Terminar el año. (The end of the year)

    Our life has changed so much in the last year with two of our children getting married, one of our children getting engaged for a summer 2012 wedding. Five of us emptied out our house and committed to serve three years in Republica Dominica, moved to Costa Rica for Language school and raised financial and prayer support for our time away. There were also many small things that came up, that every family would need to adjust too. We, as a family here, and in the states, are continually amazed at how God surprises us each day with his blessings in some way or another. When our home sending church was asking it members to think of ways that they had been blessed this fall, I also started to make a list of my own and it went on and on. He is a great God, and so often I find myself not taking the time to acknowledge the way he works in our lives.

      I have been trying to read one chapter in Proverbs every day for the last number of years. It works out to reading though the book each month. When I read 22:9 in December “Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor”, I had to think of all the people that have committed to support us financially and how those hands are blessed by God for doing so. The “bread” in the passage covers so much more than actually edible food. Thank you for allowing God to use your gifts in this manner.

      We have had a good time relaxing during the school break in December. Our Daughter Rachel visited us for a week along with her boyfriend Elliot Rowe and then on Dec 23 Rachel and her fiancé Elliot, headed back to Indiana. It was so good to have them join us here for that week. We tried to have balance of just sitting and visiting along with showing them some of the beautiful areas that we had discovered so far during our time here. We are so glad to have Elliot joining our family this coming summer. During their time here, we went to the Children’s museum here in San Jose. We went to the amusement park here. We went to a LaPaz Waterfall Park and toured the downtown area of San Jose.

      The week between Christmas and New Years is a big deal here in San Jose area. Many of the stores are closed or open for reduced hours. There is a big Carnival type deal in Zapote, about 2 miles from our apartment that has a bull fighting ring that they only use for this one week out of the year. I, of course, took advantage of being here for that one week and went to the bullfights   with some of the other students. Here is a short video of what it was like.      The week between Christmas and New Years is a big deal here in San Jose area. Many of the stores are closed or open for reduced hours. There is a big Carnival type deal in Zapote, about 2 miles from our apartment that has a bull fighting ring that they only use for this one week out of the year. I, of course, took advantage of being here for that one week and went to the bullfights.         
I have several others posted on YouTube if you want to see more of this activity.

       I have been getting more bike riding in on the break, Karen has been getting some craft items made and mending done on the girls’ clothes, Janae and Nina have been spending time with friends and other students and Marcy has gotten quite good at kite flying.            Nina, Janae, and Marcy will go back to class again on Jan 9 and Karen and I will be going back on the 10th. Karen and I have meetings to attend for Students International (our sending agency) in Visalia CA from Jan 3 to 5 and returning to Costa Rica on Jan 6. One of the generous students here will be staying in our apartment with the girls while we are gone. (Thank you Lisa Marie)

      Many of you sent gifts and cards during our time here, and especially during the Christmas season. Thank you all for that and we are humbled by the gracious outpouring of many kinds of support that we have seen in the last number of months.  

Christmas Break.

       Therefore, we have made it half way through our time here at the language institute now and that is a good/bad feeling all at the same time. As we are ready to be done and move on to the Republica Dominicana, we also are wanting so bad to be further ahead in our language learning. Looking back to where we started 4 months ago, we have come a long way. At the same time, we have a long way to go. God has been so good to us in so many ways and is continually surprising us in how he shows up in our activities.

       So what has happened since our last post? Like I said, school was over on Dec 8^th and then on the 10^th Janae and I had the opportunity to go to Nicaragua for 5 days to spend some time with Ray Hedstrom and Jane Kauffman representing the LaGrange United Methodist Church at the NRN base in Managua. Janae and I had both been on previous trips with Ray and Jane before on a number of occasions so it was good to spend a few days with them and reconnecting with the friends that we have made in Nueva Vida.   

The church in LaGrange has done great things there and it was good to be back. Some other things that we have planned for the break are, our daughter Rachel and her boyfriend Elliot are coming down to visit us from Dec 18-23. That will be the highlight of our time off. Karen and I will also be going to California for some meetings with Students International from Jan 3-6. Then on Jan 9^th class resumes for our last half of Language learning.

