Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Mat.6:8...for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Hallelujah y Praise the Lord! What a fantastic 5 days that Leticia and I had at the beach house. We did nothing but rest, eat, sleep, swim, and walk the beach. God knows what we need and when we need it even when we don't. I didn't realize how tired I was until Thursday morning. Wow! And I pray God bless Paul and Gabriela a hundredfold.

I met Gabriela a few weeks ago. I had been studying and I (?)decided that I needed to take a walk and clear the mind. Well, that's when I met Gabriela. She was standing on the corner watching her 4 year old ride his bike. I spoke in Spanish, and she answered in English. Well, that definitely opened the door. Talk about kindred spirits-from the beginning. She is Costa Rican, her husband is Chinese, and their son, whom they adopted when he was 3 months old, is from Nigeria. Talk about an international family! They love the Lord with all their hearts. Even though Paul is Chinese, he has never lived in China. He was born in Bolivia where his father worked for a helicopter company. They have opened their hearts and home to me. They have become my host family, they said. Isn't God wonderful? He knows who and when to put someone in your life. Because they want to help missionaries, they will soon be introduced to the other students here. Gabriela ministered to children in Nigeria. She has a servant's heart as does Paul.

So they took Leticia and I to the beach house on Wed. and returned on Sunday to take us back to San Jose. I'm not a swimmer, but Leticia is. The ocean was very dirty, and dangerous. There were red warning flags posted on the beach. So Leticia spent a lot of time in the pool, and I spent time in the hammock and walking the beach. The sand there is not white. It is more brown, not black like in southern Honduras on Isla de Tigre. Since Costa Rica has over 100 volcanoes, I'm thinking that is why the beaches are the color that they are. There was also lot of driftwood. I'm amazed that there is not a lot of seashells on the beaches that I have been to in Honduras and Costa Rica. This area that we went to is near the Port of Caldera, so we could see big ships coming and going, perhaps a couple everyday. The Tivies(?) River runs into the ocean there. So we walked to the river a few times. We had to pay attention because there are crocodiles living in that river. I told Leticia if she saw a log raise it's tail and move, she was to run in the opposite direction!! But we never saw one. The last day that we were there, three fishermen told us that they saw one, but he submerged himself when he saw them.

Just about every morning I took some crabs out of the swimming pool. They are the funniest things. Put something in front of them and those little pincers go into fighting position. A couple of itty bitty ones drowned. So sad. One of the mornings we heard this loud noise and saw a family of four iguanas on the roof of the house next door. They were sunning themselves. They would lift up their chests and heads while facing the sun. Sunbathing at its best! Parrots would wake us up every morning between five and six o'clock chattering very loudly. And then fly away into the trees. Gabriela's brother said that about 40 macaws were around about that time in the morning but I never saw any.

Gabriela's brother Jorge,(George)came over to meet us. A very nice fellow. I greeted him in Spanish, and he started talking to me in Spanish. Well, needless to say, I didn't understand. So when I told him, he started speaking English. While we were visiting, I told him about the man I had seen the night before standing outside the living room window at one a.m. He went outside and talked to one of the guards that was passing by. Sure enough it had been him. Evidently it is time for the sea turtles to come ashore and lay their eggs, and some other fellows had come in to steal them. So he and the other guards were looking for them. This area is privately owned and has guards on duty 24 hours a day. That's nice to know except when you see someone at your window in the middle of the night. And the reason that I was up was that Paul's ipod started blaring, and I got up to turn it off. The electricity had gone off, and we thought that was the reason for the ipod doing its thing, but who knows or cares at this point in time. Anyway, Leticia and I had decided that the guy outside the window was probably a guard and maybe had heard the ipod blaring and had come up to check it out. But it was nice to find out the real reason that he was there. And there is not much privacy in Central America. Windows and doors are open all the time during the day unless it's really hot, and the people have air conditioning, and we did have air conditioning. Also the curtains we had only half covered the windows, and they were transparent. So there are not many secrets. Make sure you dress in the bathroom because someone may cut through your yard right next to your windows!

