Week 4 Update

It has been a month already! We feel like we are just starting to get settled into life down here in Costa Rica (I have a feeling we’ll be saying that for awhile). Thank you all so much for the prayers, phone calls and emails - it has made this first month much easier to bear.

We had the pleasure of attending church at Iglesia Christiana Alajuelita with Miguel and Karina. This church is our church home away from home. It was wonderful to talk to many of our old friends and to see how God has been blessing the church and the community through this church. It truly is amazing to see how much our church has changed over the past year. We had just a few minutes to talk to Miguel and find out how he has been growing new leaders and programs within the church. Hopefully, in the very near future we will be able to sit down with him and Karina for dinner or coffee and get a more complete picture.

We started our Spanish classes this week. One of our friends down here in Costa is a language teacher. She has agreed to tutor us and another missionary family. Its hard to describe how bad we are at speaking Spanish, but I think you can imagine how hard we laughed that night.

Yesterday, we went to the Verbena feeding center. I held a little boy, Amelio, who was maybe two years old. The food was incredibly hot when they brought it out. However, poor little Amelio was so hungry that he didn’t want to wait for it to cool off. As soon as he took the first bite his entire little body shuddered. So then we both started blowing on it as fast as possible so he could eat it sooner.

We also experienced our first water outage. Dan’s still not exactly sure why the water was out for most of the day. However, it came back on hours later. Thankfully, the people who had lived here before us, left us several 6 liter jugs of water. When the water came back on it was very cloudy. With my stomach issues, we had to use bottled water to prevent any possible infections. After 48 hours, the water was finally back to normal. We’re so thankful for clean water!

As you know, Elizabeth is not doing well. We’re headed back to the orphanage tomorrow so I will give you an update then. The last we heard is that she’s not doing well and they’re not sure if she’s going to make it or not. However, we know God is the ultimate healer and he’s going to take care of her!

I survived another week of school! My class size is now up to 18. Its amazing to me how different the system is here. Earlier this week the school realized they had maxed out their special education slots. In other words, the resource teachers don’t have any time left to help new students. Therefore, the administrators tell the parents that the child can enroll but the family will have to hire a private tutor to come in the school to help the child. So 2 of my students now have private tutors that come in during normal school hours to pull them out for extra assistance. Tuesday night is Open House. All of the parents in my class will come in to hear all about our school year. Say a prayer that everything goes smoothly!

Week 3 Update

Dan here - Karen has the night off - she is resting for another week of school.

Nearly everyday Karen and I have the opportunity to practice our Spanish, but today was a reminder that learning to speak Spanish well has to be a top priority for the next few months. Today Josh (another missionary here) and I were called to counsel and help a friend of ours from one of the neighborhoods in which we work. He was having a very, very bad day (I’m not going to share the details). Josh and I were able to tag team him with our Spanish but it would have been a good opportunity to counsel him at a deeper level if we knew more Spanish. We pray that God uses the little we could do and say to help him in the days to come.

Its been so good to begin to settle into our new routine. The summer season of mission teams is officially over and our staff is taking some time to decompress and recharge. But even in this downtime our ministry doesn’t stop. This week, we have had the opportunity to serve the orphans, feed the kids in Verbana, mentor our teenage friends, and continue building new relationships with local churches in the area of Alajuelita. Additionally, our staff has started the discussions of what ministry will look like in the future.

We’ve had time to fellowship with the members of the staff here at 6:8 that are new to us. Josh and Alli McArthur are an amazing young couple with three boys under 5 years old. There are some people that just fit in down here - they are an example of this. They are currently serving with us here in Alajuelita but will be moving out to the children’s ranch when their house is finished being built (probably early 2016).

Additionally, Rob and Yvonne Wutka are a new (to us) family who live full-time at the ranch with their 4 children. They have taken on the daunting task of building the ranch from literally nothing. They work tirelessly through the heat, humidity, rain, flooding, bugs and wildlife to carve out a place of beauty that will affect Costa Rica for years to come.

Our other staff members are old friends: Charles Parker has been serving with us in the summers for a while and has lived in CR for two years. Neil Clarke is our resident Irishman and served with us last summer during the busy season. Both are as amazing as always.

