I'm almost persuaded........Wednesday

We have been following the same basic schedule each day.  Diane has been leading a wonderful ladies Bible class each morning.  Chase Turner is leading the men's class in the other room.  Both classes have been focused on family issues. (Marriage, Children, and roles in the church)  There has been awesome discussion in each class.

(Jose, our bus driver)

Tim Hines has our evening lesson each night & he is one awesome speaker.  Yesterday, Cristian had announced that he had faith that there would be a baptism.  He had so much faith that he had filled the baptistry.  Well, come to find out, one of the young Costa Rican member's mother has said she may get baptized.  It has been a couple of days and it still hasn't happened.  We need all of your prayers that it will!!  We have only one more day of the campaign.  The church has put so much work into the effort that it would be such a blessing if it happened.

Friday morning we will be leaving and going to the beautiful Bible camp we stayed at last year.  This is not your ordinary Bible camp, it's like Bible camp in heaven.  I'll take lots of pictures!!!  We have planned a retreat with classes for us as well as the Purral church members.

Monnday or lunes, A Day of Work & Study

Today's schedule was very similar to yesterday except one difference. While part of the group went door knocking, the rest of the group went to a local children's home.  There a large group did a VBS with the children and the rest starting painting some of the homes.  I was helping paint.  

(Breakfast is included at the Best Western.  This is a typical Costa Rican breakfast.  Costa Ricans love rice!!)

We had Manuel, a bilingual Costa Rican high school student, and the local preacher's father with us.  Cristian's father wasn't attending last year.  He has quite the sense of humor.  He spoke some English and I told him that I missed him last year.  He laughed and said he was out of the country.

(Chase Turner led us in a 6 am yoga class by the pool.  We were much more comfortable on the grass!)

We were told that these children had been taken out of homes for different reasons. (abuse, neglect, etc.)  We were not allowed to take any photos and we shouldn't be the first to hug or initiate physical contact.  (Also, when we were told we couldn't take any photos, it wasn't clear if we could take photos of the home, so I don't have any pictures.) Of course, we wouldn't turn away if a child gave us a hug.  The painting group didn't have much interaction with kids, but a few boys came over to watch us paint.  Some even helped us paint.  Young boys can't resist painting.

(Diane led an awesome ladies' Bible class about marriage.  We had lots of great comments and participation from all ladies from different generations and nationalities.

Here's some great borrowed  photos from Honduras:

(This is El Diamante.  There is only some much that my Iphone camera can do.  This picture does the beauty justice!!)

(I think this is the cancer ward.)

(Starting our missionaries young)

We headed back to the church around 3:30.  That meant more fellowship till dinner around 5 and then worship at 6.  Tim Hines had another awesome lesson.  This attendance was up and we expect it to keep growing!!

The Lord's Day in Costa Rica

We pretty much have hit the ground running.  I won't have much text and detail today because there isn't a lot of extra time.  We are staying in the Best Western Irazu, which is totally different than when we were in Honduras.  The mission focus is totally different too.  We are here to support and edify the church here.

Sunday's schedule:

7:00  Breakfast in the hotel

8:45  Arrived at church

9:30  Bible class (A wonderful lesson by Jeremy Myers from Ark.)

Fellowship

11:00-12:00 ish  Thad Butts from Gulf Shores, AL presented the sermon

12:00-1:00  Fellowship while the meal was being prepared  (I helped cut up cucumbers and tomatoes.)

I learned a fancy way to prepare the cukes.

1:00-2:00  Lunch

(Door knocking selfie)

2:00-3:30   Door knocking in the neighborhood

3:30-5:30  Fellowship

5:30-6:00  Dinner

6:30-7:30  Evening church  (A dynamic sermon by Tim Hines from Louisiania.)

Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I could say good night.....

