If our stories were included in the Bible...

The Bible is a compilation of stories written by over 40 authors of how God moved in their lives and the lives of others.  Even though the Bible is complete, that doesn’t mean that God stopped working.  He continues to write His story of provision, protection, blessing, healing, forgiveness, mercy, and redemption in our lives today.

After reading a portion of Genesis yesterday, I decided to begin writing a little of my story to add to the mix.  Unlike the stories in the Bible, all of our shortcomings are not included here, but like the Bible, the focus is on how great the LORD is with us, though we are underserving.

(The words in parentheses remind me of stuff that happened in the Bible.)

Winter 2008 – Jennifer’s mother had fallen ill and her body had succumbed to a consuming cancer.  But the LORD was with Jennifer and she became pregnant.  Her mother was able to enter into Heaven knowing that her only daughter was with child.

Jennifer’s mother passed away on April 10, 2008.  It was a sad day for all, but the LORD was with Jennifer and gave her His peace that passes understanding.  She mourned the loss of her mother with whom she had a very close friendship, but she is completely at peace with the situation.  Jennifer feels like her mother was here as an angel to instruct her and now that she is grown, it was time for her mother to return back to Heaven.  (Philippians 4:7)

Fall 2011 – Enrique and Jennifer decided to take their toddler son and move to an unknown land where the LORD had told them to go.  The language, food, and customs were different and the cost of living was high, but the LORD provided for every need and continues to do so. (Abraham)

Spring 2012 – Ashley needed a nursery director so she looked upon Jennifer for help.  Although Jennifer did not feel capable of such a position, she acquiesced provided that the LORD would guide her steps, which He did.  (Moses and Isaiah)

Kelsey needed a place to live on the other side of the city in order to be closer to her work with Openhouse.  Edgar and Raquel could plainly see that the LORD was with Enrique and Jennifer so they granted Kelsey access to their home without even having met her.  She resided there for five months.  (Abimelech, Genesis 26:28)

Summer 2012 – Enrique led his small group through a curriculum entitled “Text”.  Although Jennifer was present at the “live” sermon when Andy Stanley preached it at North Point a couple of years ago, it wasn’t until now that Jennifer decided to commit to the discipline of reading God’s word on a consistent basis.

Jennifer began to journal her understandings, questions, and revelations and the Bible became fresh and exciting.  Reading it turned into a pleasurable moment that she looked forward to rather than an arduous task.   She continues this activity to today.  (Rachel’s grave, Genesis 35:20)

November 2012 – Julio and Enrique flew to Atlanta for a conference at North Point.  This time with other pastors and small group leaders who have a similar calling and method was refreshing and rejuvenating for both men who went back to Costa Rica with a renewed sense of purpose.

Julio visited six small groups – both women’s and couples’ – and was excited to see how much of an impact these groups had on the participants.  His enthusiasm to get people into groups increased.

December 2012 – Enrique and Jennifer went on a coffee tour with their small group and were reminded of why they moved to Costa Rica.  To “do life” with four couples and walk with them on their spiritual journey is worth the daily irritations of living in a foreign land.

Our small group and their families (one couple is missing).

Jennifer had a final dinner with her women’s small group which was the perfect way to end the group.  She and her friends were able to celebrate their time together in the new home of Rocío, a seeker of the LORD.  Rocío recognizes that all blessings come from the LORD.

My women's small group.

Fall/Winter 2012 – Enrique obeyed the LORD by giving a consistent percentage of all funds received – be it salary, translation projects, or rent money - back to God.

The LORD honored Enrique and Jennifer’s obedience by giving them money that they were not expecting through new translation projects, extra donations, and a year-end bonus.

Jennifer praised the LORD calling Him Jehovah Jireh – The LORD will provide.

2012 – The LORD’s favor rested upon Enrique and Jennifer and allowed them to form relationships with the local people.  Enrique and Jennifer were able to invest in the lives of neighbors (Christian and Annia), David’s friends’ families (Omar, Tiffany, Rosa, Henry, and Elena), their new church family, and even strangers (Marisol).

