Week 16 Update

It has been another busy week in Costa Rica. God has been forcing us to rest this past week. The orphanage is still closed and this was our last week of English classes until January. School is almost out down here and we’ve learned that most of our students are busy studying for exams. Then, they will be off on vacation. So rather than have classes with very few students we are taking a break until mid-January. 

The team getting their nails done in Verbena

The team in Verbena

We also have a team down here from the Athens area. It was a pleasant surprise to have fellow Southerners down here with us for a week. They are a great team and we have really enjoyed spending time with them over the past couple of days. I can’t wait to spend the rest of the week with them. Tonight Dan was able to speak the message at Chapel. He did a fantastic job as always…he was teaching on the importance of living our lives as disciples rather than just believers. We’ve been blessed with such great teaching at Victory and now we have the opportunity to continue to live out what we have learned and also to share it with others. 

Verbena joy

The team in the central park of Alajuelita.  They were singing and some locals decided to join in with the worship.

Please pray for our dear friend Margoth and her nephew. Margoth’s sister has a son with Autism. They also have a new baby, Santiago. Unfortunately, the baby is having some health issues. Please pray for Santiago’s health. Pray that it is nothing serious. Pray that the doctors will have wisdom as they check him out Monday morning! 

Blessed Beyond Belief…It is hard to believe that Thursday is Thanksgiving. This past Wednesday we had our staff Thanksgiving dinner since the team we are currently hosting will still be here on Thanksgiving. We enjoyed spending time with the other missionaries and reflecting on all of our many blessings. It is so easy to get caught up in our busy lives that we forget to stop and actually thank God for all of the blessings he pours out upon us each and every day. Dan & I are guilty of this even in Costa Rica. We are so blessed to live in a nice area of Costa Rica….our condo is in a relatively quiet area. We feel very safe with the guards who look out for us. There is never a day where I have to worry about whether or not I will have food to eat. All of these are blessings that the majority of our friends in Alajuelita can’t claim on a daily basis like we do. This past week there was a water main break and we lost our water for almost 12 hours. Unfortunately, it took this outtage for me to remember what a privilege it is for us to have water…warm water on a daily basis. I need to do a better job thanking God for all of my blessings rather than focusing on my wants. I challenge you this week to take time to truly thank God for all of your blessings. I also challenge you to be a blessing to others this week. Black Friday is coming up and many people get caught up in the shopping and all of the sales. Take advantage of the sales to be a blessing to someone who isn’t as privileged as you! 

We hope and pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Dan and I love and miss each and every single one of you! Take care and know that you always have a place to stay in Costa:)

Weeks 14 & 15 Update

Dan here:

We are very sorry for our tardiness on getting the week 14 update out to you all. By the time I got around to writing the week 14 update, we only had a few days left in this week so I decided to put them both together.  This will be a long update - I will not be offended if you get bored and don't finish.  However, there is a prize at the end of the post!  So, here we go:

First - some fun stories/events we experienced this week.

Costa Rica is truly a beautiful country, full of natural wonder. Here is a fun cloud formation recently seen in CR:

This is called a lenticular cloud and typically happens over a volcano from what I understand.   This is one over Arenal Volcano here in CR.

Recently, we have started the transition from the rainy season to the dry season.  You would expect this to mean less and less rain throughout the month of November.  Interestingly, there has been more rain in the first two weeks of November than we have had since Karen and I moved down here.  The rain, with a combination of crazy Tico drivers led to this during the past week:

Too much weight, not enough support in the ground = bridge failure!  Gotta find a new route to Arenal...

This past weekend, Karen and I were invited by one of her students to an Indian festival called Diwali (Festival of lights).   Always seeking to expand our cultural understanding, we gratefully accepted.  During the evening we met many new friends and ran into a bunch of "old" friends, observed some typical Indian, Hindi, and Sikh cultural dances and music, had a fantastic meal, and nearly died from the closing fireworks display (at least according to some - I thought it was fun!).  At the end of the evening, we randomly started talking to a couple as we were walking to the car.  They were a local Christian couple who attend a church we visited in the past.  It never ceases to amaze me how small this country really is - you will run into people you know in the most random places here.

Diwali prayer table

Hindi prayer plate

My inner eye is a bit off-center...seems about right!

Did I mention the dinner was excellent?!?!

When you break it down, discipleship is really about investing in others.   One way Karen and I do that is to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and game night with our friends, new and old.

During one of these past weeks, Karen and I were blessed to have breakfast with our friends Rocio, Raquel, Raquel's baby-Gianni, and M (Rocio's mom).   They cooked a typical Tico breakfast for us (which was fabulous) and we spent the morning talking, laughing, and worshipping God.  Its always such a pleasure to spend time with these ladies!

At one point during the breakfast, Karen was holding Gianni and Raquel looks over to him and says, "Mommy, look how tan Gianni has gotten!"  Without thinking, I blurted out - "Well, with Karen holding him he can't help but look tan."  

We have recently started inviting a new friend of ours, Aaron, to English class.  Our English class is on Thursday night. So after serving at the orphanage, Karen and I pick up a few people, have dinner with them, and then drive them to class with us.  One Thursday night, we were having dinner with Aaron.  He was the only one with us that particular rainy night. The rain ended up being so severe that night that the pastor cancelled class. We took advantage of the extra time to get to know him better.  He has both a heart for learning and a heart for God.  Its so good to meet more and more of the younger generation, who are sold out for God, here in CR.

