Day 5 in Costa Rica

The day began very early. Steve Mean picked us up at Mike Yoon’s about 6:45 and took us to a lovely hotel that was tucked away behind a gate and tall walls inside the city. You would never know it was there were you not ushered in behind the gate that closed tightly behind you. Another unsafe part of town we are told. Steve met with the president of the Board of the Roblealto Foundation, Mike Garrett (an associate ministry of LAM), while Steve Mean showed me around the hotel. I learned that Steve is a master gardener among his many other gifts. He and his wife Gay, lived (and still do have a home) in Washington State where he was a businessman. They have been here 3 years and he is passionate about the Camp and the sister ministries of Roblealto. They live not far from Mike, and since Mike is going to the States for 3 days, and we do not have Internet connection here, upon Steve’s invitation, we are moving to the Mean home. I don’t believe that is a literal translation! Steve is a charismatic, sensitive, intelligent person who has wonderful people skills. I am looking forward to getting to know Gay since I have spent no time with her while being in Costa Rica.
The LAM Roblealto team met around the pool for a buffet breakfast, and Steve and I were able to hear (in Spanish) how each person was ministering. Margarita Weir appears to be an elderly, frail woman. She has been in C.R. with Roblealto for almost 40 years. She is a great prayer warrior and has the energy of a young woman. I am learning that many of the “older” LAM missionaries are still going strong. More about that later! Margarita runs up and down the hills of the camp like she most likely did 40 years ago. Vera Brenneman, who MC’d our time with the missionaries last Saturday, is another older lady. But once again, the passion for the ministry and the Lord Himself, have kept these two going strong. Also at the table were Susana, a single, Southern woman about 40, who is the medical supervisor over all the nurses, etc. for the Foundation. She has been there 20 years! She adopted 2 “Tico” (Costa Rican’s) boys who are now 7 and 9. Also at the table was Senia, the Director of Programming at the Roblealto Camp. So with Steve and myself that made 8 of us at the table. After a short, but sweet time in prayer, we said goodbye and Vera took us by car to see several of the Roblealto ministries.
To help you understand better, Roblealto is really a conglomerate of ministries that stretches back 77 years – a series of daycare centers that minister to at risk kids around downtown San José; el Hogar Bíblico Roblealto (the Roblealto Bible Home) that is a resident program (on the property of Camp Roblealto) that ministers to about 150 children with all sorts of serious home and psychological challenges (60% that come to the Hogar are medicated); Camp Roblealto a 200-acre, fully functioning campground able to serve several hundred; and a farm that focuses primarily on raising and selling chickens. The incubators that we will see on Friday alone are under a roof that is almost the size of a football field!!!
One of the Daycare centers, a preschool that we only drove by, is located in a poor part of the city, underneath the headquarters of the foundation that runs all of the Roblealto ministries. Interestingly enough, the property was donated by the Costa Rican government and is sandwiched between the main police academy of San José and the offices of the CR Ministry of Defense. Like the other centers, it is a ministry to parents and single parents that need to work but can not afford childcare. Vera then took us past the largest center, serving 250 kids preschool-5th grade, and then actually gave us a tour of the third for ages toddler through third grade. We walked through this center, meeting children and workers, even sitting in on a class where the children “performed” for us by singing several songs. Pictures to come! Once again, it is located in a poor part of town where there is much drug trafficking and prostitution. Vera pointed out a white cross on top of a hill overlooking the city. She told us that many bad things happen beneath that cross, things that she would not even speak with words. But she said that cross is symbolic for her. Few people notice it unless pointed out, but it is always there. Like Christ, always there, watching over the city, mostly ignored while defiant and ugly sin is practiced all around, His presence unnoticed but always there. My stomach turned as I thought of what must go on just feet from that cross, but really how different is that than when any of us defiantly act out our sin . . . . even those of us that know Christ and His very Presence is within us! A sobering visual.