You can see pictures of all of them at: http://68ministries.org/about-68/the-68-staff/

6:8 had a staff appreciation dinner to celebrate the end of the summer this past Saturday. It was great to have the Gringo and Tico staff all together in a relaxed atmosphere to be served for change.

We will have more stories over the coming months and years involving our amazing staff. But for now, please keep them all in your prayers. The sacrifices they make are tremendous and the spiritual warfare they struggle with can be oppressive. Please pray for strength and peace for them and their families.

Karen is settling in well to school here. Her first week of school with the kids was wonderful. She came home one day this week and said, “Why would anyone want to go back to teaching in America after experiencing this?” Please continue to pray for her, her students, the staff, and the parents of Country Day School. Pray that Karen can be a shining example of Jesus to all she meets in school. She could use prayers for wisdom!

I have started transitioning into my role of handling the financial responsibilities of the Alajuelita ministry over this past week. Rob Wutka used to handle the finances for the entire ministry but it proved too burdensome for him since he was mostly out at the ranch and has a big enough task handling its construction. Pray that the transition goes smoothly and that I’ll be able to handle the new responsibilities with grace and ease. I will be working closely with a Tico who doesn’t speak much English but understands it well. I don’t speak a ton of Spanish but understand it well so it will be a fun few meetings at first!

We will begin our Spanish classes with some of the staff this coming Tuesday. Pray that we all are given a supernatural ability to learn Spanish quickly and for God’s glory.

Also, we will begin our off-season ministry as a staff this coming Tuesday. Pray that God will give us wisdom, compassion, and energy/strength for the ministry He has planned for us. Pray that we will be able to strengthen the relationships we have and build new ones where necessary.

Thanks for your prayers!
Dan

Week 2 Update

Week 2 in Costa

So we’ve survived 2 weeks in Costa! Dan and I feel like we are starting to settle in to life here. Sometimes life here feels so natural and other times we are quickly reminded that we are indeed living in a third world country.

One of our adventures this week involved trying to determine where we can buy a replacement light & new windshield wipers for our 4 Runner. Sounds easy enough, right? You would think so but its not…trying to get directions to an auto parts store is easy enough if you could simply get an address from a local. However, since most of the streets down here don’t have names it is quite difficult. Plus, the fact that locals have a tendency to confuse their left with their right can cause an easy task to become very complicated.

This week we hosted the last team of the summer season. Dan and I really enjoyed spending time with them at the orphanage followed with dinner and chapel together. Thursday night Dan was able to speak the message at chapel to the entire group. He did an amazing job teaching about the kingdom of God.

I love to see how God is working in various individuals who live all over the world. This team from Texas was full of strong believers. There was one particular young man that really touched our hearts. His name is Edward. Edward is contemplating moving down to serve with 6:8 in some fashion in the future. He would be a great addition to our staff. Keep him in your prayers.

Dan and I felt like we actually had the opportunity to begin our true ministry this week. We were very thankful for the opportunities we had to minister to the orphans and the team. In addition, we were able to meet with some of the youth we have worked with over the years. Not only were we able to worship with them at church yesterday, but we were also able to spend time with them today in San Jose. They introduced us to some new believers. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them.

One other possibility we discussed is to start an ESOL class for teens and adults at the church we visited last night. This is something we have done, at a different church down here, in the past. It was one of the most rewarding experiences we have had and allowed us to develop some wonderful friendships with locals. Pray that we will be able to form meaningful relationships where we can truly disciple others. We are also hoping this is a way that we can minister to a different congregation. Our vision is to have all of the various churches in Alajuelita working together to develop God’s kingdom in this dark community. The stories we have heard so far from the new friends we have met are absolutely incredible…stories of drug dealers and murders who have completely turned their lives around since they met Christ. God’s plans for this community are so much better than anything we could possibly imagine.

Your prayers are very much appreciated. This week I met the other teachers I will be working with each day. They are a breath of fresh air. It calmed a lot of my fears and made this adjustment to school here much easier. Tomorrow I have the opportunity to meet some of the kids and their parents. School starts on Tuesday. I can’t wait to meet all 17 of my students then.

