September-October Update

Barrio Meco, Sep 27 and Oct 4, 2009…

We started helping with a kid’s feeding program and evangelization ministry in a precario called Barrio Meco on Sundays. Our friend, Felix, invited us to help serve with this ministry. The local team consists of a group of about ten Christians who all had a heart for serving children in poor communities. They started first by assisting a door to door ministry with a mission team from Florida. For eleven Sundays, they have continued to serve in this little village where no other churches have ministered before. The residents are mostly Nicaraguan immigrants who built their homes as squatters on this property, which is just outside Ciudad Quesada. Meetings are held in the home of a lady named Myra, who has allowed the use of her front porch for the kids program and her living room for working with the adults. There is no electricity in this community, so they cook the meals for the kids over a wood burning stove, and the adults meet in a dark living room.

The first Sunday, we observed the program and got to know the team and the people from the community. The next Sunday, we led the children’s message, with the help of some of our youth from Santa Rosa de la Palmera. About 30 children attended each meeting. On the second Sunday, the team hosted a baby shower for Myra’s daughter-in-law, Yahoska. Her husband has left her, but Myra graciously opened her home to her daughter-in-law and grandchildren. We are very excited to be part of the project in Barrio Meco, especially to see locals, working in their own community to show God’s love to their neighbors.

Sonia teaching kids in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Kids eating lunch in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Sonia teaching kids in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Betzayda working with kids in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Mayra cooking for kids in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Felix preaching in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Kids in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Meco, Sep 27,2009

Carlos Blanco preaching in Meco, Sep 27,2009

Felix Singling with Jimmy in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Brooke teaching name game, ¨Me pico,¨ in Meco, Oct 4,2009

One of our youth from Santa Rosa, Karla, with Jimmy in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Eva, Karla, and Brooke playing Fishing Game in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Fishing game in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Fishing game in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Rebeca helping with Fishing game in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Karla reading to kids in Meco, Oct 4,2009


Mauricio reading to kids in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Mauricio, Karla, Karen, Eva, and Rebeca leading name game in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Singing in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Felix, youth from Santa Rosa, Mau and Karen, with silly Andrè in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Yahoska and daughter in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Yahoska`s daughter enjoying some baby shower gifts in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Baby Shower for Yahoska in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Baby Shower for Yahoska in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Baby Shower for Yahoska in Meco, Oct 4,2009

Santa Rosa de la Palmera

Septic Tank, Sep 21, 2009…

Last week in Santa Rosa de la Palmera we finished installing the septic tank and drain field for the new bathrooms. The task was lead by the pastor Geovanny, while I helped and church members Mauricio and Cipriano joined in to help place the last culvert pipe for the tank. Unfortunately back in July, due to the limited space on the site, we “crossed paths” with the old system. In order to finish the new system we ended up removing the majority of the black water of the previous drain lines and field. Note my brown camouflage in the photo.

Geovanny and Brett working on Septic Tank, Santa Rosa de la Palmera

Fishing Trip, Sep 23, 2009…

Wednesday the 23^rd a few of the men from the church at Santa Rosa de la Palmera went fishing in a local creek. The pastor Geovanny and his son Joshua, Augustin, Maurcio and I enjoyed about two hours in the wild before we headed home soaking wet due to a rain storm. We caught about 15 shad (known as sabalo in Spanish). None of them was very big, but apparently all fried up they are very tasty. When we returned to Mauricio’s house, his dad Cipriano had lunch waiting for us. It was a great day of fun and fellowship.

Women’s meeting, Sep 30, 2009…

The women from Santa Rosa de la Palmera meet every Wednesday in somebody’s home or at the church. I, Brooke, led the message at the women’s meeting on Wednesday, September 30. I talked with them about spiritual gifts, how God gives us gifts for the greater good of the community (1 Corinthians 12-7) and to assist the leaders in the church. I referenced Numbers 11, where Moses pleaded for help in addressing the needs of the Israelites, and God granted him the help of seventy elders to help carry the load. When I asked the women what their gifts were, some of them knew, but many didn’t. Many said they were too embarrassed to get up in front of the church and share a message; we’ve also heard that people don’t want to evangelize because they don’t know enough about the Bible to do so. The pastor in Ciudad Quesada preached on September 27 from 2 Timothy 1:6-7, which says, “…I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. God didn’t give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” I shared this verse with the women as well, so they know that the power of God and a spiritual gift is already within them, and all of us. We just need to revive it with a little oxygen and life so it produces fruit.

