happenings

Time is just flying. Again, hard to believe that it's been almost a month since I last checked in to the old blog. We have been so busy this summer but at the same time, things have been good. The team from St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucson were hard working and got a lot accomplished at the Rio Negro School (the same school that Makena attends).

About a week before the team arrived, Whit, Mike and Melissa (recent graduates of the Horizon School of Ministry in San Diego) arrived to serve with us for three weeks. Sometimes having people show up to "help" can be very draining and can actually result in more work. This was not the case with these guys. It was awesome having them around. By the time they left, we actually felt refreshed and re-energized which is a really cool thing. I can't say enough good things about them. Their goal was to serve and to help us in any way that they could and they really accomplished both. They helped us host the team from St. Andrews, they worked with the team at the school on a variety of projects, they assisted us with the skatepark, they helped me get some work accomplished out at our property and they (along with some friends from Calvary Chapel Vero Beach) helped Ronnie and Tammy get a few things accomplished out at the house they are building. The good news is that Whit is planning to come back and join us here in Puerto to work specifically with me at the skatepark and with the youth group. I am not sure what is in store yet for Mike and Melissa but if they continue to display the heart and attitudes that they had during their time here I know that God will bless them wherever they go and will bless the people that they work with as well. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to working with Whit in the near future.

Beyond that... we have made a little bit of forward progress on our house. The access road is about 2/3 complete and the backhoe was able to clear most of the downed wood off of our lot. We've been out doing a little bit of land clearing the old-fashioned way... with fire. It has been a slow process up to this point but I have hope that things will really pick up once the title has been transferred into our name and we are able to get the builder involved. Here are a couple of photos of our lot in the clearing stages.


We have also had to make changes to our plans to live in Pablo's house several miles down the road. About a week prior to moving, he told us that it wouldn't work out because of significant problems he was having with his water supply. He didn't want us to move in and then begin having problems after he left for Spain. I am very appreciative that he was looking out for us but it left us in a tight spot. Fortunately (we'll see...) we were able to set up a deal with Delroy (whom we're buying the lot from) to rent his small farm house for the next 6-8 months while we build. The upside is that we'll only be about 50 yards from our house as it's being built. The downside is that the house is basically like a kid's tree fort, except bigger. It is really basic but it will provide shelter and will be an adventure for the girls. It is about 300 square feet, two story with two bedrooms that are just big enough for mattresses. It's out in the jungle so I am sure that we'll have more strange insect encounters but hopefully between our two dogs and two cats, the snake encounters will be kept to a minimum. I'll post a couple of photos of the house soon.

Lastly, we have been enjoying a visit from Calvary Chapel Jupiter this past week. It is always great to see familiar faces and they have been a real encouragement to us. It was also a great thing to have our pastor, Dan Plourde, take time out of his schedule to come down and be with us for the second year in a row. He is an incredible guy, a great friend and I really admire him. We had plenty of time to talk, reconnect and share war stories. Good stuff. The visiting team is working in the local high school, doing English classes in the afternoons. We have tried something different with this team that really seems to be paying off. Rather than scheduling every second of the day, we purposely schedule quite a bit of "free" time for this team with the hope that they would make some great connections during class time that they could follow up on after school. So far, it really seems to be working. Many of the students have invited members of the team to their homes, out for ice-cream and other activities. The team has really enjoyed their connection time and without formally scheduled events, they have been free to enter into other peoples' lives. This was our hope and it's happening. Please pray that we will find ways to continue the relationships that are made with this team. That's all for now.

More

Just a quick update on what's going on in Puerto this week. My truck is back and in good working order (for at least a few months until the roads take their toll again). We also have 5 helpers in to assist with the visiting mission team that arrived yesterday evening. One of our interns is a girl that worked with us last summer hosting teams. Her name is April Woods and she is from the Santa Barbara, CA area. She will be with us for the next 10 days coordinating the mission team's outreach. AJ Rhodes will be with us for the remainder of the summer...until mid-August. He is from Tallahassee, FL and will be assisting us with our summer mission teams and a variety of other responsibilities. We are also fortunate to have the help of Whit, Mike and Melissa, from the Horizon School of Evangelism, for the next few weeks. They are completing a 3 week internship as part of their schooling and we are happy to have them serving with us during that time.

