Back to School!

As wonderful as it was to be traveling, meeting new people, seeing and learning new things, it is equally as wonderful to be home.  Our puppies were well and happy to see us, an no worse for the separation. 

As per usual, Steve hit the ground running this week as he is preparing for one of the two yearly Board Meetings. Next Wednesday, men and women from all over the U.S. and even some Latin countries will gather for the three day event.  Tomorrow he gives the MSO (Mission Support Office) the yearly "state of the Mission" address, (sounds so formal!) adding to so many firsts.

Every challenge is still fresh and new and he is taking them on with energy and enthusiasm.  I remember thinking to myself during one of our many meetings with missionaries in Costa Rica, just how perfectly matched he is to this position.  He could go from person to person, ministry to ministry,  relating to and immediately tracking with all that was being said and happening.  He thrives on the challenge as well as the relationships. He can quickly process where a ministry and a person is, and find ways to bring what ever is required to that situation.  I just sat back and watched.  I am so grateful to God for all He is doing.

One note of praise . . . last week Steve received word that the Tyndale Foundation has donated $50,000.00 to LAM to be used at the presidents discretion . . . That was amazing and wonderful news!  Not only is it a large and needed gift, but Steve can prayerfully seek out the most strategic ways for that money to be used.  While funds are incredibly tight right now for LAM, as they are just about everywhere, we are so grateful to the Lord for lifting our spirits and providing funds for purposeful ministry.

Dramatic change of subject, but . . . . .

Over the years I have had several thoughts of going back to school, but every time something else took priority.  One of our other children needing the funds for education for themselves,

one time it was an unexpected pregnancy, ( that would have been #3 for me!)  and so on. But I have been praying and thinking about finishing my degree and there seems to be no roadblocks at the moment.  So, over the last week I have researched over 200 schools and numerous degree programs and have landed on a BA degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Upper Iowa State University.   They have a marvelous Online program that gives me the freedom to work from home and at my own pace.  If I am able to stick with it, my ultimate goal is to also take some theology and psychology classes, perhaps ending with an MA in Christian Counseling.  Kind of funny and strange to think that it may take me from now until I am 60 (ugh!) to reach this goal, but I could have at least 10 if not 15 years to put the education to use.  It certainly would keep me busy and focused!  Today I sent for my transcripts from ASU to be sent to UIU, and could be starting my first class in June . . . I think it will be fun to attend college while at least one of my kids is doing the same.  Of course Christa may have her doctorate before I even have my BA, but that only serves to motivate me.  I will keep you posted!

Day 12 in Costa Rica

This is it! Our full day in Costa Rica. One the one hand it has gone by so fast. However, it tires me out to think where we have been, what we have seen, who we have met and what God is doing through LAM in this place. Our time in “Jesus Calling” every morning seems more than just appropriately relevant to each days’ challenges and it has served as one of the few constants, along with morning toast and fruit, during our trip.

Very honestly, we did not want to leave the hotel today, even if it was for a couple of hours. Before retiring last night Steve spoke with Bob and Ann Jeffrey, a retirement age couple who don’t know the meaning of the word, who would be our guides today. They had aggressive plans for us to see another one of our LAM clinics, CEDCAS (google it), and several of the poor shanty villages where they and CEDCAS have been working for 25 years. We already had to make plans for dinner with one last couple for tonight, so it didn’t look like we would be able to enjoy the hotel too much today.

The Jeffreys came and got us at the hotel at 9:00, and we hit it off right away. Bob and Ann are the type of people who live to serve, love it and show it! Their weathered look belies years of hard work outside. Their hearts, however, are about as tender as they come! A quick trip to the center of our little suburb led us to the CEDCAS clinic, another state-of-the-art facility. Unlike the hospital, CEDCAS is committed to serving those with minimal resources, partnering with the government to give high quality care in a small facility. In many ways, CEDCAS is a full-service mini hospital, complete with Xrays, ultrasounds, gastrointestinal scopes, a complete surgical suite, dental and vision suites, quarters for twenty short-term workers and a nice apartment for the CEDCAS director, Lillian Solt, another one of our LAM stars!

Lillian is the textbook definition of overachiever. To see what God has wrought through her vision, inspiration and tireless effort over the last 25 years is nothing short of truly awesome. She runs the clinic which tends to dozens every day, she oversees the work of dozens of short-term teams from the U.S. and elsewhere every year who come to build, renovate, or minister in the shanty towns on behalf of CEDCAS, she maintains a continuous regime of teaching nationals healthcare, she is acquiring buildings, designing the facilities that go in those buildings and manages the process all along the way, she is helping to build a new campus for her local church…and raises a bunch of money to get it all done! We’re tired just thinking about it.
She has an adult daughter who shares the load, but we did not get to meet her.

Lillian gave us a thorough orientation to the ministries and services of CEDCAS, took us on a tour of the sprawling facility (which looks like nothing more than a large house from the street) and sat us down to watch a couple of videos of the shanty town work. The Jeffreys knew how spent we were, so they decided to replace a trip across town with a seven-minute video. God bless them! Two hours came and went quickly as we were both very impressed with what we had experienced.

Right around noon, the Jeffreys dropped us off at the hotel apparently just in time for a scrumptious lunch, followed by afternoon naps and walks in the gardens. We were so tired, changing to go swimming in the gorgeous pool couldn’t tempt us! We relaxed all afternoon anticipating but one more meeting - a quick dinner with Jeff and Barbi David, along with their daughter, Caressa. Instead of going to their home, we invited them to join us in the dining room at 5:30. What’s the saying about the best-laid plans of men…?

Our enjoyment of an afternoon deep sleep was interrupted at 4:30 by the phone. The Davids were downstairs…an hour early. We hustled to get presentable and met them in the bar where we sat and drank cokes until dinner. We though we could eat at 5:30, but ha to wait until 6:00. The girls went walking and Jeff and Steve talked seminary education the entire time. Jeff splits his time between ESEPA (the seminary) and PROMETA, the online master’s program. Jeff gave Steve a complete history of the two ministries and how they have and haven’t interacted over the last few years. His heart is in both ministries and he has an interesting mix of vision and desire for the hands-on teaching work. The two guys hit it off! Steve is sure that, after what he has seen and heard these last 12 days, that theological education will have to be a major focus for LAM in the near future. We have the history, the reputation, the relationships and the facilities to perhaps become the premier provider of future Latin leaders through theological preparation.

The dinner hour came and went quickly with another wonderful culinary experience. A quick glance at the 8:15 being displayed on Steve’s iPhone was both hard to believe and too much! The Davids excused themselves and left for home and the Johnsons enjoyed a glass of wine before finding their (our) way to the room. A short conversation on the patio overlooking the gardens was followed by the packing of our bags, a little television, some facebooking, and then some serious pillow time!

This has been one incredible journey for the two of us. As we look back on it, the real value of these Presidential Visits probably cannot be adequately estimated. We developed real relationships with just about everyone. We were able to get a clear picture of our many different ministries in Costa Rica. We have learned valuable history from many different perspectives. Most, if not all, opened their hearts and lives and really shared. We were able to listen, comfort, encourage and pray. Steve comes back with a list of items for discussion and decision that is long, but in no way disheartening…just the opposite. We also have a list of suggestions for the next trip to Mexico in May that will hopefully make that experience less of a “killer.”

The processing will continue for weeks. But we must also say that so much more was gained by the two of us being together, listening, watching and debriefing from our individual perspectives. This will help greatly in the decisions to come in the future.
Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to the LAM Board and the Management Team for your initial encouragement and continued support of our traveling together.

To God be the glory in the Costa Rica Chapter of our journey…

Day 11 in Costa Rica

Two more days to go…and we’re spending most of them at the Bougainvillea Hotel in Santo Domingo (a suburb of San José). That’s how we started this Monday morning (after reading our daily passages in “Jesus Calling” first).

