Grecia Lightning

I sent my last team home 5 days ago before spending 3.5 hours in Denny's and sending Tyrel home; all before 8:30 in the am.

The team got in on Friday the 7th. Our orientation lasted 24 hours and we headed to Grecia Saturday. We spent the rest of the day with our families. Joe and I were with the pastor and his wife and kids-- two awesome young men that have a lot going for them. But they're also struggling in their faith.

Sunday we played soccer in the morning, had a time of relaxation back at the church, and then in the evening we joined them for worship. I translated, while Jeff, the youth pastor, gave me the material.

The mornings throughout the week were taken with construction, as we helped to build some aulas Sunday school rooms. Mixing cement and laying cinder blocks were the main duties. But even with such a small team, eight, plus the two missionaries, we had plenty of time to hang out with those that were around.

Monday evening we held a meeting for the leaders in the church and talked about missions and that they start right there in Grecia, reaching out to those around you.

Tuesday was our long day. After constructing in the morning, in the afternoon we held a children's activity at the community room. There were clowns and games for the children to enjoy. For our craft, the team brought down some bracelets with different colored beads on them. Jeff talked briefly about the colors and their significance before we let them loose. One family that was there showed up at the church that night, that had never been before.

Growing up Presbyterian, I had never really been there before. The pastor held what he called a "service of ministration". Translation? Healing. He oiled up our palms and we prayed for just about everyone in the building. Some fell, others wept. It was pretty powerful and interesting.

Wednesday was work again in the morning and just a regular service in the evening. Not knowing what the protocol was until about 15 minutes before the service, as the group walked in the door, I asked four of them to share their testimonies. They were all well received by the congregation and despite all their nervousness the group members did wonderful.

Thursday afternoon the women had a women's time, where they did womanly stuff--I don't know what they did there. The men had a meeting that night, where we did manly stuff--I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Jeff talked about what it means to be a man and about generational sin--sin that gets passed down from father to son to grandson and what it means to stop that sin. It was a very powerful time for the men of the church.

Friday we went to the Poás Volcano. I had never been there and it was a really special thing that the pastor took us up there. We had a great time crammed in the van and eating lunch and then some craft shoppinng in nearby Sarchí. That night was the Farwell service which was tearful as usual. A great time for everybody.

We headed out the morning of Saturday and had a great time relaxing and reflecting at the beach, but we forgot our tool boxes back in Grecia, so the church came out to see us, which tugged at some heart-strings again, but was over all a joyful time.

The team headed out that Monday morning at the literal crack of dawn. And my time of team leading came to a close. Please continue to pray for me as my transition here at home continues and I'll update more shortly.

Second to last....

I have been meaning to update my blog, but I haven't had internet in my house for about 3 weeks now and I'm just barely hanging on as it is with my emails.... But so I can let you know how some things went here's a quick update.

I had my second to last team 3 weeks ago and it went great, after a few hang ups at the beginning. We worked with Ronald and his ministry out in Guarari and in a local church we had services every night. We helped with the kid's clubs and the feeding program. Everybody was great!

After moving around a few times, I finally found a house that I could live in. I'm still in the same area and the family is great. They've lived in the States and also were missionaries in Mexico for some time.

Tyrel and I went to Manuel Antonio last weekend. Neither of us had ever been there. The monkeys would come right up to you. It was like living in a zoo.

Last night to celebrate the fourth of July, some of us younger missionaries went to Denny's and gorged ourselves till we had to be rolled out of the place. It was rather disgusting the amount of food we ate, but strangely satisfying at the same time.

I have my last team coming in on Friday and we'll be working with a church in Grecia, just outside of San Jose. I'm excited for them. Please be praying for us!

I'm almost done down here, so please be praying for my last 3 weeks here. It has been a wonderful year and I've learned a lot.

Updating 2.0

So, to continue my strings of much needed updates, I once again begin again.

Back at the beginning of May I had to renew my visa. I was thinking about not worrying about it, but my visa has to be valid for me to drive here and my parents were coming the second week of May. I decided to go to Bocas del Toro, Panama to enjoy the clear waters and to study up for my talk I was giving that Thursday. After taking a bus to the border, I crossed took a taxi to the water taxi. Took the water taxi to another boat and took that to another Isla Carneros Carneros Island.

There I spent half of the days on the beach and the other half in Colossians 1:15-20. The time there was very relaxing and I had some good food, which is essential to any good vacation. Really good food is essential to a good day, but...

So Wednesday rolls around and it's time for me to head back across. I began by catching the wrong boat, so I had to pay extra for the taxi to the border. I get to the Panama border, no problems. I go to the Costa Rican authorities and they ask me if I have a plane ticket. I do, but not on my person. But I can show my itinerary online. No need, they won't let me in anyway. WHAT? Something to the fact of I had overstayed my visas twice in 12 months and can't come back in to Costa Rica for a year! Umm. There has to be a mistake. We "discuss" back and forth. Nothing. They show me a sheet that has the "law" on it, but I'm not even sure anything was actually printed on it. So after trying my luck a few times, asking to talk to a higher up, and talking to Kellie back in San José, I decide the best thing for me to do is to try another means. Heading back to Bocas was the second half of the day, hoping that I could catch a flight from there to San José directly. Not till Thursday.