Youth Vigil in El Mirador, October 3, 2009…

We took the youth from Santa Rosa de la Palmera to a vigil in El Mirador, where some of us contributed a worship ensemble to the song, “Trading my sorrows.” It was a lovely event that lasted from 7:00p.m. until 12:00 a.m. The other churches that attended were from Methodist churches in Alajuela and El Molino. There was singing, dancing, a message about setting goals, and all the churches that attended contributed their talents in the form of songs, dances, and plays.

Start of English classes Ciudad Quesada/Santa Rosa, Sep 30, 2009…

We started teaching English at the Methodist Church in Ciudad Quesada on Wednesdays and in Santa Rosa on Thursdays. We gave an announcement at both church services in Quesada on September 27. Also, a friend we met working in Barrio Meco, Carlos Blanco, offered to announce the classes on his Christian Radio show. Despite all those announcements, no one showed up in Quesada the 1^st week, and the 2^nd week 3 people came. In Santa Rosa, however, we had a full class of 12 the first week, and the second week we had 16 students show up, which were divided evenly between children and youth.

Tutoring

Since we’ve been back from Scotland, we’ve worked with Eylin and Daniela, since exams started on Oct 5. I, Brooke, have also been meeting with Maritza, Yaime, and Mainor in English.

Brooke Birthday, Sep 25, 2009…

I turned 31 this year, and the youth from the church presented me with a cake, made by a church member, Yorleni. Brett and I also celebrated with dinner at El Tucano, and had some friends over and ate another cake, gifted by our neighbors, Jose and Santos. Maritza, one of my English students, gave me a Betta for my birthday, which we have named Jet Li.

Brooke with birthday cake and youth from Santa Rosa

Brooke and Brett with friends, Adan, Claudia, Eva, Rut, Josabat, and Jocabeth

Cutting balsa October 1^st and 8^th

Brooke and I went up north to Tonjibe about two hours from where we live to cut down a balsa tree last Thursday. Tonjibe is a village of indigenous people from the Maleku tribe of Costa Rica. The Maleku are well known for their artisan sculptures and woodworking in balsa. Marcos the pastor of the Methodist church in Tonjibe, and his family are friends of ours. The tree we cut was about three years old and about sixty feet tall. A week later I went back to finish the work of hauling part of the tree a quarter mile out of the jungle. A man from the community helped me cut and haul the ten foot lengths. Balsa is very light, but only when it’s dry.

For some time I, Brett, have had the desire to shape a surfboards in balsa. There is a kid in our neighborhood that I am looking to involve with this project. He is out of school and doesn’t have a paying job. I hope that I will be able to teach him a few things about tools and practices and perhaps give him some marketable skills in woodworking. At the very least, there will have to be a trip to the beach to test out how the board rides. We’ll start shaping in about a week when the wood has dried.

Brett chopping Balsa in Tonjibe

Brett and Pastor Marcos from Tonjibe chopping Balsa

Baby Brooke with Pastora Emilse in Tonjibe (with umbrella)

Changes

As some of you may already know we are planning on leaving Costa Rica at the end of the year. We have not finalized the date of our departure, nor have we begun to seriously look at our future location, mission opportunities and/or employment. On Tuesday the 8th, Brooke and I met with Marion and Mary, the directors of the CRM (http://www.costaricamethodist.org/). While they already knew that we are planning on leaving the country at the end of the year, we let them know that we have decided to break off our direct working relationship with the camp now rather than at the end of the year.

We have always had projects that are separate from the mission focus of the CRM. We feel that these projects could use more of our time. We will continue to work with the youth group at Santa Rosa de le Palmera, tutor, and teach English. Brett would also like to continue in woodworking. We hope to further develop those programs which we have already started. Our prayer is that God can use us effectively in this manner. Please keep us in your prayers as we find out what the next few months hold for us, as well as our future beyond December.

We would like to thank all of you for the many ways in which you have supported us before and during our endeavors here in Costa Rica. Your prayers, presence, gifts and service have enabled us to live and work with the people of Costa Rica. Our prayer is that through our relationships with you that Christ has been experienced more richly by the people with whom we work.

English Classes and Tutoring …from Brooke

I am working with a new English student, Maritza, who is 21 years old. She lives with her family on their dairy farm, just up the hill from us in San Juan del Quebrada del Palo. She is fairly advanced in English classes, but needs a lot of practice with conversation. We`ve been using a text book which uses the Bible to explain English grammar concepts.

Until recently, I had been working on Saturdays with a girl named Ariadna in English and Art. We studied English for an hour, and would then switch to painting and drawing. She is the daughter of Milena, whom I worked with last year in English in Linda Vista.


