Hermanos in Christo

Another weekend has passed with all that a weekend brings. Friday night was a lot of fun as we cooked some awesome hotdogs and hamburgers. Kenneth and Downer played the roles of both chef and bouncer as they flipped the meat and kept the vultures at bay. We had about 20 youth show up for the cookout along with a few more stragglers that came by to watch the skating and the videos we are showing on the screen as people skate. Speaking of videos, that was one of the great ideas that Sebas and Jetsi had when we talked a couple of weeks ago about how we could improve Fridays and reach more kids. It has really given those that don't skate more of a reason to stick around and have fun. We also bought some games (dominoes, badmiton and a few others) so that there are more activities each week that will hopefully draw others that aren't necessarily into skating.

After the cookout, we played some games...M&M races (which ended in a chocolate brawl...fortunately the chocolate melted in mouths and not on hands, true to the decades old marketing campaign that we all know and love) and a water balloon shooting contest which was a blast. We recently found two giant water balloon slingshots (which could be quite dangerous in the wrong hands) that we put to good use. Next time we need to put in some food dye so that we can more easily identify who gets hit by whom. Overall, it was a great night and hopefully served it's intended purpose of generating interest and getting more of the youth involved.

Sunday night at house church was different and good. We had about eight visitors from a surf camp in Nicaragua. JJ Yemma, owner of the Popoyo Surf Lodge in southwestern Nicaragua (and also a Christian), had come to town for a visit with several of the local surfers he works with and disciples there. JJ played some music for us (which we've missed since TJ, our former worship leader, left a few months back) and we started the next book of the bible, Ephesians. It was a great opportunity for the Puerto crew to meet and spend some time with their Christian brothers from north of the border. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we had some good discussion to top it off. God is blessing, people are growing and the Word is being spread. I love the fact that God uses a bunch of surfers to spread his truth throughout the world.

That's what I get for thinkin'

Well, I thought I had posted a couple of photos of the finished deck and bleachers at the skatepark but apparently, I didn't. Here it is in all of it's glory. We finally got it finished (with the exception of adding much needed lighting):


In other news, we're getting ready for tomorrow night's cookout at the skatepark. Food always brings teenagers and we're hoping tomorrow night is no exception. Next week, we'll begin our series of bible studies answering last weeks questions from a biblical point of view. Please pray for us.

Well Done

Last night went very well. Sebas and Jetsi took the lead at the youth night and did a great job. They stepped up to the plate, took aim at the ball and knocked it out of the park. I was really impressed with how they handled themselves and the material. Last night was "question night". They passed out index cards to everyone that was present and asked them to write down questions that they had about life, God, the bible, relationships, etc... We are going to use these questions to plan our bi-monthly bible studies, using scripture to provide quidance and direction. I am planning to meet with them at least once a week to plan each week's events. My hope is that each week this will be a time of deepening friendships and training and mentoring as they learn how to prepare bible studies and lead their peers into a deeper walk with Christ. Please pray that God will encourage and strengthen as they have really developed a desire to see their friends and families come to know God. This is a new thing for both of them. God has put this in them but as Jetsi told me the other day, "I want to but I just don't know how". I told her that we would figure it out together. Pray that God will strengthen them through the challenge and the frustration so that they can experience the incredible feeling of seeing others come to know Jesus.

The Haps

First...
God never stops amazing me... I have been a little discouraged lately looking toward the future and knowing that we don't have anyone that is definitely planning to join us here in Puerto. I see so much potential, we have so many needs for staffing and although there are several people that have expressed an interest, nothing is certain at this point. This gets to me because I know what is possible and yet I know that I can't do it all on my own and do it well. The one thing that I have held on to is that God can provide whatever he wants, whenever he chooses. I have specifically reminded myself that at any moment, the right person with the right heart and the right qualifications could show up and be an immediate answer to prayer.

That being said, a couple of nights ago, we went to dinner at a local restaurant that I didn’t really want to go to but went because Amy and the girls wanted. Long story short, we ended up sitting next to a couple that was traveling with their son. They found out that we lived here and asked if we were home-schooling the girls. Turns out, during the course of conversation, we found out that they had lived in Kenya years ago as missionaries and their children had been home-schooled as well. They had lived in Nairobi, Limuru (where we had lived when I was young) and another town on the south coast. They were also good friends with several people that have been long-term friends of our family.