    Karen and I celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary the day after Thanksgiving, we are truly thankful for those years together, and where God has taken us during that time. I guess you could say that we celebrated an evening at home with nothing planned, having Rice and Chicken for supper. Oh, wait a minute, that actually describes EACH night since we have been here. HA! gotta love it.

     As I had mentioned in a previous post, there is a mountain here called La Crux and at the top is a cross. Someone talked me into climbing it a second time a couple of weeks ago and at the top was the Christmas tree pictured below. It was a large branch off a pine tree that someone had taken and stuck it in the fire pit on top and decorated it with the trash that was left behind. HA! What better use of the trash than to decorate the Christmas tree. I guess that is just one of the ways that God had surprised me in the last number of weeks.

 It may sound like I have said this before (which I have several times) but the longer we are here, the more we are sure that we are right where we are suppose to be at this time.  Our prayer is that each of you are also where you are suppose to be, and continue to seeks Gods will for your life, as we do. Trusting that you will all have a great time celebrating Christ's Birth. Thanks for your prayers and continued support that you have shown to us.

Only three weeks left in this trimester

It, has been a few weeks since our last post so I wanted to let you know what is happening in Costa Rica.
 We have 3 weeks left in school for the first Trimester and that seems impossible. As we look forward to some time off from classes in December and the first part of Jan.; it will be good to have a chance to review and look back at what we have studied so far. It seems unanimous between Karen and me that our biggest struggle is memorizing the vocabulary words. The way that it looks from our side of the fence is that all these "young pups" in our classes are picking up the vocab words much easier but we need to keep reminding ourselves that it is not a competition and we just keep trying to do the best that we can. After all, that is all that our teachers expect and all that God expects out of us. As we have felt blessed, especially over the last number of months, I noticed that at our church congregation Shore Mennonite in Indiana, has been asking during the morning service, "How have you been blessed this past week?", That has really made me think of SPECIFIC ways that I have been blessed. As I started to put my blessings down on paper it was really a way for me to search myself in many different areas of my life. I would like to encourage all of you reading this blog update to do the same thing. It is just one more way that we can thank God for all the ways that he has blessed us possibly through others.
      Looking back over some of the activities that have happened with our family over the last few months I will just mention a few. The girls have made many new friends since being here and have had some sleep overs and attended birthday parties in the park for some of them. They had  a special recycling program at their school which was a huge hit. Karen and I have begun tutoring with one of our teachers each day. It is for an hour each day from 12:30-1:30. That has really been a big help for us and gives a chance to ask questions that we didn't have time to ask in class and then it also gives both of us a chance try out our Spanish and have her correct us. Here is a picture of Marcy preparing some of the fruit from the Ferria.

     We attended the Saturday evening Church Service this past weekend so I took a bike ride on Sunday morning. Leaving at 5:30, soon after daylight, I wanted to see how far I could get up the mountain of Irazu Volcano. One of things I wanted to get done while here was to make it to the top of the Volcano. It has a high peak of 11,000' and is about 20 miles up the mountain from the town of Cartago. I thought if I can make it a little further each week then by Christmas break I could reach the top in a single trip. A couple of weeks ago I made it to the 6800' mark before I ran out of energy. Sunday I tried it again and after reaching the first town on the way at 6800' I kept going up towards the second town at 8400'. I reached it by 11:00 and was ready to turn around when I thought that as hard as it was to get to the 8400' point, I would most likely not try this again so if it was ever going to happen then it would have to be now, so I kept going. As the temperature dropped, the rain began and I was then even more determined to keep going. I reached the top soaking wet, 11,000' and 47 deg. One would think that I should have brought warmer dry clothes with me but no, just my t-shirt and shorts. At 1:15, I took a few pictures and then had the pleasant experience of coasting all the way back down. My "pleasant experience" didn't seem to last as long as the ride up :) Anyway I here are two pictures of what I saw once reaching the top. It has been silent since 1965. Hard to imagine what is was like when it erupted, when you're standing there looking in. It looks so peaceful and calm. I am guessing that maybe my parents thought the same thing about me when I was sleeping. "Hard to imagine how he is during the day. He looks so calm and peaceful now."

