Been a long time....

Well it is January 2014.... I am embarrassed when I look back and see that my last post was in 2011. Maybe that is how it goes when you have a lot of ideas, a lot of energy, but limited time and lots of responsibilities. In reference to the name of this long neglected blog - Life and Ministry in Peoria - life has changed a lot since 2011. In December 2011 we welcomed our first daughter, Abigail Joy, who is now 2 years old! We are also weeks (days?) away from welcoming our second daughter, Julia Grace. We are really parents! And just like parents say, Emily and I cannot really remember what life was like when it was just the two of us. And.... we wouldn't want to go back. Too lonely.

When we think of our lives, we also think of the friends that God has blessed us with. Our prayer has often been that God would show us how to form lasting friendships with people in the same life stage where we are not just the pastor and pastor's wife, but people known. It is good to be known. Our closest friends are those who are in our 20s and 30s group. Yes, they are all younger than us - especially me. But as they are in the same life stage as us in some cases, young couples just starting their families, it fits. And just as it was when I was a youth pastor in MN, being identified with the 20s and 30s in our church keeps me young. Probably Emily too although she needs less help.

One of my prayers as Living Waters church has grown is that Emily and I would have another couple on staff with us who were about the same age as us, with whom we could "build this church." God has provided Jonathan and Lindy, as Jonathan is now our youth minister. These two are some of the most faith-filled and trusting Christians I have ever met and I am proud and thankful to have their influence in our lives and in our congregation. They are facing some hard times right now, but soon, I believe, God will lead our two families together to understand how he wants this church to develop.

So that brings me to the reason that I am back on this blog. I need some place to work out what I am feeling in the "ministry" side. So that means we have transitioned from the Life to the Ministry part of this post. As a pastor I am anticipating a new stretch at hand. It is going to be a bigger stretch then when I first came to Living Waters, taking on the mantle of a lead pastor in a mission church. This stretch is going to change me in how I see myself in leadership and, I pray, the impact that my ministries in Christ will make. I pray for this stretch because without it I know that me and the church I serve will just begin to drift into "nameless Lutheran land". Those of you who understand Lutheran land know what that means... a medium size church with good community feel, potlucks, VBS, a Christmas program, Confirmation once a year, baptisms when people have babies, and bland conversations about the need for evangelism. If you do not know what nameless Lutheran land feels like here is a great description in a word - comfortable. Jesus had another word for it - lukewarm, Revelation 3: 16. I have wondered at points whether the main themes of the Biblical message are woven through the scriptures and attached to the numbers 3:16. That is certainly the case with John's Gospel. Comfort and lukewarm always go together. And Lutheran folks left to themselves seek it out. Maybe that is because those from historically Lutheran backgrounds come from cold lands and anything that feels like a warm blanket serves as an opiate. That might be an overstatement, but if you have experienced Lutheran community, you know the temptation. We start to think - it is so good to be part of Jesus' in-crowd with so little expected of me.

This is where I do not want to go. Jesus would not let his disciples go there. I cannot let our church go there either.

So this is the reason I am sitting at One World Café across from Bradley University on January 3, 2014. It is time for me to take stock of where I am at in my service to the Lord. I need to ask hard questions like this: Do I have a ministry, or am I just a pastor? Am I really reaching anyone with Gospel that brings life? Or, am I just clarifying and reinforcing things that the people in our pews already know? These are the question that make me uncomfortable after three years at Living Waters. I could use some more of this!

I can thank my friends Chris who is the headmaster of the Christian school that meets in our church for me being at One World this afternoon. He is the worship leader on the weekends at a new Anglican Mission that started in Peoria about the same time Living Waters began, for about the same reason. They have a small church right now that is composed mostly of people in their 20s. Their base of operations is a coffee shop downtown - that is not where they worship - that is where they meet during the week to talk, plan, pray, and further their friendships in Christ. I was talking to Chris about my discontent, about the thorn in my flesh, and the burr in my saddle. He said that those of them on staff have had to ask similar questions. They have concluded that if you are going to reach a new generation for Christ you have to be where they are. So Chris asked me - Mark where do you spend most of your time? The answer was easy. I didn't even need do speak. I just pointed to the chair that I sit in each day behind my desk in the pastor's office of Living Waters.  At that moment I realized his point - reaching a new generation for Christ meant asking a basic question about where I spend my time. And I do not spend any time anywhere near unchurched young adults. Not even close. The only time I do is when our awesome 20s and 30s come to church on Sunday and when we have our small group. That is no a recipe for growth - personally or spiritually speaking.

