Waiting on the Lord

To those that we love,

This is our first blog since returning back to the States from Costa Rica and we have really enjoyed our time reconnecting with friends, families, and churches. It really has been an overwhelming experience as people have really showered us with love since being here.

After spending time in Costa Rica, we have a new appreciation for the family of God and the amazing community of believers that we have been surrounded by. We've also come to a much deeper understanding of the importance of prayer in our life and ministry. God's made it abundantly clear in our lives that we need to devote everything we do to him...especially the little things that we take so for granted.

The kids have adjusted well to all the changes, even better than us in most cases. It's so fun to see them grow up and change, but we are praying that they profess Jesus as their Savior very soon in their young lives.

We are waiting on the Visa process right now. Our mission has submitted a request for a Visa to Bogota, so we are waiting on that right now. When that comes in, we will travel to the Colombian consulate in Atlanta where we will take all of our papers and information and they will tell us that day if we have been granted a temporary religious Visa. If you could, pray for that as you remember us.

We still have some support to raise as well. Right now we still need to raise anywhere from $300-$500 monthly. But we know that God will do it in His timing.

Please pray that God will continue to prepare our hearts for using us in Colombia. Also, remember the people of Colombia that God would continue to raise up laborers in Colombia that would reach the rest of this amazing country that desperately needs to hear the truth of Jesus Christ.

We also got some pictures taken while in Columbia by Destiny Wenzel. Her website is http://www.wenzelphotography.blogspot.com/ so if you're ever in Columbia, S.C. and want some great pictures... check her out.

note: If while reading this post you happen to stumble upon a spelling or grammatical error, please mentally insert the correction :)

Lessons

Well, 10 more days and counting. We have a few more exams to look forward to and packing. Amanda has not started packing yet because we actually use everything we have. It's a little difficult to sort things and put them away when you are still using them. Looking back on our time, we have really had a wonderful time. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to our friends, but it will also be wonderful to be one-step closer to Colombia.

During our time here we have learned a few things:
1. It is impossible to do anything apart from Christ--and language learning is no exception.
2. God doesn't want us to be comfortable just living life and doing day to day activities. He guides, moves, and sometimes pushes us into a deeper understanding of who He is.
3. Relationships with other believers is an absolute must in your walk with Christ.
4. What God calls us to do, He will equip us to do it as well. There were times when Spanish felt entirely too difficult and we thought that we could not possible learn another thing, but God enabled us to do it.
5. Satan wants to distract us from doing anything that will advance the Kingdom of God. He also will use any means possible to deter us.
6. Pride is a huge obstacle to face when learning a language. It's ok to get things wrong, because let us assure you...you will.
7. If you leave cake out, even if it is covered, ants will swarm.
8. Spanish and English do not translate the same. Words aren't always what you think they should be.
9. The price of vegetables goes down dramatically the more Spanish you know.

Prayer Requests:
1. We still have about $500 more to raise before Colombia.
2. For safe travel next Saturday Aug. 15.
3. For the details (sorting items to be left here, packing, final meetings, and final exams) of the last week to be stress-free.
4. Transition back to the States and then again to Colombia.
5. For our Visas to be approved quickly once we finish all our paperwork.

Praises:
1. For the opportunity to spend 8 months focusing on language learning.
2. For Carla, our house-helper, who has been a wonderful blessing to our family.
3. Continued protection from the Lord.

Thank you again for your support. We will see you soon.

Jon, Amanda, Kendall, and Parker

Ministy in Costa Rica

While our time here in Costa Rica has been mainly focused on the preparation phase for our future ministry, God really blessed both Amanda and I with an ESL ministry for several weeks here. What made this so great for me, was that it helped me to see how this might be apart of our future ministry in the future.

Why is ESL such a great ministry? Glad you asked! This is almost the perfect environment to introduce spiritual things to those who might not have any spiritual sensitivity yet. Outside of our knowledge of who God is, our language is an extremely valuable commodity. People all over the world are trying to learn English in the hope of having greater opportunities to both communicate and to acquire a better job. The reality is this...English opens doors.