Ariadna painting on our back porch


Eylin and Daniela have had some slight improvement in their studies. Eylin passed all her exams… except for Social Studies. I believe Daniela is still failing 2 subjects. Both Brett and I have been working with them to try to make the material easier for them to understand. Last week they began the final trimester of the academic year. We pray that they will have the determination and desire to ¨hit the books¨ and do well in all their classes.

Eylin is living with her grandmother now, which is a blessing in that she doesn`t receive threats from her dad that he`s going to take her out of school. The unfortunate side effect is that it`s given her more liberty to talk to a particular twenty five year old on the phone and see him once a week. I`ve encouraged her to respect her parent`s rules even though she isn`t living with them. She still has no desire to go to church because she finds it boring and believes it to be too legalistic. Please pray for her and also wisdom for me to know how to give her counsel.

The English class that I was teaching in Ciudad Quesada ended, but will start again at the end of September.

I`m still working with Yaime and Mainor in San Rafael in English 2 days a week.

CRM Project Document ...from Brooke

Despite our above mentioned departure from the CRM, I am working on a digital document that Mary, the director, asked me to complete. The idea is to make a digital portfolio of the camp`s projects over the years. There are a number of churches (which the CRM and VIM teams have built) to document photographically and to layout on the computer.

Abstinence Program ...from Brooke

In June, we helped a team from Bearden United Methodist in Tennesse with an abstinence presentation at a high school in Venecia. As a result of the positive reaction from this presentation, David Ault sent a college student, Justin Grimsley, to continue the program in August. With Justin, we went to a high school in Rio Cuarto, just down the road from Venecia. We had the support of an English professor from Venecia, named Gerardo, who helped set up the meetings and give the presentations. Justin and Gerardo also gave the presentation to the youth at the Methodist Church in Pital. The pastors were very excited about the course, and want to continue sharing the valuable information contained in the presentation.

The program was based on the Just Wait course. A powerpoint presentation was given to both boys and girls, then they were split up, so they could ask questions in a same-gender friendly environment. At the end of every presentation, students were asked if they wanted to make the commitment to wait until marriage to have sex. Those that wanted to make the commitment were given “promise rings” and signed a “contract” stating their commitment. We found that younger students were more eager to sign the contract. Several of the older students who had already had sex were excited, yet nervous, about having another opportunity to recommit themselves.

We don’t have a very clear understanding of when students here receive sex education. When we asked the students if they had ever heard any of the information presented in the course, or if they had the opportunity to ask questions about sex, the general response was that they didn’t. Although, we talked to some professors who said they received the information in Biology in the 9th grade. Overall, it seemed the students went away with more awareness of the nature of STD’s, the definition of sex, and information that might allow them to make better life choices in regard to their bodies.

The CRM is very interested in presenting this Just Wait program to pastors, so they can in turn present it to the youth in their congregations. Also, the counselors in the high schools we visited are interested in continuing the course on a yearly basis. Obviously, it is something that is lacking in Costa Rica. Please keep this program in your prayers.


Bearden Methodist group, June 2009


Justin and Brett presenting to high school in Rio Cuarto, August 2009


Gerardo presenting to high school in Rio Cuarto, August 2009

Youth Group ...from Brett

Our youth group meetings have moved to Saturday nights. The youth have decided that they want to lead their own worship service and are trying to figure out all the ¨finer¨ spiritual and technical points. I like to compare it to a parade in small town where there are only enough people for the parade, but nobody is there to actually watch, which might be a good thing since everybody is participating.

We are trying to support the youth in their various gifts, to let them know that there are many ways in which they can share their faith and worship God. We pray that all their gifts and talents will be used and developed by God for his Kingdom.

In an effort to get them motivated about starting their own service, we traveled to the youth group at the church in Ciudad Quesada in August. To help them think of ideas of working with kids in the community, Brooke brought some of them to the Children`s church at the same church.


Group receiving their baptism certificates in Santa Rosa de la Palmera


Youth group singing at Mother`s Day celebration, August 15, 2009

Woodworking...from Brett

Until our notice, I was working regularly on projects for the camp. With the help of Adiel, a local boy, I built and installed 2 tables for the laundry room. With Tom Hymer, a visiting Volunteer in Missions I built and installed 3 new windows for the guest house.

Adiel was the student we were tutoring last year, but has since dropped out of school. Since he is just 15 years old, he can`t work yet. I am going to try to continue to work with him in the coming months in one way or another.

Teams …from Brooke

There were several teams at the camp this past summer that we worked with, which we have yet to mention in the blog.

