Christmas in Honduras

This year was the first time I ever celebrated Christmas outside of the US. There were some big differences and some similarities.

The biggest difference was the lack of family. This was also the hardest part of the holiday season and about living in another country. Also, fireworks are much more popular here in Honduras than in the US. At least for Christmas anyway. It was fun to watch the fireworks at midnight as the calendar flipped to December 25th. (Especially fun from the rooftop porch of our new place!)

One similarity I saw was that people got a little crazier as it got closer to Christmas. We live really close to the main mall in town and it just got nuts in the last few days before Christmas. (Which was hard for us since we were trying to find things for our new house at this time.) Another unfortunate similarity is that Christmas (as well as every other day) is supposed to be about Jesus Christ, but for much of the world it is about me me me.

This year, Christmas Eve was a very special day. We spent it with our new team here in La Ceiba. Our time together started with a good old fashioned traditional Christmas dinner. It was delicious and fun as we got to hear about some things that are family traditions of our teammates. After that, we had the 'gringo church' Lessons and Carols service where Ashley and I got to light the final advent candle. We also did a small gift exchange that was a lot of fun. We took turns passing gifts out and laughing together. It was a great way for us to start to get to know our teammates better and was a lot of fun for all of us!

As for Christmas day, Ashley and I spent it in our house relaxing and being together. Nothing too exciting, but it was a good day for us to think about the amazing gift we have received of Jesus Christ and the life that He has given both of us. We also got to Skype with many of our family members which helped a little in the missing of them. We hope that you had the chance to dwell on the love of God and the immense gift of His Son this Christmas!

We are in our house!

We are so excited to share with you all that we moved into our new home on Wednesday! Eight days after we arrived our house was ready for us to move in (kind of). We have had some repairmen in and out of the house and at least one of them will be back (supposedly) next week. We had been hoping to be able to get into a house before Christmas so that we could have a sense of home and the Lord provided!

It has been a little crazy these last few days. We moved in and needed to do some shopping for furniture and household necessities. We have found some and will continue our 'settling in' after Christmas. We had a little set back yesterday when we lost power for about 6 hours because a vegetable delivery truck pulled down a power line just around the corner to our place.

We live pretty close to the mall of La Ceiba, so everything has been kind of intense the last few days with Christmas getting closer. The traffic is busy all day and people seem to be in the I-Still-Need-To-Buy-Christmas-Stuff 'spirit.' We are looking forward to getting moved in and getting to know our neighbors and our city a little bit better over the next few weeks.

Welcome to Honduras!

We made it! We are in Honduras! 

Ashley with our bags outside the airport in Honduras.

On Tuesday December 13, we flew from Costa Rica to San Pedro Sula, Honduras then took a two and a half hour drive to our new home city of La Ceiba, Honduras. Our flights and bus ride were easy, no problems with luggage or anything else. Our teammates helped us move into our temporary house and we got to spend some time with Shannon and Kate (teammates) for dinner. 

Since getting here about three days ago a lot has happened! We found a house! This is something that just doesn't really happen here in Honduras. On Wednesday morning, we looked at an apartment and two houses with a realtor and the second house we looked at was perfect! It is bigger than we need, but is under budget and is close to a lot of things in this little city. Yesterday we signed an agreement saying that we will be renting the house and we are hoping to sign a contract and begin moving in on Monday! (We know that there are many things that could come up between now and then that could change that, but we are praying that we will be able to be into our new house before Christmas and will be able to use these last two weeks of the year to start making the house into our home.)

We also got to go to the Christmas show for the school that all of the kids on our team attend last night. It was quite a cultural experience. It was about 2.5 hours long and the lights went out about halfway through. The kids of our team did great and we got to cheer them on as they performed. 

We are so thankful to be in the place where God has called us and to have such great teammates to serve alongside!

Can I graduate?

The answer is YES! We did graduate!

On Friday morning we graduated from The Spanish Language Institute. We have spent all of 2011 here in San Jose, Costa Rica studying Spanish. Four hours of class each day, five days a week, for about 11 months and we are now finished with our formal studies. We will continue to learn more and more Spanish as we live and minister in Honduras.

Before the ceremony with the Honduras flag.

I got to carry the flag into the ceremony!

Ashley singing Solo Cristo.

With our diplomas.

The Graduates.

Hae Su (classmate), Lissette (teacher), Mike (me)

All three down.

In my last post, I said I was finished with two out of three 'tests.' On Sunday I finished the third.

I got the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the people of ICRICEN (Iglesia Cristiana de Centroamericana) this past Sunday. This was the first time I ever preached in a church service and it was in Spanish! I will admit that I was quite nervous, but the Spirit gave me the words to say and (I think) clarity and (mas o menos) the correct pronunciation.

I am so glad the Lord gave me this opportunity to learn how to write a sermon and also how to do translation and also how to share a message in front of a group. I feel like I learned a lot and look forward to having this opportunity in the future. Although I am not going to be a pastor in Honduras, having the skills of writing a message and delivering it I think will be very useful in our ministry.

Mike preaching on Philippians 2:1-11.

I spoke on the importance of unified community and that it is only possible through humility and because of how humble Jesus Christ was for us to come to this sinful world and to die on the cross in order to save us.

Two down, One to go.

This week has been a busy one. On Monday we had our ECO, an oral conversation/exam. It was a 30 minute conversation with a teacher we never had before to test what level we communicate. I think it went well and that the conversation I had with the teacher was pretty representative of my ability to speak in Spanish. On Tuesday we had the ECG, which is a written grammar exam that tests everything that is Spanish grammar. We had three hours to finish (of which I used about two). I tend to do really well on paper and I think that I did well on this test. I think we will get our scores back sometime next week. in reality, the scores are not what is important to me, it is more about knowing what I know and what I still need to work on. 

Also, I am going to be preaching on Sunday, so I have been working a lot on writing a sermon and translating it into Spanish. This is not an easy process for me since I have never written a sermon before. I feel pretty confident at this point that the Lord will give me the words to say. I have had some help from a friend who has been a pastor for a number of years and also from my teachers here for the Spanish aspect. 

So, its been a lot of Spanish this week! Which is a really good thing, but we are getting very much excited to move to Honduras so it is hard to keep our minds here. Our teammates have started looking for a place for us to live and have sent us some pictures, so that makes us want to be there even more. We fly to Honduras is 13 days!

Christmas in Costa Rica

Ok, so it is not actually Christmas, but the season is upon us here in San Jose. Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, so there is nothing holding back people and stores from putting up and out Christmas supplies (not that Thanksgiving stops many places any more in the US...).

Today at our school we had a special chapel put on by our teachers. They explained to us some of the Christmas traditions here in Costa Rica (like getting together as a family and making tamales), sang some traditional Christmas songs, and even gave us some homemade Christmas cookies! It was a great time.

The teachers at our school singing Christmas Carols.

The only negative was that it made me think a little more about this upcoming Christmas and I realized that Ashley and I will not be spending Christmas with any of our family. This I think is going to be hard since I have always had a chance to spend time around the holidays with my family.

We are so excited that we are going to be moving to Honduras is less than a month and we are looking forward to getting to know our teammates and learning some of their Christmas traditions, but we know that we will miss seeing our parents and siblings and nieces and nephews and all our other relatives and friends as well.

One month until Honduras!

One month from today, we will move to Honduras. 30 days!

That is not very long, but we still have lots to do here before we can begin the next phase of our lives and begin a new ministry in Honduras.

1. School:
   -4 weeks of classes,
   -2 grammar topics (so that we will finish the book our school uses to teach Spanish grammar!),
   -2 grammar exams,
   -1 language exam (presentation),
   -the ECO - an oral conversation test that will show us what level of Spanish we have achieved in conversation,
   -the school's (3 hour) written grammar exam that tests our knowledge of all things Spanish grammar.

2. Other Stuff:
   -Thanksgiving Lunch with our entire school - a chance for us to share some USA culture with teachers,
   -Christmas party for a local orphanage that the students of our school Host,
   -Packing,
   -Saying goodbye to friends we have made.

Also, I have been asked by the church we are attending to preach a sermon on Sunday, December 4th. This will be the first time I ever preach a full sermon, and it will be in Spanish! This means that I have a lot of work ahead of me over the next 3 weeks to write a sermon, then 'translate' it into Spanish. Please pray that the Lord will give me the words to share with the congregation and that I will trust Him in my Spanish ability. I am so excited to have the privilege to share God's Word with a group of people and I praise HIm for giving me the ability to do this in another language!

Winter

Ok, so I severely underestimated the 'winter' here in Costa Rica. I say winter because that is what they call this season here. The year is not broken into four seasons here but into two (no, they are not hot and really hot like they are in Phoenix). The seasons are dry season and wet season. We left dry season a few months ago and the wet (or rainy) season has not been so bad. Yes, we have had a lot of rain, but it has mostly been in the afternoons after beautiful sunny warm mornings.

This has changed. Dramatically. For the last 10 or so days, we have not seen the sun. It has rained almost constantly. I looked for rainfall amounts, but did not find solid numbers. From what I have heard, we have had somewhere along the lines of 2+ inches of rain each day. This is something that I have never really experienced before, obviously not in Phoenix.

It has gotten to where I am 'cold' a decent portion of the day. The temperatures are not really cold, but the lack of sun and the wetness make it feel cold. As I am writing this, I am wearing a jacket (since I do not have any sweatshirts here because I thought I wouldn't need them). Another odd thing about this season is that most of the sidewalks are covered in moss since they have been wet for a solid 10 days.

I am ready for rainy season to end, but I hear it will be here for about another month. I guess I will just have to study extra since there is pretty much no reason to leave the house and go out into the rain.

VBS

Our team is looking for some help!


Our team wants to organize a Vacation Bible School for the five missionary kids on the team. We have come to the conclusion that it would be better for the kids if we have someone from outside of our team do it. 


We are looking for you! We would like to have a friend or church come to Honduras and put on a small VBS for the kids on our team December 19-22, 2011. Would you or your church like an opportunity to serve the families of some missionaries? Did your church put on a great VBS this past summer that you could reproduce in another country?


There are 5 kids from the ages of eight to fifteen. Our team will provide lodging and meals for the VBS organizers. 


If you or your church would like to come to Honduras and put on a VBS for five missionary kids this December please contact Mike Pettengill through email (mikepettengill@yahoo.com) or US phone (916.273.8776). 


We will be arriving in Honduras on December 13 and would love for someone we know to come and minister to these missionary kids and their families. If you have any questions, you can also ask me. 

In Honduras

This week, Ashley and I are in Honduras. We are here for two reasons. Firstly, Ashley is taking part in the first Team Honduras Women's Retreat. Secondly, I had to leave Costa Rica again in order to renew my visa, so I felt it would be best for Ashley and I to be able to travel together.

We arrived in La Ceiba on Sunday morning and got worship here with most of our team in English, then went to a Honduras church to worship our Lord in Spanish. Monday morning, the ladies headed out of town for their retreat. Ashley, and the four other women on the team, are taking this week to relax, get to know each other, learn how to better work together, and study what the Lord says about important topics relating to women on the mission field. Each on of the women were given a topic to share about, Ashley shared about prayer.

Meanwhile, back in La Ceiba, I have been able to spend some quality time with the men of the team and help out a little with the kids. It has been great for me to talk with Mike (team leader) and John about what it is like living and serving here. Also, I am going to get a chance to look a little closer at a few of the communities in which the Lord may be calling Ashley and I to serve.

This morning I was thinking about how I sensed the Lord's call for us to come to Honduras. We were here in the summer of 2009, and after we left I just could not get the idea of being here out of my head. The Lord may it clear to me in my head, in an indescribable way, that this is where He wanted us. I am now praying the He would do the same thing in regards to what community He would have us to work in.

Spanish, Spanish, and more Spanish

So, its been awhile. I am still here. I am still studying Spanish in Costa Rica.

Both Ashley and I have had some great opportunities to use our Spanish over the last few weeks. I got to help out some friends at an event called Super Match. I worked alongside missionaries with Palabra de Vida (Word of Life) here in San Jose to set up for an afternoon of crazy games in which about 200 Costa Rican youth participated and heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached. I was able to communicate (in Spanish of course) with the other helpers to coordinate the games and help make sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing.

A few weeks ago, a family from our church invited us over to their house for lunch after the service. We spent 3+ hours eating, talking, laughing, and getting to know this family. It was such a fun time and it was all in Spanish. We didn't even have headaches when we got home!

Just this past weekend we visited friends of ours who are living and working on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. It was great to get out of the city and to see friends who were in our classes in our first trimester here. We used the public bus system to get there and back and on our return trip, Ashley sat next to a Costa Rican woman who has an abusive husband and a super cute 2-year old son. Ashley was able to listen to this woman share about her difficult life and was able to describe to her the hope that is found in Jesus.

These are just 3 short examples of opportunities we have had over the last few weeks to use the Spanish we are learning to communicate on a deep level with people we have come in contact with. This is all in addition to our everyday life of going to the store, paying the bills, and getting to know neighbors.

We feel so blessed to have this time to concentrate on learning Spanish and to learn more about the Latino culture. We are so excited to use all this the Lord is teaching us when we get to Honduras!

Friends and Food

We moved into our apartment about 2 weeks ago. It has been great to have some of our own space and to have more freedom to do what we want, when we want. We are very thankful that we have this opportunity to live in an apartment for our last trimester of language school.

Friday night, we had a Costa Rican couple over for dinner. We enjoyed eating together, getting to know each other, and some Phase 10. All in Spanish, of course! It was very encouraging to be able to spend an entire evening with guests and be able to communicate in Spanish with them.

Also, in just 2 short weeks, I have realized that I like to cook. It's not my favorite thing in the world to do, but I do enjoy it. So far it has been pretty basic stuff, but as I get more chances to cook I think I will try new things and experiment with some different combinations. Costa Rica is home to lots of different fruits and vegetables, and I look forward to using some of them over the next few months here.

2 down, 1 to go.

We are 2/3 of the way done our language study here in Costa Rica. Last week we finished our 2nd trimester. It is amazing to think of how different our lives are now as compared to when we got here about 8 months ago. We have learned so much Spanish and also a lot about this culture. We have also been able to build relationships with many other missionaries and Costa Ricans as well.

Unfortunately, many of the people we were really getting to know well finished their time here and are now back home or in new homes in one of the many Spanish speaking countries. This, I think, is one of the hardest parts of our lives at this point. We are here temporarily with others who are also here temporarily. That makes building strong, deep relationships hard because you know those people won't be close by for very long.

We said goodbye to some really good friends, and we also said goodbye to our Costa Rican family. We will see them, but we have moved into an apartment in order to have some more space and privacy and also to get the opportunity to experience this culture in a new way. In addition to both of those, our language school had to let go of a third of its teachers because there aren't enough students. It was definitely a bummer to hear that one of my favorite teachers will not be back next trimester. I pray that the Lord would comfort these teachers and help them to find new jobs.

Since we are in the middle of trimesters, we also have new students coming in! Tonight, Ashley will go to the airport to pick up a family and about an hour later, I will do the same. We are 'big brothers' to two different families (we help them find a place to leave and show them around a little when they get here). We are excited to meet and get to know some more people who will be serving the Lord using Spanish!

