Follow the link...

There is more going on down here than what I am able to convey. Here is a link that I recommend you check out. Whit, Mike and Melissa were down serving with us slightly more than a month ago. They recorded their experience on a blog and had some great stories and photos. They were also an incredible blessing to us. Take a look at Team Costa Rica and gain a different perspective. Enjoy.

words you don't want to hear...

Few words strike fear into the heart of modern man than, "Hey dude, I think a tree just fell on your truck." Those were the words I heard yesterday afternoon while we were working with a visiting mission team clearing land and burning wood on our property.

We had been working with the team to clear and burn the trees that we had cut down where we're going to build the house. After several hours of smoke and heat, everyone took a break for water and food. The team had just finished lunch, which ironically, they had eaten in the back of our pick-up and we had all gone back down the hill to resume work when a storm blew in. Suddenly, we heard a loud cracking sound up by the house. We looked up to see the top of a tree come crashing down. A few minutes later, one kind soul wandered down to the fire to inform me that, "Dude, I think a tree just fell on your truck." It has not been an easy two weeks with all of the moving (we're not in the land of U-Haul), running out of water and general bad news concerning our hopes of obtaining a back-hoe to finish our driveway and grade the lot. I was dead tired and frustrated and then I get the news that the tree we watched fall, actually fell on our truck. This could be extremely bad... vehicles are very expensive here as is auto insurance. A million thoughts went through my mind and I really started to wonder how much more I could take. I walked up the hill and saw...



After almost breaking down in front of 20 teenagers, someone said that they didn't really think it was as bad as it looked. Turns out, the tree had missed the cab by about two inches and fell directly on the bed. I figured that at the very least, the bed might be crushed and there might be some problems with the suspension. Thank God...as we looked things over, we realized that nothing at all had happened to the truck. We were able to cut the tree off with a chainsaw and after about 20 minutes, the whole thing was over... or so we thought. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes after our landlord left, we realized that the tree had broken one of the power lines inside the insulation where it wasn't visible. We were without power for the rest of the afternoon, but by 9:00pm Delroy had the problem fixed and we were back in business. It made for a very stressful day but thankfully, it ended with pretty much everything in working order.

One of the things I have realized in our time down here is that the Devil truly is in the details. We don't face persecution. We haven't been run out of town. We don't have to smuggle bibles into the country or any of these things that people face for their faith in other places. What we do face is spiritual opposition in the form of frustration, depression and apathy. Satan has become much more real to me here than ever before and he uses a constant barrage of small things to wear us down. Sometimes it works. I have learned to never underestimate the power of the enemy. He seems to use the small things... things that might go by unnoticed, were they not so constant, to really get us down. We could use your prayers. Satan does not want us to succeed. Satan does not want this place to experience the grace of God and he certainly does not want us to make it as a family. Please pray for us.

What to do when the well runs dry...

We have spent most of the past week moving in to the house we will be renting until we can complete construction on our new house. We have really enjoyed living in the jungle so far...it is extremely peaceful in the evenings and the mornings. However, the move hasn't been without it's challenges. Our well went dry today (that means no dishwashing, no laundry, no hand-washing, showering and most importantly, no flushing)... and, Makena has diarheah. We also found out that the surveyor made some mistakes on the survey for our future property, delaying ownership (and possibly construction) for up to a month or more. We are feeling rather spent right now and could use some prayer. There is almost too much going on right now to even write about. I'll definitely get back online with some more updates as soon as things settle down.

Temporary Housing

I've got a few photos to post of the house we'll be living in temporarily while we are building. We plan on moving in this coming weekend and we're hoping everything works out. We need to get the owner to trim down the grass and some of the landscaping so that we're not attracting too many pit vipers into our new abode. Walking up through the jungle, this is what you would see...















Walking a little closer, you begin to get a feel for the three stories of tree-top living we're about to experience...


To truly get a feel for what it's like to live in a tree house, you have to imagine cooking on an easybake oven underneath a beautiful monkey mural. This is a shot of the kitchen...
















Finally, a shot of the upper level deck and bedrooms. Home sweet home! It will literally be like camping under a roof. Fortunately for us, it is only about 100 yards away from our property so we can really keep track of construction, etc... It's going to be a change but it will also be an adventure.

A couple of weeks on...

Last Friday night we started a new curriculum (at least temporarily) with the youth. We're going to be working through a bible study guide called "What Does the Bible Say About Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll?" The first night went well enough and I think it will be interesting enough to hold their attention...at least considering the subject matter. We started off with a case study of five people stranded on two deserted islands. The people in the story were put in a variety of situations where they had to make moral judgements and choices...some of which were bad and some were good. It gave us a good springboard to begin talking about our basis for making decisions which led us into several scriptures that gave us a chance to talk about God's plans and his basis for making decisions. It will be interesting to see how things go over the next couple of months.

Plans have changed a bit for the house. The last time I met with the builder we were planning to use, the "price" of the house went up $30,000. We started to smell something so we decided to do a little asking around. Fortunately, our next door neighbor is getting ready to build a house as well and since he has lived here for close to 18 years, he has a few contacts. He put me in touch with the builder he has worked with in the past and I was able to set up a meeting last week. The meeting went really well and we were able to get an estimate that was much closer to our original design. His architect is working on a set of construction plans for us and we are eagerly waiting for those. We are much more hopeful that things will work out favorably and that we'll be able to build a house that meets our basic needs for a price that we can afford. No more 50% price hikes in three weeks. I'll try to put up some photos in the next few days of the lot as it currently stands and the house that we will be living in while we build. This will be quite a process. We could use some prayer. Thanks, Barrett