Week 5
Sunday
Here I have the opportunity to practice my spanish
in church, by sharing the testimony of how we came
to be involved in missions. The whole wind, earthquake
and fire story reminiscent of 1 Kings 19:11-12. Next,
our friend Maureen Morris, the mama of the other American
family studying here, shared her heart. Finally, Kelly
and Maverek used the ball of many colors to share
the gospel. With the help of a translator, we welcomed
12 new members into the family of God. Praise God
for his mercy and wisdom!
Kelly presents the church with two balls to help them
in community evangelism. The man pictured here is
a local and avid soccer player who was moved by the
simplicity and truth of the gospel as presented with
the ball.
Monday
Maverek still has that ability we discovered last
year in Peru, to fall asleep anywhere. Here he is
waiting for a late dinner, but didn't quite make it.
Tuesday
One of our field trips took us to the town of La Fortuna
to see one of the five most active volcanos in the
entire world, Volcan Arenal. When the volcano erupted
in the early sixties it mercilessly destroyed the
nearby town and killed many. The survivors fled and
rebuilt their homes and businesses in this nearby
area naming it "la Fortuna", (the fortunate.)
During the day, the volcano releases clouds of ash
and dust into the sky. Most clear nights, you can
see the lava glowing at the top or snaking its way
down the side. When we viewed the looming volcano
with lava glistening under a starry sky, we were once
again awestruck by our God and his majesty.
We also had the opportunity to hike to this waterfall
(catarata) near the volcano and see a different aspect
of God's power. The kids tested their own strength
by trying to swim towards the falls, but could not
get close to it because of the powerful current wrestling
against them.
Friday
Today was our second time in the local public school.
The Holy Spirit drew our largest crowd yet of 48 kids!
Praise the Lord everyone had a good time and 5 made
first time desicions.
As part of our connecting with and getting to know
the kids, we played a game called the "Human
Knot." which in spanish is "el nudo humano."
Grayson and our translator/partner Armando, try to
negotiate the untying of this group of kids.
Scarlet, way out of her comfort zone in a press of
Costa Ricans, smiles as she waits to be liberated.
Her team was the fastest to disentangle, thus the
"ganadores!"
Kelly, smack dab in the middle of his comfort zone,
patiently coaches basketball skills (en espanol!).
Grayson shares a short message about the life of a
Christian. He, with the help of Armando, explained
that becoming a Christian does not guarantee an easy
life, it guarantees that with Christ in you, you will
not have to face anything alone.
Friday & Saturday
In the middle of the night on Friday Grayson called
to us from his room where he was beginning to have
another round of convulsions. Normally if we give
him Valium it reduces the seriouness of the event.
We went to grab the medicine and couldn't find it.
We looked everywhere but it remained to be found.
We must have forgotten it. Our only option was to
call out to the great Physcian to deal with the situation.
He, of course, heard our prayers and while Grayson
continued to be in a lot of pain and extremely twitchy
for the next 36 hours, a full blown round of convulsions
never came. It was a long weekend and once again we
found ourselves in the position where the only thing
we could do was to trust in our Heavenly Father. Praise
the Lord by Sunday evening Grayson was back to himself.
Gracious a Dios.
Please continue to pray for our health and safety
while we are here.