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