I was humbled as everywhere we have gone we are treated like “traveling dignitaries”, always introduced with respect as “ El presidente del LAM y su esposa”, a title that still feels uncomfortable. But as you can imagine, Steve takes every opportunity to make people feel comfortable and relates to them on a peer level; in action saying “ I don’t take myself too seriously, so please, you do not need to either.”
Vera then took us the 45-minute drive to the Roblealto camp. This camp is 77 years old, birthed by the Strachans themselves (founders of LAM). There are 200 acres and it consists of old and new buildings, as well as a “hatchery”, where thousands of eggs are hatched and then sold for profit in the city. There are several homes on the property that house 7 – 10 children each, with house parents. These children have at best difficult home lives and live during the week at the camp. 60 – 70 % of the children that enter the program are on one or more psychiatric drugs. By the time they leave the program many of them are off ALL drugs! Love, consistent boundaries, good nutrition, not to forget the Good News of Jesus Christ given, have helped to bring immeasurable healing to these children. There is a school on campus where they are taught and they share lunch in the great cafeteria while having breakfast and dinner with their “family” every day. There are thousands of children that have passed through over the decades and it is impossible to humanly factor how many lives of children and even families that have been positively affected by this ministry.
Steve and I ate lunch in the camp mess hall with several of the missionaries then took about 45 minutes to rest our weary bodies on couches in a ‘departamento”. The storm clouds moved in and by the time that Dave and Marilyn Longworth (a second generation LAM missionary couple) came to escort us to our afternoon events, it was torrential rain. The Longworths took us to see David’s parents who are retired LAM missionaries that began in the 40’s . . . they are now 90 years old! We heard the story of how Dave’s mom died of encephalitis when he was just 8 years old and how difficult that was for them. 3 years later Donald married his present wife, and they have been married almost 60 years. It was such a privilege to visit with them and hear some of the stories and also for Steve, on behalf of the LAM family, to express to them how grateful we are for their many years of service and sacrifice. We gathered in a circle and prayed together before leaving. I couldn’t help but tear up as I thought of this amazing couple and how they represent what has been termed as “the greatest generation”, and for good reason!
We ran to the car, balancing umbrellas, but still getting significantly wet. Our next trip was to Doris and Steve Stevens’ lovely home in the hills overlooking Camp Roblealto. Like almost everyone else we’ve met of the former generation, they both graduated from Wheaton College when Billy Graham was there. Ruth is John (Juan) Stam’s sister and has every bit as much fire and intelligence as her brother. They served the LAM for fifty years in many different ways. She was a teacher and supervisor at the school at Roblealto, he started the farm and hatchery. We drank tea and ate goodies for a while, once again hearing the almost miraculous stories of God’s provision for the mission and it’s family in years past.
Darkness was setting in and we had a long drive back to Mike’s, so we prayed holding hands and then once again darted out through the torrential rain into our limousine – a 1972 Nissan Pulsar with 220,000 miles. As we headed down the mountain into San José, I began to really fell the cold and wet of the rain – the rear window seal was gone and water was dripping down the back of my shirt. That gave a good excuse to move over and cuddle Shellie for the rest of the 45-minute drive into town.
We were supposed to meet Mike on the outskirts and have dinner, but he couldn’t get his electric gate opened because of the rain, so he sent Steve Mean who met the Longworths and us at Doña Loleta’s, a Costa Rican knock-off of Rain Forest Café. We sat, ate and talked for about an hour drying off and allowing the rain to finally subside. The food was, well, let’s just say we’ve eaten better. After a twenty-minute drive back to Mike’s, who had finally been able to open the gate, and fifteen minutes of great conversation with Mike, Shellie and I fell into bed and quickly asleep. We really don’t know how much we can keep up with the itinerary. Shellie is wearing out physically. And yet, every stop and every conversation has been both a great blessing and a great help to Steve in understanding the inner workings of LAM. One more thing…we miss our kids and grandkids!!!