This story is just a minute sampling of God's hand in our lives and our story continues to be written.

Young Life Christmas Party - Part II

This is how it really went...

A couple of weeks ago, my husband was in a planning meeting for the Young Lives Christmas party and called me to ask if I could put together a two-hour program for 60 kids ages five and under.  I immediately said no which caused him a lot of angst (since he already told the other people in the meeting that I would be more than happy to do it).  Once I realized that I didn’t have to write a play or put on a puppet show – that I could just “recycle” a Waumba Land lesson or two – I was on board.

As the days went by, a two-hour program turned into three hours.  I wasn’t going to know who my volunteers were until a few minutes before we received the children (since the volunteers could decide if they wanted to help out with children, set up tents, or serve food).  That meant that I only had 30 minutes to get the music started; explain how to man the registration table; divide the tasks of and explain all of the activities, Bible stories, and crafts that I wanted to do; and decide how we were dividing up the children.  The space that I had to receive the children was very bland and I needed to “jazz it up a bit” (as my grandmother says).

Me going over the day's strategy with some eager-to-serve volunteers.

Once the doors opened, it was a bit chaotic.  These children are not used to leaving their mothers AT ALL nor socializing with other kids, and some of the moms were skeptical of leaving their children with us strangers.  Sufficed to say that there was a lot of crying going on in a room with an echo.  My strict schedule that I created to keep me and the volunteers organized flew out the window!  It turned more into crowd control rather than a structured time of teaching children about Jesus being born and the Wise Men going to visit him.

My wonderful volunteers, Laura and Vanessa,
who told the Bible story to these two sisters. 

I had to continually remind myself of something that I said to motivate my volunteers, “The most important components of today’s event is not the lesson, but being the hands and feet of Christ by showing His love to these young mothers and their children by smiling, greeting them warmly, and providing a caring, safe environment for the kids.”

After the moms picked up their little ones, lots of people asked me how it went.  I was worn out from receiving kids, finding juice boxes, making crafts, and answering lots of volunteers’ questions.  I didn’t think that my part of the event went well because it didn’t go according to my plan.  But I must remember that my plan doesn’t matter.  It’s God’s plan that matters. 

We showed up to serve, the kids eventually calmed down, and some of the older ones actually learned the Bible verse!  The moms had lots of fun acting silly and feeling carefree for a few hours.  They felt something that a lot of them don’t get at home – love.  So how did it go?  Perfect!

Young Life Christmas Party - Part I

One out of every five babies in Costa Rica is born to a teenage mother.  The majority of these young moms live below the poverty line and have suffered emotional and physical abuse.  Eighty percent of the girls in the Young Lives program have suffered from sexual abuse - many times from family members.

While these staggering statistics seems like things are hopeless, they are not!  Young Life is a ministry that has chosen to step into the gap and reach out to these teenagers.  If they do not feel like going to church, then the church will go to them!  They are given a woman mentor who meets with them on a regular basis to encourage, exhort, and pray for them.  The culmination of this year's journey was a two-day camp last weekend.  To celebrate their progress and end the year on a high note, our church helped to host their annual Christmas party.  Openhouse helping out Young Lives was part of our Be Rich campaign.

People from our church signed up to help out in different ways:  set up the carnival-like event, take care of the babies, organize the games, serve lunch, make cupcakes (to celebrate Jesus' birthday), and clean up afterward.

Craft time (making picture frames)

Before the actual party, several of our small groups chose a night to go out and buy beauty products to make gift baskets for the girls.  Basic personal care items were bought and some of the girls had to be taught how to use shower gel or body lotion, for example.

Volunteers with some of the gift baskets.

The girls were so excited to ride on a chartered bus to the Christmas party.

Volunteers welcoming the moms and their kids to the party.