     As we continue learning more about the Spanish language all the different "tenses", we are always reminded that the job or purpose of the school is not necessarily to have us leave as perfect Spanish Speakers but rather to give us the background so that once we are immersed in a Spanish Speaking Culture, that we have the framework to pick up the local dialect much faster. We look forward going to the field and putting all this to use. But in the meantime we will continue to do Gods work here and keep hitting the books.

Octubre las actividades

 

   As the month of Oct came to a close I thought of all that happened since my last post. I will start with our weekend at the Arinal Volcano. It was our first weekend away with the other students. There is something planned about every other weekend but this is the first we have participated for various reasons. We began our 4 hour bus ride and after about 2-1/2 hours stopped to eat our sack lunches at a rest stop filled with Iguanas. Most of them were full grown and freely roaming the area. For those of you that are not familiar with them, I would compare them to a cross between a lizard and a dinosaur. 

      We then loaded back up and enjoyed a great time there from Saturday mid afternoon until Monday after lunch. The volcano has now been inactive now for (it depends on who you ask) somewhere between a couple of months and 2 years. Of course the local shops say that it is still active, you just need to hang around a while to see it "blow" Ha! I guess it is not a lot different than our tourist spots in the States. 

   Our next adventure was when Marcy, Janae and I joined a few other students to climb "Tres Cruz Mountain". We started out an elevation of 4200 ft and ended up at 6800, so just over 1500' increase. It was about a 1-3/4 mile hike up so a fairly good grade. The descent was another story. We went back down about 1300 of that elevation in 2000'of distance. 

So a little less than a 45° drop. That proved interesting on a slightly slippery grass covered hill with a barb wire fence at the bottom and a river on the other side of the fence. Everyone survived but the guide mentioned that maybe she should find an alternative route for coming back down. There was a great view from the top though. It was well worth the couple of scratches that we got.

My last adventure that I had was just this past Saturday when I put my bike to use a little more than I had yet. I had heard of a town called Cartago that was supposed to be a nice place to visit so I took off right after getting the produce at the ferria. It really was a nice ride. About 25 miles one way and mostly uphill, it was about 5000 ft elevation with a high point along the way of 5,300 ft. It felt good to get out and ride some distance again. All but the first 2 miles was ridden on the Pan American Highway. It runs from Argentina to Alaska and in the US is referred to I-5. I will need to take my camera along the next time as it also had some  fantastic views of God's workmanship. 

    School continues to go good and as we go into the community, it feels like we can continue to use it more and more. I am sure that we sound like a toddler speaking but I guess that is better than not at all at this point. Interesting to see how people react to our attempt to speak Spanish. Some are very helpful at correcting you very politely, others will just ignore you. Then some will let you struggle and drag on for 5 or ten minutes trying to understand and finally say "I do speak English if that helps at all" :) . One last thing was a culture experience that I had this past weekend at a local "Big Lots" sort of store. It was very busy and crowded and as I waited my place in line with maybe 8-10 people behind me, I notice that the three ladies in front of me were receiving items from other people that would just walk up between the lines. After this happened maybe 5-6 times I realized that along with the item, they would be handing them cash to pay for it. Ha! It didn't seem to bother anyone behind me so I figured it was just part of the way things happen here. Then, just as it was my turn to start putting my items on the belt, another person showed up on the far end of my checkout  lane with a full cart and begin to unload their items and the cashier started to ring them up in reverse, and the customer had a bunch of plastic bags that she laid on top of my items and proceeded to bag her things up. :). I wish I would have had a video of that. Again, it didn't seem to bother anyone behind me so I just waited until they were done, and then I ask the cashier "más?" her reply of "no más" was good enough for me to begin my things. It really was quite comical when you think about it. 

