June 2006

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Predique hermano, Predique.

June 21, 2006 in Mexico, Ministry, Progress by Dave | 2 comments

Preach Brother, Preach!

In order to keep a license to preach with the Assemblies of God, a minister needs to preach at least 10 times within a year’s time. Now while that wasn’t a challenge in the states where we preached over 150 times in the course of our itineration, we’ve had a more difficult time fulfilling that requirement here in Costa Rica, especially since we had to learn to preach in Spanish in order to secure a preaching date.

We’ll I’m happy to report that I got back on track in fulfilling my licensing requirements as I preached my first sermon in Spanish today before the professors and students of CINCEL. The sermon was on John 15, the passage in which Jesus talks about abiding in the vine. It is available here, for those of you who would like to read it in Spanish.

It’s hard to describe the significance that this event has for our lives. During our commissioning service, we were given a Spanish Bible with the admonishment to preach the Word in the language of the people to whom we have been called. I remember opening that Bible in the days after and finding it difficult to even understand a few words. Now to be able to not only read, but share the Word of God in Spanish is something of a dream come true. We are amazed at how far God has taken us, and reflecting on His faithfulness has increased our faith in God’s plan to use us to reach the people of Mexico.

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Estamos viendo el Mundial

June 14, 2006 in CostaRica, Culture by Dave | 2 comments

The sidewalks are empty. The shopping centers are deserted. There is an eerie silence in the streets. No, this is not a city-wide disaster drill, we’re watching the World Cup.

What is this you say? Well as you have noted in my previous post, soccer is not simply a sport, it is a way of life for many Costa Ricans specifically, and world sport fans in general. In fact, although baseball is America’s Game (and my favorite), soccer is truly the world’s sport. The World Cup is a tournament that takes place each 4 years, in which one country wins the right to be the world’s best in the world’s biggest pastime. 32 teams have classified in the years preceding this tournament and have won the opportunity to play for the title. The US is in it, and the Costa Ricans, having beaten the US last year in order to receive their classification have also entered into the tournament.

So what is this baseball loving north American supposed to do? Well, go out an buy a jersey and root for the home team of course! (Fortunately Costa Rica doesn’t come up against the US or Mexico in this round.) As a school, we watched the defeat of Costa Rica 3-2 against Germany last Friday, and we rooted and booed with the rest of the country glued to their TV sets. I realized, of course, that my Spanish wasn’t getting much better in the process, aside from being able to practice rolling my r’s with the announcers, but something happened in the process that was more profound than the conjugation of verbs. As I sat side-by-side with Ruddy Pizarro and his brother, sharing one of their passions, I found myself identifying just a little bit more with the culture that God has called us to serve and moving closer to the incarnational model of ministry that Christ modeled for us. And, who knows, although Spanish grammar is on the schedule, 8:00 AM tomorrow may just find us seated around another game as Costa Rica takes on Ecuador.

For more on the World Cup ’06 through the eyes of missionaries, Jim Cottrill, the man with his finger on the pulse of evangelical missionary bloggers at www.missionary-blogs.com, has posted some great highlights, including a World Cup Prayer Guide.

Photo credits: CLF (2006). Predator Absolute & Teamgeist. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/clf/85998174/

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Taking time

June 8, 2006 in Day2Day, Prayer by Dave | 1 comment

When I wrote down my thoughts at the beginning of the year, I intended to form a base from which to work, a foundation on which I could build the rest of my missionary life. But, as many of realize, our intentions are not always what get carried out. My conversation teacher, Giselle Mata, says, “Hay algo entre el querer y el hacer.” As I have reviewed my concepts for living, I have found that in some areas, I have moved forward, but also that in several, I have lagged behind, or fallen flat. I guess that is precisely the reason why many don’t make resolutions, because they are afraid that they can never live up to them. On the contrary, I believe that without a clear goal we’ll never know when we have arrived, or possibly we’ll never arrive anywhere. With a goal it is easy to see when you have failed, but without one it is impossible to know when you have succeeded.

