Costa Rica Fun

Hola friends and family. We pray that everyone is doing well. Thank you so much for all the encouraging emails and messages you have sent. It seems that God knows just when we need some encouragement because He sends someone our way.

Last weekend the kids were invited to a birthday party at McDonald's for our friends' little girl Avery. They had a wonderful time of playing games, face-painting, and hitting the pinata. It was pretty funny watching a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds try to hit a pinata. I don't think Kendall even realized that candy was going to come out of it. The party was quite the fiesta. The women who were in-charge sang songs, played games, and did an excellent job of entertaining the kids. We also went downtown with the kids on Saturday morning. They have a square where you can feed pigeons. We saw one little girl, probably around 6 0r 7, feeding the birds and they pick up one of the birds and hold it like a football. She had the death-grip on it and wasn't letting it go. It was really funny and Jon and I both said, "Man, I wish we had brought the camera."

My ESL classes will be over this Wednesday. I am sad that they are over, but we will start up again in May. This past week was my birthday and I only stayed for part of the time since Jon had arranged a babysitter so we could go out on a date--our first in almost three months. Anyway, the ladies in the class were so precious because they were actually upset with me for not telling them it was my birthday. Birthdays are a big deal in Costa Rica.

Even though I only stayed for half the class, we had a great time. Last week we taught them verbs and nouns that went with cooking. One of the ladies actually made the sample recipe that we did and brought me some. The muffins were still warm when she got to class. For class this week, we had them actually follow two recipes and bake banana bread and peanut butter cookies. Most people do not bake here, so this was a new thing for them. Most people only use their ovens for storage and they don't measure ingredients. I assume many Ticos don't use their ovens because there are so many bakeries.

School is defiantly getting harder. Our English brains get confused sometimes because the sentence structure in Spanish is different than in English. I just keep saying, "Thank you God for not calling me to China, learning Chinese seems almost impossible to me." But aren't we all glad that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion?

Praises:
1. God has kept us safe here.
2. We're learning Spanish--I'm pretty sure we aren't getting worse.
3. We're extremely grateful for all those who are supporting us through prayer and finances.

Prayer Requests:
1. Parker is having a hard time in school. He's just extremely tired and he has been biting the other kids. Many of you may remember that we had this same problem when we did our training at Wycliff this past summer. Please pray for his teachers, us, and Parker in this situation. We have tired several things to deter him from biting, but nothing has worked yet. The administrators at school have been kind in this and are doing all they can to help him.
2. Pray for rest. We are tired from the busy schedule.
3. Pray for endurance for the rest of the semester. It is getting harder and harder to get up in the morning (5:45 comes early).
4. Pray that we would be able to extend our visa for one month to give us a chance to leave the country at the end of the trimester and not during the tri. We will be going to the immigration office this week to complete our paperwork for this.

Please send us your prayer requests so that we can know how to pray for you.
Love In Christ,
Jon, Amanda, Kendall, and Parker

Just When You Think You've Got It...

Hola mis amigos y mi familia! I am sorry that we have not written in a couple of weeks. Every time I thought about writing, something seemed to pop up. Plus, we have been going to bed super early. When you wake up at 6 (or before) and your mind is constantly translating Spanish to English and then English to Spanish and back again, life becomes really tiring.

This past weekend I was able to go to a women's retreat with the ladies from school. Jon and the kids hung out at the house and had a good time. Jon even ventured in a taxi with both of them and took them to the mall.

But in all seriousness, God showed up in an amazing way during the retreat and really challenged me in a new way. The Holy Spirit keeps bringing to mind my need to love others as God loves them. Easier said then done, right? But in all reality, the passage in I Corinthians 13:1-3 has been echoing in my mind for the past few weeks: "If I could speak all the languages of earth (especially Spanish) and of angel, but didn't love others, I would be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." My love for God and of others needs to be the motivation for which I do everything, not prideful or selfish things. I am praying that God would allow me to see His children as He sees them and not as my mortal eyes do.

School continues to move along and we are moving right along with it. There are days and even minutes where I think to myself, "Wow, I actually know Spanish." But then, of course, I get a not so subtle reminder that I really don't. It is hard to have a conversation where you can only talk in present tense. Though we are starting to learn some ways to express ideas in the future. This past week I studied clothes, so I am now capable of describing what you are wearing, your shoes, undergarments, and accessories. If anyone needs help with this, let me know.

My ESL class has been going well. It has been a wonderful experience for me as I have been stretched to think differently about teaching English. Even though I was an English teacher, this is a totally different environment and structure. We have been working on practicing English while studying about job, interviewing, and writing applications.

The kids are doing well and picking up more Spanish every day.
Praises:

1. That I was able to go on a short retreat.
2. Praise God that He loves us enough to change us more into His likeness.
3. For Carla, our house helper. She is such a blessing to us and I would not be able to study or concentrate on Spanish without her.
   

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray that our minds would be clear as we learn Spanish.
2. Pray for the concluding session in ESL. During the break we will have a special gospel presentation for the students and we are praying now that God would prepare their hearts for this time.
3. Pray for protection (physical, spiritual, and mental) as we continue to live here in Costa Rica.