For His Glory

July was not an easy month for our team in Honduras. They have gone through a lot - burglarized house, broken down cars, camera stolen, sickness, hours of time and energy after these events, stress, firing 12 Honduran workers due to lack of funds....

This sounds like it has been an awful month, and in some ways it has been. However, this team is not working for this world. In fact, it is the God of the universe that is working in, on, and through this team. They are tired, yet God is giving them love for each other. I don't want to make the people, our teammates, look great, (I like them all and look forward to working alongside them all!) because they are just people. It is God who is GREAT! It is Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can even imagine! It is the Lord who is working mightily in La Ceiba, Honduras!

In Philippians, Paul writes that it has been granted to us to not only believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. It also says that the reason for this is for His sake. So, I am thankful that our team in Honduras is going through tough times because it is all for the glory of our Savior! I know it is not fun, and I pray that the Lord will continue to pour out His love and His peace to all of them through this time. I also pray that the Lord would give me His love, His peace, and His joy in every situation in my life.

9 of 15

In the curriculum at our language school, the subjunctive mode is split into 15 rules. This week we started studying the 9th of these rules. This specific rule has to do with opinions and how you can convey doubt in something you think/believe.

This rule is going to be the last one we study this trimester. We are going to take the last week and a half of classes reviewing important information after we finish studying this rule.

It has been a little more than 3 months since we started into the big, bad, ugly subjunctive mode of speaking and somehow I am still sane. I will admit that I am getting a bit confused about which rule is which and when I use subjunctive and when I use indicative and when I use infinitive and when I just stop talking. The encouraging thing is that the everyday conversations are getting to be easier and more natural.

9 of 15. That's like almost half isn't it?

In other news... Ashley's parents are coming for a visit! They will get here Saturday morning and we are going to go see one of Costa Rica's most active volcanoes. Should be a great time with family and an awesome chance to see a different side of God's creativity.

Back in San Jose

Today we ended our time, for now, in Honduras. We were able to see the CovCom team off, help clean up the dorm rooms (another team arrived about 8 hours after ours left), and spend a little more time with the long-term team before we had to go to airport and return to our current home.

I-Know-I-Am-Not-In-the-USA when...The woman behind me (and others as well) brings her cups (yes, plural) of coffee through the security checkpoint in the airport. I guess security figures that people here in Central America are too serious about their coffee to mix explosives into it.

Now that we are back home, we will dig back into our Spanish studies. Both Ashley and I had a very different experience in Honduras than we did two years ago since we were able to communicate much more with the Hondurans.

See ya later, not goodbye

This trip has been a lot different from the trip Ashley and I came on 2 years ago. The teams (short-term and long-term) are both larger. We are staying in the dorm facility, that doubles as a construction site. We are able to speak Spanish.

The biggest difference to me is that, even though we are here for only a week, we are able to tell the people we meet that we will see them later. We can tell kids that we are coming back in December. While some of them may not see it as much of a difference now (maybe more so when we actually do see them later), its feels very different for me.

I am able to share with these people that I am taking time to study their language in order to come and serve them. This is very surprising to many of them. They do not understand why I would leave a place that is so "great" to come here where live is so much harder. I hope that I will soon be able to convey (in Spanish) to them that the Lord actually used them to change me and to change my life. The truth is that is doesn't make sense and that it isn't really logical, but it is what the Lord wants and that is all that matters.

See ya later!

Spanish in Honduras

Over the last few weeks I have become more and more encouraged in my speaking of Spanish. I am doing really well in my classes and am learning lots of Spanish grammar. I also have some friends / acquaintances that I speak to regularly in Spanish and it seems as though every time I talk with them, I am able to understand them and communicate with them more clearly.

This week in Honduras has been a little more difficult. Lets just say that I am glad we have another 5 months of language school, because I am not ready yet. Don't get me wrong, I have learned a ton, but speaking with new people (that have a slightly different accent) I have realized that I still have a lot to learn. I know that even when I finish language school I will not be finished learning Spanish. The language learning process is a long and tedious one, but it is one I am enjoying very much right now.

In other news, our team did construction on 2 sites in the morning, hosted a medical clinic that saw 45 patients, and led a Kid's Club with about 40 Honduran kids! We are all doing well, a little tired but enjoying serving the people of Honduras! Click here to see our teams Facebook page with lots of updates and pictures!

What does this pedal do again?

Today,  I drove a car for the first time in over 6 months! Actually, it was a big van.

I got to drive to the airport to pick up the team from Covenant Community Church that we are working with this week! It was so much fun seeing them come through the door after they went through customs.

After picking them up, we took them to our home for the week, the new dorm facility that team Honduras has been working on for quite a long time. There are a few in the group that came last year, and they all say the housing accommodations are a huge upgrade and are so nice!

Next, we went to the Clow's house for 'gringo church,' orientation, and dinner.

As per usual, there were lots of not planned things that happened today. 1. Mike Pettengill, our team leader, woke up this morning sick. 2. La Ceiba had a 'we are going to turn off the power for some reason' day, so we did not have electricity from about 7:45 am - 3:00 pm. 3. The Pettengill's house had a leak that I got to help John Clow fix.