The schedules for today and tomorrow have been shortened as we are almost completely spent. We wanted very much to meet our remaining missionaries but have lost a bit of interest in seeing every building and barrio in which they work. God went before us as Steve talked with those still on the docket. Amazingly enough, they were feeling worn out for us after looking at the schedule. So today was, and hopefully tomorrow will be, compacted. Well, at least that was the plan…

We jumped into a cab about 7:45, and rode the 30 minutes down to the AMCA house in order to upload blogs, make phone calls and send some emails. Paul Pretiz, a veteran missionary and now retiree was to pick us up at 9:00 and take us to his house for coffee. At 9:20, Steve got a bit worried and called him. Somehow wires had gotten crossed (Steve thinks it was probably his “bad”), and Paul had instead driven up to Mike’s which was closer and would have saved a $15.00 cab ride! He said he would come down and get us, so we had another half hour to work - and we needed it. At the same time, the hour delay was setting everything back, including our arrival at the hotel!

We had a wonderful ride back to Pretiz’ home which was simple and yet comfortable for them. Ruth had a stroke several years ago so her body wasn’t working like most do, but she was completely alert and quite conversational. She is a prayer warrior and has spent a lot of time in prayer for Shellie and me. They, like the other retirees, have been in Costa Rica for decades, have family now in Costa Rica, and are content to live the rest of their earthly sojourn in Costa Rica. Paul is a writer and has authored many articles and co-authored several books about the ministry of LAM. He and Ruth came to Central America to work as radio station managers with HCJB, on loan from LAM. We enjoyed a spot of tea, fresh fruit and some short but meaningful vignettes of their ministries over the years. It was too short! We had only been sitting for about 20 minutes when Paul abruptly said that we needed to get going if we were going to make the right connection with our next family, the Meyers’. After a brief, but precious time of prayer, Paul drove around the north side of city, past the HCJB towers (Faro del Caribe actually), and guided us to a mall!!!

Josh and Christy Meyers and their two cute kids were waiting for us at the entrance of the mall and we selected a hamburger joint in which to sit and eat. Not having had too much luck with meat, Steve had very low expectations. To our surprise, the burgers and fries were great (almost like home). It was a special treat for the Meyers. Josh and Christy are teaching at Palabra de Vida, our very first stop of the trip, with Matt and Lisa Befus. Matt was actually their youth pastor at College Church in Wheaton many moons ago. Josh left a growing career with Capital One to join the Befus’ on a limited term mission (2-3 years). The more we listened to what God had already done in and through them in the U.S. and here, Steve’s brain kicked into vision gear. They have enjoyed teaching, but it’s not what they want to do to for the long term. This is the kind of guy who could help us grow the mission from within. Steve hesitated saying anything directly to Josh about the possibility of working with us in the MSO
until we were saying goodbye to them. Josh sent Steve an email later that night with a copy of resume and is quite interested. Due to our desire to shorten the schedule, we only had an hour with them and then they drove us down to the Clinica Biblica for our grand tour of this huge hospital.

The Clinica Biblica could very well be the crowning achievement to the memory of Harry and Susan Strachan, the founders. The Clinica was started in the 1920’s in a small building and has grown to cover several city blocks with multiple-story buildings. It is one of the very few state-of-the-art hospitals in Latin America, and most likely one of the largest! The buildings are strewn pictures and dedications and verses that make clear the biblical foundation and ongoing christian values upon which the hospital operates.
Upon arriving, we were met by Bev Cook and her two sons. They essentially run the international insurance and travel programs for the hospital. Apparently, thousands of dollars are spent each year to entice North Americans to come to the Clinica for every type of surgery and cosmetic alteration, which can be had for a fraction of the U.S. cost in facilities which, quite honestly, rival any hospital we’ve seen in the U.S. The Cooks escorted us to a quiet conference room where we heard of their programs and how they have been serving at the Clinica, now well into the second generation.