Day 4 in Costa Rica

Today was a killer!

We woke up this morning greeted by clear skies and a view out the french door to the mountains north of the city of San José. Birds were chirping, our two german shepherd guard dogs, Buddy and Beyoncé (yes, after the singer) were standing over the wrought iron patio fence looking for some much needed people attention, and a cool breeze made the heat of yesterday seem a million miles away.

We left Mike Yoon’s, the place that others in the mission affectionately call the “Mini-Marriott”, at about 7:30 a.m. for the one hour trip into the city (which should only take 20 minutes at a normal speed - this is worse than L.A. at rush hour!) The time was well spent as we got to know Rodrigo Chavarría, a Costa Rican who studied with Juancito Terranova, the son of my co-pastor in Argentina, at Columbia Bible College and then at Wheaton. He is incredeibly articulate and we could sense right away that he was as much affected by his time in the U.S. as I was in Argentina. There was that sense of having almost a dual heart. He has been with the mission for a long time and has had a tough journey, but is excited about the future.

We arrived at the headquarters of PROMETA, a Latin online seminary offering accredited M.A.’s in Christian Leadership and Biblical Studies. There are more Ph.D’s and D.Min’s in that converted house than in most seminaries. Along with Rodrigo, who is handling the admin for PROMETA right now, we were able to sit for a couple of hours with Jeff David, another long time LAMer who writes curriculum and oversees students and their projects. While the time was supposed to be centered on the ministry of PROMETA, we quickly passed to discussing LAM and MSO issues. Shellie and I were amazed at their transparency and their honesty. I am humbled by their trust placed in us through the conversation. They care about their ministries, but they care as much for the sense of family in LAM, and are anxious to see what God will do in the days ahead with the mission. PROMETA is now in the process of being designated as the school of theology for the National University of Guatemala, to which over 50,000 students attend. This is a huge opportunity and honor. One other quick note: In 1990, I traveled from Buenos Aires to Guatemala City for a few days to spend with a family that was to soon join the OC team in Argentina. While there, we were guided around the city, to church and even to Antigua by a young pastor named Enrique Fernandez. To my surprise, I encountered him again today, Ph.D. and all, as one of the leaders of PROMETA. What a small world and isn’t it interesting how He brings people back around into our lives?!

After what was a great conversation, we prayed together and walked out of the conference room to find Mike Day, another LAMer waiting for us. We stepped into his Hyundai Van (I think every LAM mssionary has a Hyundai), and set off on another one hour trip, this time towards Irazú Volcano and the little town of Pacayas, where Mike and his Costa Rican wife, Noribette, have just purchased two acres of land that look over a beautiful valley filled with farmlands from a retiring LAM couple. The sun had given way to clouds and a significant breeze at 5,000 feet. Mike and Noribette are the Costa Rican Directors for AWANA. Having pastored two churches in the last fifteen years where AWANA was huge, it didn’t take a lot to get up to speed on ministry. That allowed us much more time to talk about the Days. Mike graduated from high school ion Wheaton, Il. and came straight down to San José to work, with the intention of going to language school at ILE (you’ll hear about that next). For a year or so, he would try to work and sutdy, then go back to the states to earn real money to come back down and study at ILE. After studying at ILE, he entered our LAM seminary, ESEPA, and there found Noribette in the library. Yes, she was the librarian. They got married young and are celebrating 19 years of marriage in 2009. Mike is one of those “can fix anything” kind of guys. They have four wonderful kids who love the Lord and their parents and even participate with their parents in the AWANA training that they do all over the country. They raise four bulls, two dogs, and a lone hen who has yet to lay an egg…I wish I could say that! We were a bit pressed for time, so we sat down right away to a typical arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) dish with chips and fresh pineapple jiuce. Dessert brought us “tres leches”, a cake that is made and saturated with three differenet kinds of milk. It was all awesomely good! Around the tabel we talked mostly about kids, history, AWANA, etc. After a quick picture, a time of prayer and saying good-bye to the family, Shellie, Mike, Josh (their youngest) and I headed back through Cartago a reasonably large town with a beautiful and old basilica. On the road back to San José, Mike shared some of his experiences and suggestions for LAM in general. Again, I was amazed at the candor. These people down here really love LAM and have a desire to see it become even greater than it has been.