         We continue to plug away at learning the Spanish language and culture. Nina, Janae, and Marcy are still surviving, as are their teachers. We have been very blessed with a couple of care packages in the mail from family and friends and that is really special to us. Last week we had a full 30 hours straight of no rain which seemed so strange. Then the next day it really made up for it with a downpour like no other. With the midpoint of this trimester behind us now, all 5 of us can't hardly believe how fast the time is going by.Thanks again for the prayers as we continue to follow where Him. Mike, for the family

 

La madurez ez un proceso (maturity is a process)

(More on the title later)

    Since my last post I was able to find another student that had a bike that he was no longer riding because it was in need of some work. So I did end up buying that bike and getting it back into riding shape. It still has a few quirks but is very ridable.

Along with the bike purchase we had to do some remodeling on our apartment so we turned part of our bedroom into a garage for the bike. It really is handy though because now I don't even need to get out of bed to comb my hair, I can just roll over and use the mirror on the bike so it has worked out great.

    Speaking of combing my hair, which is really not an issue anymore any way because........... I had another "first" here in Costa Rica a few weeks ago. Getting my hair cut. That was interesting to say the least. I had practiced saying "take a little off", "just a trim". I had thought of telling him to just call Laura and she would tell him exactly how it is done. But since the haircut only cost $4.00 and the phone call would have cost $10.00.......... Anyway, I told him what I had practiced and he looked at me for a bit and said "si". Well it was about the time that the first pile of greyish red hair hit my lap that I realized the communication had broken down somewhere and he heard me say, "just leave a little on top". Basically shaving it would be a good description of what happened. HA!. Well Marcy was setting there witnessing the whole thing and after a while said "Moms not going to like this at all". The next excitement came when he was ready to shave my neck with a straight razor. Just as my nervousness left me as I had convinced myself that "he had done this hundreds of times before", Marcy decided she wanted to see what he was doing and "sprang" from her seat and ran over to stand right beside him to watch. Well "stand" and "Marcy" don't normally go in the same sentence together, but it all ended uneventful which I was very glad for. I always figure that a bad haircut and a bad lawn mowing job are pretty temporary and both grow back eventually.

       Oct 2nd was World Communion Sunday and since Costa Rica falls under the "world" part of that, we also participated in communion here just as our home congregation did at Shore Mennonite in Shipshewana IN. Pastor Marvin here was preaching on his series from Hebrews chapter 6 and the only note I took was "la madurez es un proceso" (Hence the title of this post), I am not sure why I had taken that one note but I must have thought it was a statement worth writing down. Now today, two weeks later, I am listening to the sermon from Pastor Carl form that same Sunday at Shore and he is preaching from his series in Galatians chapter 4 and he mentions "our Christian maturity is a process". Now on the same Sunday , two different pastors preaching from two different countries thousands of miles away, in two different languages and then saying the same sentence in the sermons???? I take that to heart and ask "God, what are you trying to say to Mike Unternahrer through that sentence?" Knowing that my Christian maturity has been a process and will continue to be a process, I can only hope to grow as much over the next 35+ years as I have during the past 35+ years. Relating that to learning a new language, why did I think and expect to learn Spanish without the  pain, the effort, the work, the setbacks, the struggles, the tears, and very little patience with  myself when it is a process? All processes have these common components in them, Marriages, faith walks, new jobs, raising children, and even language learning. MATURITY IS A PROCESS.

       Going back to our first week here, during orientation, it was mentioned that it is very likely for some of us that our language learning is quite possibly only a small part of the reason that God brought us to Costa Rica, and He may in fact have much more to teach us here than just a new language. I have seen that to come true in me and the Spanish Language is such a bonus to all that I am learning. I am forever grateful for God's servants Pastor Marvin and Pastor Carl and how He has used them to continue to grow me spiritually. 

   

  

Pruebas y Exámenes (test and exams)

So about 1/3 third of the way through our first trimester here in Costa Rica has left us feeling many things. Challenging, exhausting, chaotic, frustration, homesick, stretched, as well as comfortable, prayed for, grateful, enjoyment, amazed, relieved, inspired. Those are just a few that come to mind right now. In one of our classes we needed to come up with different adjectives that we need to learn the Spanish word for. I then thought I would ask everyone in our household to think of what they have felt since being here. It was interesting to see all the feelings we have had, positive and negative alike. Everyone was in agreement though that the positive has far outweighed the others.