We stopped for a bit to sit and drink some water at their very modern coffee bar, when Esthela, one of our hosts on Sunday, came to get us. Esthela not only leads a church with Verna, but she also serves as the Chaplain for the Clinica. Everywhere we went in the hospital it was abundantly clear that, not only was she doing her job, she was doing very well! She took a break from her duties to give us a comprehensive tour of the hospital facilities. We were able to receive a tour of the original building, which is still being used though the patient rooms are now converted into offices, and we saw almost every floor in every building. Esthela knows this place well!

2:30 came quite quickly and Steve had hopes of getting to the hotel by 3:00. Sensitive to the exhaustion that must have been on our faces by that time, Esthela hailed a cab for us and we were off to the AMCA house first, to get our bags, and then to the hotel. Steve figured it would take almost an hour to do it all. But God’s grace was to be found yet again, as we learned that the AMCA house was less than five minutes from the hospital, and that the hotel was only ten minutes from there. We were checking into Room 207 at 3:10. We barely made it onto the beds and napped for a couple of hours, looking out our room window over the beautiful gardens we described earlier.

Tonight brought us a quite table for two in the dining room, reminiscent of a 1960’s artsy retreat center, once again overlooking beautiful flowers and trees. The linen tablecloths, fused-glass lamps and numerous paintings on the walls made it all seem so distant from the heat and bustle of ministry we have been experiencing for almost two weeks. The decision to move here was right and it didn’t take too long to being to feel like we had actually found rest and retreat in the midst of such a trip! Our evening as made even more special by the quietness of the hotel - we hit during Semana Santa. There were only a few people at the hotel.

Falling to sleep tonight won’t be hard, and we so look forward to waking up to the birds in the gardens tomorrow morning. Only the Lord could make a day so packed with people and places melt away in the midst of His beauty…

Day 10 in Costa Rica

This is the day the Lord has made; let us us rejoice and be glad in it! Today’s schedule was a full one and I can’t help how more difficult it would have been were it not for Mike’s graciousness. To remind you, his house is about 15 kilometers, or 10 miles from downtown San José. Traffic limits speed to an average of about 20 mph, so you can imagine what a trip into town means for someone. We got up, got ready and Mike drove us into downtown San José and dropped us off at the Clínica Bíblica Hospital, the major downtown hospital, which just happens to have been founded by the original Strachan’s in the 1920’s (more on tomorrow’s blog). He then went home, cooked breakfast for Jonathan and four of his friends who stayed the night, got cleaned up and made it back into town for his own church (where we were last Sunday) by 10:00 - He’s crazy!!!!!

We waited curbside for about 5 minutes and then were picked up by Verna Brenamen and Esthela Corvallos, two single gals who have worked here with LAM for over 45 years, primarily with the Clínica Bíblica. They took us on a 30-minute drive on a hot morning to the church they help to start 30 years ago, Templo Bíblico Peniel in a suburb of San José, las Pavas. As we drove up to the church, we were taken back by the evident poverty and the piles of uncollected garbage lining the streets of the church’s neighborhood. The girls pointed out where the old church building was and then parked in front of the “new church”, a combo concrete and corrugated aluminum structure, badly in the need of painting. We could hear the worship team practicing from the street, and I even recognized a couple of them. We waked up a set of stairs from the street to a relatively small sanctuary with a small stage in front, ceiling and window fans everywhere. We were warmly greeted by the Nicaraguan pastor(s), who take all of their cues from Vera and Esthela (who are both in their mid-late seventies). Although church was supposed to start, there were but a few women and young people in the church. But like every church I’ve been in and even pastored, by 10 minutes into the service the place was relatively full and diverse.

Worship lasted almost an hour and it was interesting. The worship team consisted of a drummer, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and two singers. One was actually quite good, while her teammate was, well let’s just say she struggled to find the pitch. The worship was lively and, yet, hard for us to enter into because they had no way for us to follow along - no screens, no powerpoint, no nothing. How can these people survive?!?!??!

After about 45 minutes, the worship team sat down and one of the pastors invited Esthela to come up and help us to continue to worship. She pulled out what looked like a flannel graph book (oversized) from the sixties and shared the Palm Sunday story very quickly using the pictures. Then she passed out a sheet of paper that had several hymns on it and proceeded to lead us in all five verses of every hymn on the sheet a capella! It’s not my cup of tea, but boy the people sang!!!