I ate well that night and just relaxed. Nothing that I can do to change the situation. In the morning I'm able to get the flight. One hour, minus the time change. We actually landed before we took off. Now I just have to see what immigration is going to do. STAMP STAMP. STAMP STAMP. "Bienvenidos a Costa Rica." YES! But wait, who's this guy asking me to come with him now? Taking my passport, he goes to a back room. Then coming back out asks me if I have a flight reservation. He cuts me off. No, with us, NatureAir. AH, here's my receipt. A few more moments pass and then he lets me go. He was an employee with NatureAir, just making sure I had actually paid for the flight, since I wasn't on his original flight plan. No worries, I had.

Back in Costa Rica, I had two days to settle myself before my parents came. They flew in on Saturday. We spent a day in San José visiting old friends, before heading out to Monteverde, the cloud forest and eventually Playa Junquillal, the beach. Both were great. I had a great time with my family. They were very refreshing to be with and to enjoy some of CR on someone else's dime! They were only here a week though and left on Mother's Day. At least I got to be around my mother for that day.

I spoke that next Thursday. The Wednesday night I sat down to write out my outline and had a really difficult time doing it, so I went to bed still not knowing exactly how it would go. In the shower the next morning, I decided I'd do it in a Bible study format, the group as a whole going through the passage. I started that way, but then changed back to preaching. I talked about how we work in these areas that are called Christ the King and Sacred Family, but were drugs are ruining peoples lives. So how are we different in going in there than other social organizations? We offer these people Christ, through whom these places were created, by whom they are governed and through whom they are reconciled. I felt like it went pretty well and most of the feedback was the same. A recent preacher I heard, analogized preaching with driving a clutch. You just do it till you learn. I finally feeling like I'm driving with semi-confidence I know which gear to go into now.

I'm now preparing for a team to come on Thursday. We'll be working in Guararí with the Transformations ministry, which Ronald runs. So be praying for us. It's a pretty tough neighborhood, so pray for our safety and that the power of Christ would be upon us in all that we do.

Continued thanks for all your support and prayers.

Mr. Lacey

Tyrel is down here for two months. He's been great to hang out with and I'm excited to see his excitement in all that he's doing. Go check out his blog His Glory... His Renown...

Updating 1.5.1

In respect to all the parties involved with the relationship between Veronica and I, I have removed what I had felt to be a respectful, but clear explanation of our relationship. In short, our relationship has ended. It was a great time of learning and joy for me and something that will be carried with me for the rest of my life. I want to apologize for any harm that I may have caused her or her family by my posting and again thank them for the great love and kindness that they showed me throughout our relationship.

Updating 1.0

Alright so it has been forever since I've written anything meaningful. So this week I'll be updating on my adventures over the past month plus.

Back around the beginning of April, I got to lead a Youth Team from Louisville (pronounced Loo-ul vuhl), Kt. Ryan, the youth minister, and I had a great time leading the youth into new experiences with their Savior. I love youth teams cause that's how I got my start in missions, especially here in Costa Rica. And they've been foundational in God shaping me.

We went to Quepos and worked with a church outside of central Quepos. Q has a lot of problems with drugs, since it's a huge tourist dump. It's the last stop before Manuel Antonio, a national park that is beautiful, so it gets a lot of bleed over from the bums that bum around Central America. But the church was wonderful and I knew it would be a great trip from the first moment that I talked to Pastor Wilbur.

Through the week we worked on the church and did some more outreach ministries to bring more people into the church with the goal of them knowing Jesus. The kids were stretched in this area, as was I. It was the first time that I had to go around a neighborhood/community and invite people to come to church. We put on a youth service, a children's activity and a women's meeting. They put on a despedida "good-bye service" the last night we were there. It was a wonderful time to celebrate the work that God had done in all of us that week.

The challanges of this group? The church has a more liberal background, so getting the evangelism side of the trip across was difficult, but not impossible. They were greatly flexible in anything and everything that was asked of them. There were also some interpersonal issues in the trip. And so I'm not spreading anything that shouldn't be spread or ruining the "reps"
of anyone, I'll just say God worked on a lot of hearts that week and is doing a great work in all of them.

The team was wonderful and I'm blessed to have had the pleasure of leading their time down here.

Ah, a little explanation. The click below. A few of the youth, in the weird way that only youth know how to, wanted to express their love for Ryan, their youth pastor. So they told me they'd pay me 5 clams if I put my rump on Ryan and sang the "bum song," made famous by Tom Green. So I did. Still waiting for my dough though... still waiting... still.

Check me out

With the Christ Church team.

Hodge Podge

So I haven't said much of anything in the past month, so I have about everything to talk about...