So here is my idea. After I have finished my sermon on Friday afternoons I am going to come to One World to think, write, pray and hopefully meet the community I intend to impact with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel that brings life. And, I am going to invite the Bradley students I know to join me. I envision, in time, a One World Group. A small group, or a prayer group or a discussion group that happens at a consistent time and place. A small group that is advertised somehow in student circles at Bradley. A theological discussion? A faith/life interface? Something like that. All I know is that it takes time to enter a community. But at some point you have to decide to do it!

Lord I give this idea to you. I believe it came from you. So 2014, let it be about something new and something stretching that will reach a new generation.

Unpacking continues...

We have gradually been unpacking this week... today I (Emily) unpacked the last box of kitchen stuff and it feels good to have everything in it's place. Pictures are starting to go up on the wall and we have a list of many, many little things to do - towel racks to hang, shelves, staining on the trim yet, and unpacking boxes of books (I guess we need a few more bookshelves first!) But the rooms are starting to come together so I thought I'd post some before/after pictures of the rooms that I painted. Painting was about all my skill-set could handle, so while Mark and the men did the remodel of the kitchen, I painted and painted until my hand was frozen into a brush-holding position. Enjoy the pictures!

PS - just wanted to note that we were very lucky with our appliances. We got a new stove on sale and the new fridge wasn't planned, but a new member at church was getting rid of it for cheap! So not new, but new to us. And we love it!

Moved In!

We had a chaotic, crazy last few days, but we moved in yesterday with the help of 15+ volunteers from church and we slept in our new house last night! We are so happy with the way the kitchen/dining room turned out. There are still many details to finish up - staining, puttying, touching up paint, building a cabinet and shelves for where the fridge used to be - but it is liveable! Our plumbing was finished up yesterday as we were moving in and now we have a disposal! Yay! So check out the before and after shots to the right. We love our new kitchen/dining room! Now we have to unpack! Love you!

Busy Week #2

We have reached that point where every room we are working on is now a mess! It is a moment for faith. We know that within a week our house will be ready for us to move in. Right now that is really hard to believe. But with the help of great new friends who are also skilled workers we know that the place will be ready. The last week saw the installation of a kitchen window and a sliding door in the dining room. Emily worked hard to paint the guest bedroom and prime the bathroom. And now the kitchen has a first coat of paint too!

I continue to be amazed by Gary and Jim and their willingness to help us. I am learning a lot about how a house comes apart and goes back together! Can't wait to see it all done!

busy week!

Hi everyone! What a busy week - every minute we can spare from church and subbing we are trying to get work done at the house! Yesterday, Tuesday, we did a second and third layer of primer in the guest bedroom to cover the VERY dark blue stripes in there as it used to be a boy's room! Mark scrubbed down the walls of the kitchen and taped so we'll be ready to prime in there soon.

We're happy that tomorrow it works out for our helpers' schedules to install the new patio door and window. There is a window in the (former as it's now one big room) dining room and a patio door in the kitchen, which we find a little odd, so we are switching the two so the door will be off the dining room side. We felt like it would be a big deal, but our contractor friend said it's not... so they'll be banging a hole in the side of our house tomorrow!

Off to church for our Wednesday night programs!

Renovation Day #2 and #3

Yesterday we headed to the house immediately after church as our new stove and patio door were being delivered. We spent HOURS scraping off the wallpaper in the kitchen. Not a fun job, but we were thankful there is only 1 room of wallpaper to do. Mark put many screws in the floor to get some of the squeaks out of the kitchen. Funny how the room looks worse than ever - slightly a disaster right now!

Today was a slower day. It was all about prep and shopping for odds and ends that any project needed. Jim joined us again and gave great advice on wall prep and on what we need to do to move the dining room light switch to a different wall. We also found out that there is no grounded outlets in the kitchen so we will have to do some rewiring from the main fuse box before we install our garbage disposal. Lots to do and think about.

The good news was that we choose and ordered our counter tops! They will look great. Also, Emily started priming one of the bedrooms while I filled screw holes and sanded the kitchen wall. The kitchen wall just needs to be washed and it can be primed too. Over the next week Emily will be doing some painting at the house (God bless her!) when she's not subbing. Our next big work day will be to cut the hole in the exterior wall for the sliding door and build the frame for the new window in the kitchen.

We pray for God's help with every detail.

Renovation Day One

This was an exciting week as we closed on our house on Thursday, and today made the first significant renovations. The house has been well taken care of, but there are many updates that can be done over the next few years. The first one we are tackling is the kitchen and dining room. We wanted to remove most of the wall separating the two rooms so that there could be a nice flow between the two spaces. The two other objectives are to create more counter space in the kitchen for cooking and baking and to swap the sliding door in the kitchen with the window in the dining room.

Two great friends from Living Waters who have lots of construction and renovation experience helped me during this first day. Thanks Jim and Gary! Now that the wall has been cut out and parts of the kitchen moved around, we are seeing what the kitchen will look like when all is said and done. Tomorrow Emily and I will remove the old wall paper from the kitchen (groan) and re-secure the floor to the floor joists to remove squeeks. Woo hoo.

A Fall Breather, Dec 10

I can't believe it is already the middle of December! We have plowed through the fall, starting up programs, coordinating new elders, prayerfully searching for deacons, discussing the drawbacks and benefits of church budgeting. This new mission church continues to surprise me with how "different" they want to be. The time has flown by. We are in the midst of planning Christmas worship! my first one as a solo pastor.

Having just come through Thanksgiving I have been thinking about what I am thankful for. Here is a list, stream-of-consciousness style:

1. My loving and supportive wife
2. Leaders who are passionate about their relationship with Christ and the power of God's Word
3. A beautiful church building that we are not even close to filling
4. A fun new town to explore
5. A warmer climate
6. A cute little house
7. New friends
8. More time for prayer
9. Restful Saturdays
10. Only one time to preach on a Sunday
11. Fires in my very own fire place

I always wondered what life as a solo pastor would be like. It is different than I imagined actually. Maybe because I always pictured a solo pastor as serving a two or three-point parish in the countryside. But instead, I am serving an energized mission church, made up of the leaders of three or four other Lutheran churches in town.

Personally, this fall has been one of big growth for me. I have had to lean on the Lord in new ways, and trust him that he will provide the gifts necessary to follow his call. Particularly I have prayed for gifts in administration. Being thrown into leading a group of elders, even helping to give shape to what their jobs will be, giving direction to the formation of a constitution and bylaws, and making many important decision on the fly has been stretching and exciting. So far I have heard back from folks in the church that the congregation feels more settled, happier, and more unified than before I came. One member commented, we are no longer four churches but one. Now the next step is to unify the church around a vision. That vision must be tangible, but also far reaching enough to keep us moving together for years ahead. One project, a partnership with His Helping Hands, may provide that opportunity. We shall see.

At this point my one concern is that with so many of our energies going into church life and development, how will Emily and I make friends who are more peers than church members. Maybe that is not the most important thing, but to have friendships that are not in some way connected to our congregation would be nice. Not that we don't love the people at Living Waters, we do, and many are becoming very close friends. But we do not have many folks who are really at our life stage. But, God will provide. We know we are weird: to be a couple in their 30s without kids is not normal. So finding people at the same life stage is a challenge anyways.

Regardless, it is wonderful to have this restful Saturday ahead of us. We are headed to the mall for some Christmas shopping before the ice storm comes this afternoon. I wonder if we will have many in church tomorrow if we get all the weather that is predicted!

The words of Paul come to mind: "He who promised is faithful!" This is most certainly true.

Hitting the Ground Running

Well, it has been over a month since the last post.... I was hoping to do this every two weeks. But lots to do as a pastor in a mission church. It has been a whirlwind month and Emily and I are still catching our breaths. Today I took my first full day off in probably three weeks. But we are very happy and encouraged with the way the first month has gone. Here are some highlights:

1. Participated in two service projects with Living Waters
2. Started a praise band
3. Started weekly coffee shop hours
3. Hosted an open house at our home and had a house blessing (Sept 26)
4. Attended the LCMC national gathering in Minneapolis
5. Sold our condo in Edina, (Sept 30)
6. Started Confirmation (Oct 6)
6. Launched the new church website: www.livingh2opeoria.org
7. Met twice with our new elders, planning an elders' retreat
8. Installed as pastor (Oct 16)
9. Began hosting members in our home for Sunday dinner
10. Emily began a high school girls bible study
11. Completed first preaching series: Desert Formations based on the faith lessons of the Israelites in their time between the Red Sea and Canaan Oct 31)
12. Affirmed and commissioned the first elders of Living Waters (Nov14)

We continue to enjoy our lives here and we are so thankful for all the great people we have met. Our church is filled with faithful, energetic, friendly and committed Christians. We are thankful too for growing numbers in worship.