After an offering and prayer, the pastor turned it over to me and I preached for the 40 minutes they had asked for. You know how hard that was for me… After I closed in prayer, they paraded the little kids first, followed by the youth group, onto the platform and they shared the verse they had learned for the day. A song and a prayer later the service was over. Most of the church came up and hugged us and then filed out rather quickly to head to their homes. We had to wait a bit for Esthela to finish up, but within 10 minutes we were off to a nice restaurant in their area for a “langosta” (small lobster) feast. At lunch we heard about the many years Esthela and Verna have served with the LAM and about their upcoming two-month whirlwind furlough around the U.S. After lunch we traveled with them back to their apartment, which they have been renting for 35 years for tea, apple cobbler, pictures of the last thirty years and more history. I cannot re-emphasize enough the extent of both commitment and sacrifice that our long-term missionaries have given to the Lord and to LAM.

Around 1:30, Mike and his son Jonathan came by to pick us up and take us back to their home to get some much needed rest before getting ready to preach again at Escazú Christian Fellowship on the far opposite side of town. We arrived hot and tired at about 2:00, expecting to get a couple of hours of downtime. What we didn’t know at that time was that the main freeway from downtown San José to Escazú was closed for paving, which would mean that we would have to take a much longer ‘round about way to get to church. At 2:45, about the time I was finally dozing off, Mike shouted in from the front door that we only had about fifteen minutes to get ready. We would have to leave around 3:00 to drive into town to meet the Rice’s who would then take us to Escazú (their church).

We met the Rice’s at 3:15, and they took the long way around which still got us to the church at about 4:00, one full hour before service was to start. We took advantage of the time to meet the pastor, a presbyterian in his third year as pastor of the interdenominational Escazú Christian Fellowship. We listened as the Worship Team rehearsed mostly songs and hymns we knew or guessed were very presbyterian. They were are acoustic and quite appropriate for the service.

As the service was beginning we were greeted by Suzanne Emory, Matt and Lisa Befus and the Sabeans, all LAMers we had spent time with this past week. In order to adapt to the 25-minute framework for the message I consolidated a lot from the am message and it was a tad bit easier to preach in English (though not a whole lot so). We participated after the message in the Lord’s Supper by intinction (look it up!), and I was asked to give the benediction and then walked out in true liturgical style with the Pastor (Stacey). We had to wait quite a while for Shelley Rice to finish up with all her duties and communications and then we were off to dinner together.

A short drive and we arrived at RostiPollo, a Costa Rican answer to Boston Market. We had great charbroiled chicken with all the trimmings and enjoyed more conversation with Craig and Shelley. By the time we had eaten the last bite, I was already fading, and the Rice’s could see it. So we hurried off to the downtown bus station where we caught a taxi back to Mike’s. We had a brief conversation with Mike, who was heading up north with his pastor the next morning, packed most of our nags in order to head for the Bougainvillea tomorrow morning, talked with Stefi, and then fell asleep pretty quickly.

Another long, hot, wonderful day in the Lord was added to our memories…

Day 9 in Costa Rica

It’s Saturday and we have had a wonderful and restful day in many ways. We woke up a little later than usual to Mike’s call to join him for breakfast. Instead he and I drove over to a little “pulpería” or mini-market to grab some milk, etc. On the way back we stopped off at one of his favorite hangouts - a small bakery run by a Colombian couple. We picked up some fresh baked bread and had it cut, and we added a cream cheese-filled twist loaf and a cinnamon roll for extra measure and returned to the house to enjoy it with Shellie.

After a bite, we started in what seems to be normal Saturday chores - washing clothes and straightening things up. Shellie got caught up on her part of the blogging and I began to review my notes for tomorrow’s sermons. I was going to do my sermon on Jabez, but at the last minute felt led to focus on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), so I switched to Matthew 21:1-10.

