What Christmas looked like around here

If your interested, click below for a few pictures and descriptions of what Christmas time was like around these parts.

Happy New Year!

CR Christmas

Twitter

For the record, I really wish I could have kept that Twitter Feed on my side-bar, but I just ran into two too many problems (not sure if you noticed that other people's updates were showing up my side-bar... or heard the rumor that someone hacked all passwords used on one particular day...)

It was so just wonderfully easy to give a quick update and keep going with things here, instead of needed to put aside a chunk of time to dream up somthing logical, interesting, and remotely grammatically correct to post here.

So, if you'd excuse me in advance, you may see a few more short and possibly less interesting quick updates in the post section now...

Okay, let's practice:
- It's raining animals outside.
- I'm just about to start class.
- Tom's in San Jose working with Hector... They'll both be back tomorrow, so I'll probably be sleeping at the neighbor's house tonight.
- New Year's is coming... A HUGE family day around these parts. We're hosting a special church service for it and everything.
- We're gearing up for the new year with the youth. First meeting on the 1st!!

But don't open it 'till after midnight

This is our Christmas Eve schedule:

• Assist in arranging a huge food hamper to be dropped off for a very needy family
• Assist in transporting a load of goodies to the mission for a kid's concert at 2:00
• Help run the concert (the awesome youth are doing a puppet skit... I'll be sure to tape it for you)
• Help clean up, then set up for the church service at 5:00.
• Pick up a family with a wheel-chair bound son using the mission's van (otherwise they simply cannot physically make it to the mission)
  
• Be Maria (Mary) and Jose (Joseph) in the Nativity story (I thought we would do better as white sheep, but nominations are nominations)
• Drive the family, mentioned above, home
• Catch the bus back to our place and join the neighbors (our Costa Rica family) in celebration of Freedom, with great food, singing, and dancing.
• Take part in the gift exchange (we drew names last week). But this cannot be done until after midnight!
  
• Be in our houses soon after, for tonight is the most dangerous night for having your house broken into.

What's your plans???? Let us know in the comment section below, or simply leave us a 'hi'. Comments are very encouraging for us... They let us know that people are indeed reading this blog (and you all haven't forgotten about us ;)

Merry Christmas, brothers and sisters!!

Christmas

...Is not the same.

I know Christmas isn't a 'feeling', but sometimes feelin' it really helps with the reminder of the season. And, in our case, we are indeed feelin' something, but it's not the same. And sometimes changes are hard to take, even thought they aren't bad. Being dropped in another culture often leads to learning more about your own culture more than the culture you're living in (because, in reality, you will never get it, and especially so in a matter of a few short months).

One thing that I've enjoyed about this season here is the lack of propaganda and the lack of excess spilling out from under a tree. Emphasis of Christmas here is spent on family and food... Traditional foods that take much labour and love to make, and this labour is dispersed between all those who are free the day before Christmas Eve to help prep the food together. These helpers range from the grandkids to grandma. And, in our case, the neighbors too. The cost of family gatherings is dispersed between all families attending, too. The labour is shared, the cost is shared, and the meal is shared together in the Grand Day. And that's where the emphasis is. Sharing, as a family, for the celebration of Christ.
Kind of nice, eh?

In Canada I'm often left with the thought that Christmas is so stressful, and especially so for mothers. It seems that the 'joy of the season' is theirs to deliver. Along with a roasted bird, beautifully wrapped presents, a clean home, Christmas music.... Don't 'they say' that Christmas time is something like the most depressing time of the year? And January is the month that people carry the most debt? I know this isn't an original thought, but is this the way to celebrate freedom?


Yes we live in cultural contexts, and adherence to traditions isn't a bad thing. But isn't it a true shame, waste, and downright evil thing when Christmas is a time that is dreaded, depressing, and debt-inducing?

Yes, this season has been a bit heartbreaking for us, but beautiful lessons often arise from 'hardships'. And although we're only going to be in CR for a short while, I can image that this Christmas season will impact all of those to come for us.

Month 2

I've tried to summarize our last month here in 100 pictures or less.

Enjoy the 91!!

Month 2

(Click on photo to see more)

Chirripo Thank-You video

The Chirripo outreach project, summed up in 3 minutes and 29 seconds.


Enjoy.

Chirripo!

Okay, sorry for the long-time-no-write!

I kicked myself a few times in the car on the way to the end of the road when we were off to Chiripo... Oh why, oh why did I not write to my readers that we were heading off into the wilderness-jungleyness for 4 days???

