Short-term team from Tulsa, Oklahoma

This is rather long. You may skip down to prayer requests and pictures!


We hosted a short-term team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. They flew from Tulsa into Houston, and from Houston here on the same flight that we normally take on Sunday evening. Carlos and Rosario arrived on Sunday afternoon from the capital in order to rest a little before going to the airport, which is an hour from here. They also brought a young man as an interpreter. I was very happy about that. There were two married couples in the team, a father and his daughter and three women. The men helped the pastor set up a fence around the church, while the women evangelized door-to-door. We had a children's program at the church on Monday afternoon, one women's meeting Monday night, a children's program here in our town, and a men's program back at the church. Wednesday there was a program for the youth at the church and, at the same time, a health clinic here in town because there was a doctor in the team. They enjoyed free time at Playa Avellanas. Thursday they had a friendly soccer match, but I still taught here in town as usual, since not everybody likes football (soccer), especially the women. Friday night we had the farewell meeting at the church. The team will spend the weekend at a hotel in Playa Langosta to rest and debrief before going back to Oklahoma on Monday.

They stayed at local homes, the best that the town has to offer, but I know they are below American standards; nevertheless, I did not hear any complaints. Most, if not all, of them have had multiple short-term experiences. They seemed to adapt and take things in stride. We had about twelve children on Monday at the church, but we had 42 women Monday night. Yesterday we had over 50 children here in town. We used the same community hall that we have always used, but this time, for the first time in almost 10 years, John was trusted with the key! We felt like we were being handed the key to the city! Tuesday night there were about 25 men at the church. Rosario and I stayed here to rest while the men went. John says that the pastor was overwhelmed by the big group of just men. (Big for this congregation) Most of the attendees at all of these meetings are unchurched. Pray that the seed planted will bear fruit. All l I have had to do was interpreting for the women's meeting, picture taking and a lot of cooking. I promised John that as soon as the team leaves, this cook is going on vacation for a while. I even made "gallo pinto" everyday for breakfast. It consists of rice and black beans cooked together. It is what the locals love for breakfast. It really fills you up for the day.

The health clinic went well. I was the interpreter for the doctor because the other interpreter was at the youth meeting. The clinic was set up to start at five o'clock, but patients started to arrive at 5:30. We set up at the house where Christ for the City used to rent here. It is currently unoccupied. The waiting room was the front porch. Bianca was set up in the living room. She took the patients vital signs and tested for blood sugar. She actually wrote the patient's name and all the information, including what he needed to see the doctor for on a card. The doctor and I were in the only room with air conditioning :) There was even a small bed with clean sheets. The dispensary was set up in the kitchen. It was all well organized and it went well. The doctor had set up a limit of 20 patients, but we ended up with 22. He is a family doctor and took his time with each patient. Bianca had already informed him before they came about the most common ailments here, so he came prepared. Most people have high blood pressure, high blood sugar and back spasms from heavy work.We had one little girl with parasites and a case of STD. The doctor prayed for each patient at the end of each consultation. The non-believers were surprised when I asked them permission to pray for them. The believers were very happy to have a doctor willing to pray for them. We finished at about 9:30, but had to put everything away, so we got home at about 10. I had no idea that it was so late. We had a late night snack of cheese, ham, crackers and fruit because we had not had dinner.

Thursday, after breakfast, John and I were free to walk on the beach while the team did some evangelizing. They also went to Tamarindo after lunch to shop for souvenirs. We had the whole day to ourselves until church time. Finally, on Friday, the men finished the fence they were building, and they revisited some homes where people had asked for a second visit. There were many decisions for Christ made during the week. Our prayer is that the seed will bear fruit 100 to one. Friday night we had the closure service. The church was full. It was a very nice, although long,  service. The team left Saturday after breakfast, I actually had to wake Carlos and Rosario up because we went to bed at midnight.

We went to Luis Carlos and Irene's house to watch the World Cup game between Costa Rica and Uruguay. It was a lot of fun because Costa Rica won. John will preach in both churches tomorrow. Monday we will wash clothes and wash the car, and close up the condo. Sergio and Bianka will take us out for pizza. Tuesday we will get up at 3:00 am for our flight home. I can't believe that it is over! The weeks just flew by! Thank you so much for your prayer support.

