Trip to Nicaragua

We arrived back in Costa Rica Wednesday after spending 8 days in Nicaragua. It was a great trip....a bit tiring...but wonderful to meet new friends and visit old ones. I thought I would give you a day by day account of our trip to give you an idea of what it is like for us to have to leave the country and travel.

Tuesday

We awoke at 4:30 am to get dressed and ready for our 6 am taxi to pick us up and take us the hour (sometimes hour and a half) ride to Liberia, the capital of our province. We arrived around 7:30 and knew we would have time to get breakfast before our 9 am Ticabus came to pick us up. Since there is not a terminal for Ticabus in Liberia, the bus would pick us up on the corner of town. We finished up our Burger King breakfast (yes we have one!) and made our way across the street to wait for the bus....and wait...and wait!!

That is the main game that you play when it comes to buses here! So around 8:45 we see a Ticabus heading down the road...gather up our bags and get ready to board...and the bus flies right past us!! OK...what do we do now? Dave ran to the office where he purchased the tickets and found out that was not our bus...another would be coming at 9. It actually showed up at 10! It took us one hour to get to the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua but it took us 2 hours to cross the border and get our passports stamped! Everyone has to exit the bus...and when you enter the new country...you have to remove all luggage from the bus to be inspected. But this time after getting our luggage and waiting in line....and waiting...and waiting...we get to the inspection table and they wave us through...no checking! So we board the bus again and settle in for the three hour ride to Managua, Nicaragua, the capital of Nicaragua. We had a Pastor friend meet us there and he secured a taxi for us to get to the bus station so that we could catch another bus to the town he is from, La Paz Centro. We board this bus and ride for about 2 hours. By the time we reached the Pastor's house...it was 6 pm. We walked up the roadway to the Pastor's home and waiting to greet us was his praise and worship group along with his wife and sons. What a welcome committee! They sang a wonderful song of welcome to us and greeted us warmly. At 6:30...after quickly eating..we went to the church building right next door to the Pastor and enjoyed service with them.

Wednesday

I would like to take a minute to describe the home of the Pastor that we stayed with. This house was built 2 years ago...it is a very small rectangle size home with exposed wiring and beams in the ceiling. The rooms of the house, there were only 4 of them, were seperated by sheets of black plastic. They had two rooms set up for bedrooms, one for a living area and one room was the kitchen. They gave us the best room of their home which had a twin bed and a full size bed. The twin bed, where Jeremiah, Rachel and Levi slept, was a wooden bed frame with a sheet of cardboard on top for the mattres, and a blanket on top of that for some comfort. Dave, Hannah, and I slept on the full bed which had a small mattress (maybe an inch or two thick). Not exactly the Best Western...but like I said..it was their best! We awoke early Wed. am and the Pastor's wife had warm milk, coffee, and sweet bread ready for our breakfast. They took tables outside for us to enjoy breakfast. You will notice in the picture of Dave and Pastor Jose outside that there are two buildings outside as well. The building to the left is the bathroom and the brick building to the right is the shower. Just behind the table is an outdoor sink area for washing dishes, hands, face, and brushing teeth. After breakfast, we waited for a little bit warmer temps before we started our showers. Their outside shower is a 25 gallon bucket of water with a bowl in it for dipping and pouring water over yourself. No hot showers here! We were invited to join a family in the church for lunch so we walked to their home. After enjoying a wonderful lunch, the children enjoyed playing in their back patio with the many children that lived here. Many homes in Latin America have several homes behind them where more of their family lives. This was the case at this house. The kids really love playing with the other children. Jeremiah even rode a pig (although it was very brief!). We had many people while we there comment on how easily our children have adjusted to life in Central America. After lunch and visiting, we loaded up one more time to ride yet another bus to go to the city of Leon. The Pastor has two older children living in this city and going to the university there. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and we had just enough time to eat quickly and get ready to go to a house church that is about a year old in the part of town where we were staying. Dave was able to preach an evangelical message to this group of about 25 that gathered to hear the Word. We were told that only a few of the people that come to this home church are believers, yet the house is always full! After service, we took about 2 hours to walk around the city and enjoy some of the historical features of Leon. We spent the night at the home of Pastor Jose's two oldest children.

