One Month Today!!!

San Isidro de Heredia 15 min. from our home

Dearly beloved of God and ours, it is hard to express in mere words the feeling you get when you know that God has you in the palm of His hand. We are sure you have all experienced this wonderful feeling of being so loved and cared for by your Heavenly Father, that you know you do not have to be concerned. Well, that is how we are feeling. He has provided for all our needs…and most recently with an internet connection (yes!), wonderful fellowship, our licenses, and so much more. Here are some details.
Can you believe it…we have been here in beautiful Costa Rica for a month! Wow, how time flies. We are still settling in…but at least we have internet as of two days ago – wooo hooo! Gary and Estelia, our wonderful friends (and landlords) have been on the case ever since we started hitting brick walls with the process. We are so grateful that the Lord placed them in our lives, and brought us here to live on their beautiful property.
The past week has been pretty full. We continue to pray for wisdom and guidance, and take advantage of every ministry opportunity the Lord sends our way. Saturday we did some exploring and investigating, to find some good places for people to stay when they come to visit. We took a ride to Monte Campana, not too far from our house, and it is beautiful. There is a waterfall, and lots of activities…and it is very reasonable. Just one of many places, we are sure!Sunday we had some wonderful fellowship with our friends and fellow missionaries,Victor and Nichol, and the congregation of Sela church. We attended service for the first time at Sela in central Heredia, and then went to Pastor Jose’s house for lunch. Victor and Nichol have some friends in from California, Brandon and Stephanie, and there were also some young men visiting from Calvary Chapel Managua Nicaragua. So it was a pretty full house.
We are doing our best to get the car in shape. Seems it needed some belts changed and a rotor…but then the engine light started blinking (which the manual says is cause for turning it off immediately and seeing the doc/mechanic ASAP!) other than that it has been a blessing. The car is in very good condition in spite of what is going on now…and we are enjoying the blessing.
As of last week, we are legal…in the driving sense! We were able to get our Costa Rican licenses within about 3 hours…which is pretty flawless in Costa Rican time (tell us that didn’t involve divine intervention!) Geiner will have to get a certification from the states to upgrade his to a B4, which is equivalent to his class A as a truck driver, but he has 6 months to go through that process.
And speaking of processes…we have begun the immigration process for Denise to become a permanent resident of Costa Rica. Once we “officially” start this, which involves receiving a couple more documents from the states, she will no longer have to leave the country for 48 hrs every 90 days. So if you come to visit you can only stay 90 days!!!.. but we can take a ride to Panama for two days with you, and then come back! ;-)
Hope this quick update reminds you of His goodness, His love and provision. He knows what we need and He provides. We trust Him with our lives because He is faithful and true and we pray the same for you. Until next time...

Week Three...Already!

The Internet Saga Continues:

This has been an interesting process…and certainly one we were warned about. But given the rapid pace of life in the US, and the advantages of free enterprise and competition, we find it very interesting.

We started investigating the internet connection process a week after we arrived. Here in Costa Rica there is one company, ICE, That is responsible for phones (house and cell), electricity, and internet…and of course we would call that a monopoly. And with a monopoly comes an attitude of “do it our way…you really don’t have a choice!”

We already have a modem in our house, so we thought that would make the process easier – so we ordered the service, paid the deposit, and followed the directions…a tech came to the house, only to tell us that our computers with Windows 7 were too advanced and not compatible for the system. But he told us we would probably be able to get DSL lines. So we said okay. That was going to take up to 10 days for someone to come and access whether or not we were in range for DLS. Found out we are not! However, if we have a cell phone signal, and we do, we could connect that way (somewhat like a Cricket broadband connection). So we go to ICE, wait in line, get sent to three other places, only to return to the same person in ICE where we started…and guess what?!...we couldn’t get that either because our proof of income comes from the US and not Costa Rica.

So here we are…and we are not done yet!

Starting Foundations:

We are excited to have the opportunity to start the Foundations class with three people who actually are as excited as we are.

The Family in Perez Zeledon:

While we were in PZ this weekend we stopped to see and pray with the family of the mechanic who fixed the brakes. If you remember, he recently lost a brother in his mid-thirties to alcoholism, and the family is devastated. We brought a bible to give them and it was another of those instances of the Lord’s perfect timing. The mother was the only one that stopped to listen and share how she felt, and accepted the bible. She was pleased because she had no way of finding the scriptures that she was recommended to read. We listened, we prayed, and shared very gently that Jesus is the only one who can fill the void in their hearts.