After a couple of quiet hours, Mike needed to take his son Jonathan, a sophomore at a boarding high school in Southern California, to their Korean church to meet friends. I offered to go with them, so I left Shellie to rest and drove the 25 minutes down to the church. What another culture shock! As soon as we got to the gate people’s heads were bowing a mile a minute. I don’t think I’ve given my neck such a workout in years! The people were very warm, gracious and kind, even though I couldn’t understand one single word of the Korean in which they were speaking. Mike introduced me to the new pastor, a nice guy who, again, couldn’t speak english or spanish, so we were left to bows, smiles and Mike’s interpretation. It is obvious that Mike is highly respected among all these people!

It was great to watch Jonathan’s reunion with friends after a semester away. All the kids in the youth group ran and bowed first, then grabbed and hugged him. After leaving Jonathan off at the church, Mike and I decided to eat lunch at a very non-traditional Costa Rican restaurant, Los Arcos Dorados (McDonald’s). Like every other McDonald’s in the world on Saturday I suppose, it was crowded! The food however was completely predictable and the conversation even better. We began talking about what’s next for Mike in ministry. We talked over several interesting options for him to carry in prayer on his upcoming 3-week trip to the U.S., then japan, followed by Korea (to stop off at his small 40,000 member church), and then on to China to see his sister. I look forward to talking when he returns.

Saturday afternoon brought both Shellie and me much needed naps! At around 5:00, Mike again came to the door and invited us to join him for dinner. We went into San José to one of his favorite Chinese places and we had a decent meal. It seems like the meal however took a back seat to our conversation about love, potential wives for Mike and his future ministry. It occurred to Shellie in the day that a gal we love and who served on staff with me in Monterey might be a pretty good match for Mike. We’re going to work on that one!

We didn’t stay too long at dinner and returned to the house to get ready for tomorrow morning. I made a few phone calls to arrange for tomorrow’s transportation all over town and to alleviate our schedules a bit on Monday and Tuesday, still allowing us to meet and spend a bit of time with all. Everyone is so understanding!!! If I haven’t said it enough yet, we have great people in Costa Rica!!!

Our evening ended with “The Three Musketeers,” a Disney film, which energized me for tomorrow. It is so beautiful right now, that our french door and windows stayed open all night to let the breeze caress us to sleep. Thank you Lord for a day of rest and friendship!

Day 8 in Costa Rica

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength.” That’s the theme of our daily prayers and meditations now a full week into our first of several Presidential visits to the fields of LAM. It is 9:00 pm and we just got back to Mike’s where we instantly find peace and calm…normally! Not tonight however. Today starts the Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations and there is a huge party going on down the road with full amps and speakers, an emcee, loud music and a pretty decent subwoofer system. Looks like we’re in for a long night. I guess the Lord wants us to leave every drop on the altar of dependence today!

We left the house this morning at 7:55, headed for the AMCA house where we stayed the first two nights. It has been the central meeting place for all of our trips around San José and beyond. Steve had some time to publish a couple more days of our journal on the blog and made a couple of calls to the home office while waiting for Craig and Christina Burch to pick us up and take us to ESEPA, one of the two seminaries started by LAM. Greg is a professor of missions and finishing up his Ph.D. in missions at Fuller Seminary. God has given him a special call - to train pastors and workers in developing ministry to street kids at risk. He is currently developing a fully orbed curriculum to be used in seminaries throughout Latin America. Greg and Christina have logged ten years with LAM but have all the enthusiasm and energy of new recruits. I think they encouraged Steve more than he could encourage them!

After a brief cafecito and conversation with the Burchs, Paul Mauger, another LAM missionary who just happens to be sent from Phil and Cindi’s church in Pennsylvania, brought two students in to the sitting room where we had been talking with Craig and Christina. To our surprise, neither was a true latino. One of the students, Stefán was a North American, ex-marine from Kansas City who chose to study in Costa Rica over the U.S. to help pave the way language-wise and culturally for future ministry in Latin America. The other student I was to find out at the end of our conversation is Robby Richard, the son of Dr. Ramesh Richard, a professor at Dallas Seminary, evangelist and preacher. It was amazing to hear how he chose to be at ESEPA instead of Dallas because he loves Costa Rica…so much so that he has married a “Tica” (so did Stefán)! These two young men began to ask questions about LAM and missions and that was like throwing raw meat to a lion for Steve. He switched into recruitment mode and really connected with the students. He hopes to stay in contact with them and help them find their future through LAM.

