Christmas

I spent Christmas with friends that live about15 minutes away from Quepos. They prepared a whole bunch of food...most of which were desserts. It was a long day because after this we headed to backpackers to eat again. I was stuffed and felt like I had to eat. I typically never turn away food, but this time I wanted to. I ate anyways and had a good time. We took the leftovers to the homeless that hang around in the park. The program men enjoy giving to the less fortunate. I am glad that they get the opportunity to do so. Church yesterday on the beach was a blast. The weather here is absolutely perfect. High season has just hit and the beach is packed with tourists and locals who are on vacation. From what I have been told, just about everything shuts down for the last 2 weeks of the year. Stores are still open from what I have seen, but there is a ton more traffic and people walking the streets. For New Years we are going down to the water to watch the fireworks and bands walk the streets performing there routines they have been practicing. I am super tanned right now. Even when I wear spf 30 or 5o I get dark. I spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday on the beach reading, church, and trying to surf. I want to be able to surf, but I haven´t had much luck yet. Hopefully in time I will get better.

Update

We currently have 4 men in the program. Two men left today, one yesterday, and one the day before. I guess it is not unusual this time of the year. There are Christmas parties and a lot more work available. 4 men is fine, it will make it a bit easier on everyone for the meantime. I think being in a new place was stressful for the guys, whom I believe need some stability and change seems to bring some fear, worry, and discomfort that is tough for them to deal with. On another note. I am riding a bike and running to and from the program. It is about a 4k run with a couple beasty hills. I am enjoying it a ton. It is not so bad looking at palm trees and mountains while running. Jared and Eileen, my best friends down here are back in the states for Christmas. I will be spending the holidays with a couple other families and also with a group of people from New Zealand who run a Backpackers, which is a really nice hostel. They are going to serve our program men dinner and entertain us. It should be a great week. Please pray for our 4 men that are still in the program and also for my friend Jimmy who's daughter has chronic kidney infections and will need to have surgery on a hernia when she turns 4...she is not even 2 yet.

Moving the Program

We are currently moving the program to another location. I think that it is going to work-out better than our last location. It is a challenging move for us. We only have a small pick-up truck available to us to move our things, so it has taken awhile and is going to continue to a "process", as are many things down here in Costa Rica. We currently have 8 men in the program and I think that this move is going to give us more room to allow another man or two to come into the program. I just met one of our new neighbors who is a fisherman from Rhode Island. He brings back fresh fish almost daily and is going to be hooking us up...and me:) as well. It is nice to have a connection like this. Fresh mahi mahi, red snapper, yellowfin tuna....oh oh oh. I was pretty excited to develop this connection. The program currently survives on donations, so it is a blessing anytime anyone offers us food. Thanks God.

Wood Mizer

The Wood Mizer just showed up a few days ago. It cuts lumber into boards. It was donated to us by Wood Mizer. This is going to create the opportunity for us to be self-sufficient and also for guys in the program to learn a trade. Teak wood is plentiful, durable, and good looking, so there is plenty that can be done down here. There is a lot of exotic wood that gets pretty expensive. As long as the wood is on your land you can cut it, if not you have to go through quite the process. Jared and I went out on his motorcycle today to level the ground and assemble the rest that needed to be put together. Jared is gifted when it comes to these sorts of things and myself on the other hand not so gifted. Able, but not gifted. So I did most of the lifting and grunt work. It looks great. It is on a gentlemen's property named Larry who is letting us use his property. He is being quite generous by letting us use his land and store out things there. I will be going to Jaco to buy a bus ticket either this week or the next. I have to leave every three months for my passport. I will have to be gone for 3 days, then I will be able to return for 90 more. I am still trying to decide on whether I should go to Panama or Nicaragua.

Irony

It turns out that the cross that was placed infront of our entrance was not the best move. The is an old man who comes to talk with the men in the program named Marchena. He is well known and even meets with the Mayor once a week for prayer and studies. Last week when he came to the center to teach the men he recognized the cross. He made the cross for his son that died when he was 6 years old. He was not happy. He went to the mayor, then Jimmy(program director) met with the mayor and the Mayor sent 5 police officers that day to take out the cross. It was done illegally anyways. Just a whole bunch of craziness. This past week has been pretty slow and hard. We are waiting to get a saw mill that was sent to Limon. We have the money and the saw mill is their. We are just waiting on the tranportation to go get it. It will be a whole day trip to get it. We currently have 8 men in the program. I am hoping that Juan Carlos, the guy who recently graduated wants to come back and help out. He is enjoying being back home with his family in San Jose and wants to possibly stay in San Jose to be with his family. We shall see. Today at the beach it was a gorgeous day. We had our service, shared in communion, threw the football, surfed, swam, and fellowshipped.