We took care of their little ones while they had fun jumping in the bouncy houses, getting temporary tattoes, eating cotton candy, playing games, and winning prizes.

Bouncy houses in the background and moms
standing in line to play one of the many games.

They were also served the traditional Christmas food of tamales, received their beauty gift baskets, and heard an inspirational message.  I like something that Enrique said: they were able to forget about their family and financial problems and just be teenagers for a few hours.

Enrique encouraging the volunteers at the end of the event.

One girl said that the Christmas party was the best one that she had ever attended.  Another one said that she hadn't had that much fun in years.
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The Bible says that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  I always thought that that verse meant that it is nicer to give than to receive.  Through projects like this one, it is easy to understand the meaning - when you give of your time and resources, you turn out being the one blessed.  Even though our church members went to give, they walked away feeling grateful and blessed for the opportunity to serve.

Openhouse volunteers

I pray that this project will be the beginning of an ongoing partnership with Young Lives for our church members and that these girls and their children will grow up learning about God and His desire for them to trust and obey.

November Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving! While you spend time with your family and friends being grateful for all that you have today, we too will sit around the table with our close friends to give thanks and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving spread.

Be Rich

November 4th marked our first of two Sundays promoting our “Be Rich” campaign.  We want for the people that go to our church to know that wealth is relative and – if you have more than two pairs of shoes in your closet – you are rich!

We are encouraging our churchgoers to donate their time and resources by focusing on three ministries: Young Life (hosting a Christmas party for teenage moms and their children; giving beauty baskets to each young mom), Futival (playing soccer with kids while teaching them spiritual principles and values), and a soup kitchen for children. For each of these charities, we have work days set up to go and serve together, in addition to giving financially.  

While our financial goal is a touch less than 

that of North Point Community Church (they gave $1.5 million in one Sunday!), we are excited to report that after our second service on Sunday, we surpassed our halfway goal of $20,000!

New Ballrooms 

UpStreet

Since our church attendance is growing, we decided to move around our children’s ministries to accommodate more and more kids.  It is difficult to teach four-year-olds about Daniel and the Lions’ Den with crying babies in the background.  A big improvement that was made last Sunday was to have babies to two-year-olds in one ballroom and three to five-year-olds in another.  What a difference it made!

As for the elementary school kids, an average of 48 kids at noon were cramped in an 1,100 square foot space, but now they have triple the amount of room to sing, dance, play, and learn!

My women's small group.

Small Groups

Our first generation of small groups that began in February are now winding down to an end this month, but the "problem" is no one wants to separate.  They want to stay together forever!  No worries, we are going to form new groups after the Christmas and “summer vacation” (which is in January).

It has been fun reading people’s Facebook posts of what they’re thankful for everyday this month.  We are definitely thankful for you, our partner in ministry!  Your commitment to support us down here has enriched us and many families at our church whose lives are being transformed with the saving message of Jesus.  We thank God for you!

Surviving the roads of San José

It is so encouraging when someone tells me that (s)he is praying for me.  (S)he usually does not specify what (s)he actually prays for – our ministry, my family in Georgia, my health, David, my marriage, our safety, etc.  I will take all the prayers that I can get for all areas of my life, but a prayer that I feel is being said for me is for safety.

Whenever I sit around with a group of friends down here, they can all go around the table and share tales of when they have been held up, carjacked, or have had their house broken into – multiple times!  The thought of any of those scenarios scares me quite a bit.  I have never had anything like that happen to me down here, in Mexico, or in Georgia, and the possibility of someone breaking my car window to steal my purse while stopped at a traffic light is frightening.

I definitely feel God’s protection when we are driving down here.  The highway is alright, but the side streets are atrocious.  The potholes, unpainted speed bumps, faded paint lines separating traffic lanes, sewer drains without covers, lack of traffic lights, motorcyclists weaving between lanes, poorly lit roads, driving down dark roads where pedestrians, people on bicycles, and dogs dart across the middle of the street, and driving in the daily rain is enough to drive me crazy.  I am amazed that in the 14 months that we have lived here, we have only suffered a fender bender while in a taxi and two flat tires.