Anyway, they are now involved with Calvary Chapels and live part time in Vero Beach, FL. Their son Whit has been associate youth pastor at the Calvary there in Vero for several years and is now in a bible training school in San Diego run through Horizon Christian Fellowship (a Calvary affiliate). He has been praying for a long time about going into missions and told me that he really has a heart for youth ministry, specifically with skate and surf, and has been wanting to get involved somewhere in Central America. As part of his training, he is required to do a 4 week internship in the field. He is very interested in coming to work here with us to fulfill that internship and also told me that when his training is done in late May or early June, he will be probably be looking for somewhere to plug in permanently. We surfed and talked together for two hours this morning and had some great conversation. He really seems like someone I could work well with and we share many of the same outlooks on ministry. It is really interesting to me that this happened right after I had a couple of conversations with people about my discouragement with our staffing situation where I had specifically said that the only solution I could see right now is for God to just send someone to walk in off the street. I don’t know what will come of it but it definitely lifted my spirits. This was at the very least, a confirmation that God has things in control.

Second...
I am also in the process of planning a short surf trip with a purpose to a small island (Isla Uvita) off the coast of Limon.

I am planning it in conjunction with our neighbor who works with World Vision. We will also be working with a local Costa Rican group that will help us host the retreat by giving presentations and organizing activities. World Vision will most likely contribute half of the cost and we will pick up the remainder. We will be talking about relationships, dating, sex and other related topics from a Christian perspective which is something that is sorely needed.


Top that off with some great waves and a bunch of kids having the run of a "deserted" island and it should be a great and productive time. I am really looking forward to that.

Third...
Last but not least, a couple of the older youth have committed to helping out of Friday nights. Sebas and Jetsi will begin meeting with me each week to plan and prepare for each youth night. Sebas will hopefully being leading the bible studies and Jetsi will assist with games, activities and logistics. They are both good friends and really have a heart to see their town changed by the truth of Jesus. This is a huge thing and I am am looking forward to helping them serve God in their own community. Please pray for all of us.

Time Flies

Wow, a lot of time has passed since I last posted. It doesn't really seem like it to me because so much has been happening. We returned to Costa Rica on the 14th and got back in to Puerto Viejo on the 16th. It was a crazy transition because as we were returning, Phil and Shannon who had worked with us for almost a year and a half, were in the process of heading back to the States permanently. At the same time, Ronnie and Tammy who are still on our team, were heading back to Honduras for a visit with friends and family. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of information we needed to pass back and forth and it didn't even seem like there was time for proper "good-byes". We lost some good friends in Phil and Shannon and hated to see them go but are excited for their future as they head off to seminary in Dallas.

We also had some visitors right after we returned...friends from Thomasville Road Baptist Church in Tallahassee, FL and a family from Jacksonville that have been instrumental in helping us to construct the skatepark and bleachers. We were busy but the visits were great.

For the past three weeks, it has pretty much been Amy and I holding down the fort. Kid's Church doesn't resume until school starts in early February so that's one program that we don't have to worry about right now. I am teaching and leading the youth program on Friday nights, house church on Sundays (which Amy puts a great deal of effort into hosting), 4 skate sessions a week and all the administrative tasks that go along with those things. In addition, I am trying hard to maintain all of the relationships we have worked so hard to build, which requires getting out of the office and spending time with real, live people. It ain't easy, but it's good.

Christmas and New Year's went off well and we celebrated both at house church. While we were gone, Phil gave Sebas (one of the older youth) an opportunity to share the gospel and give an invitation to accept Christ at one of the youth nights. From what I understand, five youth gave their lives to Christ that night...including one specific girl that we have been praying for. We are going to have a baptism in a couple of weeks, which will be exciting. Pray for these kids as they begin their journey with Jesus. They are excited about their decisions but there is a lot in this town working to derail them...

I'll get on this blogging thing again now that we've settled back into things and I'll make sure to get some photos posted as well. Thanks for your patience.

The Moves

We had a great time in Tucson and we wanted to show you all a few moves we learned while we were visiting the Southwest. Check it out (click here). Enjoy!

We made it!

We made it to Arizona (did I mention that Maili had her hair braided before we left?).

This had to have been the most uneventful trip to the States that we've taken yet. Everything went smoothly from beginning to end. I'm now finished with the Alternative Missions leadership conference in Flagstaff, Arizona and we (Amy, the girls and I) have returned to Tucson from the Grand Canyon. We travelled up through Sedona (red rock country) and then stayed for three nights in a little town called Williams. What a cool place. The town was founded at the turn of the century and is right on the historic Route 66, which used to be the country's main east-west travel route. We had two full days in town. On the first one, we checked out the mountains surrounding the town (with a little lake high up above).


