Thursday

Around 10 am we left Leon and headed back to La Paz Centro. The Pastor wanted us to go with him to visit several members of his congregation. We visited 5 families, Dave read a passage of Scripture to each family and I prayed for each. It was a wonderful time of experiencing different homes, but each family was the same: very cordial, willing to offer food and drinks for each of us, and just so friendly! At 6:30 that evening the Pastor had scheduled a church service with Dave as the guest speaker. The church building they have is still being worked on. The walls are up and finished, mostly, but they still have dirt floors. It was a great evening of worship, word and fellowship. One funny thing was when two ladies were leaving for the night, they overheard Hannah and Levi speaking in English to each other. They both responded how sweet and cute it was to hear them speaking in English! I told them that English was their first language and they were just overjoyed with that!

Friday

We spent Friday walking and visiting more members of Pastor Jose's church. We visited another 5 or 6 homes and each one the same as before...the families were very friendly and open to have us come and visit with them. Once again, Dave read a passage of Scripture and I prayed over the families. That evening, there was another church service. Dave preached and afterwards each member of the church came through and showed us their love through hugs and just blessing us. We really enjoyed our time with Pastor Jose and his wife Reyna. They have four wonderful children, two of them living at home with them and two attending the university. They love God so much and love God's people. They are servants and truly enjoyed having us in their home. We look forward to going back and visiting with them again sometime.

Saturday

We got up at 4 am to prepare to catch the 5:30 am bus to head to Leon and make our way to Jinotega. We arrived in Leon and waited for the next bus to leave. We left Leon at 7:30 arriving in a town called Matagalpa at 10:30 am. We jump off the bus and walked to the bus station to locate the next bus heading to Jinotega. Our bus left at 11 and we arrived in Jinotega a little after 12 pm! We were tired...but it was so nice to be in a familiar place again. We walked with our luggage from the bus station to Pastor Serafin's house, about 6-7 blocks. We arrived at Pastor Serafin's hungry and Pastor Reina had lunch waiting for us. After finishing up lunch, the children quickly got changed and ready for children's Bible classes that are held every Sat. at 2 pm. This was one of the kids favorites when we were living in Jinotega. They always looked forward to Bible class. We had a good time relaxing and visiting with good friends the rest of the day!

Sunday

We spent Sunday letting the children play with some of their best friends. I met with the youth dance team and helped them choreograph a new song for them to begin practicing. It was nice to see that the youth dance team is still growing and continuing to learn more in the dance to glorify the Lord. That evening was their regular church service and Dave preached. It was nice to see all the members of Pastor Serafin's church once again. We have some wonderful friends there and visiting Jinotega is almost like a second home for us now. Everything is very familiar there...the people are just wonderful.

Monday & Tuesday

We spent catching up with friends and just enjoying time with them. I spent alot of time shopping for things that are much cheaper in Nicaragua than here in Costa Rica. There are so many used clothing stores in Jinotega...and I have yet to find one here near me in Costa Rica!

Wednesday

We awoke at 2:30 am to prepare to catch the 4 am bus out of Jinotega to Managua. Which meant more waiting for a bus! Pastor Serafin and Pastor Reina waited with us. The weather in Jinotega was so much colder than here in Costa Rica!(very refreshing for us!) We arrived in Managua at 7:30 am and made our way to the Ticabus station. The one thing that is important with securing buses in Central America...make sure you are early! Especially going to Managua...you never know when you may arrive (Dave has had several buses break down on him!) and you never know how long it can take to get a taxi driver that will not try to rip you off! God was good to us! As soon as we arrived in Managua we found a taxi driver to take us to Ticabus for a very good price; it is not always easy when you have 6 people and we had 7 large pieces of luggage! We arrived at Ticabus station and waited until 12 noon for our bus to leave. It took three hours to get to the border of Costa Rica. Once we reached the border, we noticed there were many people in line! Several buses had arrived ahead of us. Since the line was so long, they were allowing one parent with children to go ahead of the line. I saw when I went through the line that there was one worker stamping people's passports as they were entering Costa Rica. It took us three hours to enter the country! By 6pm we were back on the bus and heading for Liberia. Our neighbor met us there and we crammed all of our luggage...and us...in his vehicle and finally arrived at our home, tired and hungry at 9 pm!

