El Instituto de Lengua Espanola

Over the past year in Costa Rica, I have posted some of the interesting things that we have done, difficult or joyful situations, answers to prayer and other significant occasions. But I also want to give an account of daily life. For the past year the hours between 7AM and 1PM have looked like this: We load up our double stroller (suburban)with the kids and four backpacks. After a one mile walk to school, we drop the kids off at their kinder classes. Reagan's classes are taught completely in Spanish, so he already functions very well in Spanish. The kinder program includes crafts, kicking balls and running in the gym, singing, bible stories, outdoor playground, indoor toys and more. Clarissa is the only baby in the nursery so she has one on one interaction with a sweet Spanish-speaking Costa Rican.

Mark and I attend four hours of class every morning, including classes in grammar, conversation and phonetics. There are about 100 adult students on the campus and also a high-school, primary school and kinder program adjacent to the adult education buildings. Two days a week we have chapel services with worship and teaching time in English. This has been very beneficial for us. When we worship at our Spanish-speaking church on Sunday, we are often concentrating on deciphering the language, so the chapel service rejuvenates us. We lead music once a month for the school chapel, and Mark has taught messages both in English and Spanish. We have many wonderful friends among the other missionaries at the school. We are all preparing to go to different Spanish-speaking countries to share the great message of Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to spend time with incredibly dedicated Christians. This year has been a blessing as we have not only begun our journey of learning a new language, but also have seen the example of many wise and experienced believers.

When we are done with classes at noon, we hurry to load up our stroller and try to beat the afternoon rain. If the rain has already begun, we don rain jackets, pull the plastic rain guard over the double stroller and grab our umbrella. It's another one mile walk back to the house. Reagan eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the way home so that he and Clarissa can take a nap when we get to the house. We try to do our homework while the kids take naps, then play together as a family, eat dinner, do more homework and pack up the backpacks for the next day. And then we repeat the process over again the next day.

In a few days I'll be writing about graduation and our move to Honduras and this routine will all turn into a memory. But it has been a great year and God has used our daily life just as much as the highlights to accomplish His work in our family.

US Citizen

How many trips do you have to make in taxis to receive a US passport for a baby born in Costa Rica? SEVEN! Officially, Clarissa Elena was a US citizen from the moment of birth, but it was still necessary to complete a matrix of paperwork to receive her birth certificate, passport and social security number. So after 2 trips to the hospital records department, 2 visits to the Costa Rican Embassy, 2 excursions to civic registration and 3 appointments at the US Embassy, we hold Clarissa's paperwork in our hands. This is good timing because we are moving to Tegucigalpa in THREE weeks. We will say goodbye to our friends in Costa Rica, board a plane with one-way tickets, and arrive in Honduras. (That is if we can survive as we take graduation exams at language school and pack our 16 suitcases which hold our earthly possessions.)

There are many changes in front of us. We will be changing from a completely outdoor lifestyle to an indoor lifestyle. Without a car here in Costa Rica, we walk everywhere, miles every day. We walk to school, the grocery store, restaurants and stores. But Tegucigalpa is too dangerous to walk, so we will always travel by car. In Costa Rica we have beautiful parks, including a playground directly in front of our house. Tegus does not have parks, so we will probably make endless outings to McDonalds to let the kids play in the playland. This will be an adjustment for us, but we are willing to make this sacrifice to learn from and serve with the Honduran people.

We do not yet have a house or a car in Tegucigalpa, so our first weeks will be spent in search of these two things. A family from the church will be hosting us for 2 weeks while we look at rental houses and shop for a used car. Ten days after arriving, Mark will begin his work and studies at Iglesia Impacto. But we are comforted by the fact that we arrived here in San Jose, Costa Rica without very many details worked out, and God orchestrated things very specifically. If fact, it may be that it is easier to trust God and be flexible when not everything is planned. That way we don't have a specific expectation as to how life will look. And it's pretty exciting to have nearly everything a mystery.