Very early in the morning ...

The past fews days I have been working my way through the Gospels during my morning devotions. I finished Matthew and I am now starting The Gospel of Mark. Mark is known as a Gospel of action. It tells of the active ministry of Jesus. Yet once again in my reading, I rediscovered the power behind the action ... it was the prayer life of Jesus. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. Mark 1:35.

In the preceding verses of this chapter I'm reminded that Jesus was at the beginning of a very active ministry. He "began to teach" (1:21); He cast out a devil (1:25); He healed Simon's mother-in-law (1:31); and at the end of a very "busy day" ... That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons... (1:32-34a). The way I see it, He certainly earned the right to "sleep in" the next morning. But He got up early while it was still dark ... and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. A note I had written sometime earlier in the margin of my Bible beside this verse says, "replenish spiritual strength"... What an incredible benefit of His presence!

I'm reminded of my weakness and the strength the presence of the Father gives.

Dia de Independencia Celebration

On Friday, we celebrated "Dia de Independencia" - "Independence Day" - in Costa Rica. The teachers (las profesoras) of CINCEL treated us to a special program filled with music (including the Costa Rican national anthem and various folk songs), traditional dancing provided by a local children's dance group and a traditional Costa Rican meal. What a great time we had! Today (Monday) was the actual holiday. At 4:30 a.m. we were awakened by incredibly LOUD fireworks and a marching band in the street in our neighborhood. There were no classes today so we walked to Mall San Pedro and had arroz con pollo at the Food Court. Classes resume on Tuesday. (Please click on pictures to enlarge.)

Pork tamales wrapped and cooked in banana leaves.

Some of our faculty (las profesoras) in traditional dress.

Two of the American missionaries' children in Tico (Costa Rican) costume.

The children's dance group.

Some New Pictures

Here are a couple of new pictures from the weekend.


This is a view of the mountains (surrounding San Jose) near our home. Because we are in the rainy season, it is one of those rare days when the sky has been blue.


This is the Assemblies of God church we have been attending. It is just 4-5 minutes from our apartment. Centro Evangelistico averages over 7,000 in attendance in 2 morning services each Sunday morning.

School has begun!

We have been in Costa Rica for one week now. Language classes started yesterday (Tuesday). Our school is CINCEL, the Assemblies of God language school located in San Jose for the preparation of missionaries to Spanish-speaking cultures (see CINCEL's website at www.cincelcr.org.)

In class, the teachers (profesoras) speak Spanish only. Debbie and I take the same subjects (Conversation, Phonetics and Grammar), but are in separate classes with different teachers. The day begins with chapel (in English) at 7:45 a.m. Classes begin at 8:15 and are finished at 12:15. After spending some time with our friends, we walk home, have lunch and then do homework for about 2-3 hours. On Wednesdays, the chapel is in Spanish.

We are in the heart of the rainy season. It ALWAYS rains in the afternoon, usually for several hours! And sometimes it rains all day. On Monday we walked to the local supermarket, about one mile away ... UPHILL. While we were shopping, it began to rain ... hard. We caught a taxi after waiting in the rain for over 20 minutes. Although we had umbrellas, we were still soaked.

Today after classes, we walked about a mile and a half to Office Depot to purchase a mini-tape recorder for our Phonetics classes. We stopped at the mall for lunch and walked home DOWNHILL. It began to rain when we arrived safely home. Praise the Lord!