Tomorrow we start really working (medical clinic, construction, and ESL class). 

I got to fill in for our sick team leader in leading the devotional for 'gringo church'

Thank you all for your prayers! Please pray that our team leader, Mike, will be healed quickly.

Mid Terms

We are now at the halfway point of our second trimester, which also means we are at the halfway point of our time of language study here in Costa Rica. This year is flying by. It does not seem like we have lived here, in a foreign country, for 6 months... but we have.

This week is Spiritual Emphasis week at our language school. This means NO HOMEWORK! Oh, an also that we have a chapel time twice each. So far, the chapel times have been great! A group from the Atlanta area, Proskuneo, who specialize in multicultural worship, have come to lead our week.  

Each morning we have a short worship service that is conducted in both English and Spanish since the faculty of the school is invited, and for most of them Spanish is their first language. The songs we sing are in both English and Spanish and sometimes we sing in both languages at the same time. It has been a neat experience so far and, to me, shows the power of God that He can understand so many languages and hear them all at the same time!

On Monday, we also had our mid-trimester progress reports. Each teacher talks with each student 1 on 1 and lets them know how they are progressing and in what areas they need the most work. It was really encouraging for me to hear that both my teachers feel I am learning a lot and moving forward really well. My biggest need is to be able to get more fluid in my speech. I still have days that I feel somewhat lost in Spanish, but for the most part I am getting more and more comfortable in the language! I am so thankful to God for opening my ears and my tongue to these new sounds and words and to all of you for your prayers!

In 10 days we leave for a week-long trip to Honduras to work with a team from our home church!

Skype

This past Saturday, Ashley and I got to take part in a fund raiser at our home church in Arizona. Covenant Community Church, is sending a team of short-term missionaries to La Ceiba, Honduras in July. We are going to join that team and work along side our friends for the week. Last Saturday evening, the team hosted a dinner and evening of entertainment in order to help raise funds for the team to go to Honduras.

We had the opportunity to 'interrupt' the entertainment and say hi to our friends and family who were there! We did not get to see them, but we heard some laughing and were able to be interviewed by the emcee of the event. It was so much fun for us to be able to take part in the evening and to say thank you to our sending church as well as many people who pray and financially give towards the work we are doing.

We had a blast and hope to do it again sometime! We are thankful for the technology that allows this type of thing to happen and that makes it easier for us to keep in touch with those we have left and those who have sent us out to serve the Lord and the people of Honduras.

Subjunctive

This week we started into the next phase of Spanish - subjunctive.

The subjunctive mood/mode is used to describe things that are more abstract. This is the part of the language that we heard about before we started classes. The part that is important to learn to be able to share feelings, emotions, and desires. It is also used to describe situations in which there is some amount of doubt involved and to express disagreement or denial.

Before this week we learned 9 different ways to conjugate every verb and now we are adding 4 more. It is a lot to learn and to keep separate in our minds. Please pray that the Lord would continue to bless us with success in learning this language. We desire to know Spanish in order to be able to share the love of Jesus Christ with the people of Honduras, and learning this mode of speech will help us to do that!

Rainy Season

When we arrived here in January, San Jose was in the middle of dry season. The weather in January and February was just awesome! We had high temperatures in the mid 70s and tons of sun, and when it was cloudy the sky was beautiful!

Things have changed a little. March and April got a little hotter and with May came the beginning of rainy season. It rained a few times in the first 4 months we were here, but since we started May it has rained almost everyday. I tried to find the actual rainfall amounts for the past months and especially for the past 2 weeks or so, but was not successful. However, on average, San Jose gets about 3 inches of rain between the beginning of January and the end of April. Then, in May the average jumps to about 9 inches.

In the last week it has rained all but 1 day (I think) and we had big time serious thunderstorms on both last Thursday and Saturday. Saturday we even lost electricity for about 2 hours. We are going to have to get used to being wet because May is just the beginning of the rainy season and the rainfall is higher still in Sept. and Oct. The rainy season doesn't really end until mid-November and we will be leaving here in the early part of December.

Thank you, Lord for umbrellas and raincoats!

Video & Team update

Since we had some time off from classes between our first and second trimester, we decided to make a short video showing a little bit about what we have been up to since we arrived here in Costa Rica. Click here to check it out: http://www.troxellmissionaries.com/videos.html

I have also included a picture of what our team in Honduras looks like today. Well, at least what they looked like a few days ago when this picture was taken. As of right now, our team has 7 adults and 5 children. We cannot wait to be a part of this team and serve the Lord beside these awesome people!

The team that is currently in Honduras.

2nd trimester

This week we started our second trimester of language school. Both Ashley and I have new teachers and we now only have 2 classes - grammar and conversation. From just the first week, it looks like we are going to be moving pretty fast this trimester. We have already studied the simple future tense and are continuing to move forward!

Our first trimester was great! We learned a lot and enjoyed our classmates and teachers. However, I think this change came at a great time. New teachers and some different classmates mean that the classes are a change and we will hear Spanish from new people in slightly different ways. In my opinion, this is a good thing. Talking to new people tends to be harder for me because everyone sounds just a little different and not everyone uses the exact same words.