(Diane and I with the busdriver, Norlan)

Yes, it is the 4th of July, we didn't forget.  Some of us showed our patriotism in our clothing.  Some of us loudly sang patriotic songs on the bus.  For us, it was about saying good-bye to the people and country we love.  This was the first trip for many and lots shed tears of sadness because they didn't want to leave.  To us who have been coming many years, we are sad to say good-bye to the sweet, loving Hondurans that we only see once a year.

We love you!!!  (Evelyn, Wendy, David, Jonni, Aldo, Oneyda, Marlon, Norlan, Katia, Pedro, Antonio, Manuel, Caesar, the staff at Villa Gracia, all of the children at the daycare, the community of El Diamante, and many more!!)  We pray that God may bless you and keep you safe!!!

We had two buses headed to the airport.  There was a group of about 12 of us who were heading on to Costa Rica.  The airport at Tegucigalpa is never a fun place.  It is very crowded, busy and there is only enough chairs to hold about 20% of the people there!!!  Our flight to CR was much later in the afternoon, so we couldn't even check in until 11:30 or so.

(Evelyn from the daycare made a point of coming to say good-bye to us at the airport

The airport was where we said good-bye to our fellow Torchers who were headed back to the US.  There were lots of hugs and "Proximo Anos!"  

(Some of the Mitchells)

We finally got in line to check into our flight.  We had heard the weight limit was 35 lbs, or 70 lbs. for two.  That caused many of us concern.  My bags were 35 lbs and 45.  That was after I had given some things away.  Pat went through first and he said he was in first class, so when I went up, I said, "First class?"  The gentleman said, "We'll see."  It ended up that Diane, Randi, Cassidy, and Pat and I got in first class.  Needless to say, It was nice.  

(Cassidy and I in first class)

(Some of our team eating dinner in CR.  You see Cristain Vargas, the CRican preacher and his family.)

(We met Chase last year in CR.  He is a great translator and man of God.)

We made it to CR which means it's time to shift gears.  This trip's focus will be completely 360 degrees different.  Hasta manana!!!

Brotherly love & Grape Salad

Monday

I tried to get this little girl to sit in my lap, she just shook her head no with this expression on her face.

 

 

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

 

How can people tell we love each other?  How do we show love to each other?  How do we know we love each other?  These are simple questions and it may seem like the answers are simple, but my time at Purral Church of Christ has opened my eyes.

This hotel is so cool.  As I said before, it was the private residence of two CR presidents.  Our bus driver, Jose, told us yesterday that one of them was assassinated as he was walking on the street.  He showed us where it happened.  This was about a 100 years ago.


 

 

Do we really love each other if we don’t know each other, if we don’t truly know about our brothers and sisters.  During our time here, I have really paid attention to the scriptures we have read like John 13:35 and the songs we have sung like, “Love one another”.  Let me tell you, when you spend 10-11 hours with someone, they truly become your brother and sister and you understand the true meaning of love in the church.

 

The congregation at Purral is such good examples of showing brotherly love that I know I need to improve and do a better job.

This is what happens when you leave your phone lying on the table!!

 

 

Today’s schedule (pretty much the same as every day)

 

9:30-11:30  Short devotional, then Ladies’ & Men’s class  (The guys in our group say the men get so interested in discussing their topic that they don’t even finish in 2 hours!!

 

11:30  Fellowship

12:00  Lunch (Our ladies usually prepare this during the class so, their ladies don’t have to miss the class.  It is usually something simple like sandwiches, except on Sunday, when the ladies prepared a hot meal.

 

12:00-2:00  Fellowship

 

2:00-4:00  VBS  & door knocking for the campaign

5:00 Dinner

6:30-7:30  Gospel campaign with a reception for our visitors afterwards.  We usually try to leave by 8:30 or before

 

You can see it is a full day. 

 

I have been assisting Diane with our ladies’ Bible class.  I’ve been doing “ice breaker” activities and the ladies love it.  We are having about 12 ladies, not counting our own ladies.  It seems like most of the ladies of the community can’t come during the day.   Diane has been using the lessons that she had used before.  She has been telling a story about Maria, who had been a bad person who eventually changes her life around (because of the ladies of the church) and becomes a Christian. 

