Answered Prayers of the Faithful!

So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.
Ezra 8:23

Thank you for your prayers for the study last weekend. The Lord used the time to minister to those present, and to heal a relationship between two brothers that had been estranged for a time.

We are so encouraged to also share that one of Geiner’s uncles decided to attend the study for the first time. Initially that was not his intention. He was on his way to “have a beer and relax with some friends,” but the Holy Spirit used a phone call with his brother in the US to have him reconsider. During the phone conversation his brother was lamenting on how he was feeling very alone and without his family. That got him thinking…he had the opportunity to be there with his family instead of drinking in a bar. So he turned around and came to the study.

He later shared with Geiner how blessed he was by the teaching, and is hosting the next study at his house! Thank you Lord.

We also are encouraged by another family here in Heredia who want to attend the Foundations class on Thursday evenings (we recently changed from Friday to Thursday to help accommodate work schedules). The mom is a passionate bible reader, and is looking for a service that is centered on the study of God’s Word. Her son works here on the property, and has been strongly influenced by his mother’s devotion to the Word. He is excited to attend as well. We look forward to them starting to attend next week.

We are preparing for a busy month of May with visitors and a retreat! Geiner’s mom will be spending a couple of days with us at the end of this week, before she returns to Tucson. We are also expecting our good friend Ezra next Wednesday. He will be here with us for about 12 days and will be helping us incorporate some worship into our studies with his talent as a guitar player and former worship leader. Then later in May we will have our friend Heather staying here for 3 days before she starts her TESOL certification program. During her 6 weeks in the program she will be staying with a host family and will be fellowshipping with us. At the end of May we are excited to see the Pitman family while they are here in Costa Rica for their family vacation. And in the middle of all this we will be attending a marriage retreat for Calvary Chapel missionaries here in Costa Rica (May 11th – 13th) in La Fortuna, hosted by Calvary Chapel Tamarindo and their home church, Calvary Chapel Vista California. The speakers will be Senior Pastor of CC Vista, Rob Salvato and his wife Denise. We are excited by all the fellowship coming up during May and will keep you posted with details of these happenings as they occur.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Plan the Unexpected – Blessed are the flexible!

We have always said that the Lord has editing rights with our plans. Well, He has recently decided to exercise that right. In the last couple of weeks we have had our share of unexpected changes in plans. Let’s start with the most recent, and work our way backwards.

Thursday before Easter we left for Perez Zeledon to spend Semana Santa (holy week) with Geiner's dad and family. Our first stop was his grandma’s house (his mother’s mom) to drop off his aunt. We spent a short time with Abuela Transita and proceeded to the farm. Late that same afternoon we received a call that grandma was taken to the hospital. At 8:50 that evening grandmom went home to be with the Lord. Geiner’s mom arrived late Friday night from Tucson with his brother. The funeral was Saturday and Geiner had an opportunity to share during the service and at the cemetery. This prompted some questions from people in attendence. Abuela would have been 80 on May 30th. Please pray for grieving family members, especially those who do not share the hope we have. Transita was a good mother…loved by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She will be missed by all.

Abuela Transita

The week before we also experienced an unexpected change in plans. We had to leave the country....quickly. You see Denise’s visa was going to expire on Saturday. But we know about a new law that will allow "tourists" to extend their visa for a month for $100…or so we thought! We were waiting for all of her certified documents to arrive from the states (which, by the way, are here now!!), so we knew the month extension would be just fine. As long as your paperwork is submitted to Immigration for processing, you do not have to leave the country unless your residency is denied...and that is almost unheard of for spouses of Costa Rican citizens. On Friday morning we called Immigration to find out where we pay the $100 fee, and were told the law had not gone into effect yet. Yikes! It even said on their website that there were new laws that took effect March 1st. We called back just to be sure, since we have had the experience on more than one occasion that it all depends on who you talk to. Well sure enough, both said the same thing. So now we are scrambling to make plans to leave the country because we did not want to overstay the 90 days allowed, since that would not look good when it comes time for immigration to process the residency. After much calling around, we finally found an excursion to Panama. So needless to say...it was one crazy weekend. But praise God, Denise is legal...and has another 90 days to get her paperwork in to immigration. We DO NOT want to be in that position again. We have heard nightmares of lost documents, so we will be making copies of everything, and have them sign a receipt that they received them all in order.

There was something in these past two weekends that went according to plan…and that was the study in Perez Zeledon!

Proverbs 4:20-23 :
My son, pay attention to what I say;
listen closely to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man's whole body.
Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

The group (seen here before we got started)was once again hungry for the Word. The teaching was on God’s justice, and the significance of the blood of Christ and the Cross (a perfect topic for the Saturday before “Pascua”). There is such a thirst in that group that they asked for homework!! We will begin the book of Ephesians next time, and they were assigned to read ahead the first chapter. Praise God for His faithfulness.