   We are all still getting lots of exercise with walking. The higher elevation (4000’+) and the very hilly terrain is much different than walking around our block back in LaGrange County. The beautiful scenery makes it all worth it though. We no longer get to experience the sunrises from the center of the city but the mountains are still very visible in the background no matter where you are. God’s beauty is all around us, if we just stop to see it. 

    Some changes coming up with our family are that we have been given an opportunity to stay here in Costa Rica for another trimmest of language classes and then we have decided to take that opportunity. That session of classes ends the end of April so we will then be in the DR and ready for school by the first part of May. Although that was not our original plan, we were open to it anyway and are now looking forward to that happening. Along with that change, Nina will probably stay here in the apartment with Sondra, our empleada, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning while Karen and I are in class. She will be attending the regular classes in the school on Tuesday and Thursday.

   Keep us in your prayers, as I know you have been. We have felt that so much since we are here. One thing that they told us in orientation here was that quite possibly language was only a small part or reason that God has brought us here, and to be open to allowing him to do whatever he has in store for us. We have all talked many times of the different experiences that we have had and continue to have here. Thanks for being part of that with us.

español, poco a poco (Spanish, little by little)

      So now that we have finished our 3rd week here in Costa Rica - it seems like we should be 100% fluent in the language; I would think. WRONG! Anyway we are learning and the girls are also learning and making lots of new friends. Today Janae started her first Mandarin class. That was her native language in China and, even though she has not spoken it in almost 8 years now, I think it will come back fairly easy for her. It is being taught by a young lady that was born in Beijing and now lives in San Jose and is very fluent in Spanish but lacks a bit of English. Janae thinks that it is a bit of a challenge for her to teach but it will all work out. 

    There is a national holiday on this Thursday the 15th so all five of us are off school for Thursday and Friday both. We have not and probably wont make any big plans, most likely just work on our vocabulary words and spend some time walking around town. The weather has not changed a lot since I last wrote. Still gets down to the low 60's in the evening and then up to the low 80's in the daytime. It still rains a small amount every afternoon for 15 minutes up to 6-7 hours, but overall it is just perfect weather. Our Empleada has been teaching Karen how to prepare some of the local dishes and also how to use some of the "odd looking produce" in market.

One thing that I have missed during our time here so far is not having a bicycle to ride. I had been riding some bike in the states for that last few years and have really missed that. I did some checking into finding a used one but so far I have not had a lot of luck. I have been known to drop by the new bike shops and dream but knowing that is not an option makes it easier to just look :) Last Saturday Marcy and Janae and I went to downtown San Jose. I was looking for a book for Karen but no luck. We did however find a park with pigeons and so we went to the bakery and bought $.80 worth of stale bread and spent the next hour feeding the  birds.

     That was well worth the .80 that the bread cost. After we got home from the park we had lunch then I decided I wanted to see if I could find my way to downtown walking, without taking the bus. It was about a 50 minute walk. I printed off a map on GoogleEarth and made it without any wrong turns at all. Actually I never even got my map out so that went pretty well. I spent about an hour at the park working on my vocabulary words and trying to drum up conversations with the taxi drivers and that also went OK. There was a guy walking around selling binoculars and my conversation with him didn't go as well as I had intended. There is not enough room here to go into great detail about that but just to say that he was wanting $10.00 for them and I got him all the way down to $20.00. :( So if anyone wants a pair of binoculars I have a great pair but I won't send them, it is customer pick up only!!. 

       We are enjoying the church we are attending. It has three services 8:00, 10:30 Sunday morning and then at 6:00 pm on Saturday night. When we go to the 8:00 service, we are back home then by 10:45 and it makes a nice day yet for family bonding time. We have heard that there are several students that go to the 10:30 service so we may try that sometime too just for something different. 

         Marcy had a great 9th birthday here on Sept 5th and we appreciate the cards that were sent from the states. That was very thoughtful and meant a lot to her (and her parents). We received our first care package today from Mom and Dad U, which contained several edible items along with some commodities that are not available here, like wooden clothespins for example. 
         Here is a photo of the entrance to our apartment. 