 

 

Diane spoke about baptism and I used my illustration as I did before.  I told them I had a gift for them, they all drew a piece of paper and 4 had stars on them.  I asked them if they would like the gift, but I wouldn’t take it to them, they had to come up and get it.  (I usually use my earrings for this, but I couldn’t find them.  I took the bracelets off my arm.)  After they received their gifts, I asked them if they paid for their gift, if they earned their gift, or if they had to work for their gift.  The ladies understood my illustration and they concept that they had to obey and accept the gift.

Acting out Daniel and the Lion's Den

 

(I almost forgot, Diane also taught about the examples in the Bible where God used water, to punish the wicked or to cleanse people.  She always finishes this by washing the ladies feet using a sugar scrub with a massage.)  The ladies were surprised, loved it and then insisted on washing our feet.  This was a first for us!!

 

This is Helen, she was the first to say she wanted to wash our feet!!

 

There is an inside joke that we learned from Jo Dawn in Sarasota. (She’s back home now.)  During our mission trip, we our usually crowded and digging through our suitcases looking for things.  We always say, “Someone stole my _______ (fill in the blank).”  Once you say that you find it.  So far, it has worked.  I had four pairs of earrings left to use for my illustration.  I thought I had put them in my backpack, but I couldn’t find them.  I assumed I left them at the hotel.  I told the ladies what I had done and I would bring them back tomorrow.  I have looked all over the hotel room and I couldn’t find them, so I guess they were stolen.  J 

 

I will really look harder today before I leave, if not, I think they like the bracelets I have them.

 

 

In the US, we like a little bit of dessert after our meal.  Amen?  That doesn’t really seem to be the custom in Central America.  I got the bright idea to make grape salad to share with the congregation. (I actually at first, thought I would share it with the ladies.)  I asked some of our group leaders and they thought it was a great idea.

 

During one of our fellowship times, we decided to take a trip to the grocery store.  I decided to triple the recipe which meant I was buying 12 pounds of grapes!!!  I was uncertain whether I could find cream cheese, but the store had it.  It was called queso crema.  The only thing they didn’t have was pecans, so I substituted walnuts.  Diane and I prepared the grape salad when the group was going door knocking.  I had done that on Saturday, so I didn’t mind missing it.  We probably spent 30 minutes just washing and pulling the stems off of grapes, but it was fun!!

 

You can't have VBS without cookies.

 

The preacher, Christian, had said the children would be back in school, so maybe our numbers would go down.  Well, he was wrong, they multiplied!!!  The congregation has classes and meals for the children of the neighborhood every weekend, so they don’t seem to hurt for children at all and the word must have gotten out!  Their lesson today was about Daniel and the lion’s den.  We all enjoyed watching several groups act out the story.

 

This little girl is beautiful and quite the actress.

 

The evening campaign was to begin at 6:30, children started arriving before that.  At first, it seemed like we were not going to get any new adults from the neighborhood, but just like in the US, people show up late.  As more and more came, I was afraid we were going to run out of chairs.  To make a long story short, the church was packed and between our 22, and some mothers who came at the end to pick up the children and stay for the reception, there was over a 100 there!!!  This is a church that normally has an attendance of around 20!!!  Needless to say, Christian was happy, as were we!!!

 

The dogs are much healthier in CR, everyone seems to have them, mostly for guard dogs.  This little cutie stayed right beside a little girl.  The dog would get up and move every time the girl did.  Everyone tried to shoo him outside, but he wouldn't!!


 

 

Each night, we have been serving a snack for everyone.  Even though we had grape salad earlier, tonight’s treat was ice cream.  Of course, that was a big hit.  They actually served it with grape salad on the side.  I was stuffed and didn’t try it, but there were no complaints!!!

 

 

Another great day with our brothers and sisters in Costa Rica!!!

 

 

Hasta luego!!

 

PJ  xoxo