This is the same with teachers. Each teacher I had last trimester was different and each taught using their own techniques. I can already tell that my new teachers will challenge we in new ways, which I am excited for!

A new trimester also means new students! Today we had a "welcome-the-new-students-party' which was a good chance for us to meet and talk with new people.

Semana Santa?

Living in San Jose, Costa Rica these last 3.5 months, I have gotten used to pretty much always hearing all types of loud noises. Almost constantly, I hear car alarms, birds chirping, air brakes on trucks, fireworks, dogs barking, or all kinds of other random noises. I have actually gotten used to it so much that I don't really hear much of it anymore. Ashley will say something about a car alarm that has been going off for 10 minutes and then I will notice it. Well, this week things have been different.

It is Holy Week (Semana Santa in Spanish). Holy week starts on Palm Sunday, includes Good Friday and culminates Easter morning when Christians all over the world celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, in Latin American countries like Costa Rica, Semana Santa is a HUGE deal. This partly has to do with the Roman Catholic influence in these areas that has been here for a decades, even centuries. However, Semana Santa has become one of the only times of the year where the people get multiple days of work and are able to travel. 

Here in Costa Rica, the government, including all schools, is closed down all week. Thursday (today) and Friday of Semana Santa are obligatory holidays for private companies as well. This causes everything to slow down and come to pretty much a halt by today. Unfortunately, this has caused this week to become the easiest time of the year for everyone to leave their homes, go to the beach, and party for a few days (or a whole week for those who are 'blessed' to have off from work).

Here in San Jose, the feeling is something like a ghost town. It is eerily quiet. We don't hear the car alarms and the trucks. For us, it is peaceful. Since we don't have school (we finished our first trimester on Tues!), Ashley and I have a chance to relax and spend time together without all of the hustle and bustle of 'regular life' around us. We will probably only leave the house to take a walk. Pretty much everything is closed and everyone is either at home with family or at the beach. 

This sounds great, and for us it is, but in reality is it sad. It is sad that these special days have been turned into days to get drunk and party for so many people. Please pray for the people of Costa Rica (and many other countries, including Honduras) that they would understand in their hearts the meaning of Good Friday and the meaning of Easter. Praise God, that Jesus came to this world, humbled Himself beyond belief just to become a man, and went so far as to die for me and for you. And Praise God that Jesus' death was not the end of the story, but that He beat death and evil and rose again and lives now and that we now have a way to come into His presence. 

Juan Santamaria

This past Monday, April 11, was a national holiday here in Costa Rica. Juan Santamaria Day is a day to honor a hero of Costa Rica.

It was a great day for us (we didn't have school) because we were able to learn a little more about this country we are living in and we had a chance to go into downtown San Jose during the day.

On Tuesday, between classes, we had a little "assembly" where we learned a little bit about who Juan Santamaria was and what he did to become a national hero. In addition, Ashley was part of a group of women who did some traditional Costa Rican dancing as part of the celebration. The group has been learning the dance moves and learning the meaning behind them for a few weeks and did a great job in their show!

Here are a few pictures of the ladies in their traditional dancing outfits:

Honduras update

Our team in Honduras is going through a lot of changes.

Last week our team said goodbye to the McCanns (Sean, Lindsey, and 3 little girls). The McCanns had been in Honduras for over 2.5 years. Sean has taken a job with their home church in the states as they begin a new stage of their lives. We thank the Lord for using the McCanns mightily over the last years in La Ceiba.

Also, the Pettengills (Mike, Erin, and Madison) have been in the US for the last 6 months at home on Home Missionary Assignment. They have raised some more support and shared with lots of people the great things the Lord is doing in Honduras. They are currently about halfway through their drive from Phoenix, AZ, USA to La Ceiba, Honduras (Yes, they are driving. They are those kind of people...) Please pray they finish their trip safely and are able to readjust again to life in La Ceiba.

In addition, we will say goodbye to Shannon and she will move to La Ceiba. She is currently in Costa Rica in language school with us, but is just a few weeks from finishing her schooling and moving in order to begin her ministry with young girls/mothers in Honduras. Please pray she continues to learn Spanish even as she arrives in Honduras and that she will be able to say goodbye to her friends here in San Jose and quickly get settled into her house (She is moving into the house the McCanns lived in. Isn't God great in His timing?)

As for us, we will finish our first trimester of Spanish here in San Jose, Costa Rica. We have learned SO much, but we still have a lot of Spanish still to learn. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words over the last 3 months. Please pray that we will continue to learn Spanish well and that the Lord will begin to open our eyes to the specific work He would have us to do once we arrive in Honduras.

Opening Day

If you are a sports fan, you probably know that today is opening day for Major League Baseball (even though the Phillies don't start until tomorrow). Its a new beginning where all the teams feel like they have a chance to win this year. Well, maybe not the Pirates, Royals, and some other teams, but every team starts with the same record of no wins and no losses.

I had a similar feeling this week in studying Spanish. Not the same, but somewhat of a new beginning. After studying and going to class for almost 3 months, my class finally started to study past tense! In the first 2/3 of this trimester, we have studied a lot of different topics in Spanish, but all have been in the present tense.

