Easter, Lizard friends and Las Fuentes

Hey all!

Sorry I haven't been doing as well keeping up with the blogging- usually I either feel like there's not much worth writing about or there's so much to tell that I don't know how to sit down and write it all out so that people actually kinda like reading it. Sooooo, that's what's been up. Any-who, let's see....Easter!

I experienced my first Easter and Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Costa Rica. It's very interesting because the Catholic church has a ton of processions and things going on at this time, and because of this the Evangelical Church (at least those in our area) try to stay as separate from the Catholic church as possible. So, while we got to watch some of the processions and events put on by the Catholic church, we heard only a few words about Easter from the Evangelical church. Because of their desire to not be affiliated with the Catholic church, they have swung to the opposite extreme, not really mentioning Easter at all. I can see, to some degree, the steps they've taken to be separate from the Catholic church, but I don't think its quite right to do away with it all together. I don't have the answers for how they should do it or what would be the right way to handle it, but its definitely got me thinking...

In other life stuff, we have pretty much officially named and been assigned to ministry sites! These will be the sites where we'll be hosting teams at least for the summer and probably into the fall, in which time we'll take a qualitative kind of inventory to see how these sites are working out and seek God to see if He wants us to continue pursuing these same sites, or if He opens up other opportunities or what all will happen. It's hard because the sites are still very much in the baby stages--like newborns, we're just learning how to adjust to them and all. I'll be working with a church in a community called Las Fuentes. The pastor of this church is very open to our help in a number of areas, including working with his daughter in helping to lead a youth group of about 50 youth, from ages 12-25. Its not exactly clear quite yet all that I may be doing or involved in there, but I'm very excited for this partnership and working along side the pastor and his daughter. I should be getting more details fairly soon, so I'll be sure to keep you all updated when I find things out =) The other sites will consist of construction projects, being lead by Jeremy Janzen. Krysta will be in charge of a site that will look like a tutoring center and library, as well as, leading a kids club at a church. And Tracey Dixon will be heading up a site at the guarderia (day care center), looking to implement some kind of program for the wee ones there.

It's an exciting time for us as we begin to flesh out each of our ministry sites and get to the heart of working with the people. But please continue to keep us in your prayers- that we would have discernment in finding our place in all of these partnerships and just for working out all the little kinks and everything. And also for each of the sites as we begin to prepare for the summer teams to come- it'll be a whole different ball game! But I'm really excited for it! Well, thank you for your continued prayers, support and care. And for now, I'll leave you with some pictures from our team Easter eating extravaganza and our most recent discovery in our apartment. God bless =)




Easter dining preparation- Cardamon cross bread and lamb-shaped cake




My first lamb-shaped cake---following in the steps of Krysta's family tradition




The best of the best Easter spread




Right in the middle of the picture, you can see the new addition to our home...that we actually shooed out not too long after

the happenings

Since coming back from our trip to the jungle, Krysta and I have had the opportunity to begin working in a guarderia (day care). We've been volunteering there to see if it has potential to be a solid SI site. This guarderia has been open for about a month. It can have up to 30 kids at one time, of which there is one lady in charge of keeping track of them all. So, we've been going to help with some crowd control, feeding the kids, and playing with them in non-destructive ways. It's been a fun time of getting to know the kids and getting a feel for working in this type of setting. We've also had opportunities to meet with a number of other people that we're looking to maybe partner with, such as a pastor who would like help with the youth program in his church, or another organization that wants to open up a tutoring center and library for kids in their area. It's pretty relieving and amazing to see how God is putting into place each of these sites and I'm excited to see how He's going to work it all out!

Some other exciting news....my parents came to visit! About a week after we got back from the jungle (I guess that would be about 2 weeks ago now) my parents arrived in Costa Rica. My dad headed out to the jungle with the men's team, while my mom headed to the urban jungle setting of our apartment. It was fun to have my mom staying with us for the week. She even made a few trips with us to the guarderia and seemed to like the kind of controlled chaos of it all. When the men's trip was over, instead of returning back to the states with the other men, my dad and Dave Hansen (SI president) stayed here a few more days to check out our sites and get an idea of where we are heading as SI Costa Rica. It was a good time of being able to show my parents what my life down here looks like, as well as, giving them a more solid idea of what I'll be doing....and just hanging out with them was fun too =) I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to have them come and visit and I feel refreshed from it.

In these last few days, we've gotten a little bit of rain, but overall it's been pretty blazing hot. Depending on who you talk to here, this is normal weather for now and apparently Semana Santa (Holy Week- the week before Easter) is supposed to be one of the hottest. There also tend to be a lot of activities that go on during this time, due to the large part of Catholics in the population here. So, I will be writing again soon to let you know about all of the goings on in this time. Until then, have a good one and God bless! =)