Goodbyes . . .

are definitely one of the hardest things about missionary life. "Oh, you'll get really good at saying goodbye," is something we've been told many times over the last two years. I'll never forget those last few days in SC in August. It was a roller coaster of emotion. So many people stopped by in those last few days to say their goodbyes. We told our mothers and the kids' grandmothers goodbye. Then, the group who came to the airport. . . oh, it was so, so hard saying all of those goodbyes. On the other hand, I was also excited to be going on to this next step in God's plan for our lives.

In the first trimester, we said goodbye to several families we had really enjoyed getting to know, and to our big sister, Lynda Gregg, with whom we will serve in the near future in Honduras.

This trimester, we have had more time to settle in and get to know people. The goodbyes have been much harder I guess because we have had more time here. I have discovered in myself this feeling of wanting to hold back in my relationships here in Costa Rica because I know our time here is short, but I have also been encouraged by friends not to do that, that I need these relationships, and if it hurts when we part, well, that just means we have loved and have been loved. During one goodbye party recently, I overheard two friends saying to one another with smiles on their faces that they would next see each other in heaven. They are serving in two distant countries, thousands of miles apart, and come from far away locations in the US, so they knew they would never see each other again this side of heaven.

In language school, we spend four - six hours a day with four or five people during a trimester. We struggle through the language together day in and day out. We know when our classmates' children are sick, or when they have received news from home, or a package; we know when someone in our classmates' family has a birthday, and generally we are there to help celebrate it. We know when someone has family coming from the States and what they're going to do when they're here.

As we practice our Spanish in class, we are encouraged to share likes and dislikes, and personal stories or "anecdotas" as they call them, so we know many of the funny stories and/or trials from each others' lives. We have shared our testimonies and the call God has given us, also the vision for ministry He has given us.

All of us are going through the same things together here, which is a great thing. We all lean on each other. We also realize that when we leave here and get to our fields of service, there will not be this close network that we have enjoyed this year. I am elated that our friendships here and at home will be able to continue on in this age of Skype and internet and Vonage.



Fellow BMDMI missionaries Kevin and Julie McKenzie, at our Thanksgiving feast. They left before Easter for Honduras, where they will serve at our mission's children's home. I enjoyed Julie standing outside my lenguaje classroom with her cup of coffee doing a little dance most mornings.


Darlynne and Angela (in the orange shirt) saying goodbye. Angie will be beginning studies at Moody Bible Institute in the States in the fall. Darlynne will be here for another trimester.


Saying goodbye to Steve and Diane Wilson, friends now serving a hospital in Ecuador



Saying goodbye to Sierra Ensley, in the green shirt. She is now serving in Argentina. Sierra is from NC and is part Cherokee. She came over the night before she left for Argentina and regaled all of us with information on the Cherokee people.


Lynda Gregg with the kids and me, in the fall at Parque La Paz


Grace & Daniel, friends of Timothy and Luke, whose family are missionaries here in Costa Rica. They left in April to go on furlough to Venezuela, Colombia, and the US.

Looking Towards Mother's Day

Copied from an e-mail I received--don't know the author, but I liked it. . .

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
they don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
and get their answer when a little
voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth
is not measured by height or years or grade...
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother....

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either..

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she
shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Driver's License

We are off from school between trimesters this week. We decided to rent a car to have some freedom we have not previously had to see some of Costa Rica. Let me describe a typical day in our life now. The day before I was to get the car, I was talking to a fellow student about the car rental when he asked me if I had a Costa Rican drivers license. I told him no that I thought my American license would be OK since we have a student visa. But alas, after living in the country for more than 90days, the United States driver's license is no good. I needed a Costa Rican license. This student had just gotten his license and offered to go with me since he knew the "ropes" and could speed up my process.

We took a bus to San Jose, walked about 12-15 blocks and finally found another bus stop to take a bus to the licensing office. When we arrived we went to an office for a physical exam. I had to give blood, get a brief exam from a doctor and then off to the licensing office. We had left San Jose about 8 am and now it was about 9 am. We were told in the licensing office that the first lady I had to see was in a meeting and would be back at about 12 noon. Soooo, we went back to San Jose by bus, and wandered around for a while trying to find an umbrella store where they actually make and repair umbrellas. Finally we found the store, I had one umbrella fixed that was broken and bought 2 new ones for the girls since they do not have their own. It was about 11 by then so we stopped and got a bite to eat. We each ate a chicken empanada. Next was a return bus trip to the licensing center. Arrived at 12 noon and proceeded to sit and wait until 1:15. Finally got in the building and after 5 different steps I had my license at 2:30pm. Remember, we started at 8am. We retraced our steps, took 2 different buses home and arrived back home at 3 pm, very tired.