Tyrel, a good friend from Tulsa, came down two weeks ago and was able to see a lot of the ministries that I'm regularly involved in. He slept on the floor in my room and we lived much in community that week! We got to visit downtown San José on Monday. We spent most of our time in Teatro Nacional (the nation theater) and making a long story short, I got called an idiot by a prostitute. Good day! Tuesday we went to Guararí to help out with the kid's club. He loved it! Wednesday we went on the feeding program. Always a huge eye-opener for the first timers. From there we picked up our rental car, packed up and headed to the beach. After a 4 hour trip turning to a 7 hour trip we got there. Our two days there were completely relaxing, swimming in the pool, playing in the waves, reading and napping were our priorities, oh, along with eating. We got back to San José Saturday night, ate, and got up early to send him to the airport.

Verónica and I have been together now for about a month. We've had to deal with a lot of issues of culture and communication, both stretching the relationship and enriching it. God continues to confirm our relationship.

Freedom in the Spirit

So yesterday I had a very interesting experience. Two couples, four people, came down to CFCI Costa Rica to pray for the ministries and missionaries. They set up times for missionaries to be able to come and get prayer. I wasn't sure if I was going to go, but my GIRLFRIEND (...read below) encouraged me! So what did I do, but sign up!

Remembering my faith heritage-- presbyterian, baptist, covenant-- I was definately a little, um, nervous about having some more pentecostal peeps praying for me. I've just never experienced that! But I was able to get to know them a little bit first and they're wonderfully down to earth people, who die laughing about casting out demons and seeing people fly across the room! They were very pastoral in their prayers and asked what I wanted prayer over. Two things: my calling, that it would continue to form and be clear; and my relationship with Verónica.

They prayed for about 30 minutes, or so. Shared some "words" they received and prayed them over me, one of which was a pastoral calling. Then they brought Verónica back in and prayed for the both of us. It was all very edifying and an overall joyful experience.

Reflection: I'm presbyterian and so none of this is in my faith background, but I also grew up in Tulsa, home of Oral Roberts University and Billy Joe Daugherty, with his Victory Christian Center. I don't doubt that God works in these ways and I know that I have a deficient theology of the Holy Spirit and all that He can do. Is there such thing as a baptism of the Holy Spirit that is separate to Baptism? I wouldn't argue that point, but these two couples would. Are tongues important? Sure, but look at the placement of 1 Corinthians 13, as Paul talks about the giftings of the Spirit. Slain in the Spirit? I don't know. I would probably argue though that it is more related to our inability to stand before such a strong Spirit of the Lord, rather than being struck down. I thought about this as I fell back on the couch after standing in prayer. I was guided back, trusting their hands on me that I wouldn't crash against the floor (and the couch was lower than I remembered it!). Was there lightning bolts of the Spirit passing through them to me as they would come back and touch my head? Maybe, but for me it was more of a shock, to that of being barely asleep and someone touching you.

Does this negate their ministry and giftings? No. As I said before, it was joyful and edifying. I think God has a strong ministry for them, but it's not something that everyone has been gifted for. Each of us have our own giftings that God has bestowed on us according to His plan for us and how He's going to use us. I would argue that the most important thing for us to continually seek is His presence. To find ourselves at His throne seeking His grace on our lives. To continue to take up our Cross daily-- sometimes hourly-- and knowing that we are not our own, that we were bought with a price, we are to be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, our spiritual act of worship.

The Buzz

Man! News travels fast, huh? And well, I promised a few people that I would be posting this news on the web.

Well, I did something yesterday that I haven't done in nearly 5 years. You might want to sit down... I went on a second date. Yep. How do I say this... it was good.

Ah, so the story you ask.

Well for ever since I got here back in July, I've been going to the CFCI office devotional on Thurdays. People come and go. But sometime this past fall, Veronica started going. We talked here and there, but it was nothing. Then this past Thursday I, jokingly, asked why she never calls me? Well by the end of the conversation I walked home with her number. Friday a group of people were going to go to the Jazz Cafe, so I called her up to see if she wanted to go. She couldn't, but we ended up talking for 20 minutes. We decided on Sunday. Sunday we decided on The Pink Panther and just hanging out.

I got to the mall pretty early, so I went ahead and bought the tickets, walked around and checked out some Diesels. I sat down around 5 and waited. Throughout my sitting, a lot of cute girls walked by, but then out of the crowds Veronica appeared and I was, at that moment, struck with her beauty and presence. We grabbed a quick snack before the movie and just talked-- about everything. I paid for the bill, partly cause I wanted too, but also cause I didn't hear the cashier well enough to split it anyway. The movie was hilarious. And the cultural moves were shut down. (I still don't know how to get a girl to take your hand when you've clearly put it on the armrest to be taken!) We ended up going back to her house-- she lives at home still-- and had a great time with her family. I felt really comfortable there, plus I knew her mom from Renacer. We looked at pictures, played pool and just talked.

Monday she called me half way through the day and told me she wouldn't call me that night, because she would get home late and it would be rude to call my house that late. Okay, no worries. When I was heading up to bed, though, I decided that I wanted to call her. The first words out of her mouth were, "OH, I'm so glad you called." We talked and talked. No games were played. We both made it clear that we like each other and by the time we finished talking it had been more than 2 hours. I had taken no notice.

