We Made It!

It's Thursday morning and we're finally connected to the internet. We've been bursting with a desire to report on our first day! We have seen and done a lot already. First of all, both legs of the flight went off without a hitch. We flew Detroit to Dallas-Fort Worth, three hour layover, then Dallas-Fort Worth to San Jose, Costa Rica. Praise God. The only difficulty (which is hardly worth mentioning in light of the extraordinary blessings we have already experienced) was the airline leaving my main suitcase in Dallas (which is now recovered!). Cameron & the van driver, an unsaved man named Randall 2 (so designated to distinguish him from Cam's church member Randall). We drove south out of San Jose, through Cartago, through Pariaso ("Paradise" where Roca Viva, Cam's church is located) into Orosi in south part of the Orosi Valley. We arrived at the Camp, El Jardin Sagrado ("Sacred Garden"), late Tuesday night. It’s a beautiful place. All of the ceramic-tiled, small buildings (barracks) are surrounded by beautiful, flowering trees, palm trees, and fruit trees. There's a beautiful smallish river running along the back border of the camp. Just beyond the water are beautiful round-topped, lush green mountains with misty clouds encircling their peaks.

I’m rooming with Joshua, Mike & Dennis. Doug's rooming with Jeff Cady which shares a bathroom with Brad and Elias. Chuck is rooming with Randall 2 which is a good thing because Randall speaks no English and Chuck has proven to be an invaluable translater (You were right, John, your Dad is more fluent than he lets on!). We're sleeping on bunk beds (everyone sleeping on the bottom thankfully...not sure the top would take the weight of most of us!). If you remember back in 1999 when the men went to Brazil, the showers were hard-wired with electricity at the showerhead (which is why they're called Widow-Makers). Same thing here. When we step out our barracks we take just a few steps to a covered porch connected to the kitchen where we all sit for breakfast with 4 picnic tables line up end-to-end. Breakfast on Wednesday was scrambled eggs, fresh pineapple, rice-beans, some kind of "zip" sauce (our name for it) and fresh orange juice. And in case you were wondering, Starbucks has nothing on the coffee here. Thank you for my many friends who have prayed for my "food anxiety." Despite the fact that my granola bars were in the lost suitcase, I've enjoyed the gracious refreshment that has been provided to us.

We have already seen in our men relationships developing and men stretching themselves as they share testimonies and devotionals from the Scriptures. Wednesday was a day of fun, connecting with men from Cameron's church and unsaved men that tagged along. To give you a taste of that joy so far:

I encouraged the men at breakfast yesterday to remember that our work here is based on a connection between 1 Timothy 6:16 (God alone having immortality and dwells in unapproachable light) and 2 Timothy 1:10 declaration that Jesus Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Our trip has meaning and power because of this great work that Jesus has done.

Yesterday at lunch, Chuck shared a wonderful devotional (vast majority of which was in Spanish) for the benefit of the 9 Ticos (nick-name for Costa Rican men...Ticas are gals) at a local restaurant. It was a beautiful message out of Psalm 103. One particularly beautiful point he shared was that God redeems our lives from the pit, from destruction. Not one of us was unmoved by his exposition of God's steadfast love toward his children.

This morning Doug shared a brief testimony which was a foretaste of a longer devotional he will share tonight. He spoke on Jeremiah 4 and how God formed Jeremiah in the womb, chose him, prepared him to bring God's Word to the people, and then sent him to do it. It was a great blessing to see this man's man get up after breakfast and share this text and how it spoke to him so powerfully because he, like Jeremiah, needs God to enable him to speak truth to a crowd.

As I'm typing this, Joshua is sitting next to me in Central America studying his Bible written in Telegu (an Indian language) and Chuck is walking by praising God in Spanish. If that isn't a picture of the mystery of Christ bringing all people groups together in Him, I don't know what is!I have to say, I love these guys more than I did when I left. Pray for us to be faithful and patient with each other in close quarters and with a changing schedule. God has been so faithful to help us up to this point and we expect more of the same. But please pray. You are a big part of this trip.

I have much more to report, but we are going to be leaving for Paraiso to canvass the town with flyers advertising an evangelistic family conference at Roca Viva ("the Living Rock") later this month. I'll give you a report on yesterdays events later, but for now just a cliffhanger: