What are the gringos doing now?

The week of Easter is referred to here as "semana santa".  On Monday the city of San Jose begins to slow down and by Wednesday almost everything is closed and traffic is almost non-existent.  On Friday there are many processionals of the resurrections of Jesus throughout the cities of Costa Rica.  It is quite surreal.  The Roman (tico) soldiers march through the streets and then near the end soldiers are carrying a huge float of Jesus on the cross.  The next float that comes by is one of the Virgin Mary.  What a site!  Friday is a day that is highly celebrated here.  It is a significant day in our history-the cruxificion of our Lord Jesus.  

But on Saturday everything reopens and life continues as normal on the streets of San Jose.  There is no Easter candy on the shelves in stores, no peeps, no cadbury robin eggs (my favorite) and no mention of Easter Sunday.  My heart was burdened that there was no mention of the resurrection-the HOPE of glory!

So on Sunday we decided to have Easter dinner with our missionary family here.  A wonderful church in NC had sent us baskets for our children for Easter and some eggs.  So we invited some of the children in the neighborhood and one of our fellow missionaries organized an Easter egg hunt.

I cannot imagine what the neighbors were thinking as they witnessed us "gringos" running around the park with baskets finding eggs.  I couldn't help but giggle to myself thinking what it must have looked like.  However, for our children it is important to keep as many family tradition as we can.  

That evening we had fried chicken, homemade macaroni & cheese, potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, and it was SO yummy!  Even though we didn't have our family from the US, we are so grateful that the Lord has given us friends here to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and what we fondly call "Easter".

It's 4:01 Beware of the Bugs

This past weekend some of us students here at Cincel decided to rent a house on the Caribean side of Costa Rica for a short get-away.  We had been warned that this side of Costa Rica is very rustic and let's just say "different".  We found a house that was a good price and we all loaded up to go.

The first night was a mess!  The house was very open and none of the rooms had doors.  Also, the house didn't have an air conditioner and we forgot to bring along fans making the house super hot on our first night at this house in the jungle.  When nighttime came the amount of bugs that had accumulated in the house was overwhelming.  Children were crying, us women were screaming and we were all hoping this dream would quickly come to an end. I felt so bad because I was the person that actually booked the house that I searched for several hours for another place to stay.

I had no luck finding another place and the lady we rented from said she would not refund our money at this point.  So I decided to go on to bed and made up my mind I would tell myself I was camping. Shortly after my husband came to bed and informed me he killed a scorpion on the front porch.  I thought oh my goodness we are going to die here in the jungle and no one will ever find us!

I began to cry out to the Lord and ask Him for protection and for peace.  (I know we are a bunch of spoiled brats!)  After that I fell fast asleep.

The next day was much better.  We got up and had a wonderful day exploring.  I made sure that when I stopped at a store I bought some incense looking things that are supposed to repel bugs.  That night one of the ladies with us lit so many there was not a bug alive in the place!  It was SO smoky but I didn't care because the bugs were gone.  We slept much better that night.

Monday finally arrived and we waited on the guy who takes care of the keys to come inspect the house.  He asked how it was and we told him how crazy the bugs were.  He acted like "what were you people thinking, this is the jungle?"  He smiled and said "did you close the doors and windows at 4 o'clock like  I told you?"  We looked at each and said "no."  I don't think I paid close attention to what he was saying when we first arrived at the house but I sure wish I would have paid attention to that.  He repeated "at 4 o'clock you have to close all the windows and doors and then you not have troubles wit bugs."

I thought to myself "how absurd!  Like bugs know what time it is."  I joked about it but then when we got home to San Jose I decided to test his theory.  Although we don't have crazy jungle bugs here we do have our fair share of mosquitos.  Guess what?  It works!

I was taking a walk today and this story about the bugs ministered to me.  The bugs know what time it is, what season it is.  The Bible says a whole lot about christians watching for signs of the times.  I believe now more than ever we are quickly approaching the end of times and it is time we are on high alert!

God did not create us to wander aimlessly but He created us with a purpose.  For some your time to act is now and for others now is time for you to prepare.  I do know this for sure, if God gave the bugs a sense of time how much more should we be sensitive to the times in which we are living.

Do not wait until 4:01!  Act when the time is right.

From Cold Water to A Hot Frying Pan

Our first trimester of language school is coming to an end.  As I reflect on this trimester it brings tears of joy and sadness.  Our family arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica on January 5th to learn the spanish language and culture of Latin America.  Although we have learned a lot of spanish and culture we have also learned so much about God and life in general.

We had been warned about culture shock but shortly into our time here culture shock became very real to our entire family.  We missed our church in the US, our friends and family, the food, the language, we missed everything.  Several of our friends and even people we do not know from the US have sent us cards and gifts and that has helped us tremendously to adjust to this new country.

We have no doubt of the calling that is on our lives because of the opposition we face.