An expanding ministry team??

On Wednesday night I proposed to Kristin. There might have been some drugs in her food, because she said yes!

Yes, it is true, Kristin and I are engaged to be married, and hope to become a family in May! We believe God has brought us together to serve Him together in ministry, raise Hudson together, and be partners through all the ups and downs of this life. It's very exciting!

Isn't it funny that sometimes, when you surrender an area of you life to God, God blesses you beyond your wildest expectations in that same area. In deciding to move to Costa Rica, I basically gave my desire to find a spouse over to God, knowing that it would be very unlikely I could find a compatible mate through my own efforts down here. And yet God brought Kristin into my life just as I moved down here, and we started communicating from a distance. To me, it was as though God wanted to reward me for that step of faith.

Kristin reminds me of the virtuous wife described in Proverbs 31. “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed...”

We plan to get married in Vero Beach, FL in May, and for Kristin and her three year old son Hudson to join me in Puerto Viejo and become a part of the ministry team here right after our honeymoon. One complication is that Hudson's father has visitation rights, and moving Hudson requires a judge's decision. Please pray with us that the judge will grant the request to move if it's His will for us to live and serve in Costa Rica. If God has other plans, may he deny the request and show us what He has in store for our family.

Hudson and I played a lot of games together. He called me "Daddy Sloth" and I called him "Baby Sloth." "Mama Sloth" Kristin completed the family.

In ministry news, aside from Girls' Skate nights, for the past few weeks I have been running the skate park operations alone for the most part, as Barrett is temporarily dedicated to getting his new house livable so that his family can move in soon. They have endured many trials and frustrating living conditions for several months, and it is no hardship for me to run the skate sessions and Bible studies and youth activities on my own.

Eight boys came to last week's youth Bible study, and I taught on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Many of the kids had never heard the story of the Prodigal Son before, and were interested enough in the story to remain quiet as we read from the Bible. Afterwards, we had a lively discussion time as we considered the meaning of the parable and tried to relate to the characters in it. It was encouraging to see the kids think about God wanting to be their Heavenly Father and to consider His love and acceptance.

Hudson couldn't get enough of the skate park. For a three year old, I think he showed a lot of promise on the ramps!

On a hike to a nearby waterfall, Hudson showed no mercy for the bad guys (weeds) as he swiped at them with his foam sword. He also learned that real men use their machetes to cut flowers for the table :)

Making the drop

Moms enjoy a cup of coffee from the deck overlooking the park

Every Tuesday evening, Amy hosts Girls' Skate. The moms of some of the girls come and enjoy a cup of coffee and some cookies while they watch their girls skate. It's a nice time for them to connect and for Amy to be able to share God's love with them in practical ways (she makes the coffee, for starters!).

Well, yesterday Barrett and Amy had a speaking engagement, so I hosted Girls' Skate by myself. It was great! I had so much fun making the coffee, chatting with the moms, and helping the girls drop in on the ramps. Every skateboarder knows her limits, and it was neat to watch as the girls tried to drop in on bigger and bigger ramps, fighting back their fears. One girl in particular would stand with her board poised at the edge of the ramp for what seemed like an eternity. The mental battle going on inside was so easy to see on her face. I finally gripped her hands and convinced her to just go for it. I told her I would hold her hands and run alongside her to catch her if she lost control. She dropped in, and to my surprise, didn't lose control at all!

I probably had a bigger grin on my face than she did after that. It's so neat to help a kid overcome her fears, and to see their trust in you. I realized why the other young girls had been unsuccessful in convincing her to drop in. She needed someone bigger, stronger, and more experienced to tell her it would be ok and to help her through it.

So it is with us and God: we can take risky steps of faith because we trust in a God who is huge, powerful, and cares deeply for our well-being. The writer of Hebrews tells us that by her faith, Sarah received strength to conceive, even though she was past the age of child-bearing, "because she judged Him faithful who had promised." It's all about the One making the promise. What His attributes are. Is He good? Can He be trusted? Does He always keep his word?

Girls just want to have fun?

Even the moms give it a go sometimes!

Baby Henry Hazelton

Although this didn't happen in Costa Rica, I'm excited to share with you that over the holidays, my sister-in-law Erin gave birth to a baby boy, making me a first-time uncle, with a bonus role as godfather as well! Brook and Erin welcomed Henry into the world in New York City on Dec. 18 and he is doing great, from all reports. As you can imagine, my parents are thrilled to be grandparents and are headed up to NYC for a brief visit. I wish I too could see little Henry. I think he's going to be a very good looking kid!