Oh, right, because we had (have) amazing house guests and A LOT of prep, planning, and ministries to take part in during the days leading up to the trip. Then there was the trip, which of course didn't contain any electricity... never mind internet :P


Okay, enough excuses, eh? I'll just tell you how it went.



AMAZING.



I could just leave it at that, if I were to sum it up in one word. But you deserve more.

So here are the:

FACTS:

We were a team of 19 individuals, coming from all sorts of places (Winnipeg, Montreal, San Jose, Turrialba, Tuis, Las Colonies....), and all ages (from 25 - 61) with one goal: To serve the indigenous people. We did this through medical clinics, church services, a dental health workshop, construction work, and simply playing and hanging out with the women and children.

The 19 of us met at 5:00am in Tuis on Wednesday morning, climbed into the back of a cattle truck, and drove to the end of the road (about 1.5 hours). Well, most of us went in the cattle truck, Erica and I were of the lucky ladies that got to ride in Daniel's 4-Runner :D

Once we reached the end of the road, we left the heavy bags for porters to take, and we headed off, into the jungle, as a team of 19 who had no idea what they were in for!!!

We hiked for about 5 hours... Under the jungle canopy, over fallen trees, through rushing rivers, and under thick brush. Oh, the experience!!!!

Then we made it there.
Sinoli village.

We fell exhausted to the floor of a wooden hut built by the mission, but we didn't stay for long. We took off to the river to clean ourselves up to do a medical clinic for the village.
Except our bags didn't arrive.
Until after dark.
An executive and wise decision was made to hold off on heading off to the next village on Thursday morning, but instead stay in Sinoli for another day and have the medical clinic there.

So we did.

And it was great!

Tom and Bob worked on light construction projects for the mission hut and the community's church. A nurse (Cindy) and an American Spanish student (Crystal), along with two translators (from English to Spanish, and from Spanish to Cabecar) served those in the community seeking medical attention. The women and children who attended the clinic walked for hours to get there. Can you imagine? They are coming because they are sick. And they walked for hours, through the jungle and under the sun to seek medical attention, because this is their only opportunity for the next few months.

Erica and I had the opportunity to play with the kids, make a million balloon animals, and hand out candy necklaces (thank you Lakeshore!). Erica even ran a dental health workshop that provided toothbrushes and toothpaste to the children and showed them the proper way to brush their teeth. Erica was amazing. The kids were so cute.

(And no, the irony of providing candy necklaces prior to the workshop was not lost on us.)

On Friday the other 17 people from the team left for Palmera, a village located a few more hours' hike away. Tom and I stayed behind due to, errrm, gastrointestinal concerns that dragged out allllll Thursday night. Oiy! I'll spare you the details.

The team ran another medical clinic, partook in a church service, and had time with the kids in the second village. Then, before sun rise on Saturday morning, they packed their belongings and hiked back to Tom and I, had breakfast, and we all hiked out. The hike out took about 7 hours and boy howdy it was challenging.

By God's grace we all made it out, relatively in one piece each, and the cattle truck did indeed meet us at the end of the road.



Pictures and feelings to come!!!

Youth night puppet making

Here's some pictures from last Friday's youth night.

We had a blast, these kids are so talented! Tonight we are off to the mission to practice our puppet show that we're doing for the children's Christmas concert we're hosting.

Youth night puppet making (Nov 20/09)

Click on photo to see more pictures.

On a more serious note

Before we left Canada, I anticipated being able to keep those who are interested in our happenings here in Costa Rica up to date on the latest. However, I've found myself posting on more surface-type happenings. But finding the ability to gather thoughts into words, and ordering those words in a logical and meaningful sense in order to capture happenings around us here, in a concise manner, and devoting minimal time to it, to be more than challenging. But what I wrestle with, is that so many people put us on the ground here, and they have the 'right' to know what's all happening, and not just about sunshine and roses.

But I still struggle, erroneously concerned that leaving readers with thoughts of challenges and hurdles negates our work, or it renders readers regretful they'd sponsored this mission. But I'm also concerned about the latter when I post about sunshine and roses.

Not exactly win-win.

However, it's been laid on my heart to share more than I have been. I do ask that you look past the poor grammar, spelling mistakes, and potentially scrambled thoughts; for these are the types of things that stop me from writing more meaningful posts.

Also, let me precede this post with this: There is a lot of sunshine and roses here, honestly.

