Baptism has no upper age limit!

Here's a look at some stories from the past two days of ministry...

This is my friend Jose in action on the skateboard ramps during our Saturday skate session. He brings a real "surfing" style to his skateboarding. I've enjoyed setting up for the skate sessions and talking to the kids and watching them three+ days a week. I make sure the kids are equipped with skateboards and helmets and I also get to be the music "dj". The job has its frustrating moments, like when kids fight over equipment, or break the rules over and over, but through this experience, God has given me a better understanding of how abundant His mercy is towards me when I disobey Him. Another lesson God showed me this week is that we all, like these children, fight for what we think is "ours", not realizing that everything in the universe belongs to God (Deut. 10:14). For the kids it might be a helmet that they think is theirs, but for us it might be that we we feel entitled to a certain luxury item or luxury service.

Here is Ronnie, guest preaching at the Baptist Church in Limon, which is about an hour's drive from Puerto Viejo. We went up to support him and his family as friends and team-members. He did a great job teaching on the prodigal son!

Three people were baptized during the service, including this elderly man. Seeing him being lowered into the water by these men reminded me of the story in John's gospel of the lame man whom Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. That man had said to Jesus:

"I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred."

Well, the man pictured above had no shortage of help getting into the baptismal pool. Praise God!

The Cruces: aren't they an adorable family?

Makena and Samantha enjoy ice cream and a ride on "Dumbo" at a restaurant in Limon. I would adopt either one in a heartbeat!

A couple of you have asked about my personal prayer requests. The main one I have right now is for my housing, that God would provide something safe, clean, and peaceful. The past couple nights have been uncomfortable at the hostel (loud music from the nearby disco until 3 a.m., plus a horrible dead animal smell that after two days was discovered to be a mouse that had electrocuted itself in the circuit box in my room.) Then last night I came home to a rat scampering off my food shelf, so that was disheartening. Rats and roaches aren't the end of the world, but when you're sharing the same 10' x 10' hotel room, you sort of feel like your in their environment rather than vice versa! Still I'm thankful to have a place to stay, and to have no worries for food or clothing or anything like that!

p.s. the sloth has moved out to greener pastures. No doubt it grew hungry after its long siesta!

Handcuffed man and sloth

locals come out to see what the fishermen brought in today.

This morning Barrett and I prepared the for tonight's teaching and discussion at youth group. Because it's in Spanish, it takes both of us a while longer to prepare, but it's actually a great exercise for us as it helps us improve our language skills. Afterwards I went and ran copies for the handouts.

In the afternoon I went snorkeling just off the beach in Puerto Viejo and enjoyed the beauty of the live coral reef and some of its colorful inhabitants. Where I swam out was near to the police station, and I had noticed a guy who was handcuffed to a pole on the outside of the police station, in the hot sun. On my home later in the afternoon, I noticed that he was still handcuffed to the pole, and I thought to myself "he must be thirsty and could probably use a bottle of cold water". But I kept riding and got home and showered. However, the thought wouldn't go away, and I was beginning to feel like giving the guy a cold bottle of water is the sort of thing Jesus might have done.

So I pedaled to the store, then back to the police station. I asked the man what his name was, then offered him the water. He accepted it with thanks, and started to drink (as best he could with the handcuffs). Before I could say anything he said to me "God bless you". It was like he knew it was from the Lord before I said anything, and it felt so good to see him smile in appreciation.

To change the subject completely, for the past three nights there has been a wild sloth sleeping at the hostel where I've been staying. The spaces inside are a semi-open for air flow, so it's not hard for animals to get in. What was funny was that the sloth made himself so at home (and no one has fed it). I have enjoyed coming home to this fascinating animal curled up in the rafters each night!

Skate night

Today at skate night, two 7-year olds were having a great time pestering me and trying to get my attention. The would poke me in the side, hoping I would respond by "attacking" them. So of course I would indulge them by tickling them, picking them up and swinging them around, etc. Like all children, they need and love the attention of adults. Meanwhile, a couple of the other boys were enjoying showing off their best skateboarding moves for me. I also got to play a few games of "Uno" with one of the boys (I can't always give names in order to protect their privacy...). He had to teach me the rules because it had been probably over 20 years since I last played!

It's amazing how even something as simple as just sitting on the steps watching the kids skateboard opens huge doors to be a part of their lives and share Christ's love in practical ways. It's rare for any of the parents to show up at the skate park and watch their kids, so they look to me and Barrett for affirmation and love while they are here, especially the 7 to 13 year olds. They get to skate from 3:00 to 4:30, and then the older kids are allowed to skate from 4:3o to 6:00. After the skate session, two of the barefoot boys came by and offered me some of their plantain chips, which I'm sure were purchased with hard-earned money. It was touching, to be sure.

Here's a picture of Tammy, who is serving with Alternative Missions in Puerto Viejo together with her husband Ronnie. She is pictured here with a little girl she was babysitting (she also has two girls of her own). Tammy is really great with kids and runs a local AWANA program in Spanish with her husband.

Snake and team dinner

Last night we had a team dinner at the skate park. It was a nice way to thank the Adams family (interns) for their three months serving here and at the same time welcome me to the team. I had a great time with everyone and their kids!! It was fun cooking on the grill too. Some of my new friends from Puerto Viejo (youth) were there too and we enjoyed sharing the meal with them. Meals are such a great way to build relationships, here as in all cultures.

After dinner we had some entertainment from the girls. Here is a high-energy performance by Beka and Hope, the Adams girls.