All in all...we had a great trip to Nicaragua. Alot of it was quite tiring...but we are used to the buses by now! The children are old hats at it now! (Maybe we should join the Amazing Race Family Edition next time....we have had lots of practice at it! LOL) Since arriving home, we have been getting back in the swing of things; school starting up once again for the children, Bible studies every Sunday night, and just regular activities of living here in Potrero. We are seeking God on any new direction He would have us take to reach out to the people here more. We feel the people here are still "watching and waiting" to see what we are all about. We are so different than the normal American families that seem to pass through here. We actually have a desire to mingle and live among the Costa Ricans. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to reach out and show love!

One other thing I would like to add in closing...to catch you up more. On Saturday my husband was doing our weekly shopping in Santa Cruz. When he finished up in the store, he came out to where he had parked his motorcycle (which this parking lot was fenced and has only one way in and one way out with a security guard); well...lo and behold...the motorcycle was GONE! Someone stole it right up under the security guard's nose! Dave filed all the paperwork necessary and has declared it stolen. Now we play the Central American waiting game...and see how long it takes for something to happen. We are praying that God will take care of the whole situation. We appreciate your prayers in this too.

3 months already??

It is hard to believe it has nearly been three months since we have arrived in Costa Rica. For us that means it is time to renew our visas. Until we obtain residency, which is not an easy task here, we have to leave the country every 90 days and stay out of country for at least 3 days at a time. When we arrive back in country, we will have new visas allowing us to stay another 3 months. Fortunately for us, this means we get to visit wonderful friends in Nicaragua! We will head out tomorrow a.m. by taxi to Liberia (the capital of our province), which is a little over an hour away(by taxi that is....2 hours by moto....who knows by bus! LOL). Once in Liberia we will catch the TicaBus that will take us to Managua, Nicaragua, the capital of Nicaragua. It is about an 8 hour bus ride, depending on how long it takes us to cross the border into Nicaragua.

We will spend the first half of our trip in a town outside of Managua visiting a son Pastor Serafin has in the faith. Dave will be preaching at this church in La Paz Centro. We will spend 4 nights there and then take the buses we need to get to Jinotega, another day trip by bus! Once in Jinotega, we will be able to visit with friends for 4 more nights. We will be returning to Costa Rica on the 17th of January.

We ask that you keep us in prayer as we travel; for safety & protection traveling, ease in crossing the borders going and coming, for my husband as he shares in Nicaragua, and for protection over our home while we are away. We will update you on our trip when we return. Thank you for your prayers!

Luke 10:1-2

"The harvest is plentiful...















...but the workers are FEW."