Evaluating the past 5 months, the areas in which I have failed the most have been in the areas that have required taking time. Not that I haven’t been without excuses. This morning, for example, caused me to find a car that could borrow to take a lunch that my daughter forgot to her school and make it back to attend chapel at CINCEL by 7:45 AM all after running 3 miles and getting the boys showered and ready. I say this not to complain, but to show that time is something that has a tendency to slip through my fingers. Unless I mark out a place in time intentionally, I never get the time that I need to do the things that I believe are important, like pray with purpose, read the Bible allowing the words to affect my soul, and be an intentional spouse and father. I have been recommitting myself to these priorities.

In recent days, Kelly and I have started reading a devotional “My Utmost for His Highest” together. It has served as a springboard for sharing our feelings and out prayer needs like never before. But it would never have been realized unless we had put aside the books for a few minutes in order to share this time together. This last weekend, Joseph and I went on to a Father/Son camp. The picture above is of Joseph and me along with a few of the friends that we made there. We spent time learning to build fires, (campfires), shoot BB rifles, and roll in the mud. Certainly none of these activities was necessary on its own, but the time that I spent with him was priceless, especially as I got to see him pass to the altar on Saturday night to accept Christ.

We received a statistic from DeLonn Rance, a fellow missionary and AGTS professor that said that 90% of missionaries spend less than 10 minutes a day in prayer. Why: I believe for lack of time. I can understand this. I see my time taken up with homework, study, projects, preaching, and miscellaneous activities everyday, but I can’t allow them to be my excuses. I need to take time, time from the urgent in order to do the most important. How about you?

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Sickness, missionary ingenuity and why tubs are scarce in Costa Rica

June 1, 2006 in CostaRica, Culture, Day2Day, Prayer by Dave | 3 comments

Well you can’t tell from the picture, but this week found Jonathan sick for the third time in 2 weeks. This time with a fever. We are now in the start of the rainy season here, and like what happens in the States during the onset of winter, it seems like people come down with sicknesses during this time of year in Costa Rica.

With the kids in the Kinder program here at CINCEL it has been quite a ride. The ladies are doing there best to keep up, but sickness has taken hold of many as the children pass germs more readily because of the need to stay indoors. Today, the day Jonathan went back, three were sent home with fevers or symptoms of infection. So pray, please, for the kidos. When they’re down it really adds to the pressure of learning and adapting to the language/culture.

Now of course with sickness comes the great variety of home remedies, and Costa Ricans have an abundance. (One that was prescribe for the stomach flu that hit last week was a rice/cinnamon drink.) Now one home remedy that most believe in is the use of a tepid bath to bring down a high temperature. The only problem is that, here, bathtubs are almost as scarce as dish washers!

So what is one to do with a sick child, and no tub in which to give a bath. Well, if you are a missionary, you improvise! We hauled 11 action packers full of clothes and household stuff to Costa Rica. Their size and shape made them perfect for the taking on the plane with us, but the one-piece plastic construction also makes for a great substitute for a tub for a toddler with a temperature among other things. (Fellow missionary Kevin Stewart used one of his for a bassinet for his newborn.) So, the night before last, Jonathan got one of only a handful of baths in Costa Rica. Only this time his plastic tub also doubles as a suitcase.

That brings me to the last part of the post. Why are bath tubs so scarce here in Costa Rica? Well, the first answer that I received to that question was that it was because they were so expensive. However, is it because they are scarce that they are expensive, or is it because they are expensive that they are scarce? (If that confused you email me and I’ll explain that subtlety.) So in probing deeper, Kelly found that the Costa Ricans believe in taking cold showers. They feel that the cold shower helps their skin to stay younger, and helps their breathing as well. (One teacher explained that deep breath that one takes in when entering the cold stream is good for the lungs.) In fact, missionary Jon Dalahger when hosting a building team had to have electric shower heads installed in homes where the construction workers would be housed because none of the homes in that area had hot water tanks. So, according to one theory, since tubs are usually for taking baths in hot water, the fact that Ticos shower in cold water made the tub unnecessary.

So, if you are planning trip to Costa Rica, don’t assume your hotel will have a tub, or hot water for that matter, and if you are traveling with the kids, you may be surprised at how versatile your luggage can be.

Update: 6/7/2006 Jim Cottril has included this post in his compilation of missionaries blogging about culture on Missionary Blog Watch Check out his comments and the other posts that he has included.