So inside the classroom you have a group of people who are very eager to speak and read English; so many times we would use Scripture as our text, and use that as our basis for conversation. What a great opportunity to start to talk about spiritual things. So it was such a fun experience to encourage a great group of Costa Ricans, not only in their English, but I was able to communicate about Spiritual things as well.

I also was able to see how quickly relationships could develop in this context. They want to teach me Spanish, I want to teach them English and about God. Perfect!! Relationships seem much easier to form in the Spanish culture, and for that we are extremely grateful. We look forward to seeing how God can use our language to open up doors for ministry in the future. If we ever make it back to the States, I would love to be apart of a church that does this kind of ministry.

These are a couple of my "advanced" students. They were so kind to me, and they knew about as much English grammar as I did.











This is a picture of Regina. She is the one who Amanda wrote about who came to our school looking for us. She is from Santa Marta, Colombia, and she has been praying for our family for over a year.

It was so fun to meet her and her family. We went to their house and had cake and coffee. What a great blessing it was to meet one of our future neighbors.

More than likely we will be living in her apartment building when we get to Colombia


One of my favorite students. This fellow really wanted to learn English. Just really a very loving fellow.











Surprise!!!













My ESL class. Best thing I've done while in Costa Rica

The End Is In Sight

Well, we have a little less than a month left in Costa Rica. It's hard to believe that we have been here for almost 7 months. Things have been about the same and school continues to be tiring. The kids are actually out of school this week due to the swine flu. The government closed all the schools in Costa Rica to avoid more cases. There have been about 300 cases of the flu here, but no one at our school has it. Since the kids don't have school, but we do, Jon and I have been taking turns staying home with the kids. I must confess, I did not object to staying home with them. Not being with the kids all day has been my biggest struggle. I know that this has only been a temporary part of our lives, but I have needed comfort and confirmation from the Lord that we were following His plan for our lives. Veteran missionaries often talk about making sacrifices on the field--this has been one of mine. Though the God of all has continued to show me love and kindness during this time. The kids not having school is in a way a gift for me.

Spanish is coming along day by day. It will be nice to have practical and more natural conversations with people. Two weeks ago I had to give an hour long presentation about Colombia (yes, in Spanish). My classmates and I about went over the edge that week. Jon was certainly glad when I was done with it too. Jon and I are now on the last couple of conjugations. When we leave, we will know how to correctly form all verbs and recognize all the verb tenses. It's now a matter of practicing, building vocabulary, and reinforcing when to use which tense. No problem, right?

We will arrive in the US on August 15. Our wonderful friends from South Carolina are planning to pick us up. Everyone is counting done the days, especially our parents. We plan on being in North Carolina for about a week in a half and then we are going to Columbia, SC for a few days. Jon and I are going to celebrate our 10th anniversary in New York for a few days while his parents have watch the kids. After our trip, we will be going to Virginia to spend time with my family and my parents' church. They have been wonderful supporters and encouragers while we have been here. Our goal is to meet with all our supporters while we are in the States. This will be a challenge though since we have supporters all up the east coast.

We still have some more support to raise and we need to work on securing our visas for Colombia. We don't have a definite departure date, but we are thinking early October, about 6 weeks.

Praises:
1. Three new SAM candidates have been assigned to Colombia. This is great news for us so that we will have more teammates in a city that has very few Americans.
2. Our ESL classes are finished and we both had an amazing time with the people we worked with. ESL has probably been our highlight here because we were actually working on building relationships. Ministry is all about relationships, plus it was excellent practice for Colombia.