Update

For clarity purposes...the Minsteria de Salud has given us a month to find a new location and it is possible to get another month extension. There is no access for an emergeny vehicle, this is the main reason among others. We need new wiring, a ceiling, and a new kitchen. We aren´t going to do any of the repairs, we are just looking for a new house. Also, the program is right next to the cemetary and there is a group of women who formed a group called Holy Ground who is trying to get us shut down. They have actually came in the past two days and said that one of their relatives is buried underneath our entrance. So, they hired two men who are in active crack cocaine addiction to, hard to explain......put a cross in cement and make somewhat of a grave right in front of our entrance. It is absolutely ludacris. Ludacris is a fitting word. To me it is just a spiritual battle, so we are praying hard and trying our best to show the group Christ through our interactions. Man it is hard. I wanted to rip the cross out of the ground and mess up the concrete at first. Jared bought a whole bunch of cement block, which they took out...and they killed quite a few of the flowers Jared bought and planted. It is not some big huge deal...it just appears to be a group of women who have nothing better to do. They have documents that say someone is buried in the cemetary, but no actual location. So, they chose the entrance as the location. I wish I could better explain the craziness. It is exciting to me to be apart of this. The men in the program are doing great. We just had one man finish the program this week. His name is Juan Carlos. He did so good and grew so much. He is coming back next week and we are going to talk to him about staying with us to continue growing and working in the program. He is a great leader and is a blessing to have around. Also, I went to a meeting last night at this 5star hotel that consisted of the "big wigs" of the area. Kim(program founder) spoke as I passed out our info. Kim does an amazing job of networking and creating opportunities for projects and beautifying the community. The main guy who heads this group up is a huge supporter of Casa De Amor as well as most of the people who attend these monthly meetings. This group helped start the program with Kim. The mayor is a big supporter too. It was pretty cool to be able to meet a lot of the people and get to see how things operate. We are pressing forward regardless of the obstacles and praising Jesus as we continue to grow.

Not much new lately other than I moved into my new apartment last week. I think that it is going to work out great. The only difficult thing may be all the noise that comes from the surrounding apartments. I think that the walls are much thinner than what we would typically have in the states. The man who rented me the apartment has a son who was in the drug program...he has taken to me pretty well, as have the others in the area. I think they are intrigued at seeing a gringo living with them. Jose(mans son) comes over almost daily and wants to learn english and I in turn get to learn spanish. We are going to be studying the bible some as well. He wants to change how he has been living. He told me last week that it is hard here in Quepos because he knows everyone and whenever he goes out into the city all his "friends" as him if he wants to get high. I completely understand where he is coming from. There is a bunch of temptation here for someone trying to get clean.

I have been going to church on Saturday nights witht the men from the program. I don´t understand much of what is being said, but I get the point. I really just like the praise and worship. I taught last Sunday at church and I think that I am doing so again this coming Sunday. I have stayed busy in studies thanks to opportunities such as teaching at church, preparing a bible study on Tuesdays for our team, mens prayer breakfast every Wednesday, and Shabbat(rest and fellowship) on Friday nights.

We are looking for a new place to have the program as of today. We will be closed down in 2 months because of the conditions of the program and mostly in part due to the fact that there is no way for emergency vehicles to access our program. Basically, there are specifications that cannot and won´t be met, so we are looking for a new place. It will work out fine. I am looking forward to seeing God do something great.

2 things.

I have seen people in addiction who I think might be demon possessed. This may be a very controversial subject for some, but if there was any doubt in my mind that it existed(there was not) then it would have been done away with the other day. I was sitting at my friends house writing my brother an email and I saw their gate fly open. A kid was running in with his hands behind his back. I said hello to him, thinking nothing of it because they have kids coming in and out all of the time. Well, this kid looked at me crazy, said something crazy in Spanish, then he spit on his hands and threw it at me. He did the same to Jared and continued running. His hands were actually bound behind him and he still managed to spit on them and fling it at us. Laura, the woman's house we were at yelled at us to go get him he was demon possessed. I froze, Jared ran, then I ran. It was pretty sad and shocking. Jared carried him out of the house down to his house. His mother was out in the street looking for him. I heard that they keep him tied down because if they don't he goes crazy. He used to be a perfectly fine kid. I think he may have been 11 years old or so. It was pretty clear that the normal kid was gone and something else was going on. Not sure that there is anything exactly identical in the bible, but it sure reminded me of a couple stories of Jesus or His disciples' encounters.

Next, I went with the program director of Casa De Amor into the jungle yesterday. We were given a piece of land, about 2 acres worth in the jungle. Myself, Jimmy(program director), another guy from the program, along with the man who donated the land all went about 10-15 miles into the jungle with machetes clearing the jungle out. It was so humid, but it was a blast. I thought that I was going to see a snake or get bit by one. Thank God I didn't. I prayed before I went in. We cleared quite a bit of land and we were able to see what we might be able to do. There is a man in Quepos, where the program is, that has drawn up plans for the area. I have not seen them, but it sounds like there will be some hut style places where guys can stay. There is electricity as well. There is a wood mizer that is currently sitting in customs here in Costa Rica. We are just waiting on money to be able to get it. Everyday it sits in customs it costs 10 bucks or so and it costs about $4,700 to get it out. It is a $20,000 piece of equiptment that will do a lot for the program and teach the guys a trade.

1st Week Back

The initial transition coming into Quepos was a bit rough, only because I was sick. The first few days were kind of a drag, but since I have started feeling better I am having a blast. The program is doing very well. There is a great group of men currently there. 8 men, of various ages, living in close quarters, leads to plenty of "ministry" opportunities. So, I have been able to sort of jump right back into things. Me and a couple of guys fed the homeless men and women. There wasn't much of a turnout this past Thursday, but I think once the word gets out more will eventually come. When I was here last time I went apartment hunting and I saw some brand new ones that weren't finished yet. I was able to talk to the manager and work something out....I will be moving in on Wednesday. It is a small, studio-style apartment. I am excited to live there. It is extremely nice compared to some of the other apartments I looked at and it is the same price per month as the others. I have begun to run here as well. I ran today for about an hour or so. Today was my first day at church, which is still on the beach. I taught today. They didn't waste anytime throwing me into things. I am grateful for it. You couldn't have asked for a better day than today. It probably got up close to 90 degrees with minimal cloud cover. There was also a surf competition at the beach today. The water was clear enough to see the bottom with the water up at chest leval. I told God today,"Are you serious, get to live and serve here?...there was a mixture of gratitude with awe."