Sept 19th, Dedication Sunday for Living Waters

Today we celebrated as a congregation as Living Waters Lutheran dedicated its charter membership of 113 individuals. This has been an eventful journey for this young congregation. In April of 2010 the initial worship service was held and now only six months later the church officially received its membership.

Emily and I feel very honored to be part of such a Spirit-filled group of believers. They are not afraid to be a "different" kind of Lutheran church that holds tightly to good theology, but is willing to think outside the box and try non-Lutheran practices to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. For starters they called a pastor who was clear to say that he will not wear "liturgical garments"! Even, when I informed them that I tend to borrow from both Lutheran and Baptist tool boxes when preparing sermons, they did not even bat an eye. They are determined to break out of mold and seek to fulfill our call to make disciples of every nation. I am pleased that each time I have preached and asked people to hold up their bibles, almost 90 percent of hands are holding the Word of God. Then, they open their bibles in their laps ready to follow along with the message and use their sermon notes. We are off to a great start.

Emily and I feel very welcomed and cared for by this congregation as well. When we arrived in Peoria our little house was already filled with 15 church members who quickly unloaded our truck, installed our washer and driver, and put together our bedroom. It has been a busy first weekend and now I am enjoying a typical pastor practice, Sunday afternoon football on the couch! Tomorrow I plan to open my first office hours in a local coffee shop, inviting members of the church to drop by for spiritual conversation and fellowship.

God is truly good. Please pray for church unity, energy for mission, and passion in worship!

Mark and Emily

Start Date Set for Sept 19, 2010

Emily and I are in awe of the power and the work of God. We remember just a few months ago sitting together in our little rented house in San Luis, Costa Rica, wondering, with some anxiety, where God would lead us. At one point we asked the question in faith: I wonder where our mailing address will be as of the middle of September? It was an innocent summation of the way we felt at the time. We had just been researching tickets to fly for Canadian Thanksgiving but realized that we had no idea where we would be flying from! That was a surreal experience.

But God has moved mightily. We came back from our mission year in Costa Rica to find a note on our condo door. It read: "Mark, call Marty, he wants to buy your condo. He is aware of the price you are asking." This was from our condo president who said she had lots of feelers in the community. God used her and quickly we sold our condo without even having to list it! And, even in this market God provided a little equity toward a down-payment someday. Mike Garrett, who served as the pastor of our church in Costa Rica, had said prophetically: God is saying for you two, "trust me." We were starting to see why.

Then we headed out to preach and interview. For months we had felt God's strong leading toward Peoria, Illinois, to an exciting mission start congregation called Living Waters. We spend 10 days with them as part of our interviewing tour of the midwest and pacific northwest. Those 10 days confirmed at every point that God was directing our steps to Peoria. The clincher for me was when I stepped into the pulpit and felt a new presence and a new freedom in the Holy Spirit. The 10 days in Peoria went quickly and culminated in a vote to extend the call of pastor. We were very thankful and humbled to accept.

At every turn during our year of service we have seen God's provision and care in a way that neither Emily nor I have experienced personally before. Prior to our mission year neither of us felt that we had "testimonies" in the way others had testimonies of God's obvious hand at work. Not that we have never felt him at work in our lives, but not in ways that openly shocked us. Now we have testimonies like that to share with others. Truly God is good!

In a matter of a week we transfer into a new chapter in our lives as a pastor and pastor's wife in Peoria Ill, at Living Waters Lutheran. It will be an exciting new life for us. And, a little scary too. This will be our last official blog sent out to our Costa Rican mission supporters. As you see I have changed the name of this blog to "Life and Ministry in Peoria, Ill." We will continue this blog as a journal of our new life so we can continue to give glory to God's work. We won't be sending out reminders to read the blog anymore by email, but we invite you to check it every few weeks and to leave your comments, questions and encouragements. This blog will have far fewer volcanoes, toucans and palm trees....

During this year of mission service you were a comfort to us as we knew you were praying for us and supporting us. Please let us know if there is anything we can ever do for you as you follow God's call. What an adventure!

We remain in Him,

Mark and Emily

But Will It Play In Peoria?