The visiting mission team, from St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ, will be working at the local public school this week doing a variety of things. They will be assisting a local contractor in the re-construction of a classroom at the school. They will also be improving the living conditions for the kindergarten teacher who lives on the school grounds during the week. Finally, half of the team will host a Vacation Bible School for the children next week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It is exciting work and we are really looking forward to the opportunity to show people in a very real way that God loves them and is concerned about their well-being...physically as well as spiritually. Please pray for this team and their outreach.

Finally, after 4 years of waiting, 2 lost applications and one denial...we were notified late last week that we had been granted residency. Our lawyer told us that we are the first people in the history of Costa Rica to be granted residency on the basis of our missions work. We originally applied as "rentistas" which meant that we needed to prove we had an income from outside of the country so that we wouldn't be taking jobs from locals. This was denied almost two years ago which meant that we had to try another route. Many missionaries have applied for residency over the years and have been denied but for whatever reason, we were granted residency. It is exciting and means that we will not be required to leave the country for three days every three months. That means a savings of money and of time. Thank God!

More to come...

Two weeks later

Well, it's been about two weeks since my last post. I picked up my parents in San Jose a little over a week ago and we have been spending quite a bit of time with them. This has been their first visit in over two years and it has been really nice to see them. The girls have been having a great time with them too. Unfortunately, Makena seems to be developing asthma. Ever since she was a baby, whenever she has gotten a cold it seems to have settled in her lungs. She always develops a really dry, hacking cough that just hangs around. She had a cold a couple of months ago and the cough came and stayed for at least a month afterward. Now, the cough has come back and she is having trouble breathing at times. We have used an inhaler a few times with limited success and are going to try a new medicine that her doctor prescribed so we'll see how it goes. We just hate seeing her trying to sleep, coughing so hard that she starts gagging. Please pray for her if you get a chance.

We were supposed to get some work done on our lot today, but wouldn't you know it...the rain kicked in again last night. We need about two dry weeks to get everything done so that the builder can begin. The first thing is clearing out the lot and getting the house-pad ready. even in the absence of OSHA, the tree removal guy isn't too keen on getting up in a 100' tree with a chainsaw if the thing is totally wet and slippery. Can't say that I blame him. We also need to get the road material laid down and we need good, dry conditions for that as well.

In the meantime, we will be moving out of the house we have been renting for the past three years by the middle of June. The landlords want to raise the rent to a place that we can no longer afford to pay. At the same time, our friend from Spain, Pablo, offered to let us stay in the house he is building for free until ours is built. He is going to be leaving for Spain and needs someone to watch his place while he is gone. This is a great blessing for us as we were trying to figure out how we could afford to pay on the loan we need to build our house, while paying rent on our current house at the same time. Now we don't have to worry about it. The catch is that we will be moving our entire family plus two dogs and two cats into a two room (not two bedroom) house that really is in the jungle. It is also quite a bit further from town. Maybe not ideal, but definitely a blessing considering the fix we were about to find ourselves in. Yesterday we drove down to visit and had the priviledge of seeing monkeys in almost every tree on his property. It will definitely be a different way of life for a few months. Please pray for us... It will be a little like "Little House On The Prairie" with a couple of twists. Maybe I'll ask the girls to start calling me "Pa".

Amy's visit to Clinica Biblica

Well, we're back in Puerto once again. Amy survived her surgery and everything looks good. The doctors wanted to biopsy the tumor just to make sure, but it didn't look like anything to worry about. Thank God for that. Now we are just getting back into the swing of things here with the weekend skate sessions and House Church tomorrow evening.