I shouldn't leave out the earthquakes, a natural disaster that - while there have been a handful of tremors during our time here - I have only felt two and not suffered any damage.

Thank you for praying for our safety and please continue to do so!

Earthquake!

In the summer of 1999, I was in Mexico City leaning against a handrail outside of a Sanborn’s restaurant (waiting for my boyfriend, Enrique, to pick me up).  The handrail rocked a little which I thought happened due to me leaning upon it, but then I saw the power lines sway and realized that something bigger was happening.  The tremor was so slight that it may not have even made it in the news that day, but it was a big deal to me!

Even bigger was what happened last Wednesday down here in Costa Rica.  It was 8:45am and Enrique, David, and I were getting ready to leave the house.  The earth started to shake and Enrique gathered us under a door frame.  The quake lasted a little over a minute which is an eternity when you do not know what is going to happen next.  It was VERY scary for me.

I am so thankful that the three of us were together because I do not know how I would have reacted without Enrique by my side.  He is always good at being level headed.  I feel like I would have panicked and cried which would not have been good for David to see since he feeds off of our behavior.  Enrique kept us calm and played it off to David like something really cool was happening – no big deal.  At our place, only a picture fell off the wall.  To see more “shaky, shaky”, click here.

But it was a big deal; it was a magnitude 7.6 earthquake!  Since Wednesday, I have read online that many tremors have happened since then.  There was even a magnitude 5.6 quake yesterday at 2:30pm!  Thankfully, I did not feel a thing.

It is very nerve wracking to be in a state of uncertainty where you do not have control over the situation.  I am scared that another earthquake may happen, but I cannot live in fear.  I cannot play the “what if” game all the time.  I just have to learn how to be safe and then leave the rest in God’s hands.  We are not in control of our destiny and we must be ready at any time to leave this world.  

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

August 12 was a very significant day for us.  It marked one whole year since the day we boarded a plane to move to Costa Rica, and a year that our church has held bimonthly Sunday services.  It also was the first Sunday in our church’s new home – in hotel ballrooms.  The service was held in the main ballroom and the children’s programs each had a ballroom.

At the registration table.

Every week, people from church ask why I didn’t go to church the last Sunday.  I remind them that I am always there, but I am down the street helping out with the children.  I only get to see the parents of the children that we teach.  But now, all of our family environments are in one place!  I love being able to see everyone on Sundays and I am sure that parents are glad that they don’t have to drive several blocks to drop off and pick up their kids.

UpStreet (5-10 years old) to the left, Transit (11-17 years old) to the right
and Waumba Land (newborn to 5 years old) to the far left.
The "sanctuary" (main ballroom) is at the end of this hallway.

To commemorate such a meaningful day, Seth Condrey (North Point Community Church worship leader and Dove award-winner) flew down to lead worship for us.  He helped to kick off a celebration of a year of people’s lives being transformed through the power of a relationship with Jesus.

Seth Condrey singing with our Shirley Polini.

All of us volunteers were so excited and nervous about how it would turn out.  Since we meet in a hotel, that means that everything has to be portable from the stage to the lighting to the signs to the Waumba Land tents.  We weren’t sure what time to arrive on Sunday to set everything up so…we got there at 5:30am!   

Julio (our pastor) looking at all of the stuff that needs to be loaded
onto the truck to take to set up at the hotel.

A before picture of Waumba Land and UpStreet.

For Waumba Land, it was fun pulling everything out of boxes and bags for the first time and setting it up to look like the Land of our Creator.  There were stuffed lions and monkeys and giraffes everywhere…even a snake!  Everyone who walked by our room peaked his head in to take a look.

The after picture!

