Romans 11:36

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen."

May 31, 2009

Saw this today


River boat tour. Rio Sarapiqui. Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica.

Crocodile. About 9 feet long. Just hangin' out.

Notice the trail he/she left.

---

Speaking of crocodiles, we saw the tail of one the other day. We were up a river near the Caribbean Coast, and there was an obvious path cut through some reeds on the bank of the river. Without thinking twice, the boat captain leads us into the reeds, inches from the tail of a rather large crocodile (or so I assume).

So what does the Costa Rican pastor in the front of the boat do?

He leans out of the boat, and grabs the tail of said crocodile! Crazy guy. The croc went splashing away in the blink of an eye, and the boat captain got us out of there as fast as he could. The four Americans in the boat were awestruck in amazement/fear. The Costa Ricans were just laughing.

Crazy Ticos.

New interns!

Howdy, howdy.

Just wanted to make you all jealous: there are 3 new interns working here this summer. Giving their all to the Methodist Church in Costa Rica. Working with the locals. Going to church. Sharing the Gospel. All summer long.

Wanna come yet? Because you should.

Introducing the three:

(1) Kim Baldwin, from Dallas, TX. Kim has joined the mission of the Methodist Church in CR and won't be leaving anytime soon. She's a Registered Nurse and hopes to work in our Methodist Medical Clinic that we'll be building in Puerto Viejo (or so we're praying). We're pumped that she's here.

(2) Hannah Jones, from Richmond, VA. Hannah is spending her summer break with us, as she's still in school at the University of Virginia. She's majoring in Spanish and her aspiration is to work full-time in Latin American medical missions. We hope this is the first step.

(3) Allison Adams, from down south in Georgia. Alli just graduated from Georgia Southern and will be in CR for the next 6 months. She'll be spending 3 with us, and 3 in a service-based internship, and her goal is to spend her life in the Latin American mission field. Again, good first steps :-)

Then, in July, we'll have another intern join us:

(4) Chris Johnson, from Fairfax, VA. Chris is currently studying Spanish in Peru, which is why he's not arriving in Costa Rica until Independence Day, July 4th. He's a student at the University of Virginia, and still has two years to figure out what his initial life plans will be. In passing, I'll mention that he'd be a great addition to the CR team :-)

I'm incredibly thankful that these 4 individuals will be joining us, and not only because they'll take a ton of weight off my shoulders. I ask that you would please join us in praying for them--that God would protect them and light the path for their future.

May 23, 2009

1-0

Today, I won my first game as a basketball coach. Colegio Metodista 18, other team 17.

Granted, I only took over in the 4th quarter, and the team didn't score much after I took over, but since our head coach got thrown out of the game . . . I get the win. Hah.

I think the Costa Rican parents were wondering why some little gringo boy was coaching their team, but I had done a great job holding the head coach's clipboard before he got kicked out. So they had to know I was for real.

It was a triumphant moment, one in which I deserved absolutely no credit. But now we're headed to the tournament championship, and that's all that matters.

May 18, 2009

Methodist Medical Clinic

"We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
--Numbers 21:7-9--

The reason that the bronze snakes are used in medical symbols today is because of our Lord's miracle in the desert. He's the key to healing, in case you were wondering.

In the past few months, an opportunity has presented itself in Costa Rica that we cannot pass by: a wonderful friend of ours in Texas wants to help us build a medical clinic (or two, or three, or four) down here. What a blessing!

Since we first bought 5 acres of church property in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, it's always been our dream to have a church, learning center, and medical clinic right next to each other. That dream was launched 7 years ago, and the church and learning center are still in progress. So the medical clinic was far from our minds.

However, we have recently had our time frame on the medical clinic jump-started in a big way, and we hope to have a running medical clinic in Puerto Viejo within the next 2 years. We still have to raise funds, build a clinic, hire a doctor, and start operations, but we're certain that by faith in our sovereign God, we will succeed.

Please be praying for our clinic, and if you know of a way you can help, please don't hesitate to call. We're incredibly excited.

Indigenous blessings


I finally visited an indigenous village here in Costa Rica, Gavilan, and the needs were obvious. Although we only had the chance to walk about 15 minutes into the village (it's rather spread out), and we couldn't go into the higher villages, I was thrilled to have had the opportunity.

About five years ago the government said they would place a medical clinic in this village. It would only be a "stage one" clinic, meaning it would give out pharmacy prescriptions and treat basic needs, but it would be better than nothing. It's been five years, and the village has received absolutely no help. None whatsoever. But the government has bought the land. Whew. I'm glad they're getting their feet right before they start moving too fast.

The need for a clinic is obvious. Luckily, that's why we were there. A great friend from Texas came down to visit, and his goal is to help us organize a clinic here in Costa Rica (more on that in my next post).

Anyways, this village is rare in that it has electricity. It also has a decently sized church building, which was a blessing to see. About a month ago the village hosted other villages for a night of worshiping the Lord. Over 1,000 indigenous peoples showed up to praise God. Talk about fertile ministry ground. The pastor at Gavilan invited his brother's church to come on down from the mountains, and their youngest brother led the worship music--a testimony to their blessed family.

God clearly has these villages in His hands.