Finally Here

I arrived in Quepos last night after a bit of a rough trip. My friend Jasmine stepped up to the plate and took me to Chicago around mid-night on Monday. We made it there really fast and had about 4 hours to sleep and be board...I wasn't feeling too good before I left and the hour before I left I started feeling really bad. I texted Amber and she ended up calling me and praying for me, which really encouraged me. The plane ride was bad. The pressure made my ears hurt and I felt like my brain and sinus' were going to rot and explode. Luckily I took some tylenol pm before I got on the plane and it helped me to dose off a couple times and relax. In Ft. Lauderdale I caught my connecting flight and contemplated not getting on it and while on it I thought about not going. I did some intense praying and felt like God was telling me to go on to CR. My friend Bill called me while I was waiting. I had texted him and some others requesting prayer. It was good to hear his voice and encouragement. I was feeling like hell was upon me. I kinda feel like I am writing a book right now:0 Seriously I felt like I was being attacked from hell. I felt so deathly ill. While I was in the air on the way to CR I wrote some prayer and praise to God on my laptop and I completely felt His presence come over me and comfort me. I know it was a result of friends prayers and His love. I made it to CR ready to get through immigration and customs. Immigration to me is a bit of a joke. Probably because I was super impatient and ready to move on, but come on, it takes forever. Jared and Eileen picked me up, along with their newborn Noemi. We went to the Embassy so that they could get her passport in order to go visit family in the states. I am up at 4am right now typing away. I passed out last night around 9 and woke up hocking loogies:)

Getting Ready to Head Back

Today is the 16h of October and I leave in11 days. This came really quick. I have been fortunate enough to have so many people willing to help and God has provided for me abundantly. I sure haven't felt very deserving, I guess that is why they call it grace? My attitudes has been bad and I have been very restless to return. I went through some slight depression and noticed that I was being critical of just about everything. I look back how I went from working with guys daily for 90 days to not doing it at all. Kinda made me feel unproductive and useless at times. I have tried to stay productive in Spanish studies and trying to grow in the Lord while I wait to return. I am so ready to go back and be apart of the program, church, and community. Thanks to all who read, pray, and support the journey I am on.

Going Back

I am going back to Costa Rica! Glory. I am trying to raise support right now while I am home. My plan is to go back for 2 years and serve in the addictions recovery program. I have a couple places where I can stay while there working. I know that God has called me there and I am certain He will provide for me to return. My needs are pretty basic and I can get most of what I need when I am there in Costa Rica. I am really excited to be able to go back to Quepos and share life with the team I was working with. I need monthly support for the next couple of years while there.

Back Home

I have been back in the states now for a week. The first few days I was here I thought I was doing great and that I wasn't having a hard time adjusting, but I have been having a difficult time. I have been feeling pretty depressed and lost. I went from being around guys in recovery every day to just trying to raise support back in the states. I really miss being in Quepos doing what I was doing. As difficult as it was at times there, I really, really, miss being around the guys. I went to house church last night and felt like I was able to come out of my funk. I have been feeling lonely, out of place, and stressed. I was able to share with my friends what my experience was like. I was laying in bed kind of replaying yesterdays events and I thought about the program men. There was quite a bit of confrontation at times and I had to make some tough decisions as far as letting guys in the program or dismissing them. Some guys chose to leave on their own.....out time was often spent trying to convince them that they are making a bad decision. Some of these guys lived a hard life...I mean, they have had a way harder road than I ever had. Some had been in gangs, or still are.....My point is....I feel like I got to witness God begin a work in them. I saw a guy cry who probably hasn't cried since he was a baby. I saw one guy from El Salvador who had been walking the wrong way start asking questions about God and try to do right.....Even thought the men make bad choices and we have to deal with attitudes we get to see God begin a work in them....seeds are planted and watered. I mean guys come in hopeless and even when they leave early they still are going to have hope. I could ramble on forever and I feel like I cannot express how Christ changes people from the inside out. AHhh!

Last Sunday

My last Sunday here in Costa Rica was a blast. I had the chance to to teach, baptize a man, and watch a couple guys in the program put on boxing gloves and fight for fun. The man in the program is named Robert. He has a great story and lived a crazy life before coming here. He is 60 years old and grew up knowing nothing but gangs, drugs and he was also raised to believe in Buddism. He came to believe in Christ about a month ago and he just recently asked if he could be baptized. He confessed his sins and he confessed his belief in Jesus Christ, then we dunked him! We allow the guys to box every now and then for fun and it usually draws a ton of attention. A couple other guys stole the show....a real fight broke out about 30 yds down the beach. My last day at the beach was a memorable one.

San Jose Trip

I currently don´t have internet at the new house so I have had to go to an internet cafe to access email and update my blog. I was fortunate enough to go to San Jose with my friend Jimmy this past weekend. I stayed with his brother and sister. Right as you get into downtown San Jose you an tell that you are in the city. Quepos is laid back and relatively quite. San Jose´s downtown is packed with people, stores, homeless, bars, and restaurants. I kind of felt like I was in a movie or maybe it felt like it because I have watched a lot of foreign films? We went to Jimmy´s neighborhood and I quickly saw what he had described to me before we went. There are a bunch of homeless and the poverty is pretty bad....worse than what I have seen in the states. It was pretty cool to see Jimmy in action with people from his old neighborhood. He only talks to people about God, no sports or unrelevant topics. Drugs are dirt cheap and robberies happen often. You can tell that there is not much going on but evil...so his philosophy is to tell as many people about God while he is there. It was awesome to witness him interact with everyone...cause it seemed like everyone knew him. Jimmy was formerly a crack cocaine addict and huffed a lot of glue. He went to a program and has been clean for about 6 years now. He is married, has four kids, and is the director of the recovery program where I work. While in San Jose we visited one of the families of one of the men that is in the program. When Jimmy goes back to San Jose he routinely does this to help the families. We also ran into about half a dozen men who had left the program and Jimmy on a number of occasions when we were riding the bus would point out the window and say,¨there goes so and so." It was pretty insane to see so many guys from the program back out on the streets. I am convinced that I met a couple men who were demon possessed.( yes I do believe in demon possession). They were in active addiction and it was clear to me that I was not communicating with the man I was talking to. It was pretty sad and scary. One of the sadder things I have witnessed here in Quepos and in San Jose is the men that are alcoholics drink rubbing alcohol. It is about 50 cents and strong as all get out. Usually it is used to disinfect or light fires down here but they drink it. I saw one man awake and an hour or so later we went by him again and he was coma tose with an empty bottle laying next to him...all I could do is shake my head and ask God why? Pretty clear to me that we need to help others at whatever the cost is to us. Man it was sad. One of the coolest things to me is when you go into a Costa Rican families home they are extremely hospitable. Within 10 seconds of walking through the door you are offered food and it is usually already prepared. If it is not prepared they will ask you if they can make you something. Are you thirsty, are you hungry, do you want more? Wow it is awesome to be treated so well. I am also leaving next Tuesday morning. My plan is to get home and relax and try to raise support to come back asap. I love it here and I love working with the men. I am looking forward to seeing friends and family, but I am not looking forward to leaving relationships that I have started. See ya

We were without water at the new house for about 3 days. We ended up taking showers in the rain and underneath the run-off from the roof. It was kind of fun for a change. We thought that we were without water for something that happened in the city but it turned out that the landlord turned it off by accident. One other small problem that I am having currently is a rash over half of my body. I ate Chinese food the other night and about an hour after eating it I started itching all over. I went to the pharmacy yesterday and the doctor gave me a couple shots that should clear it up. It looks pretty gross and itches like crazy. It must be the MSG or something that caused an allergic reaction. Jared and Eileen have a great new home and it has been great being apart of it. I am winding down getting prepared to leave in a little less than two weeks.

Tough Decision

I made the decision to dismiss a young man from the program the other day. Really, he made the decision on his own by his actions, but it made it no less easier. He was 18yrs old and had graduated 4-5 months ago. He is a great kid and I have found that I miss seeing him around. Decisions such as these have many things you have to take into account: integrity of the program, standards of the program, the other men in the program, what is best for the man....ect.ect. After praying I made the choice to dismiss this young man and it has left me feeling a bit guilty and responsible. I know that it was the right decision, but I am still human and I grew attached to the guy. He was my favorite guy to talk to and he was a joy to be around daily. It is hard putting your feelings, attachments, and emotions to the side and making such a choice. The thought in addictions recovery for me is that if you make a decision to tell someone they have to leave they are most likely not going to do the right thing....cause they weren't doing it in the first place. It is somewhat of a heavy burden knowing what someone who was in addiction might goe back to. The hope is that they make the right decisions from here on out. Telling someone to leave sometimes is the best thing you can do for someone to bring reality to them that they aren't doing or thinking right. This guy was such a cool kid, only 18. I miss him being around the house.

Tough Week

This past week has been one of the tougher ones. Spiritually I have felt attacked and I have really felt up and down. One minute I am great and the next my mind is flooded with lies and condemnation. It helps to talk about it. I have heard from the Lord loud and clear that this is where the next chapter of my life is going to be and I have since that time noticed an increase in spiritual warfare. Jared and I did a power point the other day that will be very helpful to inform friends and family on how the center operates, what my needs are, and just an overview of how I fit into the picture. I return to the states on September 15th. I wanted to get home in time for Hebron's homecoming and also to participate in our golf fundraiser for Parry-Romberg's Resource. There is not much new going on other than the fact that we are moving out of the apartment and into a house at the end of next week. I am looking forward to coming home and raising support to return, God willing. I will be teaching again at church this Sunday. I am enjoying the preparation for preaching, although I am still a bit uncomfortable with presenting. It is different saying things than waiting for it to be translated...and there are distractions all around us as well.(church is on the beach) . It is pretty awesome to be a part of worship in public.

