Christmas Music Festival

I mentioned in this post that we would be doing our church's Christmas program in the central park of Atenas the weekend before Christmas.  It was part of our town's first ever Christmas Music Festival and there were a lot of people there! The festival took place downtown in our central park.  I was surprised to see a huge stage set up there as we were running some errands in the morning.  I realized then that it was a going to be a bigger event than I had been expecting! 

Timmy made his acting debut as a sheep.  Unfortunately, I waited until the day of the festival to gather materials to make his costume, and after visits to many pharmacies and grocery stores, I realized that you can't find cotton balls in Atenas.  I had to get creative and actually sew (definitely not a strength of mine) and finally finished his costume right before dinner time!  Whew!  In the end, though, he was the cutest little sheep I've ever seen.

 

 

When we first got there at 6pm, we had the kids get in their costumes and practice a little, and then we waited... and waited... and waited.  Many different groups, all from Atenas, presented some sort of song or dance or instrumental piece. 

 



practicing

 

our adult choir

 

our pastor Yeremy (far left) and other men in the choir

 

Timmy on stage!

 

 

 

It was finally our turn close to 9pm!  Our adult choir sang a few songs, Yeremy shared about the significance of what we celebrate on Christmas, and the kids acted out the Christmas story with songs.  As our choir sang some Spanish praise songs about Christ's birth that I hadn't heard before, tears filled my eyes as I thought about how much I love these people and this place. 

 

We arrived home around 10pm, tired and thankful.  Thankful for the hard work of our brothers and sisters from our church who planned this and practiced for months, and for our pastor and his wife who even learned how to knit and made beautiful scarves for everyone in the choir!  Thankful for God's grace over us as our tired kids played their parts and sang their songs perfectly.  Thankful for praises to God going up on a public stage in the middle of town!  Thankful for the people in the park who heard the truth of the gospel presented.  Thankful for the amazing joy of Christ, the Promised Messiah, come to earth.

Happy New Year!

Feliz Año Nuevo from Costa Rica!

Nazerene District Center, Panama

My (Dan's) project this term was to serve the Nazarene church of Panama.  The Church of the Nazarene in Panama has 34 established churches with an additional 25 developing churches.  As the church has grown, it has become necessary to provide a place that all the Nazarene churches in the country can use for pastor training, youth camps, and other country-wide programs.  The church in Tocumen, Panama only occupies about one quarter of the land they have, so the administration decided to use the additional land for these country-wide facilities.  Twelve volunteers and interns traveled with me to Panama for a week to start the design.




Architect's rendering of the final Master Plan

I know that, as I write about my projects, I often write about the Lord’s provision.  I have now led my 6^th project trip, and the Lord has provided in amazing ways each time.  He has consistently been faithful to provide in surprising ways in each of my trips.  At the risk of being redundant, I want to share again about His provision.

Some of the project team working at the site

There was a very real possibility that we may not have had a single architect (the most critical volunteer) on the team until the fifth day of the trip.  God provided.  The volunteer usually responsible for determining the soil bearing capacity didn’t know how to do it.  God provided.  Another volunteer didn’t complete his responsibilities after the trip.  God provided.  It is always so amazing to see how God provides for the completion of all of the necessary parts of every project.  It happens every time, but it never ceases to bring me to my knees in dependence and praise.

It was the rainy season, but everyone had a great attitude.

Another aspect of our ministry that I haven't shared much about before now is our ministry to the volunteers of a project team.  Although my main focus in leading projects is providing a design for a ministry that enables them to better reach the poor for Christ, I also try to take advantage of the time I have with the volunteers.  Throughout the project week, we do several things to keep our focus on God as the one we are ultimately serving.

One form of doing this is by sharing testimonies.  Each evening after dinner, a couple of the volunteers take about 15 minutes to share the story about how they came to Christ.  I have heard many stories throughout my project trips about how the testimony of one volunteer touched the life of another.  This project was no exception.

Another activity is a daily devotional followed by a time of worship in song.  On several nights of the trip, this time of worship through song extended for hours after dinner.  Once, I decided to open my computer to go back to work while everyone else continued singing.  It was a joy to sit there serving Him while singing praises to Him who gave me the skills to it.

Then, at the end of the week, we have a meeting when I ask the volunteers to think about what the Lord may be challenging them to change in their lives.  During this time of sharing, one of the volunteers on this trip committed to get more involved in his church, and specifically in one of the Bible Studies.  His name is Suhendi; he is from Indonesia, but he works for an engineering firm in Florida.  He had come to the Lord through the ministry and prayers of his wife who is from Hong Kong.  Through the testimonies and devotionals during the trip, the Lord convicted him that he needed to be involved in studying the Bible.  You can imagine how pleased I was when one of his recent emails contained the following note (as he wrote it):

“Thank for the great life changing experience, I know Jesus a lot more now than before the trip.  My testimony to you is that I read Bible everyday now and I join Bible study at my church every Thursday night, as what I promised on our last devotion session.”

