what a precious morning....

We love our church! We go to Vida Plena. It is near the house, just a 5 minute drive. We love the worship, the pastor's family, his preaching. It is a beautiful place. It is located down an embankment in an old garage! It is a special place. It is only 5 years old. It was actually started in our Cincel! It was started by the same pastor with 5 families. Today there are probably 100 people including the children. Each Sunday a different man from the church guards the cars. One day maybe they will have there own campus, but for now God's presence is there in an old garage and something that has struck me is this, the people are so grateful for what they have in their church!

Today the pastor was preaching across the country so Denny was asked to preach. It was great! I love hearing him in English and in Spanish. God is so good!

sometimes preaching looks different in chapel!

What a great chapel today! The teachers, with some drama, spoke about some do's and don'ts regarding Costa Rican culture, like, ladies don't stick your hand out to shake a ladies hand or a mans! that is a no-no! when you enter a classroom, ask to enter, don't just walk in. Don't arrive early or even at the appointed hour to someone's house, come late. Always call to confirm for any kind of appointment, even when invited to a home for cafecito. If you don't call the day before, they will assume you are not coming. Never open the door in your home if your feet aren't dressed! Very rude to take your shoes off in any situation.

They helped us with taxi and bus etiquette, hallway etiquette, classroom and church. It was so fascinating and so enlightening! So glad I just got here and haven't made too many mistakes in my last three weeks! I learned today I have made some. Here's one I am guilty of. You don't put your purse on the floor. It remains on your lap. uh-oh I'm guilty!

Missionary Kids! love them so much...

Missionary kids are a special breed! They follow their parents to another country, another language, another culture. For how long, they do not know. They are riding along through the application process, the itineration process, the arrival to the country process, the new school process, new foods, new environment, new everything. Sometimes I wonder how they do it so gracefully.

So much of the kids adjustment is based on the parents ability to adjust. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is hard, very hard. Our Cincel missionary kids live in apartments on the Cincel campus, they go to Sojourn Academy where they have classes in English and have a Spanish class daily. They live very close to each other, go in the same van to school, some are in the same class. They are building life long friendships. What a wonderful thing. So far we can tell they are adapting well.

Today was a special fiesta day. We surprised them when they got home from school with a little McDonalds party! We showed some cartoon Dvd's and played some games. We prayed together and had fun. It was a great time. We love them and appreciate all they do to make their parents proud.

enjoying being a student!

There was a problem when we took the challenge to direct Cincel. I had forgotten so much of my Spanish that I knew I wouldn't be able to fulfill my responsibilities in an excellent way. Since Cincel is a language school it was a perfect opportunity to take care of the problem!

I arrived here on Wednesday, August 28th. On Monday, September 2nd I took a written exam in the morning and an oral exam in the afternoon. I gave it all I had. I pulled everything out of my little brain that I could. My written exam took me 3 hours. My oral exam was an hour and 15 minutes. It was hard, it was pulling things out that I haven't used since 1989 when we left Spain. I was just as anxious as the new students that arrive with no Spanish for those exams.

I have been in class one week now and I am so excited. I am not going to say it is easy, not by any stretch, but it is so fulfilling. I think my brain is producing more brain cells and that can't be at all bad! I have 2 hours of conversation and one hour of grammar each day. I am in a conversation class with 3 other ladies and my grammar class has 9 people. We are learning and making every day count.

I feel so honored to be in this place at this time in my life. When we attended language school here in Costa Rica in 1987 we were married only 9 years and didn't have Ryan or Renee yet. We were footloose and fancy free, enjoying language school and enjoying each other.

Today we are married 35 years with Ryan and Renee in the states. We are in a different stage in our lives and enjoying every moment of it. So many things have happened in our ministry in 35 years that today I feel like we are here as part of the puzzle that God had made before we were even born.

We are so thrilled to be here with new missionaries. We are delighted to be a part of their children's lives. We are uncle and auntie to them and we love it. When the little ones see Uncle Denny they give him hugs and run to his office for a ring pop. It is adorable.