We had a great Sunday looking back on all that has happened and looking ahead to what God has in store for us.  It was our biggest attendance yet with 23 babies and preschoolers, 66 elementary schoolers, 52 elementary and high schoolers, and 451 adults at our service for a total of 592 people growing closer to the Lord.  We look forward to continuing to serve Him at Openhouse!

My mom's friends

My small group’s current Bible study is to read the very short book of Ruth.  For the first week, we are to read the first two chapters and then answer the study guide.  The first question is:  When you think of loyalty, what comes to mind?  My answer is that loyalty means that someone is always with you supporting you all the way.  The second question is: When have you had someone support you during a difficult time?  What did that mean to you?

My family has always been there for me every step of the way from saying goodbye as I went away to college in another state to sending me off to be a missionary in Mexico to letting me go live on the border town of Juarez when I was engaged to welcoming a foreigner as my husband to moving to Costa Rica.  They may not have always agreed with or understood my decisions, but they have always been supportive.

Another set of people that have been so supportive – loyal if you will – are my mom’s friends.  As I type this, it brings me to tears when I think of their kindness and generosity toward me.  These ladies have done so much for me that I could never repay them. Before my mom’s cancer diagnosis, during her illness, and after her death, they have helped me in countless ways.  I don’t have room to mention them all in this blog, but here are just a few:

Sitting with my mom at the hospital and hospice, planting flowers in her yard, providing a place for my grandmother to stay, planning the reception at my mom’s funeral, preparing meals, providing restaurant gift cards for my family, taking me out to eat, going through and distributing her things, keeping in touch with and visiting my grandmother in Florida, throwing me a baby shower, giving David presents, and sending me birthday and Christmas cards, amongst many other good deeds.

I don’t deserve their kindness.  They don’t really even have to keep in touch with me anymore now that my mom is no longer here.  I know that they do these things out of their friendship with my mom and that I’m just the benefactor of the loyalty that they had for her.  Even though it’s been four years, what they’ve done for me has not and will not be forgotten.

I wish that everyone had such good friends.  My mom’s friends were her friends and whenever I reference them to others, I always say “my mom’s friends”, but I truly feel that it’s appropriate for me to say that they’re my friends too.  

It's not your ability, it's your availability.

As we planned on moving down to Costa Rica last year, I was asked to be in charge of the administrative side of things once we arrived.  When we got here, someone more capable than myself had filled that role so I was left without a specific assignment.  This is not the first time that this has happened to me.

When I went to Mexico as a missionary in 1999, I was going as a logistics coordinator to organize mission trips coming from a church in Del City, Oklahoma.  Upon my arrival, I learned that this partnership had fallen through and I didn’t have an assignment.  So I filled in at the IMB’s main office for Mexico and I helped out on a church planting team.  Though I had not anticipated these changes, it all worked out for that is how I met my wonderful husband.

In hindsight, I am glad that I did not have an assigned role when we moved here.  While I had many days when I was bored, I am now thankful for the six months that I had to get adjusted to our new way of life which is very different from living in Alpharetta, GA.  I can see that God was giving me time to get used to things before He rocked my world in February of this year by making me the small groups assimilator.  I was originally just helping my husband in his role as the small groups director, but as the church grew and we kicked off enrollment for small groups, I had my hands full with making sure everyone interested got plugged into a small group according to their age, location, marital status, etc. – no small feat!

At the end of April, I was given an additional role as Waumba Land (nursery) director.   Our wonderful WL director (and pastor’s wife), Ashley, moved up to lead family ministries (newborn to 14 years old) and put me in charge of children newborn to five years old.  While I have no formal training in children’s ministry nor do I feel called to lead this area, I willingly accepted the position.  When I was in college, I went to a special BSU meeting at UGA where I heard Tony Campolo say, "It's not your ability, it's your availability".  I don't feel that small groups assimilator and children's ministry are my calling, but if that is what is needed, I am available!  Not that I know what I’m doing, but under Ashley’s tutelage, I’m getting the hang of things.  I had no idea all of the behind-the-scenes work that is involved on a daily and weekly basis to make sure that the two Sundays a month that we meet run smoothly!