--

The bible tells us that we are surrounded by spiritual warfare. Considering the topic is scary, and to discuss it publicly often requires great knowledge and a strong viewpoint, it's something I always sort of avoided thinking about back in Canada. It's scary. Honestly. But probably putting it on the back burner, saying to myself "My Lord is greater than Satan, therefore Satan will be crushed... So, I'm good. back to my distractions.." May be scarier.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12)

But now I find myself seeing battles, that just don't make sense to be coming from the flesh. But why are these types of things not so obvious to me in the Canadian culture? Is that it? Is it just culture? And, because I am from the Canadian culture I'm used to customs, desires, unwritten rules, happenings, and distractions of that 'culture' and I don't see them as possibly being from a much worse source?

We are told to be in the world, but not of the world ... But am I not of Canada if I fail to be alerted by the garbage that transpires there, too? Even in my own life? Why am I not overwhelmed with concern when similar things (comparatively speeking) are happening in the lives of others in Canada? Oh sure, we all have problems, and we are human (of the 'flesh'), but are not some of these problems rooted in spiritual warfare? To be sure, I'm not trying to pass the buck, for my Lord is greater and more powerful than satan, but while sitting idle dancing in distractions and continuing to continue on, am I not acting as a mere spectator of warfare? Can you pass the popcorn?


Is it because I have been dropped and submerged into a different culture, that the hairs on the back of my neck are quick to raise when something seems (horribly) off? Or is something more powerful and deeper being revealed to me?

And how am I to respond to this, in either case?

The bible tells me:

"Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks." (Ephesians 6:11)

Easier said than done, though. Especially because the devil's evil tricks may be involved.

Then there comes a point to which satan may be given too much credit. Maybe this is not due to spiritual warfare. Maybe challenges and obstacles are a direct result of 'flesh'? But is that actually different? Are these not manifested as the same act of un-God-centered-ness? (Because we always have a choice.)

But there are some things that just don't sense to be of the flesh. Let's take a few personal examples over the past week:

After a few days of moral gut checks and prayerful decisions, which manifested in beautiful results, we finally reach Friday, youth night at our house (which we just moved back into). Things were going great, I went to the neighbors to borrow something and proceeded to wipe out on their steps. It wasn't too bad, but, seriously, my Spanish spilled out of my head. I had to rely on a translator for the rest of the night (which doesn't boost the confidence)..
Saturday, a day we reserved and used for a spiritual retreat to focus on our upcoming challenging hike to Chirripo, our house started to fall apart. The sink; literally, I caught it as it started to fall to the ground. The hot water in the shower stopped, half way through my shower. The stove wouldn't work, the lights started to go out, the microwave conked. Yes, yes, after much investigation is was a overworked fuse down the line... So that explains everything, right? Coincidence to have such a distraction on that day? Oh, sure.
Sunday, while taking some friends to a show as a gift, I slipped on the steps of the bus, and proceeded to smash my body on the stairs.
Monday, while training for Chirripo my bowels began to act up... which evolved into feverish chills, gastrointestinal distress and a sleepless night. Why? I had to lay down due to nausiousness, but laying was painful due to a bruised body.
Tuesday... Do I need to continue?



String of bad luck?
Coincidence that our ministry here is becoming well planted, and that we've seen some amazing things come together over prayer, just prior to this all?

I'm not sure about you, but I think not.

¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:13-18)

Prayer Requests

For those of you not on Laura's e-mail list for our prayer requests*, lend me your ears!

1. Heath issues have decided to plague me again. I have a (mildly) serious gastrointestinal problem going on for the past few days. I've been restricted to the couch (which is situated near the bathroom ;) and fighting dehydration and sometimes chills. It looks like things are not on a fast-track recovery line, but I need that to fully recover for Chirripo next week. Tom is doing well, but is quite concerned.
   
2. The Lehmann's arrive tomorrow! Our good friends from Montreal are joining us for over a week of service. This includes the major hike next week! Please pray for a smooth transition for them, and for my heath issues to not be communicable!!!
   

Thank you, mi amigos!


*If you wish to be on Laura's e-mail list, please send me an e-mail


.

Week in Review

Yes, yet another week has come and gone!

This past week was a bit different than average though!

Last Saturday we were blessed with the opportunity to learn about the history and culture of the ancestors of the indigenous group we are visiting next week. We were offered to join a group of Americans touring Guayabo Monument, a historic site that, according to the guide, was inhabited by indigenous people some 14,000 years ago. Very interesting. Very rainy!