The razor wire across is very effective in keeping people from coming in as well as keeping Marcy from getting out. :) She has appointed herself the main gate keeper and anytime we go anywhere she is the one to unlock and re-lock all three doors/gates and all three of them have two locks each. It is so interesting to see how all three girls are adapting to the lifestyle here and how they just fit right in. No complaining about not having a yard to play in, not being around their school friends,and not having the foods that they were used to. SKYPE has been a big part of that as they can still  see the "Bigs"and both sets of grand parents. 
     Continue to keep us in your prayers as we seek out what God has in store for us each coming day and for patience in our classes as they seem to be a real struggle at times. God Bless from Costa Rica. 

       Well, we finished our first week at ILE (Institudo de Lengua Espnola). It went as good as we all expected I believe, we are going to make an attempt at finding a happy medium between having it totally consume our lives while we are here, and just throwing our hands up and not spending the time needed to study and do the home work. Karen and I both have 4 (50 minute) classes each morning starting at 7:30 with 5 minutes between the first and second, 45 minutes between the 2nd and third and then 5 minutes between the third and fourth. We get out at 12:05.  On Tuesday and Thursday we have Chapel during the long break. Karen and I have no classes together. One of my teachers speaks no English at all so I have taken it upon myself to teach her all the proper and improper nouns, action verbs, correct punctuation, and most all else that I failed to learn 35 years.
       There are about 60 new students here for their first Trimester. They/we are at different levels of spanish, from none at all for a portion of us, to 4 years of high school Spanish, to some that were very advanced but never really learned the correct way of pronunciations.  Then there are about 20 or so returning students in their 2nd or 3rd Trimesters.
       All of the students here have basically two choices for living arrangements. Either an apartment like we have or you live with a Tico (local Costa Rican family). They discouraged families with children in living with a Tico family and really only want couples or singles. They STRONGLY discouraged families with Marcy's in living with Tico families. So we heeded that warning and thus ended up were we are. It really is working out great here. As most of you know we have a very short walk (a couple of minutes) to school and that is such a blessing. A lot of the students have a 15-20 minute walk and there a few that need to take a bus because of the distance.
       The school recommended that those of us in apartments to hire a "maid",(empleada) to do light cleaning and some cooking but mainly for the conversation and tutoring that takes place between them and us. The name of our empleada is Sandra. She will be with us Mon and Wed from about 9-1 and then on Fri, from 11-4. A lot of the reason that the school encourages this is that most of them are single ladies from a divorce or death of husband and they need the income. Sandra's first day for us was last Friday and it looks like she is going to work out very well. She is 52 years old and has 3 grown children in their low to mid twenties, also two grandchildren. Sandra works for one other couple at the school and also sells boxes of tea in the local parks. She helped Karen out a lot with some questions that she was having in class and we are also planing on her interacting with the girls on Fridays. Marcy still has a little ways to go on fully understanding Sandra's roll in our family. "Tell me again when our servant is coming back, I really like her". :(

       Here is a picture of our average morning breakfast with pineapple, bread and banana's. I am not looking to lose any weight while I am here as the food is so good and plentiful and for the most part quite reasonable in price.
      This was our second Sunday at the same church and this morning they had communion. It was somewhat different that our communion but not that much really. As they passed out the juice cups, I had to think of when I was growing up in Shore Mennonite, we had the actual small glass cups that had to be washed and put away until the next time. Those cups had a small but deep indentation in the bottom and it was just the right size for my, at that time, small fingertips to fit into. So I would put them on the end of my fingers and do a little finger dance, until my dad saw, then the dance was all over fairly abruptly.  Oh well, it did make a good memory anyway.
      They sang several praise songs that had a familiar tune but different words than we are used to. Some Sunday soon I want to take my camera and video one of the songs and put it on here so everyone can enjoy what our services are like here in Costa Rica. This Sunday did go better than last week and I am sure that next week will be better than today.
      Keep checking back for a new update in a couple of weeks.

