home again

We're back!

Back to blogging and back to Costa Rica!  Two weeks ago, we returned to what really feels like home now, our little town of Atenas, after a 4 and a half month home leave (our ministry's term for what others' may call furlough) in the States.  There is so much to say about the past several months - the joys of reconnecting with family and friends, the lessons learned through various struggles and difficulties, the reverse culture shock of living in our North American culture again, and the varying emotions of once again leaving much behind to come to Costa Rica.  This time, though, we knew how much we were coming back to. 

As we packed our suitcases and said our good-byes to our loved ones in the States, I did feel some similarities to when we first moved to Costa Rica in 2008.  I won't deny that it is very hard to say good-bye to our parents and our closest friends and to not know when we will see them again.  Taking my little girl out of the arms of her grandma, my mom, just before walking into airport security felt like ripping a piece of heart out and leaving it in Kansas.  But, at the same time, we wanted so, so badly to be back in Costa Rica!  We missed our church family here so much and truly felt like we were coming home as we boarded that plane, in spite of the sadness in leaving the States. 

Getting off the plane in Costa Rica and finding our friend Marvin who works at the airport there to escort us through passport control was so welcoming!  Driving the winding mountain roads towards Atenas seemed so familiar.  We arrived at our house after midnight and found it sparkling clean with a breakfast laid out for us on the kitchen counter, thanks to the kind arrangments of friends.  Even though we had been on "home" leave, I felt truly at home for the first time in months... home in Costa Rica... so, so very different from our first arrival here in 2008!

I have really enjoyed reconnecting with the other EMI wives here, and with our dear friends from our church.  Visiting with them again has been a blessing, and I am excited to share life with them again.  We are now mostly settled into our house and Dan has been working in the EMI office again for the past week and a half.  We're starting to get back into the various ministries of the church that we helped with before we left.  There is a new group of interns that we're getting to know and Dan's project trip to Ecuador is just two weeks away.  Life is back to normal and we're very happy to be home!

Well done, good and faithful servant

Yesterday, we received very sad news.  Jim Hall, the CEO of our ministry organization passed away yesterday.  He was diagnosed with melanoma cancer in 2010, but after surgery, he seemed completely free of cancer.  He remained active, visiting the international offices of EMI and leading the overall ministry of EMI with excellence, patience, and wisdom.  We just saw him in August, and he was fine.  In late October, he began to feel unwell, and the doctors found that his cancer had come back very aggressively and that it was so widespread that it was inoperable.  In spite of this news, no one expected such a rapid decline. 

Please pray for his dear wife, Nancy, their children and grandchildren, and for the families of EMI.  While we know and rejoice with confidence that he is now in the presence of Jesus in his glorious, eternal home, we are grieving because he will be greatly missed.  He has led the ministry of EMI for as long as we have been on staff.  He provided us with great encouragement and wisdom as we struggled through the adjustment of our new life in Costa Rica.  We loved having him in our home and learning so much from him just by listening to the experiences he had throughout his years with EMI and serving in Central Asia.  He was someone who displayed a quiet hope and joy in his faith.  He lived his life in wholehearted service to God.  I am sure that as he was ushered into heaven that he heard the wonderful words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Jim visiting us in Atenas earlier this year

To read more about Jim, visit http://www.emiworld.org/staffbio_jhall.php.

they're here!

4 guest beds set up

air mattresses inflated

every pillow in the house in use

6 folders on our table filled with Bible studies, observation activities, and cultural tips

little lessons on "don't flush the toilet paper" and "how to use the widow-maker"

waffles, eggs, tropical fruit, and strawberry syrup ready for breakfast

three tables and many chairs set up on our front porch

What's going on at our house?  Intern orientation! 

This is always a busy week for us since Dan coordinates the intern program for our office.  But, this week is truly the busiest of all.  With only one other staff member here this week, we couldn't really delegate out many of the responsibilities of this week.  It always is a jam-packed, full week, and there is even more to do this week than usual.  Throughout this week, in our home, we will be having a total of 7 overnight guests, we'll be hosting about 5-6 meals for varying sizes of groups, and we'll be having various meetings and Bible studies here every day.  Whew!  Good thing we love this intern program coordinating thing! 

