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.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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.
Friday, April 3, 2009
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.
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
Thursday, April 2, 2009
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 . . ."
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.
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.
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