Later that day, we traveled to a wonderful little tourist trap where Maili was mauled by ravenous, angry deer.
The next day was the most fun... We rode the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.


Finally, we got to see the Grand Canyon (Makena remains unimpressed). It is definitely one of God's most incredible creations. I can never get over how deep and wide it is (I'll skip the cheesy, spiritual analogy at this time). Truly breath-taking.










Last but not least, we were robbed by armed bandits on the train ride back to Williams. They galloped up on horseback, boarded the train and took us for all we were worth. Fun stuff!

Takeoff

Off we go. Tomorrow morning at 7:45 (hopefully) we'll be heading off to Tucson, AZ. After a week of preparation, packing, theft-proofing the house and a million other things our departure date is finally here. It is definitely exciting and we are looking forward to seeing everyone. Immediately after I land, I have five days of meetings with the leadership of Alternative Missions. Then, Amy and the girls will join me and we'll take a trip to see the Grand Canyon (or as Makena says, "the really deep hole in the ground". We'll be there for two days and will then head off to Atlanta to visit some family members we haven't seen in 3-4 years after which we'll go to Tallahassee, FL for about two weeks. Then back to Puerto Viejo.

If you read this in the next few days, please be praying for our safety (and sanity) as we travel. We also ask you to please pray for our house church. For the next five weeks, several of the older guys will be leading the study as they work their way through the book of James. Please pray that God will guide and lead them and that they will continue to look to him for that leading. This is a huge step and I would love nothing more than to come back, find out that they have done an excellent job and then move into a role of teaching and oversight. This is the end goal anyway. I have no idea what will happen. We have been teaching them and modeling church for them for over a year and now it is in God's hands. Please pray for them (Sebas, Peace, Dexter, Jose, Mike, Johanna, Jetsi, Jordan, Anastassia, Pablo, Downer, Kenneth, Kenneth, Dorothy, Eric, and a few others that show up irregularly) daily. This is huge!

Retreat

We were really blessed last week to get a couple of days away as a team to regroup and say "thanks" for all of the hard work over the past year. We spent two days at a farm up in the mountains about two hours away from Puerto Viejo. If you are ever thinking about taking a trip to Costa Rica, I would highly recommend Finca Maquenge Falls(http://www.fincamaquenguefalls.com/). The owners are really nice people and they treated us like royalty. The property was awesome with waterfalls, horseback riding lots of cool things for the kids and great food. If you come to visit, take a couple of days on your way in or out and check this place out.

Happenings

One thing is for sure... no matter where you are in the world, funny is funny. This is certainly true for me. Anyone that has known me for very long knows that I have a lot of trouble trying to keep from laughing in serious situations. For some reason, the more pressure and the more serious the situation (church, funerals, etc...), the more likely I am to start laughing. Even at 39 years old, if it's funny, I'm going to start laughing.

This short video is from an outreach we did with our youth group this past summer in a part of San Jose called "Little Hell". If there's one lesson we can all learn from this, it is to make sure the song you are singing is within the range of your voice... and if you're watching something like this happen, sit in the back.

My mom would have been pinching the daylights out of me if she had been with us at this outreach.

More Progress

Here we are...we are getting close to having a roof. Take a look at the steel construction. This baby ain't going nowhere.

Highlights

We returned last night from our annual team retreat. It was a nice, relaxing way to thank everyone on our team for all of the hard work they have put in over the past year. The first evening, we took some time to share some of the highlights from the past year. Ronnie (a long-time member of our team) shared what had impacted him the most over the past year and it is definitely worth passing on. It's also a great example of how interconnected our lives are as Christians.

Over two years ago, the first area of ministry that was established was the children's program. Ronnie had started a bible study in Spanish with a few of the parents whose children were attending. One Sunday, my parents happened to be visiting from Florida. During the bible study, which only included two local ladies, my dad (who only speaks English) asked Ronnie, "Do these ladies (who only speak Spanish) know the Lord?" Ronnie stopped the study and asked them. One said yes and the other (Adriana) said no. Ronnie asked her if she'd like to follow Christ; she said yes and we stopped and prayed right there.

Over the course of the next year, Adriana continued to grow and slowly got more and more involved. She is now one of the leaders of the OANSA (AWANA's) program and she and her husband also host the Spanish house church at their house. Last year, after living together for over 11 years, she and her husband, Ronolfo (on the left next to Ronnie and Tammy), got married out of a desire to honor God and set an example for thier three children.

