miedo o creencia (fear or belief)

In just a few short days, God gave us 3 great opportunities to choose trust over fear. Last week the San Jose news ran a program about a park in our city that has been taken over by a Chinese gang. The police gave public notice that they leave the park between the hours of 10 at night and 5 in the morning because they are afraid of the gangs that deal drugs and sell arms in the park. This park is 3 blocks from our front door and we walk through it every morning on our way to school. Will we choose to fear or believe? A few days later we flew to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to visit the church where we will be serving after language school. When we arrived and were greeted by the pastor of the church, he informed us that a woman from the church had just been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. Unfortunately, this has happened several times this year because the people at the church are fairly affluent. Will I choose to panic or trust as I follow God to the place He wants us to serve? The night that we returned from Honduras, our city was without power because someone STOLE one of the main power lines. (The copper inside the power line is worth a lot of money.) So we lit some candles, grabbed flashlights and sang songs and told stories to Reagan. A few hours later the power returned. At about 9:30 we heard some strange sounds and some loud thumps on our roof. There was an intruder on our roof. Mark grabbed our huge maglight, yelled in Spanish for the thief to leave and called our guard. The guard checked our roof to make sure the intruder had left, and we thanked God for protecting us from the person who was trying to take advantage of the dark to rob a house. Will we choose to believe or fear? When my heart starts thumping quickly or I let my imagination go places which are not helpful, will I ask the Spirit to take control of my mind, heart and emotions? It's a daily battle, but the only thing I fear more is not following God where He wants me to go. When I choose worry over belief, I am telling God that I don't think He is big enough for my problem. Don't worry. We're living wisely. We asked our landlord to put barbed wire on our fence. We hide valuable belongings in the house every time we leave. We hold Reagan's hand on the street; and we walk in the park during safe hours. But I don't trust in the fence or barbed wire. I trust in a good, powerful, loving and wise God who has my best in mind. Not only has He promised to protect me, He has also promised that He is big enough to take me through whatever circumstances He places in my life. God, please help me to have the strength to live this out.

Tegucigalpa

We spent four days in Tegucigalpa visiting the church where we will be serving after finishing language school here in Costa Rica. We have visited one time before, this past December. Almost a year has gone by, but we were able to connect with many of the same people and also were able to see the progress that is happening as God does amazing things among the Honduran people. While in Tegus, we were able to see the beginning construction of the new church site, attend a parenting class, participate in 3 church services, enjoy a 25th anniversary dinner for Norberto and Patty, and engage in many wonderful conversations, most of which were in Spanish. Mark played keys with the worship team for the church services. We were touched when Norberto prayed for us during the service, that God would give us grace to learn Spanish as we prepare to join Impact Church in Honduras in August. Below is a photo of Teto and his wife Dania. Teto is graduating from the church planting school and will be ordained as a pastor this summer. There is also a picture of us with Keith and Dawn Moore who started Iglesia Impacto 9 years ago. Reagan enjoyed pretending to be Bob the Builder at the church nursery.

Mud Slides

We can now add mud slides to the list of natural disasters that we have experienced in the various cities we have lived in. It has been a tragic day in San Jose as 30 homes have been buried in mud slides due to incredibly heavy rain. Sadly, more than 30 Costa Ricans lost their lives and more are still missing. One of the mud slides was only 4 miles from our home. The entire city of San Jose was without water because the mud slides broke some of the water mains. And our house was without power for 3 days. It changes life a lot when you don't have a few of the basics of life. But we were very impressed with the organization in San Jose as workers and rescue personnel restored power and water supply with great efficiency.

Change of Scenery

We don't have a car here in Costa Rica, and I can only walk about 3 miles a day with my 6 month pregnant tummy, so we end up living our lives almost exclusively in a range of about 4 square miles. After two months of walking the barbed wired and graffiti lined streets of San Jose, we were ready to see this beautiful country where we now live. So we and some other students from El Instituto de Lengua Espanol, packed our bags for a 3 day weekend at the beach. We took a bus ride to Tortugero on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. On the way we stopped to see a banana plantatione, and we walked through a butterfly garden. If you watch the video below, you will see how a 2 year old boy reacts to a butterfly landing on his hand. We also saw huge fields of pineapples. (I guess that ends my belief that pineapples grow on trees.) After the 3 hour bus ride, we rode a boat for another hour to get to our hotel. And throughout the weekend, we were able to see many animals, including a sloth, a crocodile and a spider monkey who jumped across the river above our boat with a baby monkey on her back. It was amazing to see her swing from tree to tree. Reagan loved running in and out of the waves on the beach. It was also the time of year when the huge sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand. We didn't stay up all night waiting to see the mammoth turtles dig their nests, but we saw their tracks on the beach in the morning. They were so big that it looked like a four wheeler had driven on the beach. And we did get to see some of the baby turtles crawl down to the ocean. It was a refreshing break from our studies, and we enjoyed seeing this incredibly beautiful country.