So, we have expanded our ability to communicate a ton by now being able to use the past tense in a conversation. If you think about many of your regular conversations, you do not say too many things in the present tense. We had to start there to get a solid foundation for our language, but now we are moving forward as we prepare to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in Spanish to the people of La Ceiba, Honduras!

Border Crossing

This past weekend we headed north to Granada, Nicaragua. Since we live in Costa Rica on a tourist visa, we have to leave the country every 90 days, in order to get a new visa. This is part of our life here in Costa Rica, and will be as well when we get to Honduras.

Looking down a main street in Granada.

Our drive to Granada took us about 10 hours. This included an hour long stop for dinner as well as a 2.5 hour stop in order to leave Costa Rica / enter Nicaragua. The trip back on Sunday was about a half hour shorter since the border crossing process only took about 2 hours. I tell you this not to complain, but to share about some realities of Central America. It was somewhat of a joke that it took this long and the border officials barely looked at each person with their passport.

Ashley on the 'beach' of Lake Nicaragua.

Granada is a beautiful and interesting city. It was the first city set up in the new world way back in the 1500s. Much of the architecture is still the same as it was when the Spanish settled there so long ago. We really enjoyed to atmosphere of the city and also had a chance to relax!

Really old church across the street from our hotel.

The only somewhat annoying part of the trip was having 3 types of currency (US Dollars, Costa Rica Colones, and Nicaragua Cordobas) in my wallet and remembering what the conversion factor should be in order to know how much I was really spending for something.

A volcano with Lake Nicaragua in front.

Nicaragua

Tomorrow afternoon, Ashley and I will be heading to Granada, Nicaragua for the weekend. We are required to leave Costa Rica every 90 days in order to renew our visas. Our language school sets up trips for students every trimester since so many of us have this issue. There are about 50 of us going and we will return Sunday evening.

We are excited for this opportunity to see a new place and to get a short break from our classes. We also will have the chance to spend time with other missionaries who are going through the same things we are. Even though we are going to many different places, the Lord has put Ashley and I here with so many other families who also love the Lord and are serving Him in many ways.

Hopefully the roads will be open and we will have safe travels and be able to rest!

We will share some pictures of our time in one of the oldest cities in the 'new world' after we get back.

Basketball

Every Monday and Thursday evening I play basketball with other missionary guys at our language school. Usually there are somewhere between 8 and 14 guys who show up to play. We play for two hours each night.

I go to play for two reasons. First, I love the exercise. I do not enjoy just running, but for some reason running while playing basketball is much more fun for me. In addition to being a great workout, it is a time to build friendships with other guys who are going through much of the same things as I am.

Learning Spanish (or any language) is tiring. It is not easy to go to classes and live amongst another language all the time. Don't get me wrong, I am loving it, but it is hard work. So, playing basketball with other 'gringos' is time where we can turn on minds 'off' of Spanish and put our bodies to work. All of us are studying Spanish, living in a new place, missing family and friends, and some are married and have kids as well. Playing basketball is a way to rest (from all those other things) and burn some calories as well.

In between games we take a few minutes rest and can catch up on how others are doing, talk with someone we don't know well, find out someone else's plan for after language school, and of course get a little water in preparation for the next game. Also, every week we start by asking for prayer requests and praying for each other. I am so thankful for the group of guys the Lord has put here together in this time.

It's Thursday so I get to go play some ball tonight!

Spiritual Emphasis Week

We are studying Spanish at The Spanish Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Institute is a language school especially for missionaries. There are a few students who have come just to learn Spanish, but almost all the students will be missionaries somewhere in Latin America.

It is a really cool thing to be able to study language at a place where pretty much everyone is a Christian. We begin most of our classes with prayer or use Scripture as text for practicing our pronunciation. As we progress, we will prepare Bible studies for our homework and learn to share our testimony in Spanish. Praise the Lord!

As a result, our language school feels it is important for us to not put learning Spanish ahead of our relationship with Jesus. They feel so strongly that every trimester they have what they call Spiritual Emphasis Week. During the week (this week) each class is a few minutes shorter and we have chapel everyday in the morning and in the afternoon. Other regular activities (sports, tutoring...) are cancelled so that we can spend time in fellowship with friends and 'working' on our relationship with the Lord. 

So far it has been great! We have a guest speaker for the chapel times who is a PCA pastor from Philadelphia (go Phillies) who is sharing about change and how, with the help of the Holy Spirit, it is possible for us to change and grow closer to the Lord. So far he has talked about how the 12 apostles, Jonah, and David have gone through major changes in their lives and in their walks with the Lord. 

It is great to have a small break in the intensity of language learning halfway through the trimester. We ask for prayers that the Lord would guard our hearts and cause us to focus on Him for everything, even learning Spanish. 

Here is something our speaker shared with us this morning:

The Gospel tells us that:

we can do nothing to cause God to love us any more than He loves us!

we can do nothing to cause God to love us any less than He loves us!

Fonetica

Greta le agrega grandes grosellas al postre.

Today in my Fonetica class I think we repeated this sentence about 15 times. The main point of this class is to learn all the sounds of the Spanish language and be able to say them correctly. That doesn't sound too hard, but there is actually kind of a lot to it.