We also gave a bible to Josué (Geiner´s 9 yr old nephew) who had asked for one. He uses it to learn to read, to learn his numbers, but also to learn scripture. He is actually beginning to memorize verses Geiner gives him. He has a very strong temper and does not have consistent discipline. But we see how he longs for attention, so we want to use that to minister to him and bring the peace of God to his young life.

We are confronting situations with others who have been indoctrinated with non-biblical teaching such as prosperity gospel and faith movement. As Peter said, we have to be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have within us.

Ministry opportunities go on and the need is great. We will continue to keep you informed. Thank you for your prayers!

Seeds are Planted...and Ministry Flourishes

Dear friends,

Hope you are all doing well, and growing even more in your relationship with Christ. Happy new year to all of you and may the Lord, whose mercies are new every morning, bless you.

After our last update the weather here in Costa Rica has been changing, and a cold front is making our Costa Rican friends use sweaters! Our home seems to be the place where the winds of the world are coming to rest, and also from where they take off. To give you an idea of how it sounds, imagine if you go to the ocean shore and pitch a tent...you can here the waves break on the shore, and this, accompanied by the whistling between the trees and the drizzling, makes for a windy and rainy day in Heredia.

The winds of our ministry flourish as we get to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with family and new friends. Last week we left off when we were going to visit a family which is in the turmoil of Satan himself...with strife, bitterness, vengence, desires of death, guilt, adultery, anger, etc. That night two of those in the midst of all of that were touched by the Holy Spirit, and trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior, for the glory of our God. We rejoice with God in His work. Now with that we also get people that are managed by the devil and introduce dissention and spread gossip...one week later we hear the tales of it, but face it on our knees as we know that that´s the only way to fight it.

Yesterday was a good day... we were able to meet with Victor and his wife Nichol who are also missionaries here, with their focus on a School of Ministry...and the Lord is blessing it already. Some day we will send students there!

Victor invited us to go to the church of a friend of his, and we were blessed the the Word of God is the authority there too. After the service, we went to their home and had a good time of fellowship. To us this is very important, since having friends that have Christ as the center of their lives is a total blessing. They also come from a Calvary Chapel in East Anaheim Calif, which gives us even more common ground to build on the work which God has ahead.

Also, we received a phone call this morning from another pastor who needs prayer. He is going through some problems within his leadership and just needed to share it. I´ll meet with him on Thursday, if the Lord permits. This pastor loves the bible, but the doctrine from his home church is conflicting with the Word, and he knows it. So please, as you read this, stop for a moment and send a prayer for him...his name is Ciro.

My father is trusting God in his journey, and I am grateful. We are going to visit him this weekend, and also one of my uncles there in Perez Zeledon. He wants to learn more about Christ, and we don´t want him to loose momentum.

We love you all, and please know that your love and prayers are felt. It is weird...but they are! Thank you!

We just experienced another black-out...the electricity comes and goes and it has been like that the last two days. We love it here. Please continue to pray for wisdom, discernment, revelation from our beloved scriptures, and the ability to explain those truths simply.

We love you guys!

P.S. Denise is doing really well with her Spanish...I am so proud of her.

Week 2 in Costa Rica

Beloved of God and ours,

Hard to believe we have already been here more than a week, but the Lord has provided ministry opportunities already. We spent a week at Geiner´s dad’s farm, and the New Year’s Eve celebration brought family members to share in a typical meal, but also presented time to share the gospel to an uncle with suicidal thoughts, another uncle with marital problems, and another who is isolated by his wealth and intellect, and by his religious tradition – the things that he trusts taking the place of Jesus. The rest were scattered.

Geiner had a chance to minister to his dad who is currently in a difficult situation. We also had a chance to teach a 9 year old nephew how to locate scripture and read it. The first was John 3:16, followed by others…and he was excited to continue.

In all of this we encouraged some, through the Word, to have hope in Christ, to trust in His word, and we planted seeds of desire for the Word. The seeds are planted, and we will continue to water them…may God give the increase.

For the rest of the week we continue to seek more ministry opportunities, as we also adjust to settling in. Things here in Costa Rica take a little while longer to get processed. Long lines, and long waits are off set by beautiful weather and laid back outlook. We awake each morning to the sunshine and breeze, and go to sleep each night to the wind blowing through the 80 foot trees. Close to paradise…and away from the city. Yet it only takes us about 10 minutes to drive down to the heart of San Rafael de Heredia where we shop and do business. Not hard to adjust to by any means! We love it here…and we love that God has us here!

We will talk to you soon!