Tuesday we saw each other at a seminar that CFCI was holding. I thought she had something to do, because she told me she was probably going to leave early, but turned out that was only if she was bored! We kinda looked at each other at the end of the time and said, "So, what are we going to do now?" I said let's just go back to my house and hang out, but she said she had a better idea. So we went over to the University of CR, where I studied 4 years earlier, and where she's finishing up soon, before pursuing a Masters in Education in the States. We went to her favorite cafe and again talked, trying to discover who this other person is and why were so comfortable around each other. Our lives and our dreams match up amazingly, something that only God could have put together. How much do we share about how we're feeling? How much do we still try to guard each other's hearts? Where is that fine balance?

I'll divulge some more information about her. Veronica Gutierrez is 22 years old and has grown up in Costa Rica her whole life. She spent a month or so in Virgina when she was 15. She gave her life to Christ when she was 12. She has brown hair and brown eyes (I'll get a picture up soon). She makes me laugh even when I've only had 4 hours sleep. She challenges me in my faith. She's worried about me, because I'm trying to grow a beard with a long goatee in the style of Charlie Hall, but knows I won't be growing my hair out. She wants to go to grad school in the States and isn't sure she is going to return to Costa Rica afterwards. She's flippin' awesome.

Questions?

Almost "Coming alive"

Right now I'm frustrated. I've been typing out my post about my team that I led nearly 3 weeks ago now and I have been trying to post up some pictures too. Through all of it, the pictures won't post how I want them to and the sweet story that I had about my time with the team is lost. Some where in cyber space I guess. Being as vast as actual space, at least digitally, recovery ain't happen-en, as we like to say in the Southern half of the Estados. So I'll write some other fleeting thoughts as I begin to reconstruct my last near-post to satisfy your desirous pleas for information of my life.

Second change of subject: (I'll leave the juicy stuff for later in the week.) I was able to have a day of "recovery" if you can call it that between dropping the Troyers off at the airport and going on another mission trip. It was an internal one, with as many ticos as gringos. We went to the Guaymis on the Osa Penisula in southern Costa Rica. I can say this about the trip-- it was the worst mission trip I've ever been on. I'll qualify that statement. Mission trips are good (period) They have this quality of building relationships between the team and those whom you are serving. This is good. They are a proclamation of the Gospel, in word and action. This is good. So naturally the mission trip was a good thing. But in all the mission trips I've been on I found this to be the worst. "Why?" I read on your forrowed brow.

A couple of reasons.

It wasn't organized. Now I'm in Latin America, so I naturally use that term loosely-- but it still wasn't organized. The call was placed a day in advance to alert the peoples that we were coming. This resulted in a few complications. The worst being that we weren't able to trek into the Reserve to spend the night there, so that we would be ready in the morning. Of course God works all things to His good, right, so it wasn't a huge blow out, but it caused a headache for a couple of hours.

The second reason was I just got off of being the "lead" of an awesome mission trip. How, what? Okay. I organized the whole 13 days of the previous trip I was on, I took on a lot of responsibility. And God sustained me through it and allowed everything to be awesome to His glory. But this trip I was a participant, I have no problems with this, except I was treated as a child by one of the leaders. There was a drill sergent attitude present in this individual. For ease, we'll call this person, um, Smith. I spent the night at Smith's house, cause we were to leave at 4 am. I figured 30 seconds to put on my shirt, shoes and socks-- in that order, it was 4 am. Then 2 minutes for the brushing of the toothes, plus another minute to repack my bag and get down stairs. Now that's like 3 and half minutes. So I decide I'll get up at 3:55. I have some spare moments, if needed. The bus actually got there at 3:57. I've put my shirt on and then I get "THE BUS IS HERE. EVERYBODY GO. COME ON..." I was being treated like a child. That's cool if I deserve it, but at this moment I didn't. Unfortunately, it didn't end once in the van/bus and for the next 11 hours traveling south, the drill sargent drove from the backseat for me and was overtly abrasive. We worked great together on Saturday when we were ministering, but then on the way home it was the same thing. I was amazed.


Well, enough venting. And I do thank you for that. The mission part of the trip was pretty cool. Saturday morning we loaded up an old Land Rover and piled in to head the short trek into the Reserve. I became a pharmacist for the day, when I wasn't scouting the area for the team I'm taking there in June. I filled baggies with drugs that I have no idea what they do! It was great. I'm excited about the team that I'll be leading there. We'll have a lot of work to do, but it'll be great. The experience gave me a picture for what we'll be able to do, plus a connection to the people.

Here's some more pics:

Some Guaymis waiting medical attention.

The group.

I'm pharmacy-ing. Is that a word?

This is Sarai. She probably keep me sane the for the weekend. She's eight and her mom goes to the church that we slept at. Her brother, Nataniel, her and I played for hours Friday night and then this picture was taken when she came to church on Sunday. I was going to bring her back to San Jose with me, but there wasn't enough room in my bag!

Quieter Moments

I had to post this very much in the moment.