Speaking of young people in love with God, we also had a chance to spend an afternoon with our friend Andrea.  Andrea is on the worship team at our home church here in Alajuelita and is a local missionary.  She and a group of folks from Iglesia Cristiana have traveled to a remote area of Costa Rica a couple of times on missionary journeys.   We love Andrea like crazy and cannot wait to be serving with her again in the near future.

One of our favorite families here in Costa are Victor and Cynthia.  Victor and I work fairly closely together in 6:8 Ministries handling the finances.  Both he and his wife are amazing servant leaders in the kingdom of God.   Recently, Victor and Cynthia asked us if we would help their son, Jesus, prepare for his final oral exam for his English class.  So, Karen and I went over to their house one evening and spent a couple of hours practicing with Jesus and his cousin (she also had an oral exam).   Again, much laughing ensued - but I think it was mostly directed at our Spanish...  Both Jesus and his cousin ended up doing great on their final exam.   However, Karen and I now have Jesus' speech stuck in our heads - possibly forever:  "I am Jesus.  I live in San Jose, Costa Rica.  My country is very small but very beautiful..."  and so on.

Ok - you made it.  As promised, here is your prize:

We have a turtle that roams around the two team houses here in Alajuelita.  He loves watermelon! Seriously - don't get between him and watermelon!

Prayer needs - please pray for wisdom and guidance for Karen and I as we are starting a new ministry down here.  We will have more details in future updates.  In fact, please pray for all of the 6:8 staff for wisdom and guidance.   We have a couple of teams coming down to close out the year and want to start the new year strong as a ministry.

Please pray for the health of the orphans and nuns.  Karen went to volunteer at the orphanage this week and discovered it is closed for at least two weeks due to sickness.  While this does give Karen a break, she would rather be loving on the babies at the orphanage.

Also, Karen is starting a women's Bible study for some local ladies.  We will be purchasing the materials for the class in the near future.  It will cost about $25 per person for the entire course.  We are trying to make this class completely free for the women.  If you want to sponsor a woman taking the class, you can go to http://68ministries.org/about-68/the-68-staff/ and scroll down to Vigliotti Family and click "One-time Gift".   Thank you so much for your willingness to build the kingdom of God around the world!

Week 13 Update

Karen here:
Another crazy week has come and gone…

I survived Parent/Teacher Conferences and a full moon that coincided with all of the Halloween activities and birthday parties!

We had another wonderful week of English class. The attendance continues to grow. More friends…more laughter…and more English and Spanish skills for everyone!

In addition, we were blessed to spend some quality time with our friend Junior this week. It is hard to believe that Junior is already 15 years old. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching Junior grow up over the past couple of years. This week, he started joining for us English classes. While we were eating dinner together, before class, we realized he is no longer in school. When his family tried to enroll him in 6th grade last year he was about to turn 15. The school said he was too old to be in 6th grade and he would have to attend a special school. Unfortunately, that mean’t classes that ended after dark…which translates to a dangerous time in many of these neighborhoods. Therefore, Junior has not been in school for over a year now. We had some of the locals talk to his family at the feeding center on Saturday. They discussed different options for Junior and his schooling. Hopefully, he will be able to re-enroll again when the next school starts again in March. (Remember the Costa Rican school year goes from March-December. Their long break begins the middle of December and the next school year starts in March.)

While talking to Junior I also asked him about his cousins that I fell in love with 2 years ago. Many of you will remember one of my favorite pictures of me and Nani and Natalie sitting together in front of a pink wall. Junior told me that they were actually living close to Verbena now. I asked him to bring the girls on Saturday so I could see them again. Saturday they all appeared…Nani, Natalie, Brittany, and their new baby sister, Naomi. I cannot express the joy I felt when I saw these precious girls again. While I didn’t have a chance to get a picture of them, they told me they would be back next week so hopefully I can get a picture then!

Part of my job at Country Day School is to co-lead the 2nd and 3rd grade student council. They had a Halloween Bake Sale on Friday. While they did raise quite a bit of money, they also had a BUNCH of leftovers. These sweet students know that I help with the Verbena feeding center each Saturday. So Friday, when they had all the leftovers, they suggested that I take them to the kids in Verbena. God is so good! I feel like the kids at school are starting to realize how blessed they are while also thinking about what they can do to help others who are less fortunate than them. We had just enough goodies to give one to each of the kids at the feeding center and one to each of the cooks at the feeding center. What a blessing!

Karen giving out treats to the kiddos - there were around 55 kids this weekend

Dan and I are also getting used to the typical nuances that are part of Costa Rican living. This week we were without water for 6 hours one afternoon while they were rationing our water supply. Unfortunately, we have not seen a schedule for this rationing…so random days we will find ourselves without water for 6 or so hours at a time. With Crohn’s Disease I have to be extra careful with our water supply. That means I either have to boil the water after it has been shut off or we use bottled water for all cooking, toothbrushes, dish washing, etc. for 48 hours. Thankfully, I haven’t gotten sick from it. We also experienced a 4.7 earthquake on Saturday. No damage…we just felt the earth shaking..while we were sitting in the car in traffic. It was kind of unusual to see everything around us moving back and forth. Finally, one of the local volcanoes has been erupting again this week. We really haven’t been impacted by it much other than the fact that there is a little more dust in the air:)

Here is a video of the ash cloud:

https://www.facebook.com/OVSICORI/videos/907855292585063/ 

We were blessed to have dinner with Pastor Miguel and his family this weekend. Not only were we able to catch up but we were able to share our dreams and visions for the local community. It was such an inspiring meeting. I know God has big things in store for this community and I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds. Keep praying for more like-minded friends to come alongside us. Also pray for wisdom in how to implement everything and finally for provision of funds. Thanks!