We were soon out of the clouds and back into the heat and traffic. We made our way to the Insituto de Lengua Española (ILE), the premier Spanish language institute for missionaries in all of Central and South America. We were met at the gate by Barbi David (Jeff from PROMETA’s wife), who is a teacher in the Sojourn Academy, the elementary school on the campus of ILE. A quick tour of the elementary campus was followed by an introduction to Julie Chamberlain, the Director of the ILE and an almost twenty year LAM missionary. We had never really heard of her and were pleasantly surprised b y her warmth and candor. We sat outside on a patio overlooking the school campus with a view to the mountains south of San José and heard her story. She is one focused lady! When I asked her how she was doing, she launched us into a conversation regarding a leadership issue facing her that is almost exactly what Shellie and I faced in San Gabriel 13 years ago. I was taken back by the similarities and felt that God had ordained the theme so we could be of some very practical help. I wont bore you with the details, but I do feel she is encouraged to “take the bull by the horns” and act in a way that will provide the best leadership for the ILE and the Sojourn Academy, while allowing her to retain overall direction for the ministry. I am excited to hear how it all turns out.

Our one hour conversation lasted almost two, and we were late for dinner at Dick and Sheila Dudney’s, 22-year LAM veterans who are working as the Student Life Directors at ILE with Julie and Barbi. We stopped by and got a quick tour of Julie’s home and then arrived at Dudney’s to find dinner on the table and Dick and Sheila as hungry as Shellie and me. The actual dinner conversation was surprisingly diverse - our kids, Dudney’s kids, Julie’s journey, LAM retirees, and policies and procedures that we thought could use some review and/or revision. Julie blessed us with a couple of “pieces” - old time elocutionary vignettes shared at early 20th century dinner tables. They were the kind of thing you’d hear in Lake Wobegon.

I could see that by this time, Shellie was worn out from the heat, from the travel, from the emotional expenditure of the day, and so we called a taxi for our 25 minute ride back to our place of lodging. Notice I said twenty-five minutes? The same trip took us an hour this morning. We arrived exhausted, worn out, wanting to talk to our kids, and just generally not excited about being ready to go at 6:50 tomorrow a.m.

We made a quick call to Cara and found out the awesome news that she is coming to Miami the end of April for a conference and can spend a couple of days with us! The news only got better when Shellie opened the refrigerator to find it stocked with freshly sliced watermelon, cantelope and the sweetest mango I’ve ever tasted. There was also coke to feed my bad habit! As I sat down to write thie entry, our host Mike came to the door quite surprisingly. He missed his plane to Philadelphia this am and had arranged all the goodies for us. He’s also arranged for our laundry to be taken care of…what can I say, they don’t come more disposed to serve than Mike. We talked for a few minutes about life, love and his son and then decided to hit the sack. So here it is, 11:00 p.m straight up, 17 packed, precious, and purposeful hours after waking up - I’m toast!
May God multiply the sleep in fewer hours…Amen! And amen!

Day 3 in Costa Rica

I awoke at 6 am and unable to go back to sleep, I stole away to the living area of the AMCA house to to write the blog for yesterday and to have my ‘lectivo divina’. Time always goes so quickly when reading, writing and praying. I asked the Lord for a special word from Him today and by the end of the blog, you will see that he most likely answered. . . .
It is Sunday and Mike Yoon picked us up at 9:45 to take us to his church that he planted; the 3rd of 3. It meets at ESEPA, the Seminary that LAM started and then turned over to the nationals. LAM missionaries are assisting in teaching and administrating it now. The church meets in one of the classrooms and there were about 50 people in attendance. This morning John Stam taught and he spoke on Chapter 8 of Revelations, emphasizing how the prayers of the Saints went up as a fragrance to the Lord. He talked about how beautiful prayer is to the Lord and how it is one of, if not the most imortant thing we can do as christians.

We then went to John and Doris Stams home for lunch where we had one of the most memorable afternoons of our lives. John and Doris are in their 80’s and have been LAM missionaries for over 50 years. John’s uncle and aunt, John and Betty Stam, are the famous missionaries who were martered in China in the 1930‘s. They were drug through the street and then beheaded. You might want to Google them and read about it. Anyway, John is a Biblical scholar having received his doctorate in Theology at Basil University. Doris is a Greek scholar and taught at the university in Nicuragua for some years. Their home is at least 150 years old and very primitive and ruggedly beautiful. Everywhere you look in their home you will find a primitive antique or an amazing piece of sculpter or painting. They have 2 or 3 pre Columbian pieces of stonework just ‘laying around’! The floor in their dining and living room is all 150 year old hand painted tiles. I kept thinking through out our afternoon with them “Christa would be in heaven right now” ! We asked questions and gleaned as much as we could in the short time we had with them. John’s eyes are beginning to give out but he is determined to finish the 4th volume of his book on Revelations that he is in the midst of wrinting. At this moment Steve is beside me ready John’s book on Prophecy and Missions.