Not only do we have to say the sounds correctly, but we have to put the accent on the correct syllable and run the words together in the right spots (Yes, there are rules for that). We do this so that we can speak and read and actually sound similar to a person who speaks Spanish as their first language.

While we will never be perfect at this, we can try and put the time and energy into learning the language well enough not just to get around but to be able to have deep conversations with people and not have them cringe at every other word.

We know that God can use us even if we mess up words and put the emphasis on the wrong syllable, but we also feel that one way we can show the people of Honduras that we love them (and God loves them) is to put the time into learning their true, heart language.

By the way, that sentence at the beginning means:  Greta adds big berries to the dessert.

Directions

Over the last 6 weeks, I have noticed a lot of things that are different here in San Jose than they are in Phoenix or any of the other places I have lived. Different does not mean better or worse, just different. Some are small and don't really affect daily life and others are quite major and are really important to know in order to get around or not insult others.

One thing that stuck out to me is that most of the roads around here do not have names and numbers. This surprised me since San Jose is a city of 1.5 million people.

Without road names and numbers, giving directions is not so easy (its not easy in Spanish for me at this time either). So, people use landmarks to give directions or, in some cases, landmarks that are not even there anymore.

Last week, I had to go to the bank to exchange money. So, when I got to the counter I had to give them the address where I was living. What this really means is that I had to give them directions to where I am living. So, here is what I gave them:

De la Capilla Catolica del Bosque
100 este y 75 norte
casa amarillo con portones cafe a mano izquierda

Translation:
From the Bosque Catholic Chapel
100 meters east and 75 meters north
yellow house with large brown door on the left-hand side

NOTE: This is not a mailing address. If you would like to send us something, let me know and I will give you the correct mailing address.  :)

Bautizo

This past weekend Ashley and I were able to experience and be a part of a special day in the life of the church of our Tico family. Sunday morning, we got up early and drove about an hour and a half over the mountains to the north and east of San Jose. It was a scenic drive.

We arrived at a beautiful river for this exciting event. There were about 15 of us, 7 of which were there to be baptized. Most of those being baptized were teenagers, but there was one woman, Ileana, who we have met before at the Bible study that meets at our house on Thursdays. We got up earlier that morning than we do for school, so we were a bit tired. Not Ileana. She said she woke up really early because she was so excited about what the day meant to her.

The 'service' was amazing and almost brought me to tears. These 7 people who were baptized were so excited and the others were rejoicing and praising Jesus for His saving power. We sang a song each time someone came out of the water.

One of the teenagers just after being baptized.

We enjoyed this experience and it was awesome to see that though our cultures our different, and our languages are different, our God is the same true God who sent His Son to this earth in order to die for our sins and to conquer death for us! 

Bible Study

On Thursday afternoons, our mama Tica hosts a small Bible Study in her home. The pastor of her church comes as well as 3 or 4 others. We have been so blessed to be able to become a part of the group since we arrived. It is not the same as any Bible study I have been a part of before.

These Bible Studies have been a great time for me. For one, it is a time to interact with more people in Spanish. We get to read God's Word in Spanish. We are able to hear and experience how people in another culture express their love and gratitude to our Savior. This time is a great time to see how small I am (I don't understand much and completely butcher His Word when I read in Spanish) and how huge God is!

I wouldn't say these studies have been times for me to understand the Bible more, but I am able to see, hear, and enjoy Him in new ways!  I look forward to when I can understand more (already starting a little) and can even contribute more of my thoughts and beliefs with my brothers and sisters in Christ in Spanish.

1st day of school

Today was our first day of real Spanish classes.  We got here to Costa Rica just over a week ago.  Since then, we have been getting accustomed to our new home, getting to know our Tico family, attending orientation for school, and lots of other things.

This is why we are here in Costa Rica.  To learn Spanish.  We have already had lots of opportunities to butcher the language (taxi, shopping, church, birthday party with our Tico family), so we are ready to begin these classes!

We will each have 3 classes each weekday morning  - grammar, language, and phonetics. The language and phonetics classes are each an hour and the grammar is 2.  Our classes are in Spanish (obviously) and some of our teachers speak only a small amount of English.  This is good in that it will force us to not rely on our English, but it is also frustrating at times.

Mike and Ashley just before the first day of classes.

Our afternoons and evenings will be filled with homework, studying, and we are hoping to find a way in which we can serve people here in Costa Rica using the talents and gifts the Lord has given each of us.

Costa Rica

On January 3^rd, we arrived in Costa Rica in order to study Spanish.  Our flights went well and immigration and customs were much easier than expected. 

The Spanish Language Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica is where we are attending classes.  Yesterday we had our first day of orientation.  We got to meet about 30 or so other new students and got an idea of what our classes will look like.  The most exciting (and stressful) parts of the day were the placement tests.  We had both a written and an oral ‘exam’ which will be used to place us each in a class with 3-4 others that are on our level.

Here in Costa Rica, we are living with a Tico (Costa Rican) family.  Our Tico mama, Dulce, is a sweet Christian woman who cooks our meals for us and is already helping us with our Spanish as we talk with her over these meals.  Her 2 children are both adults (probably in their 20s) and live here as well. 

In just 3 days since arriving, I feel much more confident and am remembering some of the Spanish I learned in high school.