We also got to learn a great deal about the religious history of the country when we send a day out and around the country side with Hector and a few others on Tuesday. We visited super old churches and grounds that are/were considered to be holy and/or haunted.






The importance of an appreciation of the background of a people group you are working with is essential. Much of the history really surprised me... Too much to even try and capture in a blog post though, sorry.

But do enjoy some of the pics.



Then, to add to our non-average week, we whisked in to San Jose Wednesday evening. We had a meeting with two people from San Jose who are interested in joining us on the Chirripo hike next week. We spent the night at the pastor's apartment and Thursday morn we ran some errands and took the bus back to Turrialba.

San Jose from the bus window

We got back in time to get a few groceries, move back in to our house, and eat dinner before crashing for the night and preparing for Youth Night! at our house on Friday. But that night deserves a post of it's own!

One Month Update!

4 Ingredients of Happiness

Life is a little different here. I'm not sure if it's the people, or the pace, or the attitude... I really don't know.

We are told that "Ticos" (a.k.a. Costa Ricans) consider happiness to consist of four ingredients:
1) A spouse
2) A little house
3) A job
4) God

It's refreshing, from a North American point-of-view, that there are places in the world where God still makes the list.

I'm leading the next men's breakfast here, and one of the things I want to talk about at the breakfast is: In my own, personal, "pursuit of happiness", how often have I measured my success by my marital status, possessions, or occupation? And have I understood the necessity of God, or have I concentrated more on expecting God to provide me the other items?

In fact, there is only one ingredient to happiness. I'll let you guess which one.

Candice and I really want to take this opportunity as foreigners in a far-away land to break our old molds, our old habits, our old mindsets, and let God reinvent us. To be sure, this is an on going process. Life is very difficult, and adapting to our new home, new lives, and new roles is very straining, so please keep those prayers coming. We do feel, though, absolutely, that there is nowhere else we'd rather be, and that in serving here for the next few months, we may be transformed into a slightly more accurate image of Him.

I've got a long way to go!

Youth night #2

It's youth night again (already!)

Ephesians 6:7

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men

I'm anticipating a number of new comers tonight. Word has spread that a few Canadians have come and are riling up the local youth to getting on board with serving their community.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Week 3

Although it's cliche, I'm still going to say

"Wow, I can't believe it's been X weeks already!"

Time has indeed flown by.

We are now residing in our house, leading youth, paricipating in many weekly activities, have stated a prayer group for the church service, and are indeed building realtionships with many people throughout the community. And beyond, actually. Like yesterday, when we were waiting for the bus a gentlemand noticed that I was studying Spanish. We started to talk with him and, within 20 minutes, Tom and I arranged to help him learn English and he offered us a tour of his coffee farm! The people here are so proud of their land... They really do know Costa Rica is beautiful.

Other updates:

• The youth did get excited about ServantHood. We've already done a (mini) project and I'm (and they, actually) are excited about the next ones.
  
• Spanish is coming along. Thank you for your prayers for language acquisition. Our language skills are growing, seriously, only by God's grace. Although sometimes it is frustrating that we don't know more, it is a great venue for relationship building (and theatrics!)
  
• We are training for the December outreach project into the remote indigenous reserves. Please watch the video below for a snidbit of what it will be like... This venture will be 4 days long and health-clinic focused. A doctor, two nurses, and myself (plus anyone else with a background in health care) will be undertaking health clinics at three communities in the Chirripo mountains. More details to come!
  

(First) Youth Night!!!

The Bro hasn't gathered since the beginning of September, making tonight the first gathering of the 'semester,' so to speak. I'm excited and I've heard that a few of the youth are excited.
And I've guaranteed myself an interpreter. Cuz ain't no one coming back if I simply reply on my Spanish! :P

My lesson tonight focuses on 1 Timothy 4:12

Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.

I really want to start things off on a fresh note. Maybe we'll have some first timers tonight (maybe next Friday, or the Friday after...) because it's the beginning of the semester (and, according to the pastor, maybe because it's led my foreigners) and I really want these gatherings to be as non-intimidating as possible. So I'm banking on printed versus (nothing is more intimidating to me than someone referencing a verse that you aren't familiar with and you feel left out), easy lessons (based on said printed versus), and applicable actions (community projects, hopefully at least once a month) to focus a few of them.

The beginning theme for us will be ServantHood. Something completely borrowed from our Youth Pastor at Lakeshore Church in Montreal.
She's amazing.

