Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Our new friend, Kelsey

At the end of January, an American girl went to our church and needed a ride back to her house.  She had taken a bus two hours to get to church so Enrique had sympathy on her and drove her all the way home.  He couldn’t believe how far away she lived!

We asked Kelsey what she was doing in Costa Rica and she replied that she was here to serve the Lord.  Kelsey is a 22-year old who recently graduated from Anderson University.  She studied Spanish there and has been to Costa Rica several times since 2007 visiting some missionary friends from her town in South Carolina.  They’re the Folk family who live on the side of the Irazú Volcano in Cartago.  The Folks conduct Bible studies in homes during the week and help serve at a local orphanage.  Through a roundabout way, Kelsey had heard about our church, Openhouse, and wanted to help.  She wasn’t sure how she would help, but she was open to whatever God had in store for her.

We needed help as the administrative and technical side of things were piling up and I was busy helping Enrique with small groups and Ashley with Waumba Land (the nursery).  Kelsey was willing to move to our side of town, but needed a place to stay.  We checked into one place for her, but it didn’t work out.  Oh, what to do!

One of David’s little friends was about to move to California for six months so I asked the family who was going to watch their home.  They said that a family member was going to drive by it every so often.  I asked them if they’d be willing to let Kelsey housesit for them and they agreed.  They hadn’t even met her yet and were ready to give her the keys to their home!

On the night before their departure, we had them and Kelsey over for dinner to talk about the arrangements and then to go to their house to explain when to take the trash out, water the grass, which key goes where, etc.  Instead of at least two hours away by bus (3 buses, actually, and a taxi), or one hour by car, she now lives the next street over!

Kelsey is a welcome addition to our church and readily and willingly helps in many ways.  She puts the ProPresenter slides together for Sundays; sends out the weekly e-mail to our members here, a monthly e-mail to our partners in the States; runs the slides on Sundays; shows one of Andy Stanley’s sermons in English on Monday nights; proofreads various publications; updates our church’s website; helps to co-lead a women’s Bible study, and other tasks, I’m sure.

We are glad to have her near and it’s always nice to have another American close by who can relate to how you feel about the hundreds of ants in the kitchen (and the few that are crawling on my arms as I type); the freezing, unheated pools that Costa Ricans say feel lovely; and the sensor tags on certain blocks of cheese..