Our new interns, along with the EMI intern director and his wife, arrived here in Costa Rica last night.  All four interns stayed with us, and, as crazy as it was, I loved having them all here!  We were up late talking with them, and it was fun to just see them feeling comfortable in our home.  This morning, our other team member, Josh, and then the intern director and his wife, joined us all for a big "welcome to Costa Rica" breakfast, followed up by Bible study on our front porch. 

Please pray for us this week.  Even though it's good and we love the interns, it's going to be tiring and trying on us and our kids.  Pray for wisdom and favor on Dan as he leads meetings and Bible studies.  Pray for me as I act the hostess, which isn't my best gifting.  Please pray for health for us and the other staff and interns.  Please pray for our other staff member, Josh, who will be hosting people on his own this week.  Pray for us to trust the Lord for all the things that we need to get done for our upcoming trip to the States (more on that later), but that we simply don't have any time to work on this week.  Pray that God would be honored this week in our home and in the EMI office!  Thank you!

¡Feliz día de las madres!

August 15th is Mother's Day here in Costa Rica, and this year I had a special surprise for this day: my very first serenata!  We woke up at midnight to sweet voices singing at our gate.  We went out on our front porch and listened to a dozen members of our church's youth group, along with Pastor Yeremy, sing some beautiful songs about the love of a mother.  With some calls of "Feliz día, Sarita!", they piled into the back of a truck and were off.  We had just gotten back from EMI's world staff conference in Colorado, USA late Saturday night, so the serenade doubled as a wonderful, sweet welcome home.

 

It took me a long time to fall asleep afterwards.  I just lay there feeling so loved and blessed.  Blessed to be a mother of these two precious children.  Blessed to be the wife of my husband who knew what the youth group had planned and was ready with treats for them.  Blessed to be at home in a foreign country.  Blessed to be sharing life with the jovenes ticos (Costa Rican youth) here in Atenas. 

Dan took some great photos of us on our front porch in honor of el día de las madres.  I can't believe how old they both look in these photos!  Seriously, Timmy looks about 12!  And, I know they're my kids so I'm biased, but they're pretty cute, aren't they? 

Nine month old Tabitha

Three year old Timothy

tears and hope

Dan and I are seeing more and more that when we're involved in ministry, and in people's lives, we become more and more part of the emotions of what they're experiencing.  We've invested a lot into building relationships with our church family here, and now after a couple of years of growing friendships, we feel very deeply the joys and sorrows of these dear brothers and sisters.  And, so, I find myself in tears, crying over the hurt and sadness and sin and pain and sickness that come as we live life in this fallen world. 

I cry over broken marriages,
over unforgiveness,
over young people straying from the truth,
over a young boy from a very poor family being diagnosed with leukemia,
over that boy's grandmother being diagnosed with the same several months later,
over situations of poverty in which I feel helpless to know how to counsel,
over the fear and pain of a woman trying to support her children after her marido (unofficial husband) left her,
over my own fears and sin and weaknesses...

As the tears fall down my face, I praise God for the promise that there is a Place where there will be no more tears.  I'm so thankful for the Hope that we have in Jesus!  Please join us in praying for our brothers and sisters here.  Pray for us, too!

While it's still July...

... I should post about our celebration of the USA's Independence Day here in Costa Rica...

I really love the 4th of July.  I love the patriotism of celebrating our country's freedom, I love the fireworks and picnics, and the time together with family.  It's funny, though,  that I've spent a lot of 4th's of July in other countries: 2 in Ukraine, 1 in Russia and 4 here in Costa Rica.  This year, Dan worked like it was a normal day, but we did get to do a few things to celebrate.  Here are some photos of our day:

our little family all in red, white and blue

our little dual citizen sporting her American side on Independence Day 

having fun together before our celebration

grilling out at the EMI office (interns Tripp, Andrew and Wes, and our teammate Micah)

 
We did get to have a little celebration at the EMI office for lunch.  All the staff families and interns got together to grill hamburgers and hot dogs (real American style burgers - such a treat!).  Here in our basement office in a small Costa Rican town, we sang America the Beautiful, shared things we love and miss about our birth country, and prayed for the USA.  We finished off our celebration with some good apple pie (again, another special treat here).

That night, I happened to have tamales, seasoned beans, and Tico-style rice on our meal plan.  After our lunch of burgers, hot dogs and apple pie, I laughed at how bicultural we're becoming... even on the 4th of July!