Saying Good-Byes

"All good things most come to and end" Today we are in the process of cleaning out the condo, putting stuff away and packing our suitcases. We are getting up at 3:00 am tomorrow; therefore, I will try to be brief.

Last weekend we visited a live volcano with a couple from town, their little boy and the director of Christ for the City. It was a lot of fun. We went to a resort that it is actually a river that flows from the volcano. It was incredible. The river flows very hot and rich in minerals. Here is their website: http://www.tabacon.com/

We stayed at a very charming hotel with individual cabins, all facing the volcano. Our hotel also had 15 hot water pools from the river. This is the front of out cabin. We were in the middle of a rain forest, besides the volcano. That little boy was scared of the water falls the first day, but by the second day he was loving it. On our way back, we stopped by the big city's mall and Mc Donalds. He had never been to either one.

One of the church members called us Monday to tell us that they wanted to meet with us on Tuesday. This is not one of their regular meetings. Unfortunately, when we arrived at church, the lights were off again. This time they don't know what happened. They said that they have been paying the electric bill. The Lord is going to do great things in this town, but the Enemy is trying very hard to interfere. We waited outside until everybody arrived and went to one of the member's home instead. The women went in the kitchen, and soon we were eating crackers with some kind of spread, tortillas with fried sausages and tres leches dessert. Yuumm!

They wanted to pray with us and kind of send us off with their blessings. We found out that the mother church is applying for a loan to purchase land, and they have offered to include enough on the loan for this group to purchase a lot here for $4,000. That's just the lot without any structures. They are planning to start meeting under a tarp. The bank has to approve the loan, so that's a prayer item. This group also started a Bible study in the smaller town 3 km from here, and six people from that town were baptized on the beach last Sunday. PTL! We also heard the testimony of a young mother who had cervical cancer and how the Lord healed her. We prayed together, hugged each other and said good-bye until next time.

The two Christ for the City staff members spent the night here again. We talked a long time after breakfast about plans for the future. We are going to go in a few minutes to kids' club to say good-bye to those cute kids. Then it will be back here to finish closing up and packing.

That is all for this trip. Until next time, from the beach...

Event on Friday

We woke up to a beautiful day on Friday. The weather continued to be fair all day, just as we prayed. I actually got up at 4:00 am to start the slow cooker, but I went back to bed until 6:00. The guest speaker and his wife, and the two workers for Christ for the City spent the night here on Thursday. After breakfast, John took them on a tour of the Hacienda. I stayed to get lunch ready. The director of Christ for the City, his wife and the clown arrived at around eleven. After lunch we loaded the equipment, food, table clothes, paper plates, etc. and all of us in three vehicles and left for town. It always takes us about an hour to set up. The electricity is always a challenge. We had to use three extensions above the beans to connect to UPS surge protectors; then we connect all the equipment, including the 24 cup coffee maker to that.
See the picture on the left.

We had a craft for the women while the clown entertained the children. He is just incredible. I think we had around 80 children. They just had a ball. When I was ready to tell the Bible story to the women (The woman at the well), he also told the children a story. We had about 25 women because it was Friday afternoon, and some of them were still at work. We had to do the event on Friday this time because our guest speaker is a TV announcer, and he calls soccer games on Sundays. He had to be back home by Saturday afternoon.

After these activities we had a two hour break. This time we ate dinner in a little restaurant in town because we did not want to dismantle the equipment and start again. John stayed behind to guard everything. The evening event started at 7:00. We had some songs and a contest to see who would best imitate our speaker calling a goal. The clown led the competition. He called it "The Sweet Taste of Goal." It was a lot of fun. Our speaker, of course, was the judge. The prizes were soccer balls, but we did not announce the winners until after the talk.We also had printed some response papers, which we distributed during both events. Please pray that the local church will follow up. We had about 21 responses from the women in the afternoon, and about as many in the evening.

People in town were very impressed that a famous TV personality would visit their little town. Some did not believe that he would actually come. He gave his very powerful testimony about how he lost everything but found the Lord, and patiently posed for pictures afterwards. He also thanked the town while on the air during the game on Sunday.

We left all the response cards with the church members. It is our prayer that they will follow up. Please pray for the believers in town to come alongside these people who are seeking the Lord.

Until next time, from the beach ...

Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day! August 15th is Mothers' Day here. We went to town to watch the celebrations. It was a very fun day for us. The day started with soccer games, beginning with the youngest boys. We did not know, but they had planned to honor us today. John got to kick the ball to the home team to open the games! Wow! That was quite an honor. The captains of both teams and the official came to get us from the sidelines, then they walked us to the middle of the field, and John kicked the ball; then they walked us back, and we shook hands. We watched the games sitting at the front porch of the house of one of our friends. I said games, plural, because we watched three games. We left after the third one, but they would be more all afternoon. They were selling food and beer at the salon with a dance tonight. We understand that the proceeds will go to a fund to build a Catholic church in town.

When we first started coming to the town three years ago, they told us that the priest did not care much for the town. He came once a month or so. As we became active in the town, the priest started to come twice a month, and now it is every week, with plans for a church. I think this all has to do with what we are doing here. There is no overt opposition, but they are just showing more interest in the town now.

We had a great time just visiting with friends and watching the games. John even got two of the children to help him pass invitations for our event next Friday.


It threatened rain all afternoon, but so far, it has not rained. We are now looking forward to a restful evening and church tomorrow.

Until next time, from the beach...

Traffic Jam

We went out to lunch with some friends to a restaurant in a town about 10 miles from our place. There is only one road. On our way there we saw a lot of people gathered at one house, and our friends told us that there was a funeral. It was an elderly man given to drinking too much. He was walking home drunk the other night and was struck by a car. He was not killed by the car, but had a heart attack on his way to the hospital and died. The roads are very dangerous for pedestrians. There are no sidewalks, and it is also very dark, but people walk on the road, expecting cars to see them; however, it is very hard to see them in the dark, especially when you have headlights in the opposite directions, sometimes you just see them at the very last minute.

Anyway, on our way back we encounter the funeral procession. They were carrying the coffin on their shoulders for over two miles to the cemetery. They was even a band on the back. You can see them right by the yellow taxi. I took this picture from inside our car because I did not want to be too obvious. The problem was that, as I said, there is only one road. You can see how narrow it is. The funeral procession created a major traffic jam. There is a plaza behind those trees, and we were able to inch to the corner, go around the plaza and come out to the other side ahead of the procession. Otherwise, we would have been behind them for hours.

That is just life, at the beach...

Sewing Lessons

This afternoon we went to the Christ for the City sewing class at the community center. This is a partnership with World Vision, which provides the instructor. We provide the place and the sewing machines. Today they learned how to make a back pocket for man's trousers. The instructor is the lady in the blue blouse. The class runs from 2:00 to 5:00. They have a coffee break, and the Christ for the City staff brings a short devotional. These are some of the ladies who always come to our events. As you can see, these classes are also on the porch because it is very hot inside the house.

I had the opportunity to use my very limited knowledge of sewing machines. They had one machine that was not working. I was able to "fix it" because the only problem was that the bobbin was upside down! Now there is another machine that I could not figure out because it is not a Singer, but a White. Does anybody know how to rewind the bobbin in a White sewing machine, model # 960?

The two staff ladies for Chris for the City usually spend the night in the center on Tuesdays because they have Kids' Clubs on Wednesdays. Today they came over to our place. I know one of the girls loves tacos, so that's what we had for dinner. They want tacos again for lunch tomorrow. We will probably have a late breakfast and go to the beach before lunch.

That's all, folks! Until next time, from the beach...

Church and Friends

We went to Sunday School again today. This was the first Sunday under the new schedule. They were to start at 8:00. We got there at 8:00 sharp, and there were a few members present, but the pastor had not arrived yet. It was hot inside, so I went outside with another lady and her daughter.

While we were outside, we saw a little boy who attends Wednesday Kids' Club at the community center standing across the street in a little store. I asked him to come over, and then asked him to stay for church. He said that he had to ask his Grandma for permission. I guess she said yes because he came back a little later. His name is Edgar. He is an eight-year-old second grader. He told me that English is his favorite subject at school. The pastor and his wife came, and we went inside. As I mentioned before, there is only one class, no children classes. Today he was the only child present. They keep Bibles on hand, so I got him one. We were on I Kings 17, and I helped him find the right page. The Pastor asks everyone to take turns reading from the text; therefore, Edgar had to read also. He read extremely well. I am always impressed by the high level of education that you find in this country. He was flipping the pages, and since I was sure that he was looking for pictures, I showed him the maps on the back and the places that were mentioned on the chapter we read. He enjoyed the singing and seemed to know the song (I didn't). The group is small enough (12) that the Pastor was able to address him by name and prayed for him. Please remember Edgar in your prayers.