While waiting at the licensing center, a Nicaraguan man struck up a conversation. To practice my Spanish, I will usually ask about someone's work, family, and if they are Christian or Catholic. This man proceeded to tell me that he reads his Bible often, prays much, and only fears the Lord. He does not worry or fear robbers in the street. A good lesson for all of us. This man's name is William but he does not speak a word of English.





William, a man of faith that I will see again only in heaven.

Oh Happy Day!!

This week has been pretty crazy. It was the end of the trimester--lots of topics to squeeze in and alot of homework. The boys had their big Spanish tests. We were trying to do various other things as well. It was crazy.

Two days ago, when I was in my grammar class I caught a glimpse of Tully walking into the administration building (okay, okay, it was really hot, and there are alot of windows, and it's the end of the trimester,and at times my mind wanders to the goings on and beautiful surroundings outside) and he was holding a box. A box that looked suspiciously like a package from home. It was very intriguing to me as we weren't expecting anything. Sometimes we get a head's up that a package is on it's way.

When I got home from class, Tully had the box sitting on the kitchen table for me to open. It's always so much fun when we get letters, news, and packages from home! I opened it and it was filled to the brim with Girl Scout cookies! Our dear friends from Columbia (formerly of Greer), Michael and Lucie Bingham and their family had sent it to us along with two cans of tomato soup--in case we ever get in a pinch with our Sunday night tradition of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Margaret, their sweet daughter, is a Girl Scout this year and wanted to send us some cookies. They couldn't decide which ones to send because they knew we would probably have many favorites within our family, so they wound up sending us a box of each!

When the children came home from school, I am SURE our neighbor Claudia heard the whoops of joy that went up when they realized we had received a package of Girl Scout cookies!

Now is the hard part: rationing them out! : )

Thank you, thank you, Margaret!! (And Lucie, Michael, and Joshua, too!)

Claudia

Our sweet neighbor Claudia is 83 years old. She is widowed and lives by herself. She loves to talk to me about the children and always comments on how quiet we are. (I didn't remind her that we both live on a very, very noisy bus route!) : )

She came over last week to ask Tully a medical question and then we visited for a little bit. Tully and I were practically jumping up and down when she left because we could understand almost everything she said. She came over to introduce herself to us the second day we were here and we, of course, had to have someone interpret. It just sounded like rapid gunfire Spanish to us!

Through the months, we could see a little improvement in our understanding each time we talked with her. It's been 6 weeks or so since we had seen her last. Now, what a great feeling!

Last Sunday

A few days before, we had received a little note in our gate announcing that a band was going to be coming to our park on last Sunday. The firemen had organized it, and there would be artisans there and some food, tamales I think.

We went to the early service at church and were home by 11 am. Shortly after that, we began to hear a band practicing, and a few minutes later, they paraded past our house on their way around the block. The band was led by some famous (here) cartoon characters. Of course, their gigantic size is intimidating to small children. We heard that, 20 years ago, these big characters would chase children around with sticks and shovels. YIKES! We're all glad that doesn't happen anymore! These guys were great at dancing in those heavy (and hot, I'm sure) costumes and playing with the children! Elijah wanted to have his picture made with one, and just when it would be his turn, he would back away shyly.





See the boy peaking out from the costume?




Finally, success with the picture! He's so brave--I think it helped that Timothy was there, too!

Las hormigas!

UGH! Ants here are a huge problem--I think I have mentioned that before. I did finally get some pictures to show how teeny tiny they are. If there is the smallest crumb left out, one ant discovers it and, of course, goes back to tell all of his friends where the party is.

About a month ago, we had a terrible problem with ants. In the height of the dry season (I don't know if that had anything to do with anything), they got into a corner cabinet in the kitchen. I took everything out in the cabinet out, wiped it off, cleaned the cabinet, etc. and put everything back in only to find out a whole new band of ants had invaded that same cabinet by the next morning. I repeated that scenario over the next few days--it was a little frustrating. Okay, a lot.

We don't like to use chemicals, but we got desperate. Tully went out and sprayed ant spray all around the house. Then we thought, "Okay, we're glad that's over!" We knew the problem was taken care of. The next morning, they were coming out of the electrical outlets between the kitchen counter and cabinets.

We THINK we finally have gotten them all--but you can now understand the need to constantly mop the floors. Oh, and the mop we use--it's another blog entirely! But it works fantastic on these tile floors!

Messianic Seder Service

Ash leading the service





Some of our boys and other families




Dawn and Tully with Teresa Anderson on the right who is another missionary with our agency


Last Wednesday night we went to the home of our friends Ash and Audra McEuen to celebrate a Messianic Seder service or A Passover Haggadah. Ash is a United Methodist pastor. He has led a Passover Haggadah service about 15 times. This service is written by Messianic Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah. It was a special time to learn of this Old Testament festival and especially how it points the way to Jesus.

