Preparation mode!

Preparations being made for the big move -

We have been busy preparing, cleaning, going through, and getting rid of lots and lots of "stuff" in working towards our big family move to Costa Rica this spring. You never think that moving is going to be so hard, or take so long, but when you have a family of 8, things really accumulate. I don't know where half of all of this stuff came from, or when it decided to take up residence in my house, but it is time now for it all to go. I have found borrowed books that I need to return to their rightful owners, and books that I have not looked at for a long while and forgotten that we had, among other long forgotten about items. Let me tell you, it is very tedious work for me, but very rewarding. I have been trying to lighten my load now for a long time, and I just never spent the hours needed to get it done. Now I have to do it, as we are only taking 2 trunks per family member with us to Costa Rica.

We are very excited about our up and coming move, the kids finally joined in the anticipation when they heard that candy and pizza is widely available (practically on every corner) of the city. We will be living near the capital city of San Jose, in a city called Heredia. It is about 30-40 minutes by car, but 1 hour by bus. The buses in Costa Rica go everywhere, through all of the cities, towns, and on all of the mountain roads. It is really amazing! The bus system is widely used, so there are people walking everywhere all of the time to get to a bus stop.

There are stray dogs everywhere as well. It is really amazing. Most of them are friendly, not that I petted any, but they seemed to be so. The dogs in Costa Rica actually look both ways before they cross the street! It is true, we saw it happen! I am trying to find a good home for my 2 dogs here in the states, because they would probably get hit by a car if they got out of the small yard that we will have in Costa Rica. We are also going to be living in much more of a city environment, and we will not be home very much as we will be very busy working at the ministry base.

We will be working with Pura Vida Missions this summer. We cannot wait to get there, (May 27th is moving day!). Leadership training starts June 1st. PVM organizes meaningful ministry opportunities and connects short term missions groups with local churches all over Costa Rica. Their trips combines training, ministry, and purpose. Any kind of group can book a trip with PVM, but the summer will be full of hundreds of youth age teens from all over the US. It will be very exciting to work with teens on missions trips! It is so awesome to see the light come on in their eyes, and feel the enthusiasm when they experience the Lord work through their own lives to reach others for Christ!

Thankfully we will be able to dive right in this summer with out speaking fluent Spanish, but come September we will be hitting the books hard to learn the language well. It is absolutely necessary for us to be able to communicate with the people to whom we are ministering to. It is going to be a high priority this fall for us to totally immerse ourselves in speaking Spanish. We have a decent understanding of the language from taking Spanish 1 and 2 at the local college last summer, but we realized how much we were lacking in vocabulary mastery during our trip! We do know enough to get around, but not enough to really share Christ with someone in Spanish. That is our goal, by next year!!! We have our work cut out for us!

Please pray for us, and the ministry in Costa Rica!

See Globe Internationals web site at http://www.gme.org/missionaries/view_missionary.php?mid=144 to find out more information about missions, or to make a donation towards lives being changed in Costa Rica.

See Pura Vida Missions web site at www.PVMonline.org for more information about the mission that we will be working with, or if you are interested in coming with a team to Costa Rica this summer.