Waumba Land (ages 0-4) and UpStreet (ages 5-10) volunteers
at the hotel where we'll start meeting in August.

My main responsibilities include:

• Coordinate the volunteers for two services twice a month.  (This is harder than one may think.)
• Recognize volunteer’s and children’s birthdays.
• Send new children’s parents a welcome e-mail.
• Update enrollment and attendance records.
• Submit attendance records and expense reports.
• Print out updated sign-in sheets, new volunteer nametags, worksheets, etc.
• Buy the supplies needed for activities, crafts, and snacks.
• Get the lessons translated into Spanish.

The last two responsibilities are becoming easier.  Volunteers are stepping up to the plate to help find certain materials needed (I have no idea of where to get them because there’s not really an arts and crafts place like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby).  The lessons that we currently use are from the Orange curriculum which is amazing.  Everything is spelled out beautifully for the teachers to lead efficiently.

As I wrap up this post, I would like to ask you to pray for four things:

1. We need more volunteers for the nursery and for the elementary-aged kids. 
2. The volunteers need to come prepared on Sunday, meaning that they have read the lesson ahead of time.  They frequently arrive without having studied the lesson.
3. We are moving to a new location on August 12.  It is a hotel ball room that we will rent bimonthly and have to set up and break down everything each time.  Ashley and others are brainstorming about how to create an attractive (portable) environment from scratch.
4. Enrique and I fill basic church planting roles while here during our term.  Since we don’t plan on living here forever, we would like to eventually replace ourselves by finding local folks to coordinate small groups and Waumba Land. 

Raising Children

Play dates are not in their vocabulary so it’s been difficult to find friends for David to play with outside of school.  Just last week, one of David's schoolmates' moms finally acquiesced to me picking up her son for the afternoon to play with David.  I literally had to beg her!

I’m used to my Atlanta mommy friends and I having play dates and exchanging babysitting favors, but that is not done here.  Most folks still live close to family so they ask their kin to watch the kids.  Since we don’t have family here, we’ve tried to get friends and neighbors to watch David, but they act like that’s a weird request.  Fortunately, we’ve found a local family in the same boat as us (no family nearby) so we take turns on a weekly basis with babysitting.  

David with his best friend, Matti.

Our neighbors have also come around and we’ve watched their baby girl a few times and David’s gone across the street to play with her while we have small group.

Since it’s not the cultural norm to leave your child with someone who is not family, newcomers tend to be leary of leaving their children with us in the nursery at church.  They’ll ask their nanny to stay with them the whole hour!  That may happen just the first Sunday or for a couple of Sundays until the parents see that we are providing a safe environment for babies and kids to have fun and learn about God.

Birthday parties are a big deal.  As stated in one of my earliest blog entries, Wendy’s has a party room and an employee hired specifically for party planning!  One of David’s classmates just turned three so David and all his friends were invited to Lauty’s party.  The package included games, face painting (David wanted to be Batman), cake, a piñata, a kid’s meal for each boy and girl, and a cup of coffee and an apple pie for all of the parents!

On the children’s cable networks, commercial after commercial promotes healthy toddlers by giving them formula…until they are three years old!  These preschoolers are already eating regular food, but their diet is supplemented with formula.  I transitioned David from formula to cow’s milk at 12 months so this cultural difference shocks me.  

As mentioned before, I deeply miss the plethora of children’s activities (many free) that are easily accessible online in the States.  Part of it is that I am not aware of all of the events offered in the area, but the majority of the problem is that there is not a central location where all local activities are registered.  Even if there was, there is not much going on for preschoolers.  David is on vacation for two weeks, but we don’t have much to do.  The good thing is that he’s fine watching “Toy Story 2” every single day (some days more than once).  Monday, he goes back to school.  Yea!