Be anxious about nothing

Things in San Jose are warming up a bit. Normally it begins to warm up the middle of Feb and continues to get warmer until the end of April. With us moving to a much warmer climate in the Dominican Republic the last week in April, God has once again supplied us with another answer to a prayer that we didn’t even know to ask for, a way to gradually get used to the warmer climate in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.  School is going good this second half for all of us. The ESL classes that Janae and I are helping with are also going good. The lady that was leading my class had to leave early so I will be finishing those that run through the end of March. It is a lot like leading the Junior Achievement classes that I was a part of at Westview and Lakeland the last 8 years or so. The students that I have are in the lower level of English (which is a great fit for me wouldn’t you say?  J).

                We had a pleasant surprise on Monday of last week with an email from a friend at home saying they may stop in later in the week for a quick visit since they were flying into the San Jose area. As we looked forward to that, it began to look like that opportunity would not actually happen, with them losing electricity for a short time in Indiana and then our internet being down at the school most of last week, the communication between us basically stopped after that first email. However on Friday afternoon while I was doing homework at the park with the girls, here they come walking up. Larry and Dot Chupp along with Steve Schrock. 

We quickly found them a place to spend the night about 4 blocks from our apartment and then enjoyed the rest of the evening with them talking about old times and catching up on each other’s lives. During the evening we were able to SKYPE my folks in Texas so they could also enjoy our visitors. Technology has allowed our time here to be a much smoother transition with being able to have that contact with friends and family. Saturday morning I had the opportunity to walk with them downtown to look at some of the places they remembered when they had all three been here over 30 years ago. Soon after lunch on Saturday, we said our good byes as they headed to the airport to pick up Paul Kurtz from Ohio to begin the activities that actually brought them to Costa Rica. Thanks to all three of you for sharing that day and a half with the U’s. It meant a lot to us.

                As far as the title of this post: During the message on this past Sunday morning I was as discouraged as I have been for a while as far as understanding Spanish goes. As it seemed like that particular morning, nothing was making sense and I was really struggling to understand much of it at all for some reason, I had to think during the service that “we have been here for exactly 6 months to the day now, and this is all I am picking up out of this message?” I was missing the bible texts and several other points. Anyway, I found it interesting that close to the end of the sermon, the pastor said “convertir a Filipinas el capítulo 4 versículo 6, Por nada estéis afanosos; sino sean notorias vuestras peticiones delante de Dios en toda oración y ruego, con hacimiento de gracias” (Philippines 4:6  ) and I heard that like it was said in English, “In nothing be anxious, but in everything (even Spanish) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”.  I needed that reminder to not try so much on my own works and desires, as much as prayer, and thanking Him for the Spanish that we have learned so far. Thanks to all of you for those prayers that you have sent our way. If it were not for those prayers we would not be near as far in the process as what we currently are. Thank you for that.

                We have 5 weeks of classes left before the Spring break then after a week off for Holy Week, we have 2-1/2 weeks of class left before we move to the DR. Continue to pray for us as that we would all finish strong in our and that  that we can stay focused in our studies rather than anticipating the next step for our family. Also pray that the girls would be able to finish their academic school year even though we will be moving before their school year is actually over. Blessing to all. The U's

Nada me faltará

  It has been more than two weeks since my last post and when I started posting: it was my goal to have a new one every two weeks. Anyway, I will still try to stick to that goal. Part of the reason it has been that long is that it has been pretty tranquilo round here. Our life is mostly school, homework and walking to burn off energy. That about sums it up for the U’s.  One new addition to our schedule is that the first week in February, Janae and I started to “help” with ESL (English as a Second Language) class here in town. I can already hear Bob, Matt and John saying out loud, “You are kidding right, YOU helping someone ELSE learn ENGLISH?????”. Well the good thing is, that I am just helping the teacher and we have the 1^st level, so they will have lots of time to get it “right” J. I really do enjoy it though. It gives me one more chance to practice my Spanish and they are as eager to learn English as I am to learn Spanish.  