Well, we made the trip to Costa Rica and we're getting settle into our apartment and have begun orientation for Language School. All five of us have orientation yet Thursday and Friday and then the girls start class on Monday with Karen and I starting class on Tuesday. Lots of new experiences here in the last two days. I know most of you are wondering and we did find ice cream in the grocery store. That was a relief. Oh, it was $16.00 a gallon, so all at once I really don't care for ice cream that much anymore. We took an entrance test this morning to see how much Spanish we already knew so they would know where to start us out. I wanted to make sure that I was in the same class as Karen so I faked it and left all the questions blank like I didn't know any of the answers. They were pretty simple questions like verb conjugation and adjectives and pronouns and all. I think Karen will need all the help she can get, so I will be there by her side when she has problems. (OK so the last few sentences may have been exaggerated a bit. All except for the part of me turning in a blank paper). I think we will all be challenged in school.
     Here is a short video tour of our quaint little apartment.

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Once again I want to thank those of you that have sent in one time gifts, monthly pledges and especially the ones that have committed to pray for us. Without the prayer support it would maybe be possible to do what we are, but not near as productive. We feel the support from all of you. One way you can pray for us is as we start actual classes next week that we absorb what we are being taught and that we are bold in our practice of that. God has been so faithful to us so far on this journey and we are confident that he will continue that faithfulness.  

In the midst of goodbyes

       One of the many aspects of leaving is saying goodbye. While in training in Colorado at MTI in April, one of our last sessions was how to be good at saying good bye. I am not sure I have that down yet as so far it has been very hard for me to do that part. Over the last number of weeks we have had some great opportunities to spend time with friends and family during meal times, bike rides, ice cream shops and today for example, the men's prayer breakfast that I attend on Thursday mornings had a commissioning of sorts for me. That was very meaningful to me and then it was "goodbye time." Then to Honeyville Metal where I have been employed for the last 4-1/2 years and after a nice noon meal that was brought in, again, time for "goodbye." There is really no aspect of saying goodbye that I like, but yet as I knew this time would come, I do need to say that the training at MTI came in handy. Even though it is hard, we can be good at it without enjoying it. Don't run way, don't ignore your feelings, take the time to say goodbye to those that I will miss and those that will miss me. Hard as it is, it is a part of leaving, and they will all be missed greatly.
        Packing, storing and giving away has been our lives in a nutshell the last couple of weeks. As we are flying out of Detroit on Monday morning for language school, we are gaining on all that needs to be done. We will be in Sañ José for the better part of 4 months then on to Jarabacoa, DR to begin our three year term there. Thanks again to all who have provided meals, helped clean, helped paint, prayed for us and given us financial support. Without it this would not be possible.

We are praising God daily for his faithfulness in providing for our needs. Whether you are giving financially or supporting our family through prayer, your generosity is an encouragement to each of us. Because you have been obedient to His call to serve as "senders", we can be obedient to His call to go. Thank You

Another way that you can be praying for us is by praying for our Children, (better know as MK's, Missionary Kids) our three children that we are bringing along down with us need you prayers as much as Karen and myself do. Here is a prayer list for you to walk through all seven days of the week. As I look over the list of prayers, I see that most of them also apply to the mom and dad too. :)

Calm before the storm?

     Back in the early 70's, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) had a song out called Have You Ever Seen The Rain. The very first line of that song was "Someone told me long ago, that there's a calm before the storm, I know; It's been coming for some time" I had to think of those lyrics over the last couple of weeks as I have been feeling a calmness about leaving and it almost seems like I should be feeling more nervous than I am. Is this, like CCR sang, "the calm before the storm"? I don't know, and really it doesn't matter, because in Matt 6:24 it tells us not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself. What I do know is that only a God as big as our God can give us the peace and calmness that we have been feeling at this time in our lives.