Sunday

I have been informed by a loved one that I need to use spell check on my blog. They are right. Since I have begun trying to learn Spanish my grammar has gotten progressively worse, as well as my spelling. Oh well. We have church on the beach in Manuel Antonio. I had the opportunity to teach/preach this Sunday. We looked over the passages in Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus calms the storm.....we also looked at James 1:2-4 and 1 Peter 1:3-9 and discussed what we fear and how we should handle fears and trials when the arise. Many of the men in the program said that they feared falling( which means relapse back into addiction). That has been one of my biggest fears as well. Hopefully we can talk about this topic more throughout the week. Relapse does not happen all of the sudden. It is something that happens over time. It is a decision that is made long before it happens. Consistently reading God's word, praying, and having fellowship with other believers has kept me sober. I'm born again and I hope that most of these men come to realize who they are in Christ. I am still learning my identity in Him. Fearing something can be crippling to growth. I have feared relapse and I have found that my life is constructed in such a way that I have walls up all over the place to keep "bad stuff out." As a byproduct of this, some freedom in my walk with the Lord has been hindered. Of course God knows this and He has been gentle and patient to slowly take some of the walls I have built down. Once a man who was in addiction comes to Christ he is no longer an addict, nor does he any longer have to refer to himself as one. He is a new creation. He just has to learn what that looks like and search the scriptures to find out who he is in the Lord. Relapse to a past addict means failure. I have seen many friends fall and get back up stronger than before. I hope that a lot of these men find a new way of life and fall in love with the Lord. Most of these guys come from broken families, life on the streets, and many other sad circumstances. This program gives them the opportunity to establish a good foundation in the faith, learn some life skills, and learn how to be in relationship with one another. The entire house where these guys stay is probably about the size of a kitchen and a living room we have back in the states, and there are 9 men. If these guys can learn to live in community and love one another through the good and bad, they will be amply supplied to go and be productive members of a community back home.

Casa De Amor

Casa De Amor is the name of the program(mission) down here in Costa Rica. Currently there are 9 men in the program that can really only sleep 8. The guys have devotionals or bible studies 6 days a week from 7am-8:30. They work the rest of the day until 4pm or so. They do duties around the house where they are mostly cleaning up. There are contantly leaves falling and dirt being tracked in. There is never a shortage of work around the program. The program is right next door to a cemetary where all the addicts used to live for years. Just last year the police came in and kicked them out and burned up all the old junk that was left behind. Yes, they set the entire cemetary on fire! One of the objectives is for the program to be self-sufficient at some point in the future. Kim Stillwell is the man whom started the program and heads up the fundraising. He is constantly going around the city mainting relationships and keeping his face fresh on peoples minds. He has gotten many small contracts around the city that are mostly cleaning up the streets or maintining the cleaning of past projects. Unfortunately littering is quite popular here. The guys have bible study at night also where some local men/pastors come in and share with them. The guys have quite a bit of down time also where I have been fortunate enough to be around and tune in on learning spanish. The guys get to wath a movie or two throughout the week and once a week we go to play soccer or go to the beach and swim. Casa De Amor is a small humble house, but it is definetely special. Kim has had an arcitech draw up plans to build onto the program that already exists, only we are waiting on God to provide the funds. Also Wood Mizer has donated a saw mill that eventually will make it down here so the guys can learn a trade. There is a farm that has a whole bunch of teek wood that the guys will be chain sawing down and then cutting it into planks for the use of building homes. How do the men get involved with drugs???? Well, not much different from the states. Drugs are readily available and the dealers are ready to sell it for cheap. The police aren't active in stopping the selling of drugs, so it is pretty much as easy as just walking down the the beach front and getting some. They will ask you if you want anything too. I have been asked many times. From what I have observed there is not much for teens to do here at night....which can lead to searchng for new things to do for excitement. I have heard many stories where the drug dealers will like up a joint or a crack pipe for you if you want to try it. There are many addicts that have gotten hooked this way. The dealer would get them to use it many times....they would get hooked....then the dealer will get them to sell for them in return for their day fix. It is pretty disgusting to think that humans do this to one another. Dealers themselves were most likely in the same situation growing up. Dad sold drugs, uncle sold drugs, ect. ect. now they are in the family business. They have never known anything else, just business as usual. Guys get hooked on drugs for many reason....escape, peer pressure, stupidity, lack of guidance, hanging with the wrong crowd, bad decisions....thankfully God uses it to bring many to Him. That is what this program is for. It gives men the opportunity to form a relationship with Christ and learn how to be a disciplined follower who can go out into the community and be a productive member of society. Please write me if you have any further questions. Love Bryan

Trip to Dominical for Shabbat

Friday night me, Jared, and Eileen traveled about an hour away to celebrate Shabbat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat.(a time of rest,fellowship). The house we went to was awesome and had a great view in a huge valley. We played football at night, ate dinner, and then some played songs on a guitar with drums and bongos in the background. It is pretty difficult to put into words how great it was. Well, the next morning my friend Tim who owns this spectacular piece of property received a phone call that his boat motor had been stolen and a man that knew who had stolen it was down the street at the hardware store. Myself, Jared, Tim, and another man named Bruce tagged along. Tim informed us that this was not unsual, nor the first time this sort of thing had happened. So we went to the hardware store where the guy told Tim what had happened the other day. When you own anything off of your property here you pay someone to watch it for you. Tim pays a guy 50 bucks a month to watch his boat. It turns out that the man at the hardware store tells Tim that the guy who stole it was the guy who is watching it. The man then told Tim that if it was his property that was stolen that he would.....the man reached in his car and pulled out a 9mm pistol and fired it in the air. There were about a dozen or so people right around at this time. Nobody freaked out or scattered. I wasn't scared either, but it appeared that this wasn't unusuall. After we left the hardware store we stopped for coffee and then we went to see the guy who supposedly stole his boat motor. It was a quick meeting where Tim told the guy that he had until Monday to get his motor back. The judicial system here is a joke so I hear. If someone steals your property they might get arrested and if they don't it can take years to go through the system. The community is good about telling on others who steal also because it is bad for the community and the local economy. Tourists don't want to come to a place where people are robbed...that is the end of that story. We then went to a restaurant on the beach called the Refuge. Jared and I grabbed some surf boards and went out to attempt to catch a wave. Well, the waves weren't beginner waves. Domincal is actually a place where surfers all over world stop in to surf. It took about 15 minutes just to get out to the waves. I almost caught a couple waves and I was glad I didn't. When I was on top of the waves it looked like looking down from a 2-3 story building. Well I missed a couple waves and relaxed for a second, turned around and saw a monster wave on top of me so I held my breath and went under water. I got tossed around under water for 10 seconds or so and felt like I barely mad it above water in time for another breath. That was the end of the surfing. I was in no mans land. Great experience that I will never forget. Praise the Lord.