One of the memorable stories that John and Doris told us about was when he was in Cuba in 2002, one of the 20 or so times he has been there for ministry. He was with some other christian leaders meeting on Revelations and Biblical prophecy when they received word that Fidel Castro wanted to meet with them from 11 pm - 2 am. They were shocked but incredibly excited to go. For 3 hours these men interacted with and answered questions from the Cuban dictator. At the end of their time with them he asked the question “what does it mean to be an Evangelical, just in case I am one?”
One of the men there gave a very clear presentation of the Gospel. Who do you know has had the opportunity to be with Fidel Castro or any other leader of a country and give them the Good News of Jesus Christ? John and Doris have lived controversial lives at times, such as during the 80’s when they ministered to the Sandanista’s. He has debated with the best scholars of the day on Liberation Theology and written a number of published papers on the subject. It is such an honor to know and glean from a couple with such a deep and meaningful life experience. It begs the question though, are we raising up a new generation of missionaries with an equal committment to the Lord, the Word, and sacrifical giving to those around them? The Stam’s generation sent “the best of the best” to foreign fields . . . where are the best of the best of this generation?

That was only half of our incredible day. Mike Yoon, a missionary here in Costa Rica for 7 years, was formerly a pastor who ministered in a church of 40,000 in Korea. He was one of the 20,000 that stood up in an URBANA meeting in the 80’s and committed his life to missions. Just 1 1/2 years ago Mikes wife, Grace, suddenly and unexpectedly died of a brain anuism. They have 2 sons, both studying premed to be medical missionaries. One is in L.A. and the other at Berkley. Mike is at a crossroads in his life and ministry and Steve and I had the privilege tonight to interact with him about this over dinner. He is seriously considering leaving the mission for many good reasons, but decided to wait until the new LAM president came to see if there was direction from God to stay. The conversation that we had tonight inspired Steve with fresh vision for the Mission and he wants to pray and think about bringing Mike on to start a whole new arm of ministry bridging Korea with Latin America. The church in Korea has the vision and the resources to see the Gospel taken throughout the world, and unlike the American church, has not given up on Latin America. Mike’s church funded the building of the most beautiful home and retreat house on park like grounds, ( I will get pictures!) and anything that Mike needs to buy or do is completely funded. He doesn’t understand why so many North American missionaries are having such trouble staying funded! But most important is the vision . . . the Korean church is there. So friday, after Mike returns from a trip to visit his doctor in the U.S., Steve and Mike will sit down to talk about the possibilities.
Mike has hepatitis and diabetes, so he knows realistically that his days are numbered . . as are all of ours! But he is a visionary, an evangelist, and a dedicated, committed missionary. Pray with us about what God might do with this potential union.

Mike invited us to stay here at his home so we are in “the big house”, where there are 13 bedrooms! Our private bath has a jacuzzi and a balcony that opens up looking out over the palacial grounds. I have the windows open and it is all quiet except the singing of a bird outside our window.

What an amazing day!!

Day 2 in Costa Rica

Today is a special day as the entire Costa Rica LAM family is gathering to meet us, hear Steve's "address" and ask questions. We did not need to be downstairs (everyone is coming to the AMCA house) until 10:00 so we were able to spend some time having devotions, reading and for Steve,

some prep for his talk. There was probably 50 people that we began to meet and chat with before we sat down for our meal. A wonderful group of missionary couples that don't get together as often as they like, so they look forward to a once a year retreat. This year the retreat was exchanged for our time today, as the economic crisis has affected them as well, and to accomodate the 'presidential visit'. Olive (?can't remember her last name at this moment) served as master of ceremonies and after we had a meal of a pot rst. kind of meat, mashed potatoes, brocoli, green bean, carrot mixture, and a cheesecake type dessert, we sang a couple of hymns together, and she gave a short presentation. She said that while president Obama has been in office for 90 days and recently gave his address, and Steve has been president of LAM this same amount of time, (April 4th will be our 90 days), they are looking forward to the 'state of the LAM address'. The similarities stop there as she sees our LAM president more as a "coach", and the missionaries as part of the "selection" team. So Steve was presented with a soccer ball, signed by all the missionaries! She said that they hoped it would be in his office and remind him of his team in Costa Rica. Of course Steve loved the illustration and you can bet it will get a select spot in his office!