I have been blessed with a lot of wonderful friends in my life and each of them have their own special qualities that endear me to them, but today in the wee hours of the morning, when I should already be tucked away sleeping, I found myself on Mr. Rude's blog entitled Practice Resurrection.

While Josh and I have had an interesting friendship, I'd say he's one of my very closest friends at Seminary. I say interesting because we're kind of opposites. For example: Josh's idea of the perfect New Year's Eve is sitting in a snow bank in Minnesota alone looking at God's starry creation and hearing the faintest "beep-beep" as his Timex notes the passing of another hour, while my idea of a great New Year would be having all my friends over with lots of great food and beverage celebrating with a big countdown and noisemakers to ring in the New Year. Slightly different.

But I think this is also why Josh has enriched my life. He calls me to things which I am not normally drawn. He gives me a fresh perspective. I see Josh as a quiet wisdom. He has taught me, more than anyone else at the Seminary, the importance of the quiet. The power that God rushes in during the quieter moments. Something that I know I need more of.

Struggles

It seems like most of what I've been writing recently have been towards the negative "get my butt in gear" kind of messages. But this may be but another.

It has been real difficult for me to come back here and throw myself into the work that has to be done here. I had, as I've described it, too good a time at home. While I'm not trying to make excuses for my less than exemplary work effort these past few weeks, it has made me think.

I've been preparing for this team I'm leading since I got down here, doing so much a day and taking my time preparing for their arrival. I only have a few more things to do before they get here tomorrow evening. If you know me well, this may seem like a huge difference in my life and truthfully, it is. I'm prone to procrastination. I don't know if it's genetic, but it has run through me for quite a while now. This preparation that I've been undertaking has been against my normal ways of doing things. If this was a paper I had to write at North Park, I would be just starting on it, hoping to finish with a decent work in the next 36 hours I have to write it. It would get finished after working furiously, in about 48 hours and then I would turn it in for an average grade, some where around a B. But here instead I have about 8 hours MAX work to be done and that includes packing, buying some food and withdrawing an uncomfortable amount of cash.

It's also given me a lot of time to thought as to what my heart desires when I eventually get out of ceme... er, seminary. Missions? Not at this juncture. My heart is tugging towards the Church. To be a pastor, mentoring, discipling and encouraging. To equip others to give their lives over to missions, bringing people into worship of the King of kings, that their hearts might be united with Christ and His purposes in their lives.

But for now I must realize that God has placed me here for such purposes as these. And so I concentrate on what He has given me in the next months of my life, specifically the next hours. Pray that this team would come with open hearts and hands. Pray that their would be a revival in this community, Boruca, where we are going. Pray that those coming would not see their missionary-status ending at the end of this week, but that they would carry what they have learned back with them to the States and live missionary lives where ever God places them.

Emerging...

This is for all my NPTS friends-- it's a little rant-y.

I've been sitting on my butt for most of the day waiting for the pastor of the small, rural Costa Rican Four-square church where I, a young Oklahoman, raised Presbyterian, Baptist-ically formed, and Covenant-ly trained, am about to take an Ohio-based Mennoite church team to call me. The rest of my preparation for the team means getting my finances in order, which I can't do until the sheet is explained by someone who has yet to explain it. Both of these things need to happen before I can do anything else.

So I've spent my time: reading Seminary books that I didn't read when they were required-- actually enjoying them; watching MTV Latin America, showing year old shows from Laguna Beach: The Real OC, otherwise known as a bunch of rich high school kids spending their daddy's money and making big deals out of nothing; memorizing Colossians, Paul's plea to an emerging church not to live by the cultist pressures and restrictions placed on them by both those inside the Church and outside-- an interesting read for those denominations who continue to argue the homosexual position.

I was urged to memorize Colossians in particular at the Passion06 conference I attended two weeks ago now. The conference was specifically targeted at college-aged young people, most of whose parents probably payed for their trip (I'm not judging because I'm included). Sometimes as much of an American Eagle fashion show as a worship conference, it was one of the most refreshing times I've had in my life. My question is why?

Maybe it was those with whom I went. Piling into the car I really only new one person well-- my sister, Laura. Tyrel, a good friend of my sister's, whom I was still getting to know, and Lacey, a friend of Tyrel's, whom I had met just 4 minutes before. We all grew closer and were able to draw out the best in each other throughout the week, encouraging each other through spoken means and otherwise. We ate together; we worshipped together; we were stretched together; we joyed together.

Maybe it was the worship. David Crowder*Band, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Charlie Hall are some big names in modern worship. With a mixture of newly arranged hymns and cutting-edge arrangements, they were able to engage a mass of 18,000 young people to lead them in God-exalting worship. I lost myself several times throughout the week during the worship. I felt closer to God being engaged in a worshipful experience not experienced on a regular basis.

Maybe it was the speakers. They dropped the hammer with people like John Piper, Beth Moore and Louie Giglio-- people who swim in the Word of truth; those who exhalt God, not their own agendas; people who speak of suffering; who speak of feasting on the Word; who push even those not called to professional ministry to live lives of excellence glorifying God where ever they are called.