Last night at Youth Night we watched an incredible film about the horrible things that happened over a decade ago in Rawanda. Everyone has heard of Hotel Rawanda, which was a good movie about a difficult subject, but I almost felt like Beyond the Gates told a better story. It certainly answered the question, "Where was God in all of this?" The movie was difficult to watch but is something that I believe needs to be seen and I also believe that it really shows that people are not naturally good. We are all sinners that fall short of God's glory and without Him, we are all capable of the most horrible things. In the movie, people that had known each other for years became bitter enemies. Neighbor turned on neighbor and an entire society broke down in just a few short days.

Afterwards we had a short time of discussion and talked about the horrible things that humans are capable of and about God's love for us in spite of what we do to each other and ultimately to Him. We also got an opportunity to talk about God's version of love..."no greater love is there than this, that a man would lay down his life for his brother." It was a powerful film that spoke about sin, sacrafice, hope and peace in the middle of horror. It really hit us all hard.

Things are moving along with the house. We are quickly finding out that things are not so "inexpensive" in Costa Rica as they might first appear. We should be finalizing the purchase of the land within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, we are getting ready to install the electric cable, build a road, dig a well, put up a fence and take down a couple of dangerous trees...all just so that we can begin laying the foundation for a house that we don't even have plans for yet. Please pray for us in this...it is going to be a challenge to keep up on the construction while maintaining focus in ministry. I'm about to find out what my parents went through almost 40 years ago when they moved to Uganda as missionaries and had to start by building their own house. God help us! We are still somewhat short on the funding. If you are interested and would like to help us with this, please contact me at "barrett.alternativemissions@yahoo.com" and I can give you details on how to make a tax deductible contribution through Shepherd's Staff Missions Facilitators.

Happenings

Well, here we are in San Jose again. Alternative Missions is now officially recognized as a Religious Organization (is that a good thing or a bad thing?) in Costa Rica. One good thing that comes from that is that we get to pay lower electricity bills at the skatepark. Another huge benefit is that it should now be much easier for all of our long term staff to get residency. We are hoping to actually have residency within a few more months (although we are not holding our breath). We have been in process now for almost 4 years and the end may now be in sight although I will probably have to actually get a Costa Rican motorcycle license which is no easy feat in itself.

In other news, Amy gets to have outpatient surgery tomorrow afternoon. We would appreciate prayer for that as she will be having a small lump removed from her back. Hopefully it is nothing.

We also just returned from another surf contest on the Pacific. Maili competed in the little girls’ division and surfed great (although she didn’t advance). We were able to spend some good time with a few of the teenagers from the skatepark as well. I really enjoy getting to spend time with them outside of the normal day to day in Puerto. I have found that these trips are the times where we really connect and build deeper friendships and relationships. Too much of the time in Puerto is spent on email or other administrative things which makes it hard to connect with people where they are. It just doesn’t work to demand that people meet me where I am. I have to be where they are…doing what they’re doing…when they’re doing it. More than anything else, purposeful time doing “nothing” is where most of the ministry and discipleship happen…especially with the youth.

Time Flies

It's hard to believe that two weeks have passed since we returned from Panama. What that means is that we've hosted 8 skate sessions, 2 youth nights and 2 house church services along with everything else that goes on in between. Living and working here is interesting to say the least. It can be exhilarating, frustrating, maddening and peaceful...all at the same time. The biggest source of discouragement is watching people begin to grow and change and then fall back into the same old thing again or worse. Exhilarating is seeing the few that are really getting it. God is visibly working in their lives and you can see changes taking place day by day. Of course we will always work for more and of course we will always hope for many but even if three lives are really changed and they are the ones that go on to reach the surrounding community, if that is why God called us here...I'm good.

That being said, we had a good crowd for youth night on Friday. I shared about sharing your faith with others and we watched a surf movie that included several interviews with Christian surfers sharing their faith. I am really hoping that we can reach some of these younger kids before they fall into the traps that seem to bring down just about every other male in town with a few exceptions. Most notable in their growth are Sebas (who I can really see becoming a leader) along with Peace and Jordan who have really developed a love for Jesus. With so many other things pulling at them, they are maintaining their focus on God and on serving him. Please pray that this continues and that God lights a fire under others as well.

In other news, we are getting ready to buy a small plot of jungle so that we can build a house. A friend gave us a generous gift that will enable us to get out of a rental situation that is about to end and have a more stable future here. There isn't much of a decent rental market here in Puerto and the sooner we have something of our own the better. We are very excited about this opportunity and can't wait to get started. Here are a couple of "before" photos of our little plot of jungle.



Can you say "SNAKE!"?

Happenings

Well, we're back from another short trip to Panama to renew our visas. We left on Monday and returned yesterday late in the afternoon. Since we have to leave Costa Rica for a full three days every three months, we decided we might as well use the time to explore another country. This time, we went to a small town up in the mountains that has become quite the retirement spot for norte americanos (that's most of you if you're not up on your Spanish). I couldn't believe we were still in Central America. The place was beautiful. It took us about five hours of driving to reach Boquete, which is a small mountain town on the Pacific side of the country. It located up in a small valley at the foot of a dormant volcano. The climate is similar to that of San Diego...nice a cool with a constant breeze. What a beautiful place. Here are a few photos from the trip:



This is the view from our truck as we cross the border from Costa Rica into Panama. The bridge is a piece of work...nothing like being able to watch the water flow under your vehicle as you look through the bridge.


Maili and Makena hiking up the trail to Volcan Baru. It wasn't too long after this photo that we started hearing the cries of "Carry me...I can't walk anymore!"


This was definitely one of the more interesting road signs I have ever seen. You know the roads are steep when you see a sign for "Falling Cars".

On the third day, we took some time in the late afternoon to drive around the valley and check out the sights. This was a view of the valley from the mountains above.


We saw some incredible sights on the way back home as well. This is one of the many rivers that we crossed as we headed back to Costa Rica.

One of the funniest things that happened to us on the trip took place in a local ice cream shop. Ice cream cones were only 30 cents, so I decided that I wanted two scoops on my cone. The lady working the counter politely but firmly told me that I was not permitted to have two scoops ...one was enough. I didn't agree but kept my mouth shut. She sort of reminded me of the "Soup Nazi" from one of the old Seinfeld episodes years ago.

Finally, tonight is Youth Night at the skate park. We are going to be having a Bible study on the topic, "Why is it important for me to tell others about Jesus?" Sebas and I got together last week to study and mark down some important verses and yesterday he told me that he is ready to give the study tonight. It should be a good topic and if the past few weeks are any indication, we should have a pretty good crowd and hopefully we'll have some good discussion.

"I give" and other news...

Alright, after three days and around 9 hours of trying to upload the video interview with Anastasia, I give up. I'll try again but I just couldn't go on after two power cuts and slower than expected connection speeds. I'll just have to stick with photos for now and I'll see what I can do about the video.


We ended up baptizing Downer last Sunday evening and it was great (Anastasia is waiting a couple of weeks more). He was excited and afterwards was grinning from ear to ear. After the baptism, we had a big meal then went out on the beach and sat around a bonfire. We listened to music and spent quite a bit of time praying. It was really refreshing to hear some of the prayers...so genuine and right from the heart. Ryan, a young guy from Nantucket Island in the northeast US joined us for his first time. He has been down here for a couple of months and was recently invited by Jordan to join us at church. He was really excited to find some other believers and is looking forward to growing with us.

In other news, Makena (our baby) started school this week at the local public pre-school. She has been really excited about it and didn't even cry. She just walked right in and started playing with the other kids. It's really cool to have two pretty independent girls that aren't afraid of experiencing new situations. Here are a couple of photos of her first day.


The first picture is of Makena with her uniform, getting ready to leave the house. This photo is in front of her new school room (the same place we dropped Maili off almost three years ago). Hard to believe how quickly time goes by.