Because of her participation and the changes that were taking place in her life, Adrianna's husband began getting more and more involved and soon involved his brother (William) who is now a leader at the Children's program. William became a Christian over 20 years ago but had basically gone no further in his relationship with God and had not even attended church during that time. He has been faithfully attending the Spanish house church now for over a year.

The highpoint of all of this is that Ronnie was recently invited to a Men's bible study way back in the jungle behind Puerto. When he arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to see William leading 20 men in a bible study modeled after the housechurch that Ronnie has been leading. There were 20 men in attendance. That was definitely a highpoint for Ronnie and for the rest of us on the team. It shows that God works in so many different ways and that each of us can impact so many others...many times never knowing the outcome. Ronnie was faithful to teach, my dad was faithful to see the gospel shared with two women with whom he couldn't even communicate and as a team we have been faithful to model Christ in our lives and our ministries. In turn, God has been faithful to work, bless and change lives for His glory and as a result the bible is being taught in the jungle where previously nothing was happening. Cool stuff.

More Progress

Just wanted to leave you all with a couple of photos of the deck as it stands right now. The Lifechurch team was awesome. They worked hard all week, had great attitudes and were also a lot of fun. We got quite a bit of work accomplished and by the end of the week, we had all of the main portion of the deck in place. It really came in handy last night at the youth event as we finally had a place for people to sit, stand and hang out.

Man of Peace

There's a great book called Church Planting Movements that was given to me by Steve Vaughn, missions pastor for Thomasville Road Baptist Church. It's an awesome book that has really encouraged us (and taught us a lot) as we put together our house church planting program. One of the things that the book encouraged church planters to do was to look for a "man of peace" when they entered a town (Luke 10:6). Finding and building a relationship with this "man of peace" was a good first step in planting and establishing a church. Little did I suspect that we would actually meet a man named Peace.

Last night was the final night of the Lifechurch outreach. We hosted a special youth night with some crazy games, hotdogs and hamburgers and a really great time teaching. We had between 30 and 40 youth show up and let me tell you, it was total chaos...and a lot of fun. After the food and fun, everyone gathered in the skate park to hear Peace's story. Peace (below right) shared about his life growing up in one of Limon's toughest neighborhoods and how he almost died several years ago from an overdose of crack. He explained how caught up he had been in himself and how it had almost cost him his life. He then told about his journey in coming to know Christ. Peace had an interest in spiritual things for many years but it was a mix of rastafarianism, Christianity and new age beliefs...along with a lot of confusion.

Five months ago, Peace accepted Christ as we prayed together one night on the steps of the cafe after a night of skating. Since that night I can honestly say that I have never witnessed the renewal that God can bring to someone's life and mind as clearly as I have seen it take place with Peace. Last night was the culmination of that journey as Peace, a new Christian, stepped in front of 40 of his friends and neighbors and shared about the impact Jesus had made on his life. he didn't hold back as he challenged everyone within listening distance to open their hearts and make the same decision to follow Jesus that he had made. He was clear that there are still struggles and anyone that knows him would understand that following Christ doesn't automatically bring health and wealth. Peace was clear that following Jesus brings forgiveness for sin and a sense of purpose that he had looked for all of his life.


This was Peace's first time speaking in front of a crowd and he was incredible. God spoke through him. While he spoke, there was no joking or talking. Everyone gave him their attention and when he finished, there was an immediate eruption of applause. Peace isn't a bible scholar but he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is real and that He changes lives. He shares his new faith with everyone he meets and has a new story for us each week at house church. I would not be surprised (especially after last night) to see Peace leading a house church in the near future. Such is the grace and power of God. Funny thing...we came looking for "the man of peace" and God blessed us with a man called Peace.

Update

For all of you that have been waiting breathlessly, here's another construction update. We've almost completed the decking, although we are still a long way from being finished. As you can see, we still need to add the bleachers along the front of the deck and the roof (to keep out the tropical rains). We have also come close to finishing the roof over our entry gate. Here's a photo of that project.

Tomorrow night, we'll be hosting a big cookout and outreach for the local youth. We took some flyers by the high school today so we're hoping for a big turnout. Anyone that has ever worked with youth knows that food is a big selling point. Should be fun.