Prayer Requests:
1. My dad has had a blood clot in his leg and has been receiving blood thinning shots. Pray that this problem will heal and that my mom can receive some rest too. She's been going non-stop.
2. Pray that we will preserve through the last couple of weeks here.
3. Pray for the details of packing and preparing to leave. It's going to be a challenge to get everything together because we have classes right up until we leave.
4. Pray for the transition back home and then to Colombia.
5. Pray for the members of the Esperanza Church in Colombia as they are working towards a new vision and unity within the body.
6. Pray for a couple from SAM who is living in Colombia for the next three months to learn the language and work on getting to know the ministries and people of the Esperanza Church. They will be returning to work in the home office in Fort Mill, SC in October.
7. Pray for good health for the last 4 weeks for school. We had another round of stomach viruses that went through the whole family about 2 weeks ago. Pray that our bodies will adjust to being back in the States.

Much love,
Jon, Amanda, Kendall and Parker

A Gift from God

Today I experienced a gift from God. I know that God intimately cares about His children, but today I had a first-hand account of this. During school today, one of my teachers told me that there was someone who wanted to see me. I thought this strange, but I followed him anyway. Sitting at a table on the patio was an elderly women. I introduced myself and I see that she is holding a picture of our family (one of our old prayer cards actually). Anyway, she proceeds to tell me that she is from Colombia, Santa Marta, Colombia to be more specific. She attends our church in Colombia and her daughter works in the Esperanza School where we will be working. Her son is one of my teacher's pastors here in Costa Rica. We talked for a while and she told me that she had been praying for us for a year now and was anxious for us to be in Colombia. How special that she came to Costa Rica to visit her family, but made a point to come to the school to meet and encourage us. God certainly knew that I needed encouragement. Yesterday was a difficult Spanish day for me and I was feeling very discouraged. I am grateful that God sent me someone, a lonely woman from Colombia, at just the right time to remind me of His provision, care, and concern for His child. How cool! Praise God for He is worthy is be praised.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, I actually have a break in the weekend to write and update everyone. I have had a large amount of outside work to do for my classes this trimester. We also don't get out until 1:00 pm now, so the afternoon schedule at home has been pushed back an hour. Thankfully, my language teacher has reduced our workload some. We are now having to do a Bible study every other week, instead of every week. It was taking me about 4 hours to do the Bible studies and they were becoming very stressful for all of us. On the off weeks, we are going to all read the same passage and discuss it. We certainly need practice with free-flowing conversation and discussion as well. It's going to be great practice.

The kids are really enjoying their classes this trimester. Parker especially has done a lot better in his new class. They have been doing more activities and his teachers read a lot to them. Looking at books is one of his favorite things to do. He also loves anything to do with animals. We have animal flashcards on Jon's IPOD and he sits and says the names of all the animals in English and Spanish. Super cute.

Kendall continues to be a "leader" and "little mommy" in her class. For those who have a first-born girl, you know that these are both good and bad characteristics, but mostly good. She is very observant and tries to take care of everyone, including her little brother.

Jon and I are both teaching ESL this trimester. Jon has the advanced group in the morning and I have the advanced-beginners in the afternoon. The students absolutely adore Jon; his jovial personality and humor go a long way here. I have a smaller class of mostly women this time. We have had a good time learning directions, adjectives, and daily routines (washing the dishes, ironing the clothes, etc.) One of the men in Jon's class actually serves as a translator in Costa Rica for E3 Ministers. E3 is the group that our church in Columbia, SC works with during our campaigns to Colombia, South America. It is certainly a small world.

Church has been going better. It is amazing how much more we can understand now that we know past tense. We don't necessarily know how to use it correctly all the time ourselves, but reading the Bible and listening to sermons is getting a little easier. Sometimes my English background is frustrating for me because Spanish and English do not always match up. Learning the new forms in Spanish is difficult when I can't attach it to how to translate it in English. It's part of the process I know and my teachers keep reminding me to take it one day at a time.