Prayer requests:

• Traveling mercies for the team back to Tulsa
• Traveling mercies for us on Tuesday
• That the seeds planted will bear much fruit
• That the church will follow up all leads and decisions
• Wisdom for Pastor Alejandro and his wife to lead the church

Thank you for your prayers!

Pastor speaking through the interpreter

The entire team 

Women working on a craft

Team work

John with official letter and the key to the community center

Children listening to the Bible story 

Bible story through the interpreter

Games

Tug-of-war

Checking blood sugar

Doctor at work

A Curious Day

Robert Burns said "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go stray." We had our schedule for Wednesday all neatly laid out, but things did not go according to plan. Our cleaning lady was coming at noon, and we were going to meet Pastor Alejandro and his wife for lunch at one o'clock today, then go home, and go to Francisco and Luz's house for dinner, a simple day, but the day started early with a phone call from our friend Sergio. His seventy-eight-year-old grandmother has passed away. People have to be buried within twenty-four hours. Sergio's grandmother actually raised him because his mother worked in the capital when he was growing up. Even though he is a Christian, most of the family is Catholic, so he told us that they would have a mass at three o'clock and the internment at five. That would change things a little bit, but not too badly; nevertheless, I texted Luz that we were cancelling dinner because of the funeral.

At 9:30 in the morning, John was at the gym, and I had settled to study for the Thursday Bible study when the door bell rang. It was our cleaning lady! She decided to come early to be able to go to the funeral. Well, that was fine, except that John needed to come home and take a shower. We worked it all out, and set off to meet the pastor. While on our way, the pastor called. "When are we meeting? "Well, today." "At what time?" "At one." "Oh, are you on your way?" "Yes, as a matter of fact." "Well, I am meeting Leo, from church, who is taking the sound equipment to Nicoya (one and a half hours away) to be fixed. Can you meet us and then I can ride to the restaurant with you?" "Sure, of course!" We waited for him at a parking lot on the way. "Now, where is your wife?" "Oh, she is back at our business and she is babysitting our grandchildren because our daughter-in-law had to go somewhere. She won't be able to make it." He didn't know that Sergio's grandmother had passed away and was not dressed for a funeral. We then stopped by his house, not too far from the restaurant, so that he could change. We finally went to the restaurant for lunch and were able to talk about the plans for the short-term trip arriving on Sunday.

From the restaurant, we went back to our little town for the funeral. On the way the pastor said, "Wait, turn around. There goes Pastor Bernabe. I need to give her the money for the church loan that it is due." (The loan is actually under the other church's name.) He called the pastor, and he waited for us to turn around. We all got out of the car to say hello. He gave him the cash, and we were standing there making small  talk, but he told us he had to go because he had a woman from his congregation in the car who was in labor. He was taking her and her husband to the hospital!

We finally arrived to the funeral, and, as usual, there were as many people outside the church as inside. Sergio and his wife were outside, so we stayed with them. Luz arrived in a taxi with her two younger children. The mass was finally over, and they carried the casket on their shoulders. I was wondering where the hearse was, but soon realized that she was being placed on a pick up truck. (I am really not making this up!) We drove to the cemetery following an assortment of vehicles with the pastor, Luz and her two children.. About  half a mile from the cemetery everybody stopped. We were again wondering what was going on, but Luz explained that it was a local tradition to carry the body on their shoulders to the cemetery. We just drove on and waited. All this time, the pastor is constantly answering phone calls about business, church members and family. One of those calls was from Leo, who had his car. He  was on his way back and wanted to know where he could meet him. "At the cemetery," he said. We could hear Leo over the phone: "What??" "At the cemetery, I had to go to a funeral."

 It was also raining off and on all day, so the cemetery was muddy. Luz and I talked most of the time. I was able to give her advice about a few things. Most people just mill around the cemetery while the person is being buried. There are no chairs, and really not a good place to stand. John was talking the whole time to Randall's father. They seem to have good conversations at cemeteries.What a weird day!! We are now home, recovering.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for Sergio. He was very closed to his grandma. He stopped every morning for coffee before work and every evening after work. His grandfather is still alive. Grandpa doesn't know the Lord and neither did his grandma.
• Pray for the short-term team coming. For safety and good health.
• Pray for us as we minister.
• Pray for me as I host our friends Carlos and Rosario for eight days. Cooking is not one of my talents.

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