He then spent about 30 minutes talking about what he has discovered in the last 2 1/2 months in leadership and what he sees as the most important things to tackle this year. He also talked about what kind of leadership he will bring to the LAM, emphasizing that he is relational and wants to be communicated with directly. Evidently, former presidents were "isolated" and you had to go through a ream of people to finally get to "the top". Steve encouraged them by Scripture that speaks of the first shall be last, and that we as an MSO exist FOR them, not the other way around. He committed streamlining systems and communication to make their time on the field as good as possible. There was a one hour Q and A time and all kinds of questions were raised. I believe he was able to bring great encouragement and gave them a very good birds eye view of not only who he is, but the positive changes and course that he hopes and prays to bring to the LAM. A good time was had by all.

Steve and I took about a half an hour to prepare to leave for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We got word that a group was coming to stay at the AMCA house, where we are,

and that sent Steve and I into a momentary panic. I called the couple that run the house to see if it is a small or large group and if it is going to be teenagers or adults. Interestingly enough, he didn't seem to have details. I left frustrated, but was quickly distracted from my concerns by our ride to our next destination . . . Bob Beamas, who he and his wife have done camp ministry here for 41 years, drove like a New York taxi driver to get us to the Worship Service at 3pm.

Sometimes I had to just close my eyes and take a deep breath . . . I asked if he had ever had any accidents in his many years of driving here. He said "2 fender benders during the first 10 years of being here." No sooner had he said those words than a car slammed on his brakes and came about 12 inches from T boning my side of the car! I decided to stop asking such questions!

The next 2 hours were very interesting. Bob is one of 8 leaders that combine Evangelicals and Catholics, all Believers, in a community of about 300 people that meet on Saturday afternoons from 3-5 pm, for worship and prayer. They are divided up during the week into small groups and each group has a pastor that teaches. They study books of the Bible, all on the same passages.

It is 90% Catholic! Each member must be committed to a home church and attend that church faithfully. But they also have 2 meetings a week with "Sword of the Spirit", and sometimes even more meetings. This is a "family" and you can see the love. It was such an amazing time of worship. The band made up of young people, stood to the side and led without any "hoopla".

The words were reflected on the wall in the center of the auditorium, which by the way is a lovely, large building that they recently built and payed for. Good acoustics. It is designed to have cross breeze and doors and windows are opened, with no air conditioning. There were 4 pastors up front, 2 being very active. One kept the flow of the Service going. There was people that would come up to one of the pastors, whisper something in his ear, he would go to the pastor at the microphone and whisper something in his ear. You could see that he was seriously processing what was being said. He took a moment and then spoke direction to the congregation. We found out later that evening from Bob that people would come up with prophecies and prayer requests. The pastor at the mike would pray and process if it was from the Spirit and allow only that which he felt was safe and good to bring to the congregation. Bob told us that they also look for a "pattern" of prophetic word, since the people coming up don't know what the other person has said. When we were there, 2 people were allowed to speak a prophetic word from the pulpit. One was a Scripture reading and interpretation and the other was a word of encouragement to the church family. No one speaks for more than a couple of minutes and it seamlessly moves from one thing to the next. Fascinating to watch the pastors work! There was much time dedicated to prayer and while the pastor prayed from the front, there was a beautiful hummmm from the audience as people quietly prayed out loud. There also was a time where people would gather in small groups and pray over each other. A man came up to us and said the Spirit had led him to pray for us and that he was to pray for power in our lives. Everywhere you looked people were praying and crying, but it was all so quiet and "organized", but not in a stiff way. There was a gentleness and sweetness to the time that truly ministered to my spirit. There is no doubt in my mind that these Catholics have a deep relationship with the Lord!

I have a couple of pictures but discovered that I can not put them on until our return to the States.

We then drove 45 minutes to Bob's house where his wife prepared us a soup and bread dinner.