After church, we went to breakfast with some of the members at the surfers' restaurant because John likes their pancakes. A single young man asked us to first go to the next town to get his girlfriend. This was on the opposite direction of the restaurant, but it did not matter. She was waiting for him. Our other friends have their own car and had gone ahead. Almost everybody had pancakes, but I had a typical breakfast. After dropping everybody off, we were on our way home, when we found another little girl that we know walking home, so we turned around again and took her home; then we went home, cooled off, had a short nap and left again at about 3:15 back to the town. This time we were to meet another couple and go to the beach for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner right on the beach and watched the sunset.

We are now back. It seems that we have been eating all day! It is 8:00 here, and John just just found some American Football on TV!

Tomorrow we are getting together with Gringos! It seems like we live two lives here.

That is all for now. Until next time, from the beach...

Downpour

Yesterday afternoon the skies opened, and the real rain came down. It was quiet a downpour. We loved it. The rain stopped around five o'clock; then the air was nice and fresh. Church was at seven, so there was no problem with the rain.

The church had not been able to meet in the evenings for two and a half months because they did not have electricity. It turns out that the person whose name was on the account was not the owner of the property. This person stopped paying the bill, of course, but the church did not know about it until they found their lights did not work. It took two and a half months and three trips to the big town to get the whole thing untangled. Last night was their first evening meeting, so there was just a handful in attendance. It will take a while to get the people back on the habit. We have notice that consistency has been a problem because of different factors. Please pray that the leadership can be consistent.

We are getting ready for the big event on the 21st. There is a big TV personality coming to speak and give his testimony at 7:00 pm. We are going to walk around the town twice with invitations. In addition, there is going to be a big Mothers' Day celebration in town on Saturday the 15th. We are also going to take this opportunity to pass out fliers. Please pray that we have good weather both when we are out walking passing out fliers and on the 21st, the day of the event. I will still have crafts and a talk for the ladies at 3:00, and the clown is coming again for the children. Also pray for good attendance, decisions and good follow up by the local believers.

Until next time, from the beach...

Beethoven at the Beach

Last night we went to a beautiful concert on the beach. They do a music festival in this county sponsored by a finance company. They invite world famous musicians to play in different venues; one of those venues is right here in the hacienda. We enjoyed the music of a Dutch duet, violin and piano right next to the beach at sunset, a perfect setting. It was very nice. The pianist said that they had played in many different venues, but never one as beautiful. I was going to take the camera to take some pictures before the concert, but it was not charged. Sorry, guys, you just have to imagine it.

We were going to church tonight, but the pastor had to pick up his boss from the airport, so we will have church tomorrow. One must be flexible here. At least they thought of letting us know.

That is all for now. Until next time, from the beach...

Sunday School

We went to church this morning. It was so good to see the small group still there. They just have Sunday School on Sundays, but only one class for all ages. The teaching, however, is solid. The Pastor is a very good teacher. Afterward, we talked a little with the group. It turns out that they almost had to close the doors because they did not have enough to pay the rent, but when they went to talk to the owner, he reduced the rent by almost half saying that even though he does not attend, he supports the work. He is glad that his house is being use to study God's Word. We praise the Lord for this man and pray that he will soon attend the services. A friend at EFCC gave us a donation to bring, and we gave part of it to the church to help with the rent.

They are changing the church schedule to Thursdays at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 8:00 am. It turns out that there is a small group from a village nearby, even smaller than our town, that attends here. The pastor picks them up and takes them back because they don't have transportation. There is a creek between the two towns that raises in the rainy season, which is right now. So, the Pastor has decided that instead of bringing people back and forth, he will go there on Sunday mornings after the service here. That way he can reach more people; therefore, there is your next church plant. PTL!

After church, we took everybody to the "surfer restaurant" (remember the story about surfers and the big dog?) for a late breakfast. I had a Costa Rican breakfast consisting of rice and beans, scrambled eggs, home made bread (Yum!) and coffee. John had an American breakfast of huge pancakes, also very good. We had great fellowship around the table. In addition, we talked about the upcoming event on the 21st. They are going to help us pass out fliers. We also asked for their help with the follow-up. They realize that they haven't been doing this very well, but this is the same problem everywhere. So, please pray that we can all work together effectively for the benefit of the Gospel in this town and vicinities.

Thank you for your prayers! Until next time, from the beach...