A team from Athens, GA was at the camp in June, and they helped with construction at the dining room in El Mirador and the bathrooms in Santa Rosa, and they also led VBS in El Mirador and in San Franciso de la Palmera. Something unique about this group was that they had an abstinence course for adolescent girls while another group worked with the kids in VBS. While completing construction projects is important to the mission here, relationships are much more important. I was blessed to help one of the team members, Julia, reconnect with with an old friend from El Mirador, Leidy. Even though they don’t speak the same language, they have a connection that is inseparable. Brett also enjoyed working with the guys in Santa Rosa. It was a week full of hard work and good fellowship.

There was also a team from Wichita, KS in June, which I mentioned in the last blog. They also worked construction in Santa Rosa with Brett as well as on various projects at the camp. I was blessed to have some help tutoring from Shonda, whom I mentioned in the last blog.

A team from Columbus, GA, was here in July. They worked in construction for the dining room and a house in El Mirador. The house was a significant project for several reasons. One is that is the home of our friend, Eva, whom I mentioned earlier. Also, it’s the first house that has been built in El Mirador in over a year. This team also worked construction in Santa Rosa de la Palmera with Brett and helped dig a septic tank, painted the church roof, built formwork and made up steel reinforcement for the columns and beams. They also spent the entire a week in VBS in El Mirador. They had the same program that the Athen’s team presented, Crocodile Dock. Luckily, every team presents VBS differently, so the kids were able to learn something new from both groups. Pastor Lynn Meadows-White, whom I mentioned in the last blog, led the VBS with help from her fellow parishioners. She also helped to officiate the Santa Rosa baptisms.


Ruiz family in front of their new house, El Mirador


Columbus, GA team cheering in El Mirador

A Dentist and Vision clinic was held in July in San Juan, near El Mirador, by a team from Midland, TX. I helped translate for them a few days while they were here. They were a small group of 7, but attended to many patients in need of reading glasses and tooth extractions. They also had an extensive play area, complete with bible related crafts, for kids waiting to see the dentist.


Dentist group from Midland, TX in San Juan

One of our supporting churches, Trinity United Methodist from Gulfport, MS, was here in July with a team from Alabama. They worked construction and VBS in Santa Rosa de la Palmera. The MS team brought supplies from the Crocodile Dock VBS and worked with the Alabama team for two days of VBS . We were able to invite Eva and her family to help assist with the songs in VBS the first day, since they had participated with the previous VBS in El Mirador with the Columbus team. The construction crew painted the roof of the church and formed and poured columns and beams for the bathroom project.


AL and MS teams working construction in Santa Rosa


Al and MS teams in VBS in Santa Rosa


Al and MS teams in VBS in Santa Rosa


Al and MS teams in VBS in Santa Rosa

The language school made their traditional trimester visit to the camp at the end of July. Our friend, Amanda (http://www.alidderdaleincostarica.blogspot.com/), who just graduated from language school, led the group. They spent the morning working construction on the dining room in El Mirador and the afternoon with VBS in Linda Vista.


Language School (ILE) VBS in Linda Vista

Two short trips ...from Brett

Suegros...
We put some projects on hold a few weeks back while Brooke´s ¨suegros¨ i.e. my parents, Ron and Carol, came to visit. We did tourist things with them, like the zip line at Arenal volcano. We put them on the horses´s for a ride at Jerry and Larry`s property. We took a dip at the hot springs at Thermales del Bosque. We took them to Santa Rosa where we attend church, to meet the pastor and his family, as well as to Eva`s house in el Mirador. We then went to Playa Grande in Guanacaste and to Manuel Antonio National Park in Puntarenas. It was a short, fast trip, but nice to have them visit us and have time to see the country together.


Brooke, Brett, Carol, and Ron in Zarcero


Carol teaching Ariana how to make a whistle out of a piece of grass in Santa Rosa


Carol learning Spanish from Joshua and Ariana in Santa Rosa

Ceilidh
Last week, we were blessed with the opportunity to go to Scotland for part 2 of Brooke´s sister`s, wedding. The groom’s side of the family hosted a Ceilidh, which is a Gaelic social dance originating in Ireland and Scotland.


