The nearest town is that way -->

Costa Ricans are a very resourceful people.

That's why one of our local churches decided that they should put their road sign, which recently fell down, to good use--and put it on the front of the church.

So there's Andrea, Javier and Ray pointing 200 meters north and 100 meters west, in the direction of the church that they're standing in front of.

Good times.

Family Ministry

In late October, we took a trip up to Jabuy, an indigenous village in the Star Valley, just west of Cahuita on the east coast of Costa Rica.

I was there with Ray (far right in the picture above), Pastor Jose from Siquirres (standing next to Ray) and a mission team from my home church in Plano, Texas. The team was visiting Costa Rica because they were scoping out the Medical Clinic project and getting that ball rolling. One of their dreams, once the project is up and running: to help the few indigenous tribes that are left in Costa Rica, because they are largely ignored by the government.

While in this village, home to the Cabecar people, we met Valentin (in the blue t-shirt above) and his brother Alba (far left). Valentin was converted to Christianity and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior 17 years ago. He was the first person in the region to do so. Now, he and 3 of his brothers are pastors for the Cabecar villages in that region of the Star Valley, and their cousins and family members are musicians and leaders in the churches they serve. Last January they hosted an all-night prayer vigil for the Cabecar people in that region. Guess how many showed up?

1000.

Incredible.

The Christian leadership in that region falls solely on the shoulders of that great family. And there they are in the picture above, standing proudly in their largest church. I pray that we're able to continue in ministry with them by providing a Medical Clinic for all of their needs.

I fought a 2 year-old

So I got into a boxing match with a 2 year-old named Api.

Api spends a lot of time at Pastor Edgar's house in Los Guido, a neighborhood that I mentioned in my earlier post about Kids Club. Api is not Pastor Edgar's kid nor grandkid, but he practically lives there during the day.

I spent the weekend with Pastor Edgar and his family, attending church, playing pickup basketball in a popular San Jose park, and fighting this little warrior.

You can see how I fared . . .

A Costa Rican Birthday

This is a rather dated post, but one month ago, on October 22nd, I turned 24. Each birthday I reach makes me feel like I'm a lot older, but the truth is that I'm still just a kid.

Anyways, this particular birthday left me showered with indelible love. The actual celebration day was a Thursday, but the party started Wednesday night when I got to go to a late-night movie with a friend.

Thursday I woke up to text messages and phone calls and emails all wishing me a happy birthday. Then I went to the Colegio and was blessed with 4 different singing renditions of happy birthday, along with a cake and drinks during Bible Study. That night, I attended a birthday celebration at a local pastor's house, with his entire family as the guests. His wife made a delicious lasagna dish, and then busted out the ginormous cake that you see above. The funniest part about it, the 2 typos in fine white icing: "Filez Cumpleanos Wuilli" I couldn't have been happier.

Before partaking in that particular cake, however, the family followed the customary tradition of lighting candles, turning off the lights, and singing happy birthday. Yet, when they saw that no one took pictures as I blew out the candles, they said, "Looks like we have to do it again!" And they resumed to lighting the candles, turning off the lights, and singing happy birthday all over again. So I felt extra special.

On Friday, I couldn't walk through the halls of the Colegio without having students hug me or sing to me, sorry that they missed my birthday the day before. That night I went to the house of some good friends of mine and had another wonderful birthday dinner and celebration, complete with the pumpkin cheesecake birthday cake that you see below . . .

It was a rather fun birthday.

Preachin' again

Forgot to mention it, but last week I preached my second "official" sermon in Spanish. I've done many impromptu messages or reflections, but this was only the second time that I've actually been the "featured" preacher, if you will.

It was in Puerto Viejo, same spot as my last preaching experience, at the church you see in the background of the picture above (I looked all over for a picture of just the church, and I just couldn't find one). It's one of my favorite churches in Costa Rica.

It was a Thursday night service and I spoke on the second half of John chapter 1, Jesus' invitation to the disciples to "Come and see" where he's staying. I spoke about the adventure that Jesus has in store for us, and how he's usually not one to provide details of that which will occur once you start following him, he just wants you to "come and see."

As the disciples found out, Jesus offered way more in that invitation than they could have ever imagined--and he offers us that same invitation today.

Kids Club, Los Guido

Yesterday, as is every Saturday, was Kids Club day in Los Guido, one of the poorest and most gang-ridden neighborhoods of San Jose. Every week two Methodist missionaries down here, Will and Ella Faircloth, run the Kids Club for approximately 50 kids, teaching them Bible lessons and giving them a place to hang out.

This week was special because we had 4 students from the Methodist School join us, students who don't normally see such poverty. One of them, Benjamin (pictured above), a 10th grader, feels called to be a pastor, and looked right at home among the little kiddos. It was such a joy to watch him interact with the kids, and for them to run up to me asking, "Is that boy in the red shirt a Tico?" "Yes, yes he is." And they'd run right back to him and keep on playing.

The lesson this time was about Jesus' promise that he will make us fishers of men. As you can see in the picture, the kids have little fishing poles with fish-people attached to them, and the Bible verse from Matthew 4:19.

Benjamin and the other students who joined us, the triplets from the Tatum family (who will be the first house parents at the Methodist Children's Home) came from a Bible Study that I've been hosting two times a week at the Methodist School. My dream is to see those kids grow into leaders for Christ, and to see His influence spread throughout the school. If only all of them could see the Kids Club and be touched as Benjamin was.

As we were leaving, Benjamin said, "So are we coming back next week?"

Monos Locos

Two weekends ago the Ticos (Costa Ricans) celebrated Columbus Day, giving everyone a 3-day weekend.

With 3 teachers from the Methodist School and two of Ray's other interns, I headed to the beach of Manuel Antonio, one of the favorite tourist spots in Costa Rica.

While beautiful, I was unsure as to why Manuel Antonio has become such a hot spot, because every beach in CR is just as beautiful--but maybe it's for the monkeys. The national park there, which is a small peninsula that juts out into the Pacific Ocean, is home to all 4 types of Costa Rican monkey, the only place like that in the country. And they're everywhere.

Check out the monkey above, just chilling on a rope that was stretched between two trees. As I was taking this picture, I was having to dodge the branches, leaves, and fruit that were falling from the tree above me, due to the plethora of monkeys playing around up there. One monkey fell off a branch and nearly smacked another intern, Kim, and me on the head, before catching his balance on another branch.

The funnier moment of the weekend was when I was falling asleep on the beach, only to wake up to Kim screaming in surprise. As I opened my eyes, I saw a monkey running off and up a tree with a shining bag of pretzels in his hand. He was shortly accompanied by 3 friends of his, and they began making a ruckus as they vied for sole ownership of the stolen goods. Then the burly beach security guard came and broke up their fun. Boo.