Earlier in the day I accidentally rode my bike over a 7 foot long bushmaster snake. It had just been killed by my neighbor. Bushmasters are highly venomous and one bite can be fatal!!

one of the fangs is broken off, but check out the other one!!

House Church

Last night we had "house church" upstairs at the skate park (future music cafe). It was a sweet time of fellowship as we shared a meal which we had all contributed to. Eric, who runs a restaurant next door, has been coming to the house church and he brought some great mexican food.

After the meal we sang some worship songs and then watched an awesome recorded message by Louie Giglio entitled "How Great is Our God". Last fall I saw Louie give this message live at a Chris Tomlin concert in San Diego, but it was just as powerful the second time around. I highly, highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of this video which allows you to consider--in ways you can understand--the immensity of the universe and at the same time the complexity and uniqueness of our own DNA. I believe it will help scriptures come alive for you in a new way, particularly those which describe God's love for you, and who God is. If you see this video, I would love to hear what impact it had on you.

The DVD is available through this link at Amazon:
How Great Is Our God

Two of the boys from the youth group came to house church and I know the video made an impression on them. Here's a picture which Melissa took in June of Sebas reading his Bible (not a posed shot, haha!). Barrett has really poured a lot of time and energy into discipling him and God has done a big work in his life through it. It's really encouraging to see how much God can transform a person's life in even a short amount of time, if their spirit is willing.

Old Harbor Baptist Church

Today I visited the Old Harbor Baptist church. They actually have an English speaking service (or part English) as well as a Spanish service. Although many parts of the service were different than what I am used to back home (for example, the service ran 2.5 hours with no break!), it was nice to worship the same God with some local people. In the congregation were 9 women and 5 men, plus a lot of kids from the Sunday School who joined us for a few songs (see video).

In the pews, the kids were noisy and undisciplined, so they had to be ushered out after the singing. Afterwards there was a time of “open mike” for anyone in the congregation to share praise reports or testimonies, and one woman stood up and sang a song which she had written to Jesus. It was very touching! Also an elderly woman who recently came out of the hospital praised God for taking care of her. Finally, the sermon was an important message from Mathew 8 and 9 about the different ways people saw Jesus, and how we should see Him. All in all, the morning was a good reminder for me that around the world, we followers of Christ are ONE in Christ.

I've been having a great time re-connecting with the friends I made among the youth in June and meeting new people in town. I've been asking everyone I meet if they know of a reasonable 1-bedroom apartment for rent. Word of mouth is the best way of finding that sort of thing here. Aside from having a healthy cockroach population, the hostel where I've been staying has been o.k., but it would be nice to have a private bathroom, shower, and kitchen. I wasn't able to cook last night or this morning because a big group was using the shared kitchen at the hostel. I know God will provide just the right place for me.

a reminder that some are living in hardship

Independence Day Celebrations

A big part of adjusting to living in a new culture is simply observing the local people and customs. You can't expect to just jump right in and be a part of the community without first understanding it. So this morning I took some time to watch an independence day celebration in downtown Puerto Viejo. It's really a celebration for all of Central America of their independence from Spain. Check out my video below!

Into the swing of things

Makena at the quad dealer in San Jose

dinner with the Cruces at the "tree house"

Things have started off eventfully. After beginning the day with a filling Costa Rica-style breakfast of rice, beans, and scrambled eggs, I met Allen Adams and headed to the skate park to help him build a theft-deterring railing for the music cafe. We ripped some round lumber and used it to create a tall railing that will make it difficult for someone to go upstairs if the door at the base of the stairs is locked. Barrett would like to be able to start keeping some outdoor furniture up there. It will be nice to have some seating up there, especially now that the house church which used to meet at his house has relocated to the skate park.

I got to ride around town on a rented bike and see the beach a little, then headed up to Barrett and Amy's “tree house” to check out the work that is going on at their future house. What an intense bike ride, uphill in that humidity! Unfortunately, work on their house has been made difficult by the fact that their well and their neighbor's well have both dried up. Although they live in a rain forest where it rains all year, there are some drier months where the water table drops significantly. Barrett and Amy have been trucking 5 gallon jugs of water up to their house for their household use as well as for the construction. I know it's been hard for them to not be able to shower on a regular basis, and to ration water use at home. I guess it builds character??

Upstairs at the "tree house"

As we were eating hamburgers in a local restaurant, it started raining and wouldn't stop, and I still had a pretty long ways to go on my bike, so I got soaked and muddy riding home in the dark, but thankfully at my hostel there is a shower, so I was able to clean up. Welcome to Puerto Viejo!

Back for more

It was a complete delight to be greeted at the airport in San Jose not only by Barrett, but also by his 5 yr. old daughter Makena who made the long drive up with him. As we drove away, I couldn't help but smile when Barrett told me how excited Makena was about me coming back. A little later she asked me if I was coming back to live in Puerto Viejo. I said yes, then she said, as though she wanted to be sure: "So does that mean you are going to be here longer than you were last time?". I said yes again and she squealed "Yaaaaayyy!" while kicking her feet. She is the cutest!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for a quad (four-wheeler) for Barrett's family, so that they can have a second transportation option from their new house, which is located further from the main road and town. With a bit of luck, we'll be loading a quality used quad onto the pickup truck tomorrow morning and heading to Puerto Viejo.

The weather is so pleasant in San Jose right now, and it was fun to have a hearty plate of typical food for lunch at a local restaurant. God has really given me a sense of peace in my initial hours back in Costa Rica. I know there will be adjustment challenges, but thankfully they have not started immediately.

Praise God for safe travel thus far and for Barrett picking me up in San Jose. It would have been extremely difficult to make the 5 hours trip with all my luggage on the public bus!