Just for kicks, I have no idea how many people check this thing. I think it's one of the best ways of keeping everyone up to date but I wonder how often it's getting used. If you are reading these updates from time to time, please take a minute and hit the comment link at the bottom of the update, then send me a short note to let me know you are reading. We'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Beat

Right now, I'm feeling like I'm about to burst into flames. We worked all day in the hot (and I mean hot) tropical sun. We've had a lot of rain lately so it's really nice to have good, clear weather for the work that we're doing, but let me tell you, it gets hot working next to a metal trailer with the sun reflecting up from the decking. I just want to get in the water and soak for a while. Here are a couple of additional photos that show what was done today. In addition to the deck, we are putting a roof over our front gate to protect the wood from the sun and rain (and to protect us when we're unlocking it during our torrential downpours). Enjoy!!!

Progress

This week we are fortunate enough to have a group from Lifechurch (Oklahoma) here to work with us. We are in the process of putting the wood on the deck which will give us a great meeting and viewing space next to the skatepark. It is really exciting to see this work progress. I can't wait until it's done. Here are a few photos that show what's taking place.

Here you can see the progress that we made by mid-day. Later this afternoon we will begin laying the decking over the beams. No job is without it's trouble and we've run into a few problems but things are coming along. I'm hopeful we'll be finished by the end of the week.

One cool thing that happened to day is that several of the guys from house church stopped by to help. Here, Jose, Peace and I are hand-planing the sharp edges off of the two by fives for the deck.

Dirty

I'm feeling a little "third world" today. It's hard to imagine drought in the rain forest. Especially since it has rained two out of the last three days. But, that's where we are...drought.
What that means is that our water is regularly getting cut off every afternoon at 5:00pm (just when you get home from work and want a shower) and isn't turned on again until around 6:00am the next morning. That means every afternoon we have to fill up buckets and pots so that we have enough water to flush toilets, bath and cook.

Fortunately, it's not as bad as it was a few months ago. Back in May the water was cut off by 1:00pm every day and wasn't turned on again until 5:00am. To top it off, we went through about a month of electricity rationing with rolling, unannounced blackouts. Talk about frustrating...try having no water and no electricity at the same time. Oh well, we're not in Kansas anymore (Florida either for that matter). It's just a part of life here on the edge of civilization.

Getting Closer

Construction is ongoing at the skatepark. We are almost ready for the mission team that will be joining us next Monday. They will be installing the wood decking on the new covered deck that will adjoin the skatepark. Right now, most of the steel beams are in place and the deck frame is being welded into place. I can't wait for the construction to be completed for a couple of reasons. First, it has been quite a process to oversee construction in a timely and efficient way in a developing country. Second, it is going to be an awesome place for people to gather and enjoy the skating. Here is a photo that shows where we are in the process as of today.

Forced Re-entry

It is amazing how quickly time passes when we're busy. It's almost been a month since I last posted, but it sure doesn't seem like it's been that long. Last week, we had to leave for Panama again. Every three months, we are required to leave for a minimum of three days to renew our tourist visas. Several months before we moved down, we applied for residency and were told in no uncertain terms that we would be approved within just a few months. Three years later,

our residency application along with all the paperwork, have been "lost" by the immigration office for the second time. We can't even find out the status of our application at the moment.

Anyway, until we have residency status, we are living and working here under a tourist visa which must be renewed every three months.

The closest place for us to stay are the islands of Bocas del Toro in Panama. This time we stayed on the island of Basitmentos which at the moment, has no roads and only one small town of rickety houses built on the water and up the side of a hill. The place we stayed was owned by a self-described former East-German anarchist. Breakfast and dinner are cooked and eaten family style with the owners, their helpers and anyone else that may be staying at the "hotel" which is really a small house with four rooms and one private bath. The owner was quite a character and refers to himself as Tio Tom (Uncle Tom). We had an interesting discussion about our choice of careers (read "calling") and he was quite proud to tell us that he beat up the last missionary he ran in to. I guess the guy got really pushy and was also extremely defensive about his way of thinking to the point of being insulting. Rather than walking away and difusing the situation, this missionary escalated it to the point of a fist-fight on a bridge linking Costa Rica and Panama, all in front of the border guards and a crowd of spectators. Anyway, we had an good conversation and he was interested in what we do. He especially liked our work with the youth.

My point is this...you never know who you will meet and what their experiences with Christians have been. One thing I know... in every conversation and every "chance" meeting, we're either building bridges or building walls. This is true even during a required visit to Panama to renew visas. Let's make sure we're sharing Christ, not defending ourselves. Let's build bridges instead of fighting on them.

Here's a picture of Maili getting a little R&R on the dock in front of Tio Tom's.