And maybe that's where the difference came along. Not in the fellowship, worship or teaching, but in what was taught. Living a life of excellence. That really grabbed on to me. Have I been living a life of excellence according to Colossians 3:23, 24? Am I "working heartily" as I sit here on the couch where I have been for the last few hours, watching TV and reading books that were required to be read a year ago? Is my life a "living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1)?

Turning the Corner

It has been a while since I've written, so I'll try to sum up the past two months succintly and give a preview of what I'll be doing in the months to come as I turn this corner to the second half of my time in Costa Rica.

The last month or so that I was in Costa Rica before I went home, I spend most of my time bettering the office. We needed to do some painting to make the place presentable to teams when they start to come early this new year. I also learned how to dry wall a wall, which was something I enjoyed learning to do very much actually.

I headed home to Tulsa the 16th of Decemeber, where my family met me at the airport before we began eating. Boutique chocolate, homemade cookies, Christmas crown roast; it was all wonderful! I spent a week in Tulsa getting my Christmas shopping started and ended, before we went through Kansas for my grandfather's birthday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We returned for our immediate family's Christmas the 26th. One of the most amazing things my mom made my sister and me was a book on the 12 days of Christmas with the reasons why she loves us. She put too much work into it and it showed-- it was beautiful.

I spent the new years with my parents, before heading out to Nashville on the 1st with my sister, Tyrel Lacy, and Lacey Leifeste for the Passion06 conference. It was a wonderful week. David Crowder* Band, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall and Christy Nockles were all there leading worship. Louis Giglio, John Piper and Beth Moore spoke. It was a wonderfully refreshing time to grow with friends and the Lord.

We moved Laura back in at the ChiO house at OSU and I got to be upstairs! I left Tulsa two days later on Tuesday. I've been trying to get back into the flow of things here in Costa Rica. It's been somewhat difficult after having such a wonderful time at home.

I have a team coming down the 28th of January. I have a lot of prep work to do for them with finances and reservations.

Prayer Points:
1. Pray for my transition back into Costa Rica, the culture, the language.
2. Pray for the Troyer team and their time in preparation and here.
3. Continue to pray for my advancement in the Lord and the knowledge of Him.

Thank you so much for all your support, prayerfully and financially. With a few added gifts over the break, I became fully funded for my year down here. Praise God.

Grace and Peace.

The Original 

Road Trip!!!

"Yeah, you better give me the insurance, because I'm gonna beat the hell out of this car." -Jerry Seinfeld

Tuesday morning, Carlos, a tico missionary with CFCI, Joe Yoder, a former Amish boy and missionary with CFCI, and myself started our trip to the border of CR and Panama to visit some pastors to be able to possibly take teams to their churches in the future. We had planned to visit a guy on the way down, a bunch of churches on Wednesday and head back on Thursday.

We arrived at Economy Rent A Car at 7 in the morning to pick up our Toyota Yaris. It's a small car and we had hoped for a 4x4, but they didn't have any available. After a quick stop at Burger King for breakfast we headed out of town.

Let me take this opportunity to explain something about the roads in Costa Rica. There not the greatest. This conclusion does not come because of their curviness nor because of the fact that they're two lanes. This can be stated because they have large holes in the middle of the road. So one is driving along and all the sudden one must slam on their brakes, pass over into the other lane of oncoming traffic to avoid what would rival the Grand Canyon. It's destiny to hit a hole every 5 minutes. And so unlike the States where you can set your cruise control and practically fall asleep at the wheel, here in Costa Rica driving is a very active activity. I drove the entire week and as if I needed to say it, I hit some holes.

Most of the pastors that we visited were off the beaten path. The first being a good 20 km, or about 13 miles on a dirt and rock "road". I felt a bit like a Rally Car driver avoiding the big holes. And my mountain biking skills came into play as I had to pick the correct line to avoid the big rock that would most certainly break something on the car. The visit with the pastor went well and for the size of church that he has, God is doing great things. A wonderful place to send a team.

On our way out, it was raining, but the road I knew and the water helped to slid the car over most of the treacherous spots. But then with no warning, the front passenger shock went out. After figuring there was nothing we could do about it right there, we decided to continue on. Most of the ride was fine except when we hit the unavoidable canyons. We called the Economy when we had the chance, but there was little they could do at that moment. After 15 minutes went by we decided we had to continue. Still about an hour out, the brakes and power steering went out. Luckily it was a standard, so I could slow by down shifting and plus there was the hand brake. Not knowing the road there we hit more bumps and flew over some invisible speed bumps, but eventually we were able to make it to Paso Canoas, our destination, safely enough.

We called Economy once again and they said they would send a new car early the next morning so they would get there by 10 am. We passed the night by and slept in a little in the morning. However come 10, they were not there. Double checking we decided to call again. "No we don't have any record of you needing a new car." AHG!!! Finally, at 11 they left San Jose. Our whole day would be shot. For the next few hours we sat around the hotel, sleeping, reading and watching TV. Around 2 we left for lunch, during which we decided that we should visit with the pastor there in Paso Canoas. We were able to check out his church and then he took us to see another pastor well off the beaten path. This pastor is in his last years. He's been planting churches for the Four Square denomination for his entire pastorship. And he admitted that while he's willing to do whatever San Jose tells him he's to do, he feels that this will be his last church. It was very encouraging to hear this pastor speak of his life dedicated to the Lord's work.