Life Here for the locals

A couple people have asked about how Costa Ricans earn a living, how the school system works, and what day to day existence looks like. I am in the Quepos/Manuel Antonio area and tourism probably employs the majority of the people here. From hotels, to souvenirs, restaurants, tours, scuba diving, white water rafting trips, repeling and zip line tours.....are all popular ways to earn a living. There is also palm, coffee, and banana plantations in Costa Rica. Palm oil is huge here...while driving in the country you will see tons and tons of palm plantations. Of course there are common jobs too where people work in stores and there is also a good number who sell fruit, jewelery, and souvenirs on the streets. Public school is free and I believe that it is not unheard of for someone to stop going after 6th grade. I was told that a 6th grade education is equivelent to a 3rd grade education that one would get in the states. Private school is more challenging and also costs more. There are a couple colleges here also. A typical school day is was shorter than the states and they go year round. My friend Jared's wife teaches at a private school -2nd grade...she just had 4 weeks off. One week was because of swine flu;0 She then worked on Monday and Tuesday then off for the rest of the week. I am not exactly sure if this is how it looks on all other levels of school, but I do know that I see kids out of school earlier than at home and also sometimes I see kids and think to myself,"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Lifestyle here is definetely laid back and I grown folks sitting on there porches at all hours fellowshipping or just sitting there doing whatever. People are generally really nice and will usually say hello or smile. Oh yeah, the guys that work at the beach are cool. There are quite a few different groups that make a living there. They are there from morning to when the sun goes down renting out beach chairs, surf boards-surf lessons, playing soccer with us on Sundays, wave runners, para sailing, canoes, and snorkling gear. They are all really nice guys and also do the life gaurding. I saw one man stuck in a rip tide last Sunday and they all grabbed their boards and went after him....they got him in time.

Fire Down Below

I was at the program the other day with my girlfriend Amber and one of the program men noticed a house on fire. I yelled at some of the program men,"Lets Go!" We went down to help...for me mostly to see if anyone was trapped inside....but the community was trying to put the fire out with buckets of water and hoses. They also tried to get as much out of the house as they could. The house next to the one on fire quickly caught on fire and people were frantically breaking windows and trying to salvage as much as possible. It was a chaotic, sad, and emotional as people were running, yelling, crying, and helping one another. A few of the program men didn't listen to me the first couple of times when I tried to tell them to get out of the houses and away from danger. Eventually they listened when I got a little more stern. It was sad to see these families lose all there belongings. One of the program men told me that we had to keep helping because here it is not like the states where you get a lot of stuff back. It will take these people a long time to get stuff back. They don't have insurance like most of us do back in the US. I even understood why the guys weren't listening to me during the fires. I could see their compassion in action and it was cool to see everyone come together to help save what they could. I let them know that I wasn't going to allow them to risk their life for materially things. It was a learning experience and I am grateful that we were able to go and help. I am reading a lot about the Kingdom of God and I thought about the Kingdom after witnessing people come together amongst crisis and forget about themselves on behalf of others. I am 100% sure I saw the Kingdom of God yesterday. People were basically risking their lives to help these people salvage all they could. It was a memorable moment that I will never forget.

1 Month

I have been here in Costa Rica for a month now.  I would have to say that I am used to the daily routine, but not so much used to the pattern of life.  I am learning to enjoy relaxing.  I enjoyed relaxing back home, but there is much more here....at least it feels like it.  I feel like back home we are a slave to time and schedule.  Here there isn't much focus on keeping a schedule and it doesn't seem like there is much emphasis put on time.  At home it seems like there is not enough time in the day to do things.  Here sometimes it feels like there is too much time to do things.  It has been quite a big difference.  So when living back in the states I wonder where all the stress comes from of having to get things done and why we have to keep a strict schedule, because if you don't get a lot done and if you don't keep a rigid schedule you are looked upon as lazy and unorganized.  Yet you come to another country and do things the same way and it is looked upon as normal.  The same work ethic, drive, management of time, ect..ect.. doesn't work here or other places for that matter when you are immersed in another culture.  Everyone else around you is going at a similar pace and living life in a similar manner.  You just end up joining in.  Just like back at home.  In the USA it is balls to the wall work, work, work, to earn more money, money, money so I can get more bigger better stuff,stuff, stuff....at least that is how I perceive the american way of life.  I have only been here a month but I was here for a couple weeks last year and it is easy to see the emphasis  Costa Ricans put on spending time with family over working and trying to aquire possessions.  I would have to say that the people here are far happier people as a whole compared to the US.  Why?  I don't know exactly why.  But I would have to say they don't expect much, never had much, and they have learned to love life with whom they are surrounded by.  Although the pace of life is drastically different, I have also wondered if there is not the danger of just being lazy and complacent.  It is humid here and everyone around you is going at a certain pace....so how do you know if it is just plain laziness or if it is just the way things are?  Who is right and who is wrong I have wondered.  Maybe neither....maybe it is just the way it is? I definitely think Americans work way too much and don't spend enough time with family.  I have thought this before coming here. There is a lot going on in my head, so I will stop.:)  I am learning spanish daily and I am leaning on the hope given by others that I will start understanding more.  I hear it all the time and I don't understand most of it.  Some days my brain is absolutely overloaded with Spanish and I don't want to hear anymore.  It motivates me to want to learn, but it can be a bit discouraging not knowing much when everyone around you does.  A couple weeks ago I saw a black widow spider on the ground in the bathroom.  I was surprised and I yelled running out of the bathroom....I ended up killing it with roach killer.  I was going to just release it outside, but the dust pan idea I had didn't work.  It just crawled up it, so i figured I better kill it instead of allowing a potential threat back into the home.  I am excited to be here and I am thankful for all the support financially I have had and also the prayer and thoughts that are directed our way.  Peace