The table is set with a roasted shank bone of a lamb, a roasted hard boiled egg, bitter herbs, a sweet mixture of chopped apple and nuts, parsley, ground horseradish, and salt water. The service is celebrated to remember the events surrounding the Exodus and Passover in the Old Testament and is rich in symbolism regarding our Lord, Jesus Christ.

We thank God for the friends we have made here, and for a special night shared together as we look towards Easter and the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, both in our lives and in the lives of others whom we are here to serve.

Tengo Una Más Idea

I have one more thought about our recent mission work in Los Guidos. The house we cleaned up both on the inside and the outside had a toilet that emptied just outside the back wall of the house and went down a fairly steep hill. Most of the trash we picked up was downhill from the sewage pipe. I was so proud of the eight teenagers who gave a Saturday morning to help a family in desperate need.

The doctor side of me kept thinking about all the potential diseases we could catch: Hepatitis B and C, infectious colitis, cholera, to name a few. I just kept praying and asking God for protection for our whole group and asking God to protect us according to Psalm 91. This psalm is the only place in the Bible that lists all of God's promises of protection. A dear friend of mine told me about how much it had meant to her on a mission trip to Liberia, Africa. She gave us some children's books that teach this Psalm so we can teach these truths to our children. Thank you Sharon Sudduth and thank you to the teenagers and adults from AMCA.

God, thank you so much for your protection and provision.

My coolest mission trip

Ok, so this is the worst, but also coolest, mission trip I have ever been on, and it was really hard because it was... so poor. For example, one of the men with us was picking up his 17th TV that day(they harvest the copper from them and dump 'em) and found a half disintegrated opossum that was probably killed by the dogs and the dogs ate it because the owners had no money to buy food for them, and that really hurt. I love animals and I hate to see starving animals when mine back home are so... rich compared to them. I even saw teeth marks on the bones but enough before I make ya'll sick.
I even saw a little boy who came up to us to show off his "new" shoes which had at least five or six holes in each of them. I was struck then at how selfish I have been and I almost cried right there.
Then I went into the house. One of the ladies there started crying while she was working because she was working in their "bathroom" and found a plank of wood. She told us later that she thought to herself "what is a plank of wood doing in the bathroom". So she picked it up and there was a human poop under it. She thought it was probably because the toilets get clogged up so easily that the people can only urinate down the toilet. I saw the pipes and they're just warped PVC pipes that have been used alot.
But please pray for me (because this was a really hard day for me and because my very close friend is leaving soon) and for the people in Los Guidos. Also pray for school because I have finals coming up.

Mission Work in Los Guido

Timothy and I went to help clean up a house in Los Guidos. It had some appalling conditions. We cleaned out alot of trash. A truck was hired to haul off the trash to the dump. Nicaraguan refugees make up the vast majority of the people who live here. After the site has been cleared, the house will be torn down. There is mission funding available to build this family a new house. The poverty in this barrio is overwhelming. Please pray for the people of Los Guidos.

Beautiful Parrot

Sometimes I am overcome by the beauty that God has put here on this earth for us to enjoy and to point us to Him, the Creator. The birds here are exquisite. Not just the colors, like this parrot, but their songs, too. When we first arrived in August, early each morning I would hear a man whistle loudly a plaintive whistle (it starts in a major key and ends in a minor key) in the street outside our house. I realized in a few days that it was a bird--I have never heard anything like it--absolutely beautiful!

When I hear birds sing, I imagine they are all praise songs to and for their Creator. Isn't it incredible how He made them all different sizes and colors and with different songs also? Now that the seasons have changed, I don't hear the same bird songs. They have moved on and others are here in their places for now. It makes me happy for the change, not because I tire of the same birds and songs, but so that I won't grow so accustomed to them that I forget to praise their Creator . . . my Creator.

English as a Second Language

Me with two of our students, Nidya, Luz, and baby Soraya, Ash & Audra's daughter


Ash handing out graduation certificates


Alicia, posing for the camera, Federico and Hellen

I had the privilege of helping two of our dear friends, Ash and Audra McEuen teach English this trimester. They definitely did all of the planning work, which I am SO thankful for--I just needed to show up and do whatever they told me!

It was a great experience. The uniqueness of each of our cultures comes out in unexpected ways at times. I love it! Many times, they would be so busy talking, being loud, and just generally helping each other that we would need to practically scream to get their attention. One week, two of the ladies had a loud discussion over who got to sit closest to the white board. And you should have been there when they all chipped in to buy a birthday cake for Ash and he was sick that week and couldn't come! Last week, all of the students were delighted to receive their certificates of completion for the course.

I have to admit that I have reveled in the fact that for once I was doing the language correction and not being the one constantly corrected! : )

We met once a week at the AMCA house--a house for Christian ministry: for teams and/or individuals to stay in near the language school, for the English speaking youth group to meet on Saturday nights, for Bible studies in Spanish throughout the week, and for teaching ESL. The AMCA house is a busy place! Wednesday afternoons at 4 pm, we gathered there to have an hour of English instruction, then a time for coffee and cookies, a praise song in English, then a Bible study in Spanish. Then half an hour more of English instruction.

Since last week was the final week for this trimester, a Tico pastor came in to give a short sermon. It was wonderful! Several people gave their lives to Christ during the service.

I am already looking forward to helping out with this ministry again in the next trimester.



The students put their names on slips of paper in a cup, and Baby Soraya pulled out the name of the winner. The prize was a bilingual Bible.


One of my classmates at ILE, Angela Edwards, teaching the students a new song



The devotion/worship time of ESL at the AMCA House

Learning the Culture and Seeing the Zoo

Luke with his "cool" sunglasses



Gabe giving Carmen a lift




Trey enjoying the day




Anna looking pretty




Elijah taking a picture of me




Timothy posing as usual


Little children as everyone knows can learn a foreign language much quicker than someone with my maturity (age). They sometimes learn the culture quicker too. In Costa Rica, men will stand in the road and sell baggies of water to passing motorists. A couple of times we have had people come to the door who only wanted something to drink. So I fill a sandwich bag with water to give to them. They will bite a tiny hole in the corner and suck (drink) the water. This past Saturday we went to the zoo in San Jose. I took a backpack with water bottles for everyone. It was a hot day and everyone wanted their water bottles. I noticed Eli kept putting the bottom of his bottle up to his mouth. Then I realized what he was doing. He had bitten a tiny hole in the bottom of the bottle and was drinking through it like the Ticos drink from the corner of a bag of water. Then like the six year old he is, Eli started squirting everyone through the hole in the bottom of the bottle so I had to trash the bottle.



Eli drinking from the bottom of his bottle.

You Know It's a Bad Day in Spanish When . . .

you say something and your tutor doubles over laughing as he reaches for his planner to write it down so he can tell his friends later.

What I meant to say was, "When I was pregnant with my fourth son. . ."

What I said was, "When I was pregnant with my criminal son . . ."

Love . . . Part IV

Today will be my last installment on "love." Learning about God's love can be difficult. 1 John ch 2 vs 15 says: "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This teaching is easily understandable when we consider "bad" things like drugs, hatred, alcohol, racism, etc. But does the verse mean about good things such as our children, spouses, or ministry activities? Clearly it is okay to love our spouses but just not more than we love God. God has to come first in our love above all other things.

Let me complete the "love checkup" I started last time. I reviewed 1 Corinthians ch 13 vs 4 & 5. Today, I will finish vs 6-8. Writing about love, Paul says in verse 6 that love "does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;." This verse is hard to know exactly how to apply it in today's world. What exactly does rejoicing in unrighteousness mean? Recently I was listening to some Beatles music with my boys which they really like. By today's standards their music is pretty tame but they were an ungodly group of men who hated God. So, is it okay to listen to their music since they clearly were unrighteous? I am still wrestling with that one. If you have a definite answer write and let me know. How about going to movies with alot of ungodly violence, sex, or profanity? The more I study God's Word, the more I think we should avoid movies with inappropriate content. Phillipians ch 4 vs 8 says: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." I am not sure that movies with violence, sex, and profanity would qualify with Paul's instruction in Phillipians. There are any number of things that could be excluded from my participation in order to not rejoice in unrighteousness. If I am not sure, I pray, seek Godly counsel and search my Bible.

The last part of the verse "but rejoices with the truth" I believe refers to Jesus. Jesus said; "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." I should rejoice in anything that Jesus would rejoice in and in nothing else.

Verse 7 says love, "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." The phrase "bears all things" is again a difficult phrase. The version of the Bible I am using is the NASB. The NIV says in verse 7: "It always protects...". Those two phrases seem to have somewhat different meanings. Bears all things, means to me that I "put up with" and continue to act lovingly even when someone else may act evil towards me or towards my children. It means that I do not retaliate when I or someone I love is wronged by someone else. Bears all things is one of the hardest parts of this passage for me. Believes all things means I need to have a trusting spirit even when I have been tricked before. I do not think it means we foolishly put ourself in harms way only to pray to God for deliverance if things go bad. But I should trust poeple and be willing to give second chances whenever possible.

"Hopes all things," for me means that I expect a good outcome if not in this life then I certainly have the assurance of my salvation and know that in a few short years I will be in heaven enjoying paradise and worshiping God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit! "Endures all things," is similar to bears all things. I again must have great patience and be willing to forgive not seven times as Peter asked, but forgive unlimited times.

Finally the first phrase of verse 8 reads: "Love never fails;..." Love never fails means that I never give up on people, never stop loving them, and never stop doing all the things listed in verses 4-7 of 1 Corinthians ch 13.