After a dinner of ice cream, I was sent back to the hotel to wait for the car, while Carlos and Joe went to a church for a service. Finally at 8 the car showed up. I headed to the church and was able to hear of Carlos' testimony of how God took him from teaching English and in a matter of weeks took him into leading short-term teams with Christ for the City. Later that night we grabbed a real dinner.

Thursday was not a total loss. After taking a short trip to Golfito to check out the Tax-Free Zone, we headed back and were able to find some pastors available for us to visit. We drove out around the country-side and flirted with the Costa Rican-Panamanian border, eventually getting to visit a total of three pastors.

Friday, we had another adventure. Even though we had passed through the police checkpoints several times in the last few days, today was a little more difficult-- they asked for my passport, which I had left in San Jose. I had to go back to immigration in Paso Canoas. The issue arose that I have been here for 4 months, which means my visa had expired a month ago.

"Estás ilegal." You're illegal.

"Sí." Yeah.

"Ilegal." Illegal.

"Oh." They wanted to deport me-- right then and there.

Um, there's no fine or anything I can pay?

Nope, the law changed. You have to stay here until your passport arrives tomorrow morning.

How 'bout this: Can I return to San José, get my passport and some things, before I leave?

Well, yeah, I guess you could do that.

(Deep sigh of relief.) About 5 more minutes and I was a free man again. They gave me a note that would allow me to get through the checkpoints, but said I had to report back to the border on Monday. In reality, all I have to do is leave the country-- I can go to Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, or the States. However I'm headed out to Panama City to spend some time with the CFCI base there.

Back on the road we were able to interview another 11 pastors before heading the rest of the way to San José. Once there we still had to fight it out with Economy about the first car they rented us. They're claiming that the damage was some how our fault and so far they have not released the vouchers that have my card on them. Hopefully this will be resolved shortly, without too many problems.

We were able to interview a total of 17 pastors and easily we will be able to send teams to at least 14 of them. Overall we had a very successful, adventurous trip.

Poster Child

Robby, with whom I live, got baptized about a month ago and I was in charge of documenting the whole thing. Robby was the last one to be baptized that day and as the pastor was praying I continued to snap away. Robby's dad, Ramesh, is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and does a lot of preaching around the world. These are the posters that are going up all around the world, and the picture of the young man in the corner is Robby, and it's a picture that I took-- one of my personal favorites too. I'm hoping to get the raw image to post too. I'm kinda excited about the whole thing.

And again in black and white.

Jeremiah 17:14

"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise."

About Friday night as I was going to bed I was feeling a little hot, so I checked my temperature and it was like 100.5 or something just to make me a little miserable. So I took some stuff on Saturday morn when I got, cause it was still there, and it wore off by noon. Well we had a bunch of people over that night and I started feeling sick again. Well I ended going up to bed about 10. Well I kept hearing the people running around and somebody ran into my door, I was thinking it was like 3, 4 in the morning, but when I checked the clock it was only 12:30. I started to take my temperature about every two hours and it went up a degree at each check. At one point through out the night I began to pray and spent about an hour solid in prayer. I called my dad over Gtalk at about 5 and he actually answered. We looked at a bunch of stuff and thought it was possibly dengue, but who knew. I took a cold shower and went back to bed. Woke up for breakfast but went back to bed afterwards.

I began to take Excedrin every 4-6 hours. I spent most of the day in my room and my fever rose and broke all day. My body ached, my head hurt, not too bad, but I when my fever would rise again, I would get really violent chills. Finally I went to the doctor after my fever broke on Monday morning. Sunday night had been pretty bad, rising and falling. The doctor worked me in and had me take some tests. But by the time I was leaving I was having the chills again. I had them really bad when I got back, so I took a 750mg tylex (Tylenol) and slept for a couple of hours, no break. When the four hours had gone by I took another one. An hour later, still no break. So I went ahead and took some more Excedrin.

Shortly my fever broke, but I was still a bit miserable. I had about half a bowl of soup for dinner, really the first thing since breakfast on Sunday, besides an apple or a banana here and there. I was feeling good, and since I had slept most of the day, I stayed up and watched the football game. But as I went back upstairs and was getting ready for bed, aside from the a little too many drugs in your system uneasiness, I began to get the chills again. I shook, rather violently at times and constantly for over an hour and a half. My teeth hurts, my body was sore from shaking. By then it was time for more medicine so I popped two more Excedrin and eventually fell asleep... for an hour. Throughout the night I laid in bed, listened to a John Piper talk and prayed and eventually got to sleep.

I was up at about 4 or 5 though, had a cold shower and some more meds. Most of the morning I was just watching TV, fever up and down. It started to go back up around 11, I took my last Excedrin and slept for an hour. I started calling the doctor at 12 for my test results, as he told me, but didn't hear anything until about 3:30, when I woke up with a 105.4 fever and, literally, a blinding headache. I had gotten a call earlier to tell me that I had an appointment with another Dr at 5:30. But I took an ice cold shower, got dressed and told Orlando that I needed to go to the hospital now! He dropped me off and I waited another hour and 15 minutes before the doctor was able to see me, about 5:50 or so.