Katy and Colin at their blessing in disguise, Edinburgh, Scotland


The Ceilidh

Blog update from Brett a few weeks ago…
WOODSHOP
I built and installed some mirror frames for the new cabin at the camp and I am building replacement windows for some of the windows in the guest house. Yeudi (pronounced Jody), the son of a local pastor, and I also built a table which was donated to the church in El Mirador. The table is to help an upstart sewing program for the women in the community. They apparently had been sewing, with machines, either placed on their laps or on the floor in the sanctuary. I am also working on a lectern for that same church at the request of the gardener at the camp who attends services there. I built a small altar service table for the church at Coquital, near Los Chiles, (see photos). I built a similar table for Dinia, the wife of the District Superintendent. She wanted a table which could be transported in their car and set up easily for displays and teaching materials for the various projects she is working on throughout the district. Throughout most all of the work, I have been using the materials that are already in the shop, which has been sometimes challenging, but fulfilling in the end to see all those materials, and tools, finally put to use after years of storage. Additionally, I am still trying to wrap up Jerry Russell’s kitchen before he arrives here on the 19th, I am nearly there.



SANTA ROSA
Geovanny, our pastor, and I spent some time together over the past few weeks working on bringing the church at Santa Rosa up to code. We pulled two double doors and their metal frames out of their openings, and turned them around so that they swung out of the building for exit safety. While doing that we also put a fresh coat of paint on them . We also wrapped up some tile and grout work which had not been completed in the multi-purpose building which currently doubles as their home. Beyond that, we finally returned this past week with a team from Kansas, to continue on the construction of the new bathroom building. The construction had been stalled after the quick start and rapid progress by the team from Rockville S.C. I am embarrassed to say that the long delay and lack of progress was partially my fault. It seems that the wall sections that we started with were not as strong as I had thought and some of the walls had failures in their mortar joints. The current work is not so much reworking as it is tying all the individual sections together and reinforcing where necessary. My embarrassment is of course rooted in the fact that I was educated as an architect and I generally over engineer everything. Anyway it seems we’re off to the races again with that work and I am happy to report it, (see photos).





YOUTH GROUP
Our youth group has had some fun events recently and we seem to be at least maintaining our numbers. Ten of our youth will be baptized into the membership of the church, two weekends from now and we are really excited about it. Geovanny and I apparently need to dig out some portion of the creek by the camp so as they can be fully immersed. Hopefully, it won’t rain as the creek really gets ripping when it does. The Saturday before father’s day, nine of the youth came over to the house and baked three cakes. One was immediately consumed while two others survived to be shared on Sunday for our Father’s Day lunch, after the service. They were chocolate cake with chocolate icing, a carrot cake with cream cheese icing and a pineapple upside down cake, which was I am pretty sure the best I have ever eaten, (see photos). The youth are leading a worship service on Saturday nights and that is also going pretty well. We took 12 youth to the church at El Mirador recently to share in a worship service lead by kids from that church and it was a good experience for them all to interact and to get to see how other youth services/meetings function. We have used Larry Johnston’s van for a few outings like these, and we are thankful for the use of his vehicle. We are planning other such trips to churches around the area in an effort to get the kids out into the community and to let them see a little more of Costa Rica than they are used to, very few have travelled more than 30 miles from home.

CHICKENS
We are currently unable to account for the whereabouts of all thirty five of them. At least three of them were eaten by “the neighbors”, and two were murdered by a very curious, playful, dog. Many of them have reached impressive size, are beautifully colored, totally tame, and have begun to lay eggs, finally, (see photos). Unfortunately, the short maturity timeline that we were assured never seemed to come to fruition. Most of the chickens are only now producing. We are happy that they are beginning to help supplement the diets of the people who received them, and the neighbors of others (though not in the way intended).

Blog update from Brooke…



Photos from the English class I´m teaching at the Methodist Church in Ciudad Quesada.

July 5, 2009; Youth group Baptisms
The youth group was baptized today via full emersion in the creek at the Centro Rural Metodista. I confirmed my baptism since I had never been through confirmation as a teenager. Pastor Geovanny from Santa Rosa and Pastor Lynn Meadows-White from Columbus, GA baptized us. I had been baptized as a baby in St Andrews Episcopal church, and have attended church services where we remembered our baptism, but have never really made the conscious decision to proclaim my whole hearted belief that Jesus is the son of God in front of my congregation. Needless to say, it was a special day, and I feel something within me that says this is a new beginning to a new outlook on life. Lately, I have struggled with finding joy in some of the not-so-glamorous work I often do at the camp. But the past few days, I’ve just showed up at the camp in an effort just to be present and available for whatever comes up. I’ve always been aware that being a missionary requires flexibility and living just in the moment, but I think I’ve been fighting to actually put that flexibility into practice. I may say with my mouth that I’ve gone with the flow, but I think I’ve really been in denial.
Something Mary said to me the other day has been ringing in my head, and that is, whatever you do, whether it be sweep cabins or washing dishes or tutoring or translating or teaching English or painting roofs, do it with joy, and know that everything the Lord puts in your path is for a reason, to teach you and build your character, to prepare you for something to come later. And then in my daily devotional today, the passage was from Acts 16:25, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” And the message was that “joy as a Christian should not depend on your circumstances. Joy comes from God, and therefore it cannot be affected by what is outside you.” (Blackaby, Experiencing God Day by Day Devotional).