Last week, our language class studied food. On Friday my classmates and teacher came over for lunch. Each of us prepared a typical food and then had to explain, in Spanish, how we prepared it. It was a relaxing and fun time. This was also the first time I had had a teacher over to the house. She enjoyed our American dishes and we all laughed at some of the differences in Costa Rican and American foods. The 2 hours of language class has been really good. I get a lot of talking time because there are only 3 of us in the class. Yesterday, I had to describe a funny moment that happened to me in the past. I (tried) to talk about the time that I dislocated my jaw at a museum in Washington, D.C. This is a very famous family and friend story, and luckily it was just as funny in Spanish. It of course was not funny at the time, but I can laugh about it now.

During the week, Jon goes around town and talks to various people about different topics. Each week he has a new theme and questions that he has to ask them. The following week he presents his finding to his teacher. His teacher Anna was actually a flight attendant at one time and learned English really well. She is able to help Jon with every question he has because she knows both English and Spanish.

Praises:
1. The kids have been healthy so far this trimester.
2. A group from the US came and led chapel on Thursday. It was an encouragement to us to continue on in the hope of the gospel.
3. God has blessed us with wonderful friends here. Learning and life in general would be a greater struggle without them.

Prayer Requests:
1. That learning would continue to come and that we would not become frustrated or discouraged, especially me, at making mistakes.
2. One of my teachers from last semester lost her father this past week. (I mentioned his condition in a previous post). Pray that God would be glorified in this situation and that my teacher would be a light to her family, most on them are not believers.
3. Pray for dependence on God in all things.

Back in School

Hello friends. The past month has gone by incredibly fast. It was full of final exams for our first semester, a trip to Nicaragua, a visit from Jon's parents, and the start of a new semester. We are trying to catch our breathes as we have started our new classes. Jon is taking a grammar class and then another class called FARO. Each week he will be compiling a list of questions and then will visit 8-10 predesignated people to compile information about his topics for the week. He is excited about the relationships he will make, but is trying to get used to the new format of learning.

I am taking one grammar class and a 2 hour conversation class. There are only 3 of us in the conversation class, so there is no hiding. I feel like I have already talked more in the past week then I did all last semester. I am a little overwhelmed by all the work, but I usually do feel overwhelmed at the beginning of something new. I am, however, excited about the Spanish I will learn. Each week we have to give several informational presentations, as well as conduct a Bible Study each week. This is a pretty daunting task when you think about the fact that I knew only a few words and phrases in Spanish a few months ago (and those words were only from watching "Dora the Explorer"). But I am happy to report that I can now watch Dora and actually know what she is saying.

We had a wonderful visit from Jon's parents a couple of weeks ago on our break. They had a good time and it was nice to show them where we lived and take them to the places we go each week. Kendall and Parker of course loved the attention of their Nanna and Pappa. We were able to go to a hotel for a few days with them called Punta Leona. The food was awesome and we got to see monkeys, iguanas, frogs, butterflies, and more every time we stepped out our door. Each day we had breakfast with a different kind of animal. The last day we were there, Jon's mom and I were a little worried that the monkeys were going to jump on our table and take our food.

Our trip to Nicaragua (for our visa renewals) was not so exciting. The buses we took were surprisingly very nice and the hotel was also beautiful. But, because it was the off season, the hotel had designated times for meals. Lunch wasn't until 12:30 and dinner didn't start until 7:00. For a 2 and 4 year old, this is a big problem. We are usually putting the kids in bed by 7. Needless to say, their schedules were way off and they didn't seem to bounce back very well. Also, when we did eat, we had a hard time finding food that was good. Jon thinks we experienced a little "culture shock" because we were having a hard time adapting to our surroundings. Thankfully, we don't have to go anywhere for a while.

Praises:
1. Jon's parents had a safe and fun trip here. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces.
2. Jon and I both will have the opportunity to teach ESL classes at the AMCA house on Wednesdays.