One day as Dave was out and about on the motorcycle, he came across this scene. A vast field lay before him of sugar cane ready to be cut and harvested. As he gazed across the field he noticed about 5 local workers out at the front of the field working diligently to cut the sugar cane. Immediately Luke 10:2 came to him and he was reminded how great the harvest is, and truly how few the workers are. As I looked at the pictures, first of all of the huge harvest of the sugar cane, and then studied the picture of the workers in the field; I began to think of how sometimes we can look at the harvest of lost souls all around us and think,"But Lord...how can we possibly bring in this harvest that you have before us? There are so many!" I am sure as these few workers were standing before this large field on the first day of harvesting, they asked the same question,"How can I do this?" How do we bring in the harvest? The same way these workers are cutting the sugar cane....ONE AT A TIME. I know that these workers will not rush into this field and start chopping away, their only goal to just bring it in. No...these workers have to take precaution on how they cut. Cut too high...and you lose some of your harvest. They do not want to damage the harvest they are working so hard to bring in. It is nearly impossible...with a simple machete in hand...to tackle more than one stalk at a time. I am sure they would love to cut down about 10 at a time...but that is not possible with the lack of macninery. One at a time.....
Yes...this is what the Lord is reminding us of as we get geared up and focused on what our goals are for 2007! ONE AT A TIME LORD!! Just bring us one soul that needs you...and that is hungry for you...and let that one soul go out and find one more that needs you. You have all heard the saying...each one reach one! This not only applies to where we are here in Costa Rica. This is for those of you at work...at school...in the grocery store. Sometimes we can get lost in looking at the vast harvest before us...and instead of looking at reaching one at a time...we see how big it is and do not reach any. Believe me...I have been there. So we ask that you continue to keep us in prayer as we reach the harvest of Costa Rica...ONE AT A TIME! We pray that your 2007 is blessed and that everything you put your hands to will prosper. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Feliz Navidad!!

Merry Christmas everyone !! We just wanted to take the oppurtunity to say that we love you and appreciate you all so much. We pray that your Christmas is blessed with all the wonders of this season. Thank you all for your love, prayers and support throughout this year.
I thought you might enjoy seeing our "white" Christmas. We took the kids to the beach today...the first time any of us have ever been swimming for Christmas Eve! We had such a good time. I have to tell you....Hannah has progressed so much from the time that we arrived in Costa Rica. She has gone from not wanting to step a foot in the ocean...to boogieboarding!! The kids also enjoyed making sand angels too! Hope your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are special for you! We love you all and miss you.

Bible Studies Begin

Matthew 28 tells us to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES. Two months ago the first part of that verse was accomplished; now we are beginning the second phase! Three weeks ago we started having Bible studies in our home on Sunday evenings every week. We have ranged from having noone come to having 5 adults and 3 children here! We are thankful for each one that God has placed in our midst. As we continue to show forth the love that God has for His people here, we trust that the Lord will continue to bring the people. The families that God has brought to us are hungry for the things of God and desire to learn more. We ask you to continue to keep us in prayer as well as the ones we have begun ministering to. We know it is only by God's grace and His wisdom that we will be able to accomplish the task He has before us. We look for oppurtinities daily to reach the people in our community. We do not want to pass up an encounter that He has set before us;for this reason, we covet your prayers! Thank you so much for your prayers and your support for this ministry. We ask God to continue to pour out the blessings He has for you and your family!

What's new

I thought I would update everyone on what the latest happenings are in Costa Rica. While I was gone to the States for my dad's memorial service, Davi was home with the children. He was able to begin meeting several people that are in our area and are interested in learning more about the Lord. Praise God! One particular family he met on the beach, they are a young couple with an 8 month old baby. We spent the day with them last Sunday at the beach just having a fun family day together. They are a very sweet couple. William works at a hotel that is very close to us and has a desire to learn English. He knows that we want to further our Spanish and has offered to help us with Spanish if we will in turn help him learn English. This sounds like a great trade. So last Monday we were able to sit with him and converse alot in Spanish. We found out he was raised Jehovah Witness but he has many questions! We are praying for him and for his wife, Evelyn. One thing that helped open the door to speak with them is they are from Nicaragua and have lived here for 5 months. We look forward to sharing more with him and his family in the future. Please keep them in your prayers.