We had the youth group from Santa Rosa over to the house to bake cakes for Father`s Day.


Camp employees singing happy birthday to Brett.


Brett and Brooke on Brett`s 32nd birthday, April 23, 2009


Team from Winter Haven, Florida


Brooke´s Aunt Carol donated money to buy hens for families in need. This is blanca from el mirador and Brooke on hen distribution day.


Brett presenting Juana in El Mirador with her chicken.

blog post from Brooke...
We once again apologize for not updating the blog. We`ve been making excuses for too long, so here is an update of what`s been happening between Feb and June...

First, an Eylin update. Her father allowed her to go to colegio, although very reluctantly. She is now living with her aunt and struggling in school. Her dad most recently gave her an ultimatum to choose between him and school.

Daniela is also struggling in school. Her dad has threatened to pull her out of school if she doesn´t do well on exams coming up. I think she needs meds to help her with ADHD, but she won`t talk to the school counselor about this. I struggle working with both Eylin and Daniela, so I try to schedule meeting with them separately. But Daniela will never study with me without Eylin. I worry about them both. Please pray they will both find their way!

I`ve been working with Silvia, a 35 year old mother of 3 in LInda Vista. She wants to get her 6th grade degree through Maestro en Casa, so as to be an example for her kids. Her oldest boys have both dropped out of school; we worked with her son Adiel last year before he dropped out. This week we had a wonderful meeting. I was blessed with a helper from the team that is here from Kansas. Shonda is a Social Studies and History teacher in the US, and has an amazing yet terrifying story of how her family fled Cambodia when she was 3 years old. Silivia has a similar story, in that her family had to flee Nicaragua when she was 11. It was such a blessing and an eye opener to be able to translate their stories for them. God is amazing how He connects people with similar stories from opposite corners of the world.

In April I helped with a Chrysalis with a group of teenage girls from Costa Rica and Panama. Several of the girls wanted me to teach English, so I have been teaching at the Methodist Church in Quesada once a week. We have had a steady turnout of about 7 students per class, which I find to be manageable. Last week, our friend, Nate from Texas helped teach the class. It turned out one of the girls in the class was an old friend of his whom he had met on his first mission trip in 1999. We are greatful for the opportunity to laugh and have a good time meeting new brothers and sisiters in Christ through this class.

I have been working with Mainor and Yaime from San Rafael 2 days a week. I love working with them because they do their homework and have a desire to learn...the Lord is kind to bless us occasionally with kids that want to learn. We just wish we knew how to encourage everybody to be more like them. Through this class, I met another student named Maritza, whom I will be working with once a week in English. Her family runs a dairy farm in Quebrada de Palo, close to El Mirador, but at the top of the hill overlooking San Carlos. When we met last week, we sat up in an office that overlooked the lush, rolling hills of San Carlos.

I´ve also been tutoring 7 year old, Kattiana, who is Flor`s granddaughter. She is struggling with learning how to read. Thankfully, a kindergarten teacher from the Winterpark team, Mary, gave me a ton of materials to work with kids. Specifically, she drew up a bunch of ¨learning stations¨for me, which I can make copies of to create tons of matching exercises, and alphabet and number games. thanks Mary!

More prayer requests for January

We have an update and prayer requests since we wrote the January blog update.

As some of you know, I, Brooke, have been tutoring two girls Daniela and Eylin in the Maestro En Casa program. They both now want to enroll in colegio this year, which is a blessing, as I have found it more challenging than I had imagined. It has become apparent that they are not ready for the discipline that teaching yourself requires. They need teachers in all their subjects who know the material front to back, which is much more than I believe I am capable...especially in Spanish!

There are some issues though with both of them attending school. Daniela has failed out of the 7th grade 3 times, and I`m not sure she has picked up on the fact that learning requires studying outside of school. Eylin´s dad won`t let her enroll for fear she will get pregnant if she goes to high school. Eylin told me that he is very ¨machista¨ and that he doesn`t believe women should have an education.