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray that our minds would soak up Spanish.
2. Pray that we will be able to manage the work load and not become weary of all the new things.
3. Pray for relationships with our neighbors and friends that we meet at AMCA. May God give us the words to say and may we be examples of His light.
4. Pray that our time back in the States (in August) will be short so that we can get to Colombia quickly. We have about 5%-7% more support to raise before we can go.

We love you. May the Lord bless you and keep you and give you peace.

Another week of firsts

Greetings from sunny Costa Rica. We finally had a hot week here, but we also had our first big rain. The teachers at the school have warned us that this is the beginning of the rainy season. No one is looking forward to the long days of rain, mold, and wet roads, clothes, and shoes.

This week Jon and I both had to give 5-minutes presentations in our language classes. This was the first time we had to talk for so long in a formal setting. I did mine on earthquakes, which I now have first-hand experience with, and Jon did his on hippopotamuses. He could have picked any animal he wanted and that's what he picked. He said he actually learned a lot. Ha!Ha!

We also had our first experience at the immigration office. We spent 4 hours waiting to apply for a visa extension to stay in the country for another 30 days. In Costa Rica you are only allowed to stay on a "tourist" visa, which we have, for 90 days. At the end of the 90 days, you have to leave the country for at least 72 hours and then you can re-enter. You are permitted to apply for a one-time 30 day extension, which is what we did on Tuesday. Even though our wait was long, Parker did awesome. He played quietly, we walked around outside a little, and then he fell asleep in his stroller. I think God knew we needed a peaceful day.

When we got up to the counter, the woman helping us tried to explain, in Spanish of course, that we would not receive confirmation of our extension for another 2 months. We have to present our paperwork at the border when we leave for a short trip at the end of April. We were a little confused about what she was trying to tell us and we were worried at first that we didn't have all the documentation we needed. Thankfully, another employee came over and explained it to us, in English of course. It will be so nice when we know more Spanish, especially in situations like this.

Parker stayed home most of the week with Carla because he had a cold. He enjoyed having the attention and she loved having the company. When I came home on Monday, she told me all about how she ironed, swept, made lunch, made the beds, and cleaned the bathrooms with Parker on her hip. She was a little concerned that she hadn't gotten enough done, but I was so grateful that he was happy considering the week he had last week at school.

My last ESL class was on Wednesday. There was at least one woman who gave her life to Christ after the message. Praise God! The kids came during the reception time and were able to meet several of my students.

Two other quick firsts: I took the kids on a bus to McDonald's myself and went to a local store called "Pequeno Mundo" (Small World). Also, Kendall and I got our hair cut at a local place around the corner. This is a scary thing for a girl with short hair, but thankfully it turned out well. I rehearsed how to say, "Can I make an appointment to have my hair cut?" the entire way there. I also learned the word for layers "capas". Good times.

Praises:
1. We were able to apply for our visa extension without any problems.
2. Jon's parents are coming in a few weeks.

Prayer Requests:
1. One of my teachers shared with us how her father is struggling with Alzheimer's and has had to be hospitalized. She is the only one in her family who is a Christian and is experiencing some rejection within the family for this. Her sisters are not allowing her to help make decisions about their father's care. Please pray that she will be a light to her family and that she would have opportunities to share the gospel with them during this hard time.
2. Please continue to pray for Parker in his class. He only went once last week, so we're not sure if there is any improvement with his biting.
3. My parents finally sold my grandfather's house (he has moved into an assisted living situation). This is a praise and a prayer request. My mom has a lot to go through, both material items and memories. My oldest sister is coming to help her in the next few weeks. Pray that they would be able to get a lot done and that they would be comforted by the Holy Spirit--it's hard thinking about what do to with Poppy's things.
4. Pray for the woman at AMCA House who accepted Christ. Pray that she will get involved in one of the discipleship programs and begin to learn more about her Heavenly Father.
Thank you for your love and support. Sorry this post was so long.
Love in His Name,
Jon, Amanda, Kendall, and Parker

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.