Lastly, I'm going to the Pacific with another father next weekend to take about 11 of the local teenagers to a surf contest in the town of Nosara. The Concrete Jungle (our skatepark) is going to sponsor a few of them by paying their entry fee, helping with a place to stay and maybe some food. This is one of the few opportunities that local kids have to do something positive in life. The current national champion is from Puerto Viejo and most of the local kids dream of accomplishing the same thing one day to have a better life. It is also a great opportunity to spend some focused time with the youth. It is amazing to me how many deep conversations and how much spiritual growth have come from the times that I am able to spend with them just "hanging out". We will be leaving Puerto Viejo on the 21st of this month and will return on the 25th. The contest is about $20.00 per person to enter and our hotel will cost about $40-$45 per night (with kids stacked on each other). Please pray for us as we travel and if you would like to sponsor one of the youth or assist us with expenses, email me at barrett.alternativemissions@yahoo.com and I'll let you know how to make sure the funds reach us. Thanks for the prayers.

Anastasia, in her own words

Anastasia shares a little bit about her experiences at housechurch and the skatepark and her recent decision to follow Christ.

(experiencing technical difficulties with the video. I'll have it fixed soon.)

Mas

Things are still going better than I expected down here in the Old Harbor (Puerto Viejo) considering what I thought it would be like without so many of our former team-mates. Tomorrow afternoon we are baptizing two of the youth and I’m really excited about that. Downer (who was going to get baptized last year but got talked out of it by others that misunderstand the purpose and meaning of it) is looking forward to it and is ready to make his commitment to Jesus public. His words to me the other day…”Barrett, I gonna get baptize and no one goin’ stop me this time.” Good to hear. Go Downer! The other person getting baptized is a girl we had been praying for for a long time. While we were in the States, Phil asked Sebas to share the gospel and give an invitation to pray. After a lot of exposure and time, Anastasia was finally ready and gave her heart to the Lord. Anyhow, she is excited about her decision and about getting baptized.

I have also been excited to see Jetsi and Sebas take the lead on Friday night youth nights. Last night, we had ten kids that stayed for the bible study which covered one of most asked questions on people’s minds…"If God is so good, how come there is pain and suffering in the world." They did a great job of preparing with me on Wednesday night and were awesome in leading the study and discussion. It is really cool to see them getting excited about serving God and reaching their peers with the truth. After the bible study, about 20 more kids showed up and we stayed open until 9:00pm with lots of fun and music. I continue to hope that more and more of these youth will come early and stay late...taking full advantage of everything the skatepark has to offer...especially spiritually.

Adding to our house church…Pablo, from Spain (who had never even had his own bible until a couple of months ago when we gave him one), Alisa (a 14 year old Italian girl that was invited by Anastasia a little over a month ago) and Ryan (a 17 year old guy from Nantucket who was invited by Jordan and will be staying here in Puerto for a couple more months). Ryan is a new Christian and was so excited to find a group of believers that he was just grinning from ear to ear when Jordan invited him. Way to go Jordan. It definitely isn’t easy and there are too many ups and downs to count but it is awesome to see our little group of Christians growing in size and depth one day at a time.

Act 2:46,47

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Roller Coaster

"Ministry", whatever that means, certainly has its ups and downs. One day everything seems to be going great and people seem to be catching fire and then the next day you discover something about someone that brings you back to reality...or no one shows up for one of the youth nights that normally draws the largest crowds. What a reminder of how dependent we are on God. While I always want to do my best, in the end it doesn't matter how hip the program is, how good the movies are, how well I speak, or anything else that I can do. The most important thing (which is driven home over and over again) is how dependent we are on the Holy Spirit and the moving of God in peoples' hearts. I have also come to realize (has it really taken this long?) that Satan will immediately follow "success" with "failure". Yet another reason why it is so important not to depend on feelings but on the promises and reality of God.

In other news, we had a miracle today... a real honest to goodness miracle. We were able to obtain both a land line and a cell line for the skate park. To put this in perspective, only residents, citizens or members of a legal association can obtain telephone lines. To top it off, there are usually only about 40,000 new lines available each year. We have tried for almost three years to get a line and today it happened in the space of about three hours. I have spent days trying to accomplish this in the past only to be turned away after spending money on powers of attorney, copies, etc... Today, God answered our prayers and did the equivalent of parting the Caribbean... He got ICE (the government monopoly telecommunications company) to actually accept our documents and to approve everything and give us both a land line and a cell line. We are ecstatic. One good thing happened today. Thank God.

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.