We have noticed a few challenges we did not have in Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, many things were easily accesible; banking, shopping at grocery stores, shopping at the market,etc. The main challenge we have faced is the shopping issue. Because we live in a beach community the prices here are pretty outrageous for Costa Rica.In our neighborhood, we have a few little Mom and Pop grocery stores we buy necessities at, but even they can be pretty expensive. We have found out that even most of the locals do not shop here. So we found out about a great market that is 25 miles away. Now 25 miles may not seem far if you are going across town, it may take you a half hour more or less. Here in Costa Rica that 25 miles by bus takes 2 hours when you figure in the stops the bus has to make and not to mention the many, many potholes that have to be avoided! So, last Saturday, the whole family woke up at 5 am to catch the 6 am bus and make it to Santa Cruz by 8 am when the market opened. This market is only open on Saturday for a half day. We found a gold mine when we arrived; wonderful fruits and vegetables, great prices, and many booths to choose from!! Let me just give you one example of the difference in prices from the market to what we can get locally in our neighborhood. Dave bought one pineapple from our local grocery store that cost two dollars. When we got to the market in Santa Cruz we were able to buy 3 for two dollars! Boy...those fresh smoothies sure taste good on a hot night!! :) Another great deal we found on the streets of Santa Cruz are the vendors that just set up along the roadways. We had to get Rachel a new pair of flip flops (all those trips to the beach must have worn them out! LOL). Here, there are only souvenir type shops within about 10 miles, so Dave got her a pair on one of his outings. The flip flops alone cost $10.00! When we went to Santa Cruz we found them for $3!!! So.....we are gaining wisdom in the area of shopping!!

Although some things have been challenging, we have seen God begin to move and open doors of oppurtunities. We continue to pray for wisdom and guidance as He continues to lead and direct us in the path we are to go daily. We appreciate your prayers and I want to say a special thank you for all who prayed for me during the time following the death of my daddy. God has truely ministered His peace to me and I know it is due to the prayers of many. Thank you for all of your kind words of encouragement as well. You are all apreciated very much! May the Lord continue to bless you in all you do.

Our Pastors are such a blessing!

When we arrived in Costa Rica, our Pastors and very good friends of ours, Pastor David and Sheryl Huffman, were there to greet us and welcome us to our new home. We spent a great week with them as we were getting settled. Our Pastors truly are a blessing from the Lord for us. We are so thankful for the training, love, support, and many prayers that have been sent our way. The Lord birthed in them a vision 4 years ago...and now that vision is beginning to come to pass. Pastors...thank you for your love and support. We would not be where we are today if it were not for you pouring into our lives and loving us unconditionally. We thank God to have you in our lives and we pray that the Lord will always bless you in everything you put your hands to.

In the arms of Jesus!!

I wanted to update everyone on my dad. I found out yesterday that my daddy went home to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon. I rejoice...because I know that my dad is in the arms of Jesus and has perfect peace and no more pain and suffering. All of the goals my dad set for himself were met before he passed away. One of his desires was to see us in Costa Rica. He was able to do that. Even in the end, when things were the toughest for him, he was still encouraging me to continue on with what God wants us to do. I learned many things from my dad. One of which was no matter the circumstance that my dad was under...I never heard him complain. He always kept a good attitude with everything going on around him and accepted what hit him with grace and dignity. The last converstation I had with him was Monday evening when I called and told him how much I love him. I said, "Hi Daddy!! How are you doing?" Just like I always did...and he said with a weak, but somewhat cheerful voice, "Oh I am good!" Even in the end he would proclaim that he was doing good. Many times it was for the benefit of us around him that love him so much...he did not want us to know how bad he felt or how much he might be hurting. I am sad that he is gone...but yet I rejoice in the fact that I know he is with another wonderful Father..One that will never leave him nor forsake him...One that has given him the ultimate healing that he desperately needed...and One that will continue to give me the peace that I need. I thank God for the wonderful daddy I had...he will always be in my heart!!! I love you Daddy!!!

We have iguanas in our yard!!

The children's prayers are answered.....the beach is VERY close!!

God blessed us with a wonderful home!

Heading off to Costa Rica!!