After much prayer and discussion with Eylin, we decided to ask a local pastor, Felix, to help us speak with her dad in hopes that he would relent and let her attend school. Felix and I went last Thursday evening, and Felix spoke from the book of Daniel, and how Daniel was a youth that was able to conquer the lions because of the Lord`s protection...and that Eylin is very capable of defending herself against the evils in colegio. Her father ended up saying that it wasn`t because she was a woman that he wouldn`t let her go, but because she was easily influenced by her peers. In the end, he said he`d decide by Wednesday, which is during the week when Eylin will have to enroll for the school year which begins on the 16th of Feb. Please keep Eylin and Daniela in your prayers!

Some of you know the Lord used Eylin to bring me here. My heart broke when I learned 3 years ago that she wasn´t going to go to school. At the time, her family told me it was for economic reasons. But there are government scholarships available to all in need. It seems some families don`t want to put the effort into the paperwork involved. Some also say only families with connections receive the scholarships, but we have met several students with scholarships that don`t appear as though they have any connections.

After three years of knowing Eylin and forming a relationship with her, some of the reasons for her not attending school are beginning to be more clear. Our prayer is that whatever comes of her situation is that she would be formed into the creation that God has intended for her, that she would be fortified in her faith, and that her relationship with her father and her family would be a system of support and mutual respect.

We also need your prayers for one of our friends, Eva. She has had a number of difficult experiences over the past few years and they have taken their toll on her self esteem. Please pray that the Lord would show her how special she is.

December and January update

We have a lot of catching up to do since our last update. The passing of the last few months has been fast and it is hard to believe that it is almost the end of January ’09. The holidays were a whirlwind from Thanksgiving through the New Year.

Santa Rosa: November
Brett has been spending the past 2 months almost entirely in Santa Rosa de la Palmera, in an effort to help move the Pastor and his family into the education building. They´ve been living behind a plastic tarp in the church for 8 months, so they were quite restless to move into their home. The home is temporary until a parsonage can be built, but much more comfortable than living in the church. They were finally able to move in a few weeks ago.



Santa Rosa Youth
We also have been continuing to work with the youth in Santa Rosa on Fridays and Sundays. We are actually starting to feel blessed by this experience, thanks to your prayers. It was a challenge at first, but we are slowly and surely growing in our friendships with these young folks.


Nicholsons: 12.15.08
Brett and I celebrated our one year anniversary on December 15. We went to Playa Grande and stayed one night at Hotel Las Tortugas, where we stayed with our friends Micah and Jane in 2006. Brett had the opportunity to surf a little bit. Also, we met a missionary family there that had just finished a 14 year term in Mexico. They greatly blessed us with advice, prayers, lunch and support.

Brooke´s mom, Betty: 12.23.08
My mom was able to fly here to spend Christmas with us, so we traveled around with her for a week. In fact, we took her on the route to La Paz waterfall gardens, which was most recently the epicenter of the earthquakes we´ve been having here. We recently heard they are thinking of closing this route for fifteen years, since the soil underneath will not be stable until then.


Jerry’s Team visit: 12.25.08
Jerry Russell´s team from Tennessee is always the first team of the year. They arrived on Christmas Day, and stayed until Jan 1. Since my mom was here, we didn´t get to spend too much time helping, but I was able to go with them one day to bible school at the Methodist church in Tonjibe, where an indigenous tribe known as Maleko live. I quickly formed a friendship with the pastor´s daughter and her friends, and they graciously invited me to the wedding of the pastor´s other daughter. We just attended the wedding this past weekend, Jan. 24th, and it was quite an experience. They had the whole town surrounding the bride and groom while Marion was marrying them.



Maestro en Casa: 01.05.08
Brooke has been working diligently with two and occasionally three students in the “Maestro en Casa” program, which was developed by the Ministry of Public Education. The idea is that those who otherwise would not proceed with their education for various reasons, could continue with their studies in their own homes, at their own pace. They then present themselves for exams after which they can qualify for the next grade level and finally graduation from high school. The way in which Brooke has taken to this task of working with these students has been, in my eyes, fantastic and refreshing. The work for her has been taxing, though, as the amount of material she hopes to cover with the students is substantial. So far they are working on three subjects at the seventh grade level: science, civics, math. Brooke is working with one student who in the past has found concentration in class and retention of material to be nearly impossible (she has failed the seventh grade 3 times), and another student who has been out of the classroom for three years. Five days a week they meet for two to three hours to review the material that they covered in their homes. In each subject the students need to finish about fifteen pages a week in order to cover all the material before the scheduled exam. Brooke definitely has taken the bull by the horns. The fact that one of the students is a girl who Brooke befriended early in her visits to C.R. and whom God used to break Brooke’s heart for missions here is even more significant now. For the past few years Brooke has prayed for ways to reach out to her and help her in her education and now that prayer has been answered through this program. We pray now that God will equip Brooke with the stamina and tools needed to see her students through the year successfully.