                I had mentioned in my last post that I am working my way through the bible (hopefully in a year), and since that time our tutor recommended that I read it in Spanish and then in English. Her thought was that it would help with my pronunciation and word recognition. It has helped in both of those areas. The main difference is that now the 15 minutes per day has turned to over an hour, but it really has helped a lot. I will read a paragraph in Spanish and spend time trying to figure out what it’s saying, and then I read it in English to see the parts that I couldn’t figure out. It went well until I hit Leviticus, WOW, That is even hard in a language that I understand. I am now through that and into Numbers and it is going a little better. I do enjoy reading it in Spanish as it gives me one more avenue to see the words, and I find that I recognize a lot more now on Sunday mornings also.

                As far as the title of this blog. This last Sunday I went to church with the lady’s family that is tutoring us and once again I was so reminded of Gods timing. This was the Sunday that He wanted me there. In the fall semester, one of my teachers had us read the 23^rd Psalms each morning in Spanish. So I obviously became fairly familiar with the words and verse one hit me like a brick “The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want” KJV. The newer versions will say “You, Lord are my Shepard, I will never be in need”. Well I learned it in class in the KJV and this morning in church the pastor used the newer version. The Spanish word for need in the KJV is faltará, and the newer version uses falta. I heard that right away and askd my tutor what that was all about and she was quick to remind me that “I have been teaching you that just this last week”. Falta is the present form and faltará is the future form. Seems kind of a minimal difference, HOWEVER, not to me it isn’t minimal. What I heard is I am not in need now and I will not be in need later. But I heard even  more than that. As bad as I want to learn this language, as much as I want to be able to talk Spanish in the Dominican, I heard very plainly this morning that, I will give you as much as you need now, and I will give you as much as you need then. You just need to keep doing your part in studying, and trying, and let Me do the rest. Then you need to be satisfied with that. No more, no less. This is also related to something that happened about a couple of weeks ago one morning at school.

                During a break I went in to ask one of my teachers a question and before I could ask my question, they told me that the night before they had woke up in the middle of the night and thought of me. (I didn’t realize that I was that bad of a student that I caused nightmares in my teachers :)) and she thought of the passage in Luke 9 where Jesus feeds the five thousand.  

 “What is that verse in the bible, maybe in Luke, where Jesus talks about all the people following him and then he decides to feed them and, how did he go about it? “

He asked a little boy for his lunch?? 

“ Right, and how much food did he have with him?”

I think maybe 5 loaves and 3 fish or something like that??

“Right, and then what does he do?”

He tells the disciples to start to pass it around????

“Right. That is where you came into this,” 

( I am supposed to be here learning Spanish and now I am handing out fish and chips to people that should have planned a little better and packed their own lunch????). 

“Did you ever wonder why Jesus didn’t just snap His fingers and feed the people, He had that power, He could have done that. But instead he used a little boy with so little to give and then he used the faith of the disciples to start handing out the food. Those people had to do their part in order for Jesus to work the miracle that he did and a miracle happened because of the faith in the boy and the disciples” “ It was made so clear to me last night that you want to learn this probably more than any student I have ever had and at the same time, I know you study because I have seen you studying when all the other students are having fun and talking during the breaks. yet it seems like it just comes so hard for you and I feel so bad sometimes. But this last night told me that if you continue to do your part, just like you are, then God will bless you beyond anything you can imagine. Lets say, a miracle. It was so clear to me and I had to tell you that”

                So between those two things, during this trimester, as hard as it is, I will continue to keep on keeping on, remembering what the main thing is (to serve God, not to just to learn Spanish),  keep doing my part in studying, and being patient. God is a great God and if He can feed five thousand people with a little kids lunch, and if He can give the teachers at ILE the patience to keep teaching me then he can do great things with the U’s in Costa Rica also. I KNOW THAT!!.