The Journey to Costa Rica

It has been two years exactly since the first time Dave and I saw Costa Rica. Since October 12, 2004, there have been many “adventures” that have led up to the day we arrived in Costa Rica on October 11, 2006. We spent 10 days in intense missionary training in Jacksonville, Fla. Days after returning from that trip, our house was sold, and all debts paid off!! We moved into an apartment for six months, had a yard sale and sold everything we owned. A couple days after that we moved to Guatemala for 10 weeks! What a culture change…but yet an awakening to what God was calling us to. A love for the Latin people grew while there…and we learned many things to help us adjust to the culture. Upon arriving back to the States, we lived in an apartment generously donated for a month by friends of ours at our church in Tn. Then we spent 6 weeks moving from house to house and waiting for a home to open up in Jinotega, Nicaragua. In March of this year we moved to Nicaragua and spent the last 7 months there. In those 7 months, God took us through some crash courses in the Latin culture….some good…some not so good…but everything a part of His plan to prepare us for His work. We established relationships that will last a lifetime…and fell even more in love with the Latin people and the land God was preparing us for. Jinotega…you will always be in our hearts. We found that God was rapidly increasing our training time in Nicaragua….and before we knew…He had opened the doors for us to make our ultimate move! COSTA RICA!!! God is so good…in everything.
We began our move to Costa Rica the last week of Sept. when I began to pack everything up one more time. We moved in with the Pastors in Nicaragua and lived with them for 10 days. By this time, transition was just another word in our everyday vocabulary. On October 10 we left many friends and the life we knew in Nicaragua and made our way to Managua…the capital of Nicaragua. We spent the night in a hotel there to be able to wake up early the next morning and catch the 6:00 am bus to Costa Rica. One very interesting thing that happened in the hotel in Managua was the morning we woke up to leave. We awoke around 3 am…as my husband went to get Hannah out of the bed she shared with me…a tarantula came crawling out from under her and made its way across his arm to the end of the bed. We did not realize we slept with a tarantula all night!! We showed a picture to the front desk clerk and found out he was very dangerous!! Thank God for His protection!!! So this was just another…welcome to the mission field statement!!
We took the 6:00 am bus to CR and arrived around 1 pm. Our wonderful Pastors were there to welcome us to our promised land. A vision that God had placed in our Pastors 4 years ago…had finally been fulfilled! We made it to CR!!!! God is so good…did I say that already? We saw our house that He provided for us, and were just amazed at His goodness. Our house is fully furnished…right down to the littlest things that I was desiring and our children. I was making plans to buy a blender….but God had one waiting for me here. Jeremiah went to his closet and looked around and found a boogie board waiting for him to take to the beach that is so close by! God does not despise the littlest desires that we have…and may not even mention!!
We feel so at peace in our new home and our new land. Our neighbors are already beginning to accept us and God is giving us favor through them as well. We are excited about the work we will do here…but for now….it is all about showing His love to His people! We do not know everything God has for us here…but we know that His will will be accomplished here. His harvest in Costa Rica is ripe and we are ready for some picking!!!
I have to say though that throughout the last two years, as Dave and I have drawn closer to beginning our journey, my dad has drawn closer to ending his. He was diagnosed with cancer almost 2 years ago and he has had a long hard battle since that time. Just before leaving the States to move to Nicaragua, my dad was told the cancer was terminal. My heart was broken, but in my spirit I knew I had to press on to the mark of the high calling that He had called us to. In talking to my dad before our departure and when visiting with him before we left, he encouraged me to not let any of this hinder us from continuing on with what the Lord has for us. I honestly let him know that we will continue on with what God wants us to do, no matter what. I have placed my dad in God’s hands and have asked my Heavenly Father to take care of my earthly father. It has been a long hard road, but the time has begun to draw even nearer for my dad. He is beginning to experience liver failure due to the cancer. Only God knows how long he has left on this earth. But what a journey he has ahead of him, one that will take him to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That is the ultimate journey that we all long for…to be in the presence of our King. Daddy…I love you and appreciate you so much for accepting the call God has for us and encouraging us in it. God has blessed me with a wonderful earthly father! I ask all of you to continue to pray for him and for strength for me as well.
We love you all…and appreciate your love and support that has taken us this far. You have all been a wonderful blessing to us and we ask God to continue to pour out His blessings upon you. We look forward to letting you know about what God is doing in Costa Rica. Until then…….we remain…in HIS service!!