We had some good but short conversation, as Bob was concerned about our getting back to the AMCA house before the "game" was over. Mexico and Costa Rica playing for the right to proceed on for the World Cup. The city stops for such important games. So he called us a taxi.

I discovered that there are no street names for residential streets. They go by landmarks!

We got into a taxi with a young man who had no idea where he was taking us and we didn't have and address . .. and we didn't know where we were going! Very interesting. The young man stopped at his house to get some help from a brother. He stopped along the way to talk to a police man, and he stopped at the "other" Shell bomba, to see if that was the right one . . . . it took nearly an hour of driving to finally get to the AMCA house. Steve would say, " I think that rotunda looks familiar". or "Maybe that is the right road". How crazy is that? But by God's grace we got "home". There were about 50 young people downstairs and we needed to unwind.

After some time spent on SKYPE with Cara and her birthday party in Phoenix, then a few minutes with Christa and Daniel in Nashville, we decided we were not going to sit in our bedroom depressed, missing our family, so we walked to a corner bar/restaurant. It was crowded and noisy with the music blaring, but we sat outside with cars and buses racing by us and it was a good distraction. We had a Costa Rican beer that even Steve liked (he is not a big fan of beer!) as it was light and not bitter. We shared some onion rings and Bar B Q wings and shed the stress of the day. It was nice to have the waiter accept our North American Bank card since we had no C.R. money, and he and Steve interacted over the afternoon game. . . Costa Rica lost to Mexico 2 to 0.

When we got back to the AMCA house, there were still a lot of kids hanging around, but we were beyond allowing anything to stress us. I took two melatonin and went to bed and Steve interacted with a couple of people on FB. We slept soundly through the night. God is good!!

Day 1 in Costa Rica

It is 11:45 pm Miami time, 2 hours earlier here in San Jose, Costa Rica. Steve and I are settled into the house that we will be staying in during our 2 week duration. Steve is asleep in the bedroom and as per usual, I am wide awake although exhausted. So I thought I would take advantage of the moment and catch you up on our days events.

We spent the morning packing, cleaning to leave the house ready for Shirley, the dog sitter, running to the bank, the LAM office, and finally the airport. Our plane was to leave at 12, but didn't get off until 1:30. It is always a little bit more challenging when you are flying international as you go through customs going in and coming out. But all went smoothly and we were met in the Costa Rica airport by Matt and Lisa Befus, missionaries for 10 years here at the school, Palabra de Vida. Matt's father founded the school about 20 years ago and even built the house that he and Lisa now live with their beautiful 4 daughters. We had a wonderful visit with the Director of the school where Steve was able to ask many questions and also to let her know what a privilege it is to be able to support and work along side such a strategic ministry. We ended our time together in sweet prayer and then Matt gave Steve the tour of the 8 acre grounds. We forgot to take pictures! But tomorrow we will keep our phone camera close at hand, and get some pictures to put on the blog.

I took a 20 minute power nap on their living room couch and then we were able to meet their girls and visit with the whole family around the table as Lisa had prepared a delicious dinner for us.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, Cuban Beans, Brown Rice, Jello, and a pineapple upside down cake for dessert. We hadn't eaten for about 10 hours, so it tasted especially good!

We then loaded into their van for a scary ride across town . . . the roads are narrow, and filled with pot holes, the traffic was horrendous, but Lisa informed us that it was better than usual!

Ugh! It took about 45 minutes to get us to the house we are now. It is owned by LAM and is used to house short term missionaries and groups that come through from time to time. It is in a "questionable" neighborhood, but once you get past the iron bars, it is, well . . . . like a big dorm house. Downstairs a group of young people were having a meeting, we are upstairs where there are 4 bedrooms with bunks, a small, barely adequate kitchen and a sparsly decorated living room, with a laundry room off to the side. because electricity is so costly, it cost 6 dollars to do a load of laundry. I think Steve was a little disappointed, but he had been warned that it was nothing fancy. Evidently, the former presidents had opted to stay in hotels, but Steve wanted to make a "statement", so here we are. Tomorrow morning all the LAM missionaries in Costa Rica will gather for brunch and Steve will give a presentation with a Q and A afterwards.

