony and they were married around 2’ o clock that afternoon.


It is exciting to see what God is doing in Mauricio’s life as he yields himself to the Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word.


Do you remember when your walk with Christ was like this? When you were humble in your understanding of spiritual matters, yet accepted the love and grace of God by faith alone? When you trusted in Him with the faith of a child? When you were hungry for more of Him in everything? When you wanted to help others because you knew it would honor Christ? When your life was still messy and you watched in awe as God stooped down to clean you up and set you on the right path?


I encourage you to look back at the beginnings of your faith and praise God for what He has done in your life, and humble yourself to the things that He still needs to do.

1 Corinthians 1: 26 - 31
Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

Fish out of water...

Have you ever thought about that statement?

It's been running through my mind today, and I keep thinking that no other phrase quite captures how I feel.

It's a slightly different feeling from the cliff-diving we did back in November, but all the same, it's uncomfortable. You see, things aren't "how we thought they would be", and the past 9 months have been a challenge to say the least. In the midst of all this 'fishiness', God is working. God is doing great things all around us and even through us on occasion. But it still feels like we need to flop our way back to the fish bowl we call home.

We still speak Spanish at about 15%.
We have a car that spends about the same amount of time in the shop as it does out of the shop.
Our car fills with water when it rains.
It is rainy season. That equals daily rain. Serious rain.
Our 11 month old is teething.
Our 3 1/2 year old is sassing.
Our washing machine is dead.
Our sleep is lacking.
We feel out of place.
We feel unsure.

We are learning to lean on God 100%.

That last statement cancels out all of the ones before it.

As hard is it seems sometimes, and as much as I'm ready to get through this 'phase', it is a good time for me to learn to rely on God. For everything. When we lack friends and family to help, when we lack sleep to keep us sane, when we're all sick at the same time, when we see problems way bigger than we can handle... we just lean. Leaning on Him is what we're all supposed to do, right?

It sounds easy, but our ego gets in the way of our leaning. We like to prop ourselves up. Seem independent...When, in fact, God created us to be dependent on Him.

How's your lean?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

I've still got a lot to learn... hh

Blessed

This past week we had some very good friends come for a visit. One week FLEW by, but here are a few photos of their time here. We are so blessed to have friends that are like family!!

Thankful for other people taking pictures of my precious family. It's hard to keep the camera on all the time, so I really value these photos.

Serving people lunch at Tiribi.

Filling up cups with 'juice'.

Precious Mom, Daniella, and one of her sons (David). She is a single mother with another baby girl on the way. She lives in a very rough neighborhood.

A typical house in Tiribi.

Sweet girls in Tiribi.

The Tiribi river is a place where people throw trash.

Building a new home for a family in Llano. 

People walk everywhere, and carry all sorts of things with them in carts, baby strollers, etc.

Getting 'arm painted' by some cute girls in Calle 6.

One of the great joys of driving in Costa - motorcycles EVERYWHERE! 

Coke in glass bottles. =)

Marielos, Wesley, Alison and Franklin. I love this family, and while our friends were here, they brought shoes that they (and others) had donated for their children. It is awesome to see God provide for His children.

April with Alison & Wesley.

God's beautiful creation!

Nick & April's new favorite food. (Notice it was not my cooking!)

A panaderia downtown - some of the best pastries I've ever tasted. (Not specifically at this place, just in general in CR.)

I don't notice it as much anymore, but barbed wire is everywhere, on everything - fences, houses, businesses...

Arroz con camarrones... yum!!

Hydrangeas growing in someone's yard - they look like the ones from Miracle-gro ads, but I'm pretty sure they've never had any of that stuff. Just good, CR soil!

One of my favorite pictures... Nick's choice of facial expression for his photo with the Toucan.

Our little monkey. 

Nick explaining how the Jaguar grabs its prey by the head, using the chomp of death. 

And I saved the best for last. -___-

Our New Friends: Franklin, Marielos, Wesley & Allison

We met this sweet family about a week and a half ago. They have been asking for a new home for quite some time, so once Jeremy was told about them, we decided to go and see where they lived. The mother, Marielos, comes with their two children to church on Sundays at Iglesia Celebracion. Franklin works on Sundays, so he typically cannot attend.

Their family lives in an area called Cochea, which is located up the mountainside a little ways from where we live, in Alajuelita Central. Their home is located off the road, on a dirt path. As you can probably imagine, it is very, very dusty right now. But during rainy season, the path to their home is very muddy, slippery and dangerous. We cannot change this. But there are some things we could change.

First, their home is built on homemade stilts. We could build them a safer, more secure home, built on stilts made of steel, or possibly with a concrete slab foundation.

Second, their home only has three independent walls. The back wall of their house is actually just leaning against the house behind them. As you can imagine, this allows lots of water to enter the house from the back side.

Third, their home is full of holes. Holes in the floor, holes in the roof, holes in the walls, etc. A new home could have four solid, independent walls, not made from scrap metal.

Also, their toilet currently runs to a full septic tank, which then overflows into the ditch that runs alongside their house. It's possible that we could re-route this in a more sanitary way. (That's a picture of where the tank is located, above. It's under the scrap piece of metal, being held down by an old office chair.)

When I say "we" I mean a team from the U.S. could adopt this family, raise the funds needed to provide them a new home, and in the process be the hands and feet of Christ in a very tangible way. Over the past four months, we have seen how this simple act of generosity can change someone's life for eternity. Every single home-owner that has received a new home via 6:8 Ministries has been impacted for eternity. Some have begun coming to church, most for the first time. Three members of one family already prayed to receive Christ.

So this is not just about an earthly home.

This is about reaching out and showing the love of God to people He loves. How amazing that God can and will use you to draw others to Himself!!

Please pray for Franklin, Marielos, Wesley & Allison as they wait for a new, safer home. Pray for their needs to be met, for Franklin to continue to have work, for their children to stay healthy & safe, and for God to be glorified in their lives. Pray that they will feel His love for them, and believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.