They're still unsure with what I have, the blood tests came back negative on Mono, Dengue, and a couple other things. Dengue can be elusive though, so I'm back in for tests on Monday, but he couldn't rule out just a bacterial infection, plus I don't have all the classic signs of dengue, so he sent me home with an antibiotic. My head was still pounding and the taxi--yeah, I had to take a taxi home. I got home and told Kellie the results and climbed into bed. They were leaving, so when I woke up in an hour my head was pounding, fever seeming to still rise, chills, and my stomach was upset. I called and talked to my dad several times, ate a banana, laid around all over the house, took a cold shower, couldn't find anything that would take an edge off. It was getting beyond what I could handle. I cried out for God to heal me. I begged for mercy and grace. How was I supposed to be hydrated if I couldn't even keep water down? I called Carlos, another missionary here on the STM team, and asked him to bring me some Dramamine and Gatorade. My family got back shortly checked on me and went back to other things. I was really just laying in bed wasting away, hoping that relief would come. Carlos showed up about 40 minutes after I called him and delivered. Plus he prayed for me, which was actually the first person to do that for me in my presence. I believe I rolled back over after he left and wasted away for a little bit longer before I drank the Gatorade. I was able to hold that down. I can't even remember though if I slept at all that night. It seems I was awake, or between awake and asleep most of the night.

About 3:30 in the morning I took the the hypothesis that clung to the third ingredient in Excedrin, which I had stopped taking over 16 hours earlier. Excedrin is: Acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin, and caffeine. Well after being regimented every four hours for 48 hours, I reasoned I was coming off a serious caffeine high. So at 3:45 in the morning I went downstairs refilled my water, loaded a cup of ice, and grabbed a can of DP. I actually was able to hold that down. Several times through the night I had tried to take some more medicine, or drink some water and it just came back up. Just before 5 I went back downstairs to try to get something in my stomach so I could get some medicine in there. I had worked my way around an apple, before it was back in the sink, along with the water. Frustrated I went back to bed, took the Dramamine and actually, finally slept for about 2 hours.

When I woke up I still had the headache, but it was subsiding. I called my dad again, tried to take some more medicine, but it came right back up. That continued a few times though out the day. Anytime I tried to put medicine into me, I threw up. Around 10 I went downstairs to try to eat. Not too successful. I laid on the couch, watched a little TV and tried not to die. That was my goal through out most of the week-- Don't Die. One of the issues with dengue is that there is the possible risk of hemorrhaging, so taking ibuprofen, which impedes blood clotting, is kinda dangerous, but around noon my headache was still so strong, I decided to take the risk. I slept through lunch and when I woke up my headache had subsided to a reasonable degree, plus my fever had come down to a bearable 102.

It was mid afternoon when I got up to use the bathroom and Robby was on the phone with someone who had called for me. This lady wanted me to come to some clinic to take some dengue tests. I was still in pain, and had no desire to go anywhere, but the "john" and back to bed. My brain wasn't even clicking fully to know half of what she said. She kept talking and talking, and finally, after thinking about just hanging up on her, I told her I wasn't going anywhere, thank you and good day. I used the restroom and returned to bed. I woke back up around 7 when Kellie got home and checked on me. As I laid there talking to her, I realized my headache had continued to recede and that I was soaking wet, a very good sign. I took my temperature. It was normal. I showered, went downstairs and talked to Kellie for a little while and had a small dinner. The first substantial food in my belly since Monday night. I drank some waters and watched some TV. When I tried to go to bed, around 11 I still wasn't near tired, so after laying there for a sufficient amount of time, I went back downstairs grabbed refilled my water and watched a good couple of hours of television. About 3:30 I went back up to bed, fell asleep and didn't wake up till after 9--the longest continual sleep I had since Friday night.

Fever subsided, and head just sore, I went downstairs, poured another glass of water and grabbed a banana. Just as I go to sit down on the couch, the phone rings. The man on the other end knows who I am, but I'm not sure of who he is-- most of the people that know me here are in a meeting. He's explaining somethings and I'm picking up most, but misunderstanding that some one wants me to go some where and I don't know what, but in reality the people that called me yesterday came by to conduct an interview with me. How long's this going to take? Five minutes. Okay. It turns out that they're like the national health peoples here and they're trying to keep a close watch on all dengue cases. But it was still puzzling because I have only about half of the classic symptoms, and as of yet no body knows what I have. She left a number where I could call later and left.

Most of today has been watching movies on TV and eating something. I ate lunch with everybody and didn't sleep at all today. Had dinner too. I'm still fatigued; it is kinda like my body went through a 5 day Point-of-Death Challenge.

I'll take it easy through the weekend and hopefully Monday I'll be ready to leave the house. Thanks for your prayers, even though you fully didn't know what was going on, very few people really did.