I hope Brook and Erin won't mind me sharing a couple photos...

Christmas with Family

me and dad

For Christmas, I had the luxury of spending two mainly sunny weeks with my parents and several days with my brother Dan and his girlfriend Rochelle. It was a time for new adventures, and we also continued some ministry activities leading up to Christmas Day. These pictures (mainly taken by my mom) provide some of the highlights!

I watched this poor baby howler monkey fall from a tree onto the paved road, where it lay motionless. Because it was about to get hit by a car, I went over and moved it to the base of the tree, where the adults could rescue it. The adult monkeys really made some noise when they saw me picking up their baby! We decided to drive away so as to not interfere with the process. When we returned a couple hours later the baby and the troop were gone, so hopefully it recovered all right.

On the Pacific side, where my brother lives at Playa Hermosa, we got to practice "towing in" to some solid head-high waves, with the assistance of a friend's Ski-doo. Man, the speed you get going into the waves is incredible!! I would definitely do this again, if given the chance.

Franz Vasquez is a local artist, and for Christmas we visited his little house studio and picked up two original acrylics at a reasonable price. He likes to paint colorful Caribbean scenes with in a simple, idyllic style. Thanks for the painting, Dan!

checking the surf with my brother at a little-known spot south of Puerto Viejo called "Dedos" (fingers)

Early one morning we saw the receptionist at my parents' hotel arriving for work on her bike. Her first words to us that day were: "The ocean is big. Salsa is breaking." Indeed the surf break known as Salsa Brava ("Angry Sauce" in English) was breaking, and Dan and I caught some really fun and slightly scary waves that day. Scary because the wave breaks with Hawaiian-style power over a shallow coral reef.

The majority of the residents in the region I live in are known as "Bri Bri" people. This indigenous people group lives mainly away from the coast, and many make a living working in the banana fields, although some follow a very traditional way of life in the forest, using their extensive knowledge of plants to survive. Feeling adventurous, my parents and I negotiated a ride on a dugout canoe without knowing where exactly we were going. We ended up seeing things that are far off the beaten tourist path: a pig being ferried downriver to market in one canoe, stacks of bananas being tossed from another canoe into the back of a truck...

Here I am about the help push an overloaded truck of bananas out of the mud. These bananas were headed for Germany. I bet the Germans eating these bananas have no idea what the bananas went through to get to their grocery store!

There was no store or restaurant where we ended up, but girl in the red shirt was kind enough to knock down a few oranges for me and my parents as a refreshing snack. She was shy around us.
"Come here little pig..."

Here's what house church looked like for our Christmas party. After a nice pork roast meal, we watched "The Nativity" together. Great movie!

20 mins. drive south of Puerto Viejo is the small town of Manzanillo. It has some of the nicest beaches in Costa Rica, and that's saying a lot! Plus there's a good surf break where the jungle hits the reef. You can sometimes hear monkeys howling while you're surfing here.

Puerto Viejo has a nice botanical garden called "Finca La Isla." If you look carefully, you will see a red poison dart frog on the vine under my mom's neck.

My parents helped me throw a Friday night cook-out for the youth. Sebas (far left) prayed over our meal.

I moved! And yes, the railings are pink! I call it the Barbie house. My parents found a small house for rent in town. The rent is a little higher, but has more space and will hopefully be safer. One good thing is that all the windows have metal bars on them, and there is a tall fence around the yard...my own yard..yay! Can't wait to plant a plumeria.

Inside there are three rooms, plus a closet. There is one bedroom, one living room (which could be converted into a second bedroom), and a kitchen/dining room.

This is the bedroom, of course. It's small but that's fine with me!

I have this nice patio area. You can see the garage door to the left.

This is the view from the front gate looking toward the water. The ocean is barely visible at the end of the road. Check out the cool Caribbean-style houses on my street!

Living in town is going to be great for ministry: I'm a little closer to the skate park/house church facility, but mainly I will be right in the middle of where most of the youth live, so there will be a lot of opportunity for informal activities with them. Lord willing, I would love to start a Bible study at the house eventually. Plus there's a garage where I can do ding repair or even surfboard shaping as a bridge to the youth. Most of the youth here love surfing.

My main prayer request right now is for God's wisdom as Barrett, Amy and I make our personal and ministry plans for 2009. Also that my Spanish would improve. Although I can communicate fairly well in some ways, I'm definitely not at the level where it's easy to have deep conversations with people, so it's hard to be effective in evangelism and discipleship.