God has blessed us with a beautiful staff, beautiful new families to learn Spanish, and an opportunity to grow personally. He is so good.

Chica-Time!

Each month I will have a gathering for the lady students of Cincel. Everyone needs a little break every now and again! Today we had our September gathering. They came to my house for potato soup, pumpkin bread and pineapple cookies. It was yummy!

After we ate our little lunch we each shared our prayer cards with each other. We asked questions of the other and shared special little stories and tidbits about our cards and how they were designed the way they were. We ended our time together with prayer and it was sweet. God is so good to give us each other in what can be a difficult time for families to leave the States and come to a place where you don't know the language or culture.

It was a wonderful time together and already I am looking forward to our October time together!

Spanish Chapel

Yesterday was the first Spanish chapel for the new trimester in Cincel. It was a beautiful chapel. The academic assistant led worship with another student and I played the piano for them. It was so much fun. I had forgotten how much I miss the Spanish songs and choruses that are sung here. It was great.

Denny preached for the first chapel, starting next week the students will be preaching. This is part of their classwork. It will be really neat. I can't wait. Denn preached and it was so good. He preached about being filled with God's power to be a servant. Something we all need to be reminded of. It was a great day!

Welcomes are so happy!

Tonight was my second welcome to the work in Costa Rica! The field fellowship (the missionaries that are assigned to Costa Rica) had a pot luck to welcome me! and Denny too!! It was so much fun. We had a service with great music and terrific preaching  by Jon Dahlager, then a dinner for all!

Hay una fiesta!

When we finished our week long AGTS class, the Cincel teachers put on a wonderful program to explain the history of Costa Rica, their symbols, their national food and dance. We sang the national songs and enjoyed a beautiful national lunch! It was a beautiful program! It was so much fun, especially to learn the dance, that is called "The Turkey!" The dancers are in pairs, then they dance single, then like musical chairs, they grab a partner, if you don't get a partner, you dance with the broom!

Here are some photos of our fiesta!

It's the 4th of July in Costa Rica!

 September 15, 1821 marks the day of independence from Spain for this wonderful country in which we live. 192 years tomorrow! It's a special day! Lots of fiestas, lots of traditions and lots of joy. The Costa Ricans are a beautiful, peaceful people and their celebrations contain special dances and remembrances. I don't think it will include fireworks! Symbols are very important in any country. Yesterday the Cincel teachers explained them. It was really fascinating. Their national anthem was written to a melody that already existed, however the president in 1902 asked a teacher to write the words in 3 days! He said that he couldn't do it in 3 days so the president threw him in jail. He did it in 3 days! We learned how to sing it yesterday.

 Their flag was first designed by the president's wife! The colors are very familiar, red, white and blue!

 

 The national seal has the sea, the volcanoes, the ship and 7 stars to represent the 7 parishes.


 

The national tree is the Guanacaste tree. It is so dry in Guanacaste that the cows and the people share the shade!


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 The national animal is the white tailed deer. That too sounds familiar to me from where I come from!


 


 The national flower is the orchid. So very gorgeous.

 


 The national bird is the Thrush. It is not known for its beauty but rather for its song. It sings the loudest of any bird in Costa Rica.

 


 No where in the world is the oxcart painted quite like they do in Costa Rica. I love the carts. They are happy colors, they are pretty and represent the country well.


 

The dancers are dressed in beautiful dresses, very festive and it seems like everyone has one!
The teachers told me yesterday that I will have one for the next party!
 


The national dish is Arroz con Pollo. Delicioso! Served with frijoles, cabbage, and chips.

                                          

all settled in!

I was settled into the house in 3 days, settled into the office in one. I am ready to go! As well as being a team member to direct Cincel, I am also a student. I will be studying Spanish everyday. I have been away from the language for a long time. I really need the classroom. So I am excited to be a part of the learning process once again!God has been so very good to me!