Beyond the core verse of 1 Timothy (above) we'll read the greatest commandment(s):

Mark 12:30:

To love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength... (and) love your neighbor as yourself.

Galatians 5:13:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature: rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
(emphasis mine)

After, we'll be brainstorming ways in which we can do this. Big or small... Pretty much anything they can come up with (or open up and actually say). My heart's desire is to harness some of the energy these kids have and put it to good use, showing what they can do for others, etc. And that doing things for others is actually fun.

Please pray for us tonight and in the weeks to come. Let relationships build, youth feel welcomed, and energy focused on loving our God and serving each other.

And who doesn't love pizza???

Update: results of board meeting

Tom and I now have many, many kids.


MANY.


And they don't understand us.

But who's kids do, really?


Our desire to work with the youth was well matched with the board's statement: We don't have a youth pastor... and the things we have tried to get going with the youth group have not been very successful.

So, we are to do as we like... With the intent to have the group grow, and grow in their walk with Jesus. Well, for most, it's to at least start a walk with Jesus. Drugs are a problem here. Like most small towns, there ain't much to do, so trouble brews.

We understand that this means we may be inviting trouble right into our living room, but that's something we are willing to take as it comes. Our hearts have grown immensely for this age group over the past few months as we became youth leaders at our church in Montreal. And by 'immensely' I mean: from ziltch to convicted obligation. We are excited to begin to fill a need in the community... We sanction your prayers!

In addition to helping with the youth it has been decided that Tom will lead the men's monthly breakfast gathering (which, according to the board, is another group that they have found to be hard to reach) and is leading a weekly prayer meeting before church services; we will both be participating in all outreach projects to the indigenous people in the remote mountain communities (first excursion on Dec 3-7); I'm assisting with the weekly woman's ministry group and both of us with the weekly small group bible class; we are also assisting in planning, decorating, and implementing Christmas celebrations for the Tuis region (planning began last week, decorating on November 14th, and subsequent Christmas celebration events on most Thursdays from then until New Years) and for the celebration for the indigenous people...

And that is the general plan from now until the end of the year... And we'll evaluate where we are and where we want 'to be' in the new year.

Wow!

More details to come, but I figured I'd give you a general update as to how the board meeting went.

Adios!
(To God)

Week 1 Update

(Taped: Friday, October 23)

Here's a little clip from our small group meeting on Wednesday!

And a little "Where's Waldo" for you: Can you pick out our North American classmate?

Day 3...ish

Well, we've only been here for a few days, but it already seems like we are settling.

Today was our first day of Spanish class... Seems as though Tom didn't whop me too bad in the placement test, becuase we ended up being in the same Spanish class.
There are two people in our class... Us :P

We've befriended two other students at the Spanish school; Micheal and Crystal. Both are fantastic people... I convinced Crystal to join me in attending the ladies meet this afternoon. Us ladies have started the series Purpose Driven Life, which is fantastic considering I actually brought a(n English) copy of the book with me to Costa Rica. How perfect!

We are still getting used to the customs and culture here. Many things are different and we have yet to understand them, as would be expected. The whole folding up used bathroom tissue and placing it in a waste basket to collect over a few days I can understand because of the weak septic system, but the practice still takes some getting used to.

Same goes for the ants. They are everywhere. You leave a grain of sugar on the table and it results in the Great Migration. They were also all over (and in, and under, and on, and through) the laptop this morning when Tom picked it up. Nothing like a freshly infested laptop to start off your day! lol!!

But even that couldn't really shake the smiles on our hearts today... As we celebrated our second anniversary (by taking a long gorgeous walk first thing in the morning... To Spanish class)!!!

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be busy: We have class from 9:00-12:00... But first start the day off with a bible reading and a few songs with the other students. The Mission asked Tom to play the guitar at these morning gatherings... He's a bit nervous about this, but of course accepted the task. After class we'll have lunch, then a meeting, then a few of the women are going to show us how to cook some Costa Rican food! After (eating it) we'll go to a prayer meet a few more miles down the road. It will be dark by the time it's done, which means we may have our first taxi ride. (The cars on the 'highway' come crazy-close during the day, so there ain't no way we are walking home at night!)


We'll it's almost time for bed. All the best to you all.
Also, please leave a comment if there is anything you want to hear about or ask about, or just to simply say hi. We'd love to hear from any readers out there!

Day 1

What a glorious, glorious day.