Sunhedi and me on the tour of the Panama Canal

Praise the Lord for His work in the hearts of His children!

Fiesta navideña de las mujeres

Christmas starts early here.  With no Thanksgiving here to signal the end of fall and beginning of the Christmas season, Christmas events start as early as the beginning of November... and they keep going until mid to late January!  I love it.

In mid-November, we had our ladies' Christmas party for the women of our church.  Everyone was supposed to bring traditional Christmas food for a cafecito (tea party, except with coffee), so we had a good selection of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan dishes... with some American cookies. 

We had a great time of visiting, enjoying each others' recipes, and sharing special Christmas memories from our childhoods.  We ended the time with making Christmas centerpieces for our homes. 

with our delicious spread of food

working on our centerpieces

my friend Liliana with her creation

sweet sisters in Christ
from L to R: Iveth (our pastor's wife), Johanna, me, Leticia, Fanny, Dina, Kathya, Liliana

 

Tomorrow night, we will do our kids' Christmas program.  We are excited about what this program is going to be like this year.  Instead of having it at our church, we are doing it in the central park of Atenas where so many people will see and hear it as they walk through town!  Our adult choir will sing, our pastor will share from God's Word, and our kids will act out the Christmas story.  Now, I just need to figure out a sheep costume for Timmy before tomorrow night...

Please pray that many people will hear the message of the true reason for celebrating Christmas tomorrow and that God would use it to draw people to Himself!

"Fall" in the tropics

Fall is my favorite season.  I have always loved the cooler weather, the breezes, the colorful leaves, and eating soups and anything made out of pumpkin.  But, we never have fall living here in Costa Rica.  One of the biggest blessings of our 4 month home leave last year was being back in the USA for fall.  We loved spending lots of time outside while being bundled up -- swinging at the park, crunching in the leaves, visiting the pumpkin farm.  It felt wonderful to be cool! 

I think because we experienced fall last year, I felt a little homesick during October and November this year.  Timmy, too, was missing fall and kept asking when we could play in the leaves.  So, finally, just a couple of days before Thanksgiving, we had a "fall" day in the tropics.  It was a cool, cloudy day with a breeze that made it feel like fall.

We got out the cloth leaves a friend had sent us years ago when we were missing fall and played with them in the living room:

 

We went down to the mango grove at the end of our street and crunched in the fallen leaves:

 

We came back home and made a paper turkey and drew some pictures of pilgrims:

 

And, we had chicken made over a wood fire, roasted zucchini and carrots, and cornbread for dinner:

 

 

 

It was a perfect fall day, even here in the tropics! 

Two!!

one day old

Two years ago a week from yesterday, it was a month before my due date.  Costa Rica was in a state of national emergency because of flooding throughout the country.  That morning, a landslide had blocked the main road to the hospital, which was normally at least an hour drive away from our small town in the mountains.  The family that was going to watch Timmy for us when it was time to go to the hospital was out of the country.  We still hadn't chosen our baby girl's name.  And, I went into labor.  It is a pretty crazy story, but, suffice it to say, we had quite the adventurous evening, and by the time we got to the hospital, it was time for Tabitha to enter the world (and we had decided on her name)!  I found out later that as he was speeding around the curves of the mountain pass, Dan was considering how he might need to deliver the baby on the side of the road.  We are so, so very thankful for God's amazing protection and care, and for the precious blessing that our little daughter has been to our family the past two years. 

 

The night before Tabitha's birthday this year, I could not fall asleep, but lay awake reliving that night and all that happened.  I was overwhelmed by God's care for me and our baby.  I had had a high risk pregnancy and a really difficult delivery.  Looking back, it was a scary night, but at the time, I was filled with God's peace.  I had prayed specifically that I would be able to be calm when the time came, and God answered that prayer.  It wasn't until a couple of days later, when I was staying in the hospital alone with Tabitha in the NICU, that it hit me as I looked out over the metal roofs of the sprawling capital... "I just had a baby in Costa Rica!  I could have had her in the car!  She came a month early!  I am taking care of her in a hospital where everyone only speaks Spanish!"  My reaction?  Worship.  For His power was made perfect in my weakness and His peace that transcends all understanding filled me.  I thank Him for little Tabitha and the answer to so many prayers that she is.  We love you, sweet girlie! 

 

3 months old

6 months old

9 months old

one year old

18 months old

TWO years old!