Praises:

• First, we are starting to develop new friendships around the community both at work, in the ministry, and in our local community.
• Second, we were able to do real ministry this week rather than just school work. 
• Third, we met some new like-minded believers at church who are on fire for God.
• Fourth, we have a possible opportunity to start an ESOL class at one of the local churches. Pray this door will be opened completely.

Prayer Requests:

• Dan & I want to be good stewards of our time and resources down here. Pray for wisdom so we can serve the people of Costa Rica to the best of our ability.
• School starts Tuesday. Pray for a smooth transition and that the kids will be a blessing to teach. Pray that I have the wisdom to deal with all of my students.
• Safety for our vehicle. Cars in Costa Rica aren’t very reliable. Pray for supernatural protection for our vehicle. Pray that all the crazy sounds we are hearing are nothing serious and that the car is able to serve its purpose in helping us do ministry down here. Our friend’s license plates were stolen from the front and back of their vehicle this week. Crazy enough our car was parked directly beside it and they didn’t touch it. Pray that God will continue to watch over us and our vehicle. 
• We want to start our Spanish classes soon. Pray that we are able to find a time that works for us and our instructor. 

Thanks in advance for all of your prayers. We love and miss you guys!

Week 1 Update

What a crazy first week it has been!!! Thanks for all of your prayers. The school has been very welcoming. However, they have kept us very busy with all of our dinners, hikes, tours around town, etc. Today we walked almost 15 miles visiting new places with the team from school. Dan and I are looking forward to things slowing down a bit in the near future-hopefully:)

As far as moving in, we feel like we have made great strides this week. All of our bags are unpacked and most of our pictures are up. Having pictures of family and friends definitely makes our condo here feel more like home. Our place is relatively quiet and very safe. We are blessed to live in a gated community and the guards actually won’t let anyone in without our prior approval. One night this week, a neighbor wanted to deliver cookies to us. The guard finally agreed to walk her to our place. I wish you could have seen his face. He felt so bad that he was letting her through the gate without our approval. We told him it was fine and thanked him for looking out for us! Friday we opened our bank accounts and Dan finished all of the paperwork with the lawyer. Now the car is officially ours! Working with the locals to get internet and cell phone service, turning in paperwork for our residency, buying all the little things you need to move into a new place (in a different country) and working full time jobs at the same time has made for a whirlwind of a week. Sunday morning we were blessed to spend time with the 6:8 staff and interns. After breakfast with the CDS staff, we drove up to Josh & Alli’s house for church and a delicious lunch! We really enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

Things you can pray for…

• We are looking for like-minded friends who share similar beliefs. Everyone down here is quite eager to explore Costa Rica and try new things. However, I believe very few if any of the teachers we have met are true believers. While we now know that there are plenty of people that we can be a witness to…it would be comforting if we could find some friends that are also believers. Don’t get me wrong, we do have local friends down here and friends from 6:8 that we know are believers, but it would be life-giving to have some at school or in our nearby community.

• We want to settle into a new routine. Our prayer is that our weekly routine (whatever that looks like) includes ministry as a main focus. I know that’s not always easy down here BUT it would be ideal to have a set work schedule with time to do ministry with 6:8 and others after hours. 

• Wisdom…and the ability to speak more Spanish. While we understand a lot, we really need to speak more Spanish. Pray that we will have opportunities to practice speaking Spanish in an environment that is gracious and understanding of our many mistakes.
• Safety for the children down here. You know we are living and working in Escazu (the richest part of Costa Rica), which backs up to Alajuelita (the poorest part of Costa Rica). This week I learned that several children have recently been kidnapped off the streets around here. One baby was stollen out of a stroller. Someone jumped out of a car and took the baby out of the stroller as the parent was simply pushing the child up the hill.
• A church home where we can grow and connect with others. We have been to several churches in Alajuelita but this past week we have also been invited to several English speaking churches in Escazu. Tomorrow night we will try out our first English speaking church service in Escazu. 

Thanks in advance for all of your support and prayers. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you.

Love always,
Dan & Karen:)