I don't know much about southern constellations. Definitely couldn't see the Big Dipper. So I have to check this out. But the stars were bright and beautiful and reminded me of God's promise to Abraham. God would bless him, and multiply his seed as the stars of heaven. And then when I walked the beach the same promise was given concerning the sand which is on the sea shore. We can't count the number of stars or the grains of sand on the sea shores. Therefore, we can't count Abraham's descendants. I'm just thankful that I am one. God's promises are real. And whether or not we can see them with our physical eyes, we see them with eyes of faith. Abraham didn't see the promises fulfilled before he died, but the day is coming when he will. Our God is faithful. And the things He has promised us will come to pass in His time and His way. Praise be to the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and to His only begotten son Jesus Christ.


Friday, August 12, 2011

Ps.23:1 The LORD is my shepherd...

Today was graduation for three students. Each will be going to different places. One will return to the states, one goes back to Mexico, and the other will stay here in Costa Rica. So now we have three weeks vacation. It could not have come at a better time for me. You ever get that feeling that enough is enough? Well, that's where I was yesterday. So it's time for a break, not from the language, of course, but from classes.

One family will be returning to the states for the break, and the other family will be entertaining family and friends from the states. Leticia and I will have a chance to go to the beach for a few days at no expense. That's a gift from God! I met a missionary and her family a couple of weeks ago, and they offered their cabin at the beach or the one in the mountains to us. And they are taking us there and will return to bring us back home. What a blessing! I like the mountains, but Leticia lives near the ocean in Chile, and I don't think she has been to the beach since arriving here in January. So that will be a good thing for the both of us.

Last weekend several of us went to Manuel Antonio and spent the night there. (When someone or two someones want to go somewhere, they always ask others if they would like to go also because it's so much cheaper for everybody). We woke up to monkeys chattering and swinging through the trees. Awesome to see them in their own habitat doing what is normal for them. We went to the beach the afternoon that we arrived there and went back to the beach the next morning. They all love the beach! I, however sat under the big umbrella and read! But I did go out on the banana boat with them. It was fun. It's this big air filled thing that looks like a banana that is pulled through the water by a motor boat. You sit astraddle the banana and hold on to a strap in front of you. It carried six of us. Of course the big "thrill" is when the boat does a uuey and dumps everybody in the ocean. Now, I'm not a good swimmer, but we all were wearing life jackets. I was wondering how in the world am I going to get back on that thing. So along comes Alicia and grabs my jacket and away we go. Much faster than me doing it on my own! Now grabbing hold of that strap, and trying to throw your leg over the banana(like getting on a horse, only there is no firm ground under your feet!) with it bouncing up and down in the water is a sight to behold, I'm sure. Thank the Lord that one of the workers was there helping everybody to get back on the thing. Goodness, the things I do! And then ask myself what am I doing here??? But it was fun. But once is enough. Just like climbing that mountain in Honduras. Once will do it for all time.

So hows the language? Tough! I have an 88% in all except for the oral section, which is 61%. So hopefully they are changing my placement next tri to put me where I need to be. I have been in the 3rd trimester sections ever since being here. That's not the best place to be when first starting out. So here's hoping...

A person really learns to say hi and good-bye on the mission field, especially here, because people are coming in and leaving every time a tri begins and ends and sometimes in the middle of one. So I remember one of my middle school students that would never say good-bye at the end of the day. Always she would say "See you later, Ms Blumer" because to her good-bye meant forever. So I really did adopt that from her, especially being here. When we were talking about this yesterday, Olivia, 10 years old, said, "Yea, but we're never going to see them again."
And I told her that she really didn't know that because we don't know where God will send us or who we will see. It's very possible to see these missionaries again. So I have learned to say"see you later."

So I guess it's time to say, See you later.
Dios le Bendiga