We sanctioned prayers, and they must have come! The Lord has put me on the road to recovery, and I am thankful. We were able to make it to church (1/2 hour walk from our homestay) for the Sunday service.

Today church ran from 5:00pm-7:30pm. We were introduced to the congregation and asked to share a bit about ourselves and why we are here. The head pastor (Hector) helped with the translation. After the service we met with the church board members to introduce ourselves and for them to introduce themselves (again, with a bit of help from Hector). It was decided that we will be given two weeks to 'settle in' before creating solid plans to jump in to ourselves. That said, I am meeting with the leaders of the women's ministry on Tuesday, Tom and I both have a prayer group to attend on Wednesday, and our first night with the youth is this coming Saturday. Currently, we are to focus on cultural and language acquisition and, most importantly, relationship building.

Tomorrow is our official day of 'orientation'. We have placement tests at the Spanish school in the morning, and in the afternoon we will go to Turrialba (a nearby town) with a local to learn the ropes of the bus system, bank procedures, grocery store, etc.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

The GPS reads...

9 50 46.80 N 83 35 47.90 W

Check it out on Google Maps.

Landed!

Praise the Lord!!!

After a beautiful send off from Lakeshore in the early hours of this morning, we've arrived in Tuis de Turrialba this evening. We were met at the San Jose airport by nothing less than the smiling faces of both Hector and Daniel! What a blessing it was to start off as a team with them. We rode with Hector all the way back to Tuis (2.5hour car ride), which provided a great opportunity to get a feel for the current happenings and what some plans are. All I have to say is this: We are going to be busy!

However I sanction your prayers: In the last week leading up to the trip, I hadn't been feeling all that well. Now that I pushed my limit and stayed up most the night with the youth, I was granted the opportunity to chuck my airplane cookies a few times today. Let me tell you - I thought a long airplane ride was rough to do on an upset stomach (those little airplane bags are effective though, aren't they?) ... little did I know the tough part was still coming: sitting in the back seat of a van whipping and winding along mountain side roads (for 2.5hours). RALF! Please pray that my health recoups very quickly and I will be able to partake in tomorrow's activities. Hector wants us to introduce ourselves to the congregation, and I'd rather not be green. Tom is heading to the men's breakfast first thing and I hope to be able to share a meal with our house mother while the men are away. Currently, eating, for me, is completely out of the question. I was able to keep down a herb-tea type-drink our house mother put together for me for my stomach when we arrived. I don't know what it was, but it was pretty delicious. I'm restricted to a horizontal position (nothing to do with an ingredient of the tea, don't worry)... But praise God our laptop has picked up the wireless signal from the rental house next door!!!

Also, although most of our bags made the journey with us, our pretty red one is still in Toronto. Air Canada is suppose to deliver it early next week... please pray it will make this journey and that the Costa Rican's in Tuis won't notice I only have one change of cloths until it arrives (!!!).

All that said, we are thrilled to bits to be here!

And they're off...

Well soon at least.

Yes, we need to be at the airport in 3 hours. Fancy that!
Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement.

God bless and take care!

Last Sunday in Canada

Weather

So far in our visit to Manitoba we've experienced plus 35 then yesterday we drove through a snow storm.
What fluctuation!

In Costa Rica they are calling for an average of +26 all week, with thundershowers everyday.
Now that's consistency.
Let's go there!

Three weeks to go, how exciting!

Hi everyone!

We write to you from Candice's parents' farm in Dauphin, Manitoba. As harvest is beginning to wrap up, we are looking forward to the next few weeks of visiting with more family and old friends before we head off. As our countdown side 'ticker' announced today, only 21 more sleeps, or a mere 3 weeks, until we're on the ground in beautiful CR.

A few descriptive words of current emotions: Excited, anxious, nervous, fearless, and fearful (depending on the time of day, it seems!)

Hope all is well with you. If you have any questions, comments, or specific things you would like to hear about, be sure to let us know in the comment section below.

Looking forward to hearing from you!!

Video Communication!

Welcome!

...and thank you for stopping by.

We (Tom and Candice) will be using this blog as a means to bring you along with us to Tuis, Costa Rica! Here is where we will be sharing the joys, challenges, and trials God has in store for us while on this journey.

Check in often, we will post updates as often as possible. We plan to post once a week, at minimum.


Feel free to leave a comment, suggesting, or question under the 'comment' button below. It's always nice to know there are 'listeners' out there experiencing this journey with us.