2 weeks In

I have enjoyed my stay here in Costa Rica thus far.  There have been some minor difficulties...mostly not sleeping well.  I wake up a ton during the night and rise about 5-5:30.  The sun comes up around that time so it doesn't feel too early.  I am fortunate to have been thrown right into the mix at the program and with the church on the beach.  I have done an intake interview and I also had the opportunity to teach/preach this past Sunday.  There are 7 men in the program thus far.  Two have left since I have been here.  It is definitely different than the program I went through and served at.  It has been refreshing to see a different approach and I have quickly learned that one way is not the best and there are multiple routes to what we call "success"(sobriety?).  They don't teach complete abstinence from alcohol here and it works.  The old AA-NA philosophy of never again is not so much followed here, only it is taught that if you have had trouble in the past and you cannot handle it then it is best that you never drink again.  It has been something I had to wrestle with quickly and wisely.  I understand the approach and I completely respect it.  I am learning quite a bit of Spanish being around it daily and studying from anywhere to a half an hour to an hour and a half a day.  There is one guy who speaks both Spanish and English so he translates for me.  A couple of the program men are very interested in learning English and I am very interested in learning Spanish so we are usually going back and forth learning new words and phrases.  I get to teach bible study on Monday's and Tuesday's and they also threw me into the preaching-teaching rotation.  Church is on the beach and some local surfers come and join us.  The church is very small right now, but it is pretty cool to worship God on the beach in public.  Locals watch curiously during the service.  Kim Stillwell is the man whom started the program down here.  He knows just about everyone.  He introduce me to the "drug kingpins" the other day.  You can go right up on the dyke and watch repeated deals of marijuana and crack cocaine go down.  The police station is right next door and I mean right next door. They also patrol it, but only harass users and kids.  It is pretty backwards, but it is what it is.  I killed a black widow spider the other day the size of my hand.  It was freaking big man and it has not helped me to sleep wondering if I am going to wake up to one of those on me.  The people here are very nice and welcoming.  It is very common for the majority of the people to say hello and if they don't you can and they will say it back....much different than the states.  Sometimes I say hello to people and they look at me like I have lost my mind.  America in my opinion has lost a lot of it's personable skills. Why???  Jared and Eileen the couple I am staying with are in Brazil right now which has left me home alone for about 8-9 days.  It has gotten a bit lonely at night but I pass the time reading, playing video games, studying spanish, and chatting online.  It is rainy season here, but the weather has been great.  I sweat all day and I quickly learned that I needed to up my water intake a ton.  It almost seems pointless to take a shower because I sweat more after I take a shower that I do the rest of the day.  Ok....that is my update.  Cool life down here and much opportunity for the present as well as the future.

1 week

My first week in Quepos, Costa Rica is coming to an end.  It has been a great week.  I have been meeting a lot of people in the community here in Quepos and also in Manuel Antonio(beach).  A typical day is waking up at 5:30am to read, go workout at 6:30, come back and get cleaned-up, eat breakfast, then we go over to the center(addiction recovery program) around 8:30am.  That time is spent reading, studying spanish and just enjoying each others company.  Pretty laid back, the guys are busy doing their daily cleaning duties.   Lunch break is right around 11am and is about 2 hours long.  We come back to Jared's to eat and hang.  We go back to the center around 1pm until about 4-5pm.  During that time there is bible study or learning spanish while teaching some english.  The program men have been busy doing a really big landscape project be the ocean in town.  It looks really good and I can tell that the men enjoy feeling like they are contributing to cleaning up the community..which they really are.  The area they are cleaning up is pretty dirty.  The area is where much of the homeless and addicted stay...also where the drug dealers hang.  God is truly being glorified on this work project.  There are men that were in addiction cleaning up the same area some of them used to get high at.  We have church on the beach!  There is a decent size gathering in a small cove where we have praise and worship and my friend Jared does the preaching.  After the preaching we took communion.  Just about everyone went swimming after church.  Jared and I played soccer with the locals for about an hour and a half.  It was hot and the sand was really hard on my legs.  As far as day to day life goes it is pretty relaxing.  I have been enjoying the free time I have to read a book a friend got me and also I am getting into reading systematic theology.  Signing out.  Bmacfosho

Worn Out

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.  Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.  This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.  The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:19-23)  This is pretty much how I felt this past evening...afflicted, wandering the past few days with lack of intimate prayer and slothfulness in reading my Word.  My soul is wounded and my heart is extremely heavy even this morning.  I know that lack of sleep contributes, but I feel like David when he said that his soul pants for God as the deer pants for the water brooks.  It seems not to take much for my soul to get weary and for worry to takeover my joy.  I was doing well last night and as the night went on I found myself feeling weird, anxious, and a bit speechless.  It is easy to point the finger and blame others for the way I feel, but after praying and reading I found how responsible I am.   I read Lamentations this morning and found Christ.  I am thankful for His rest, His consuming lovingkindness and His faithfulness.  What a great God.  