     Some things that are happening right now are, On June 25th, our son Fred married  Lauren Smith and they are residing in a house they have purchased and are currently renovating in LaGrange IN. It is great to have Lauren join our family. Karen and I and the 3 Littles made a very quick trip to OKC July 1-3rd  to visit Jeff and Abby at their home. We had a very warm reception (104°) from them and a  wonderful time. We have the registration mailed in to Spanish Language Institute in San Jose Costa Rica and the airline tickets are purchased for an August 22nd departure out of Detroit. Our house is beginning to empty out as our children, family, and friends have started to "watch" some of our furniture for us while we are gone. We sold our motorcycle and our only antique tractor a couple of weeks ago. Boxes are getting filled to either go with us or put into storage. I made a wooden crate this week that will have a trailer axle, a hitch for a van, 2 wheels, 4 bicycles, and other misc items in it to get shipped ahead of us to the Dominican Republic. Our support raising is off to a good start which is a great feeling of encouragement from all of you. So all in all I guess I really have no logical reason to feel anything other than calm. Some things that you can be praying for us at this time are,

• In the last 6-1/2 weeks here that we can spend that time wisely with visiting with family and friends that we are close to.
• We will continue to remain focused on God and what he as ahead of us.
• That we don't get consumed in the raising of support and we can accept that it will come in God's timing.
• We can make practical decisions about what to take, what to put into storage, and what to give away.

It is difficult to express our thanks to all of you for the ways we feel your support, Meals brought in, Notes of encouragement,  prayers that we fell coming our way and many other ways also. Thanks to all of you as you continue to partner with us.  

School for the girls

      Abby and Jeffs wedding went off without a hitch and they spent a week in the Smokey Mountains before coming home to open gifts, load a 20' trailer with all of their earthly possessions and head of to Edmond Oklahoma, a suburb on the North side of Oklahoma City. Abby will be working at SandRidge Energy, where she worked as an accounting intern last summer. And Jeff will be using the mechanic skills he learned in College at a local Car Dealer (which one is yet to be decided). Jeff and Abby are also now the proud owners of Emma Jean, the family yellow Labrador Retriever. We knew that we had to find a new home for her and Abby wanted first chance at her.(actually the only chance). Things are beginning to look different at our home now as Abby took some of our furniture with her, Fred is also starting to set up his house in LaGrange and Greg is living on his own in Kendalville. So our house is getting emptier and more cluttered at the same time as we keep finding things that we need to get rid of before we go. So once more we cry out, GOD HELP
     On our trip back over Memorial Day weekend, it felt different to know that most likely our next trip down will be to stay. Nina was not able to come with us as her passport did not come to our house until the day after we left. It seemed that there was a contest with who could be the most stubborn about the issue, the ones in the Passport Office or the Father of the Passport-less traveler? Well I already told you who won and it was not Nina. It was a really good trip besides all that and Marcy and Janae just loved it there. Marcy was really intrigued by all of the "brown kids". We quickly headed that off by explaining to her that they had names just like us and we need to use their names and that they were people just like us. Then it turned to the "brown people", instead of the "brown kids". Somehow she missed the message. I guess we do that many times too. Miss the message, Too many times I am so sure that I know what has gone wrong with a situation that I miss the bigger picture of what God is teaching me in all of it.
   During this trip we looked into housing, vehicles, household furnishings, ......... and of course the closest Ice Cream Shop. Soon after returning home on June 1st we did actually buy a vehicle, a fridge and a gas stove from two different missionary's down there that were leaving to come back as their term had ended. We also accomplished getting Janae and Marcy into Jarabacoa Christian School (JCS) and they enjoyed the 1/2 day that they spent there in the classrooms. Nina will be attending the school where Karen and I will be at, Genesis School of Special Education. Now we begin raising our support for our time there. That will be challenging to say the least but again as we learned in Colorado, GOD HELP! We feel very confident that we are on track with where God wants us at this point in our lives and he will provide what ever it takes to pull this off, as it says in James 2, that we need the Faith of God, however we also need Works. One without the other is worthless, dead, useless. Along with the Faith, we need to do our part in the Support Raising portion of this adventure. I do have to admit that I am somewhat looking forward to having so many of you partner with us in the mission that we are doing, it will be more than the five of us in this project. It will be literally hundreds. Thanks in advance for the help. Look for more posts as we draw nearer to our departure date.