The photos here are of the 2 girls I am working with, Eylin and Daniela, and their friend, Fani. Our friend, Amanda, was visiting along with our friends Lalo and Antonio, missionaries in La Carpio. Antonio and Lalo have brought their kids on their soccer team to the camp on several occasions to participate in missions. They spend time with the boys in the Orphanage in Linda Vista, and show them Christ´s love in friendship. We tagged along with them on their trip to the zoo…which happened to be the same day as the Earthquake.



English: 01.05.089
I, Brooke, put some English classes and a preschool class on hold over the Holidays, and the 2 adult english classes are picking up again. I was afraid the class with the women in Linda Vista was about to fizzle out, which was upsetting cause I finally got to the point where the ladies were starting to open up, and I was starting to learn about what their lives were really like. Thankfully, Milena from Linda Vista called me up last week and was ready to start the class again. This time, I am helping her son study for his final english exam, so he can get his high school diploma...he failed 3 of his exams at the end of last year.

We also picked up teaching English to some of the employees from the camp and the pastor´s son from El Mirador. We teach them on Tuesday evenings either at our house or at the camp. Pictured here are Yeudi and Cindy from this class.


I also started teaching English to some youth in San Rafael. We stumbled upon this family when Brett noticed their father´s woodshop several months ago. They asked if I would teach their children English, so I started the second week in January. They have been a blessing to work with because they have the interest to learn and they have delightful personalities that always make me smile.



Paige’s: 01.14.08
Our friends Donald, Carol, and Cora Paige were in town for a conference with their mission, the Mission Society. They are missionaries in Paraguay, whom we met while I was in language school. They also blessed us with good company and good advice.


El Molino: 01.19.08
As we have written, Brooke and I have been working on measuring and drawing the Methodist churches in the northern zone of the country. So far we have visited and drawn four of the churches. Our first visit usually includes taking photographs and measurements of the sanctuary and the education buildings on the church grounds. After that we draw up in CAD what we’ve measured. Our hope is that we’ll be providing useful plans that the individual churches can use to renovate their buildings to reflect recent additions to the code.
Today we visited the church in El Molino, a small village about 25 miles away. It was our second visit there and we were able to meet with the pastor for a few hours to discuss some ideas that they would like begin working on at the end of this month. As we stated in the previous update, their membership is expanding and needs more space in the sanctuary. In addition to providing a renovation plan for the code we presented a few schemes for discussion and we were able to get an idea of what they were looking for in an addition. We’ll hopefully meet with them again in a week and have the scheme they liked the most fleshed out to include details and dimensions as well as a budget of construction. It has been nice for Brooke and I to be able to work on this portion of our mission together, as of late we have been working in different areas. We hope to refocus our attention on this part of our mission in the coming months as the date for beginning remediation is July, only six months away. We pray that he churches will make an effort to show the first steps of compliance by this point.

Chickens: 01.19.08
We just put in an order for 35 chickens, so as to provide 5 chickens for 7 families in need. My aunt Carol gave us $100 for this chicken project when we were home in October, on one condition, that the chickens all be named Carol, in her honor. We have had a lot of fun learning more about raising chickens, and we are grateful that she is spreading love in such a unique way to the people of Costa Rica.


Plans for February
Pretty soon we´ll be staying with our friend, Flor, in Linda Vista for a few weeks while Judy and Jerry Russell are in town enjoying their house which they have so graciously opened to us for the past 10 months. Flor recently lost her husband, Isaac, so we believe the Lord would like us there to help her through this tough time a bit. Perhaps Brett can spend some time on some of her home repairs.

Our same friend, Flor, participated in both sewing classes that I taught. After her husband died at the beginning of December, she headed to La Palma in the Southern region of Costa Rica to visit her daughters. Before leaving, I gave her the rest of the materials and cross stitch patterns I had, so she could teach a class there. One of her daughters is a Methodist pastor there, so she will have the ability to take what she has learned to leach the women in the church there. This is truly a blessing to know the sewing classes are now bearing fruit in other areas of Costa Rica. We are starting to learn that part of being a missionary is to empower others to have the confidence to use their spiritual gifts to grow the kingdom. At times we feel like we want to do it all, but really we aren´t doing any good unless we lift people up to be leaders, so we can then move on, and allow the Holy Spirit to sustain the lives of the people we leave behind.