Day 6 in Costa Rica

We awoke to a beautiful, clear day after the rain of yesterday. It is hard to believe that we are still in the city here at Mike’s house, because when you are on the grounds, all you hear are roosters in the distance and chirping birds. It truly is ‘park like”. While Steve was getting ready for the day, I sat outside and took it all in. To quietly think and pray in this environment is so refreshing. It is the rare moment of the day when I don’t feel that I must be “on”.
Steve Mean picked us up and drove us to the AMCA house where we were to participate in the ESL classes that they teach everyday, as well as a graduation, as this is the end of a trimester. The upstairs of the AMCA house is where we stayed the first couple of days, so we went there after our greetings to re-connect with family. (No internet connection at Mike’s house!) Today I “hit the wall” as it were, and just felt like I had very little to offer anyone. I stayed upstairs talking with our kids by phone while Steve handled the visit downstairs. I even had a few minutes to rest…
We took a taxi over to meet with Carrie Smith, a brand new LAM missionary. She is 22 years old and has committed 3 years to Centro Cristiano International and Pastor Rolando Soto to assist this organization in expanding their global missions. She is serving as the assistant to the director of the global missions arm of CCI. CCI started 12 years ago when a couple of pastors got together in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and asked God to help them form a church that would truly be missionary. They first met as a church in an international school in Tegucipgalpa and hence the name – Centro Cristiano International.
We took Carrie to lunch and learned from her how the last 3 weeks of being in the country have been. This is really a return for her since she did some of her college studies here. She seems to be adjusting well. We walked back to the church, and Pastor Rolando invited us into his office to talk about his ministry. Interestingly enough, he is a product of LAM ministry! He attended the Henry Strachan School at Camp Roblealto as a boy, graduated from the Seminario Biblico and pastored one of the churches of the denomination that LAM started here in Costa Rica (AIBC)! The CCI church here in San Joaquín de Flores (a suburb of San José) and the CCI movement, while only 12 years old, has over 100 churches in Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa. He showed us around his church, which is very much under construction in parts, but the auditorium reminded both Steve and me of Mosaic when it was meeting in the upstairs of the building at 8010 McDowell. There was an immediate heart connection with Rolando and I know that we have made a friend for life. He invited Steve to come and preach Sunday but Steve will be preaching morning and evening at different churches this week. He then asked if Steve would come next April and lead the Missions Conference for the CCI movement. Steve agreed so it looks like we will be back here a year from now.
We then grabbed a taxi and met Steve Mean at a McDonald’s to get into his 20 year-old Land Rover, with me in the back, to go to a lovely hotel that he had been telling us about that has a beautiful garden area. It is called the Bougainvillea, and when we actually got there and began to see and explore the gardens, I was in total awe. It has acres of gorgeous plants and well-manicured lawns. We walked for probably an hour, taking pictures and just taking it all in. If you recall from an earlier blog, Steve Mean is a master gardener and this is one of his retreat places. I sent my brother Gordon some of the pictures knowing that this is a place he needs to come when he visits Costa Rica.
We then went to Steve’s home where I was able to meet Gay, his wife and eventually in the evening, their 17 year-old son Samuel. With internet connection there, we did some work, then had a wonderful meal around their kitchen table. The meat brochettes somehow were overcooked, so our meal became a meatless one, but was tasty and filling none the less. Originally we were going to stay there for two days, but with my “hitting the wall”, and needing privacy and rest, we returned to Mike’s house and I made the decision to stay there Thursday, letting Steve go and meet with everyone without me. I need a day to recuperate and I am hoping that people will understand. We ended the evening with some of the fresh fruit that is so wonderful here in Costa Rica and watched a movie on the computer as we laid in bed. Another great day in Costa Rica.