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:)