Rain Rain Go Away

Saturday, March 2

We did a whole lot of nothing today… and it rained all morning and all evening.  Praise God it didn’t rain while we were doing our weekly farmer’s market shopping in Turrialba.

Eddie went to youth and made a “Harlem Shake” video with Josué and the two kids that actually came to youth (see Facebook for the video).  I stayed home with Jaden because he really needed to go to bed early tonight.  (He still seems a bit sick because he is so whinny and still has a bit of diarrhea… we even took him again for the massage everyone says will heal him… it seems to calm him so we continue to try it).

Sunday, March 3

It rained again today… all day… that makes for a 3-day-weekend of nothing but rain!  And, it is cold.  What happened to the tropical country that we are supposed to be living in?  And what happened to summer?  They told us it would rain in November and December.  It did.  They told us it would be hot in January, February and March.  So far, January was pretty sunny… especially if we were stuck inside during class.  February was rainy… and now March has not impressed me with the sun as of yet.

Eddie preached and I watched the kids in the nursery.  I didn’t get to hear it, but he talked with me about his topic.  He is still teaching about discipleship and what it means to be a church.  This week, he focused on the stages of the Christian life and asked them to evaluate themselves and their faith.  Are you “dead” (unbeliever)?  Are you an “infant” (self-centered)?  Are you a “teenager” (eager to learn and willing to help serve God and others)?  Are you an “adult” (serving God and others and being intentional with your faith)? 

Check out the ways we have seen God work since we came to Costa Rica five months ago.  Below, you will find an excerpt from the email that Eddie sent to Donnie (our pastor at LPC in N.C.) about how God has used “Catalyst” to change our lives and impact Tuis):

I want to give you a cool “Catalyst” story since you guys are in “Catalyst Re-loaded” right now.  Obviously Deanna and I are here as students to learn Spanish, but if you know me I can't just sit around and do nothing.  The pastor of the church here, named Hector, asked me to help out with the worship music, leading the youth group and then asked me to lead a Spanish bible study in my home.  He wants to give me ministry experience using the Spanish language.  I have been doing both for the last 3 months now and have loved it!  One thing that I have been noticing is the lack of commitment these people have to the church.  Hector does everything by himself (which is his fault for not leading properly) from setting up the chairs to leading the worship to preaching and to leading the youth group.  Recently, I decided to express my concerns to Hector.  The church has been in existence for 10 years now and they have seen little to no growth.  I sat down with Hector and expressed to him my concerns about the lack of commitment and he agreed.  He then allowed me to give some suggestions.  I told him that the church lacks one unified purpose.  I told him about Lifepointe's purpose (Helping people connect to God) and he got excited about that.  We discussed the lack of unity under one purpose, which eventually leads to the lack of commitment and excitement to do ministry.  We also talked about discipleship and the importance of training and doing life together.  It was an incredible meeting and Hector took a lot of notes.  We discussed how to implement these things and he asked me to preach about the purpose of the church and discipleship to the church last Sunday in English and he would translate.  That is what I did and it stirred up a lot of conviction in the people.  The next part of the plan was to make a list of the core church people that were committed to the church.  We had a meeting with those people (about 10) in Hector's house this past Wednesday and we talked about “wins” and “challenges,” told stories of how God has had his hand on this church in the past, and had moments of honesty with each other as to why the church isn't growing.  They were SOOOO honest and confessed lots of things.  One guy spoke up and talked about our duty as Christians.  He said that the easiest thing for us as Christians to do is to attend church on Sunday mornings.  The hardest thing to do as a Christian is to love our enemies.  He said that we need to start doing the hard things if we want to see growth. Very profound!  Long story short (it's too late, this is already too long), Hector is going to meet with this group of core people consistently to dream with them, train them and plan with them in order to unify under one purpose.  Hector told me he had a dream about that purpose and we came up with this: The Mission (the name of the church) - A bridge to help people know Jesus more.  This Sunday I am preaching again to talk specifically about discipleship and what that can look like in this church.  Before we leave at the end of this month my goal is to equip Hector to be able to train his people and unify them under one purpose to reach the little town of Tuis for Christ!  Catalyst not only allowed Deanna and I to be here in Costa Rica in order to learn this amazing language; but it also allowed me to be a Catalyst to this sleeping church in order for them to dust off their shoes, arise and be the missional church God has called them to be.  Who knows what changes this could bring in a year or two to this town and eventually to this country!  Praise God.  

Thank you to Lifepointe Church and all who made it possible for us to be here. 

After church, I made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup… Mmmm… I haven’t had such an American meal in so long… I savored every bite!

I was inspired by our friend Kirsten to make play-dough for Jaden this afternoon.  She gave me her recipe and it literally took me 5 minutes to make.  Jaden loved it!

So did Eddie and I.  We decided to each make Jaden’s favorite animal and have a contest for whose was best.

Whose do you think is on the left?  When Jaden saw mine he said: “phhphph.”  When he saw Eddie’s he said, “roaaar.”  I think mine was better!

Monday, March 4

The sun was shining today!  It was a gorgeous moment when I went outside during our break time this morning.

We found out this morning that Sonia will not be back to teach until June.   She works for the Ministry of Education in Costa Rica and they told her they need her to work for them in the mornings now so she cannot teach at CISA for the next three months.  I was sad to hear that I didn’t even get to say good-bye, but Eddie and I will try to visit her before we leave in 3 weeks.

We also found out that Karen is sick.  So, we had a change in teachers this morning.  Eddie, Deidre, and I are back with Patricia.  Eddie got to experience the first day where 4 hours fly by in the blink of an eye.  Patricia has lots of activities planned for class so it makes time fly!  We love her!

Eddie had a guitar lesson and a meeting with Hector and the core people from the church tonight, so Jaden and I were on our own.  We went for a walk down a street in Tuis that we have never ventured down.  We ran into people we knew along the way and Jaden happily waved at everyone we passed.

Then, I made some dinner… well, rabbit food would be more appropriate.  I wanted to use some fresh fruits and veggies and I didn’t feel like cooking, so this is what I came up with:

Before you go and think I’m all healthy and such, I also made some banana bread (with extra bananas and extra sugar) just cuz I wanted some.

PS… I miss “comfort” food such as Stouffer’s lasagna and sloppy joes… just cuz I haven’t eaten much of a variety of foods since moving here.  Rice and beans present at every meal gets old for me, but Eddie loves it.  I just have to remember to be thankful for the food God provides, especially when there are people who don’t have enough each day.