2 or 3

Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two of three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. This scripture popped up in my head when Amber was praying for me tonight. I am working the late shift and it has been tough to make it through the past few nights. Tonight is my last night and I needed some serious prayer. I even asked Allison, Colleen, and Josh to pray for me. We huddled up in the kitchen with our arms around each other petitioning our Father. I thought to myself,"This is what it's all about!" When I am sleep deprived my world can come tumbling down at any moment. Last night it almost did. Everything seems like a huge deal when I haven't slept well. I can just be walking down the hallway thinking about how I want to sleep and how I have to do it again the next night and start getting emotional....like I might actually end if I don't get to sleep. Let it be known, I despise the graveyard shift. Although I figure that God is teaching me to humble down and ask for prayer and depend on Him to get through it. To think when I prayed with Amber:) and my other friends Jesus was in our midst. Thats amazing, the Lord Himself was amongst us taking it all in. I imagine it brings Him great joy to see His children in unity seeking Him.

Boxers

I am re-reading Velvet Elvis and Rob Bell goes into a short story describing him and some close friends sitting in a restaurant enjoying each others company. They end up closing the place down...and it seems that he is with his dearest friends in the world. He goes on to say,"And I'm sitting in this restaurant looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacredness of the moment. That sense that in spite of everything awful I have ever seen, we're going to make it." I read this during my late shift tonight and it sparked 2 instances recently I have felt this "feeling." Last Saturday my friend Troy spent the night and we got up Sunday morning to go to church together. I was at the kitchen table eating cereal when he and my roommate both came in still half asleep in their boxers. I love mornings and the one thing I am most grateful for apart from Christ is my friends He has given me. Guys like to give each other a hard time and crack jokes at all times it seems. Even more so when women aren't around and it was already happening upon us all waking up. I was so content and grateful at that moment. I was in awe of the gift of friendships and how God restores what I have broken. I saw God at work through two dudes in boxers in my kitchen on Sunday morning. There was a time when I was just about friendless and now I don't care to count how many friends God has given me. Praise God for friends and simple moments of joy. I pray to God that I never get too busy or too preoccupied with this world to enjoy life. Another moment was at house church last night. It was my turn to share my junk and during my time of sharing I could tell that the enemy was at work in my thought life. Sometimes it just takes me speaking out loud what is going on inside and I then realize that the thoughts I am believing are lies. I had 4 brothers encouraging me, asking thought provoking questions, and praying for me. I didn't feel alone. I looked at the 4 men sitting around me and I knew that they were there for me..standing shoulder to shoulder with me...loving me...not judging me...helping me to know that I am not crazy! Holla

Stranger

I was reading Matthew 25 and verse 35 where Jesus says, I was a stranger and you invited me in. Feeling like an outcast is an awful feeling. From the outside looking in on people that are loving one another, sharing conversation, and laughing is a lonely feeling. I was at a church in Nashville, Tennessee last February where I was a stranger....in a place where I don't think I should've felt like one. I got to this church 20 minutes early and I sat there alone hoping someone would say hello, welcome, how are you, or come sit with us.....Maybe I shouldn't have expected it, but it is a good example of feeling like a stranger. A stanger is someone who does not belong in the environment they are in. So to not neglect showing hospitality to strangers would be to invite them in to what we are doing. As a disciple of Christ I am thinking that I should be on the lookout for people who are on the outside looking in. I saw a man eating alone about a month ago when I was out with some friends. I looked at him and thought of asking him to join us, but I decided not to because I just figured that he was content eating alone. That was such an opportunity to invite someone into fellowship and show him the love of Christ. Even if he didn't want to it would have made an impact on his life. I think we have all felt like an outcast at some point in our life...possibly in a position where we were hoping to be asked to join a group of people or an activity we wanted to participate in. The Kingdom is inclusive, all are welcome to join the family. I think it's just up to us to be spiritually sharp and self-less in order to see the strangers in our lives.

Be kinder than necessary, everyone you come in contact with today is battling something.

I heard this quote on the radio and I was able to extend some of what I heard to a man that approached my car after leaving the McDonald's drive-through.  This guy asked me if I could give him some money for some bus fair and I have heard this line like a million times on the eastside and downtown.  I asked him if he was hooked on dope.....which sounds kinda crazy, but he looked at me and said,"dang you just came right out and asked me."  He then said,"Yes I am."  I asked him if he wanted to quit or wanted help and I was able to let him know I have been exactly where he's currently at.  There was much more dialogue, but to make a long story short he wasn't ready for help.  I looked him in the eyes and told him that I love him, he's loved, and God loves him.  He told me that it was the best news he's heard in a long time.  That moment was perfect.  I got out of bed and grabbed my computer cause I felt like I had to write about love.  When is the last time someone looked you in the eye and told you that you were loved?  Or when is the last time you looked at a friend and just told them you loved them and that God loves them?  It ministered to me just speaking the words to another person.  Love is irresistible to the giver and the receiver. Our words are so powerful, the power of life and death.  We can give hope, encouragement, and life or we can bring death, despair, and  hell by what we  say and do to others.   Being kinder than necessary to me is just being aware of others posture and trying to minister to them the love of Christ by simply smiling, saying hello, giving compliments, and recognizing there needs.  Smile as much as possible:)  There are a lot of frowns now days.   I am serious, there is so much that can be accomplished through a simple smile and graceful greeting.  Peace