We then met for a while with the new Rector (president) of the seminary and learned about the ups and downs, as well as the current vision for the seminary. Steve really feels that LAM has to do more to support the seminary and the finding and training of future theologians, especially in light of the proliferation of so many megachurch pastors who have little or no theological training. Robby Richard told us of an evangelical conservative church they attended in the interior of Costa Rica that teaches a man can have seven wives, according to the Bible?!?!? There is such a lack of serious theological reflection in Latin America today and ESEPA holds the real promise of develop and providing platform for the next generation of theological leaders.

After a while with the Rector, Mark Padgett, Paul Mauger rushed us over to his house for homemade pizza (yummy!) and great conversation with him and Nancy. They were sent to the field by Westshore EV Free Church, which Shellie’s brother Phil pastors.
Aside from teaching at the seminary, Paul helps with admin at ESEPA and is actively involved in helping the growing Latin Missions movement (Latins going out as missionaries to the world). Nancy started a discipleship through baking group 15 years ago and they’re still going strong! Paul and Daniel, their son, of course appreciate the physical fruits of the group’s baking labors! As we have found with almost every missionary, Paul and Nancy opened their hearts and their lives to us in a short amount of time and we are deeply grateful. LAM has incredibly wonderful people!

No sooner did we finish our pizza then Bob Sabean (he’s the crazy driver from last Saturday) came by to whisk us off on an hour-long trip back up to Camp Roblealto to see the actual camp and meet the new director, a LAM missionary. Bob spoke nonstop the entire time about Christian Camping International, the group he has worked with for over 30 years. At times, Shellie had to start giving Steve a back rub or head rub because lunch and the heat had him falling asleep as Bob continued on. We were greeted at the camp by the Director, Robert Bruneau, and his wife Nina. They are a wonderful couple from Panama who have been with LAM for nine years in camping ministries. We took a quick tour of the camp and then sat for several hours and talked Christian Camping International, Argentine soccer, what it is like to be a Latin and a LAM missionary at the same time. The conversation spilled over into a wonderful homemade lasagna dinner in the midst of a torrential rain. Once again, their transparency and honesty is so encouraging to us.

7:00 came quickly and we needed to get back to the other side of San José (Mike’s house). We jumped into the camp truck and Robert and Steve proceeded to get lost somewhere in northeast San José. After finally doing what most men won’t - stop and ask directions- we got on the right road, only to come to a complete halt after a kilometer or two. We thought we had come up on an accident because traffic wasn’t moving in either direction. So being the brainiacs that Steve and Robert thought they were, they tried a detour…that fifteen minutes later only led us right back to where we tried to detour. Traffic was moving slowly, but moving by this time. After a few minutes we came up on what was slowing everything - a two-block long catholic procession celebrating the beginning of Semana Santa. There was no traffic control, nothing. The parade simply took over the road and we had to do what we could to go around them.
The trip took almost two hours. It should have taken 25 minutes. But the Lord meant for us to spend more time with Robert on the road and it was good quality conversation.

We’re sure that we’ve left some details out, but we’re so tired we can hardly keep our eyes on the screen. A great, long, hard, fruitful, tiring, hot, and encouraging day! Steve just got off the phone with the Gaults, a couple we were to go to La Cumbre Camp with tomorrow morning. He canceled us out of the 8-hour drive up into the mountains tomorrow so that we can sleep in, rest and prepare for a long Sunday. We love and miss you all and thank you for praying us through these days!

Day 6 Addendum

Here's a quick picture of us in the middle of the jungle of Costa Rica…well, not really. It's in the middle of the lush gardens at the Hotel Bougainvillea. It's as close as we'll get this trip to the jungle!