So far, the Costa Rica we have seen is very much like parts of Mexico but more green. I have heard there are beautiful parts to this country and I hope we get to see some of them.

We were very impressed with the school and what they are doing. The Befus's are amazing people and cream of the crop missionaries. I really am looking forward to meeting everyone tomorrow. Well, I will try to catch some shut eye. Good night!

Read 2nd Bog 1st

Sorry, I had a problem and couldn't finish the last blog entry. Please read my last blog before beginning this. 

Anyway, I had my iphone in my hand while driving, my reading glasses half way down my nose so I could drive and read at the same time. Maneuvering traffic, freeway changes and Dutchess in the back pacing around like she needed to make a deposit, Barkley sick and for what I knew, possibly dying.  I'm thinking, "I could sure use a navigator and another set of eyes and hands right now."

After just one missed street I found the office, jumped out to get  Duchess to a green spot so she could leave her brown spot, and we clumsily entered into the office.  I filled out forms, reminiscent of Pediatrician visits, and was ushered into a room where dogs were weighed and eventually examined.  Because Barkley was in so much pain the Dr. gave him a shot of pain reliever and said that most likely Barleys foot was broken . . . so how could that be since I am with them 24/7 and I never saw or heard anything that would account for something so dramatic?  He agreed but said that if a dog is favoring his leg to the point that he will not walk on it, and if he is in so much pain that he is lathargic and quivering, most likely it is broken.  He started to go into what that would mean with one option being surgery.  I think the word he used was "complicated".  Complicated equals money when it comes from a doctors mouth.  So he proceeded to x ray little Barkley and returned with the results.  "Well, it's broken . . . but not his foot.  It's his NAIL.  I started laughing as said how could a broken nail cause a dog to react this way?  He said, "It shouldn't. I know that a broken nail is painful, but this is outrageous!  I think we will nick name him WEINER! " He cut back the nail, (loud whaling occured) and gave me MORE painkillers, anti biotics and a good laugh. Barkley was so "drunk" from the medication that when I put him in the car he didn't bother getting on the seat. He layed himself over the hump on the floor and didn't move until I carried him out and layed him on his bed.  That was 3 hours ago and he still hasn't moved.  I checked him recently to see if he was still breathing!

At least I will have a good story for Steve on our way home from picking him up at the airport!!

Wiener!

Steve has been in Honduras since Tuesday and I have been busy preparing for his return tonight and our trip together to Costa Rica for 2 weeks.  I remember when our kids were young and Steve would have ministry out of town that things would always happen that would have been much easier to handle were he there to help.  Things haven't changed that much.  Since Sean, Cara, Christa and Stefani are grown and "flown the coop", we have transfered some of our nurturing and need for giving and receiving affection to our puppy dogs. ( I never thought I would be saying that and especially not out loud! ) What we receive from them is well worth all the effort, but it is much like having 5 year old twins in the house.  Not long after I dropped Steve off at the airport, Duchess began a bout of montezuma's revenge, and I began the now 3 day clean up duty.  Her favorite place to leave a deposit . . . our bed!  I have washed sheets, matress pad and matalase cover twice now.  I finally gave up last night and slept in a chair, too tired to wash and remake the bed again.  Countless trips outside did not keep her from  . . . well, you know.  Then this morning, as I sleepily through myself together and went to tether the dogs, I discovered that Barkly would not get out of his bed.  He just looked at me with the saddest eyes and layed his head back down.  I picked him up and put him on the floor to discover that he was strongly favoring one of his hind legs.  He hobbled outside with great effort and was as lathargic as I have ever seen him.  Fortunately, our friend Enrique was outside with his dogs and I got the name and number for a quality Vet that does not charge a months salary for a visit.  I was able to get him in in the afternoon and set about to try to get some of my work done.  It wasn't long before I realized that he was digressing; unwilling to drink, eat, move and even started twitching.  I began to fear that he had been stung by a jellyfish last night  while we were having our early evening romp on the beach.  So I called the Dr. and was told to bring him in immediately.  Even that became a task.  His office is in Corral Gables and I have never driven there by myself.  The freeways here are similar to LA but even more confusing. We have an 823 and an 826, an I 95 and a 195, just to mention a few. They also have names like Turnpike, and