The last few weeks in Minnesota have been a blur for us: reconnecting with friends, cabin time, preaching in Portland... We can hardly believe that we have been back that long and that a month ago we lived a completely different life in Costa Rica as volunteer missionaries. We miss our friends and our work there very much. But we are excited to find out soon what our next missionary role will be.... and where!

Tomorrow morning we are headed out to our second preaching and interviewing engagement for this month. We are off to Peoria Illinois to interview at a wonderful new LCMC church. We are excited for a road trip together and nervous for the importance of this trip. A lot is riding on the next two weekends. Of course it is God's leading that we are waiting on. We are conscious that if God intends for us to begin our new ministry in Peoria, he will make that clear to both us and to the church. We have full faith. As Mike Garrett told us prophetically in Costa Rica, "God is telling me to tell you: Trust me!" We have seen that prophetic word fulfilled in many ways.

We ask for prayers for these next ten days as we get to know the congregation and anticipate a vote on Aug 29th.

Our Final Days

This morning we met with Margaret Weir who is the chaplin at Roblealto and has been a missionary here for 39 years. She is a remarkable woman of God and has been an encouragement to us this year. We met at the McDonalds across the street from the office and as we sat down from coffee, a young man came up to hug Margaret. Richard had grown up at one of Roblealto's child care centers and Margaret was a big part of his childhood as she celebrated birthdays with his family and cared for Richard and his sister at the center. He shared with us that his father was a drug-addict and his family had many problems when he was growing up. Richard talked about how much he appreciated Roblealto and how he knows God because of his time here. He now preached about God wherever he goes and is a beacon of light to the other employees at McDonalds. God's joy just radiated off Richard's face and I couldn't help but cry. THIS is why it has been such an honor for us to be part of God's work at Roblealto.

We have been spending the last few days wrapping up our projects, cleaning, packing, and of course, saying good-bye. I thought I would be so excited about going home, and I am, but it is much harder to leave than I expected. The staff and children at Roblealto have become a family for us and I have shed many tears as we've said good-bye. We've been at the houses of our favorite foster homes, we've had coffee and lunch and dinner with people, we've processed our experience and shared that we want to come back to visit. And it is just very hard because we love everyone here so much. They took us into their lives for this year, prayed with us, loved us, and encouraged us. And they are doing such important work with the children of Costa Rica. Mark and I have such admiration for their commitment and love. Not only are they friends but they are brothers and sisters. As Anabelle, the Christian Education director, just prayed for us, we will see them someday in heaven, if not before. This is a promise we are grateful for.

Our flight is on Thursday morning. We return to the whole Goff family being together for the weekend since Laura and Ryan are coming in from California. We are excited to spend time with family and friends in Minnesota and will be doing some traveling for Mark to preach and interview. God willing, we will know soon where He is leading us next! We hope to get to Toronto to see Mark's family in September before starting at a new church.

As always, thank you for your prayers during this year and in this time of transition. We love you all dearly and are grateful for your support of this year of mission. We praise God for what he taught us and how he changed us this year. Hopefully, we will see many of you soon!

Final group

Wow. We are down to 10 days left in Costa Rica. I think it is just starting to hit us that this experience is almost over. It is so very bittersweet. We will miss people and Roblealto so much, but we are so excited for this next step of leading a new church (God-willing!)

On Friday, we went to the morning devotions at the Central Offices. Verna Brennaman, a life-time missionary at Roblealto, spoke and shared on the virtues of being happy and thankful. She had us look at Psalm 136 together and reword this psalm so that it was more personal for our own lives. Mark and I have been trying to read a psalm together before going to work every day and we had just recently read this psalm. And we had been talking about how we could write a psalm about all of the amazing things God has done for us this year and how faithful he has been. So, here is my psalm of gratitude for our year based on Psalm 136. ¨His love endures fovever.¨

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good to us.
His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods, who is above everything else in this world.
His love endures forever.

To him who alone has done great wonders in our lives,
His love endures forever.

who made all of Creation for us to enjoy,
His love endures forever.

from the Costa Rican mountains, to rainforests, to beaches.
His love endures forever.

To him who led us to Roblealto and provided positions for us there,
His love endures forever.

who found us renters for our condo and a house to rent in Costa Rica.
His love endures forever.

To Him who provide the funds needed for the year,
His love endures forever.

and friends and family to pray for us.
His love endures forever.

To Him who gave us strength, energy, and a passion for our work,
His love endures forever.

who kept us safe and healthy.
His love endures forever.

To Him who provided us with two churches and wonderful friends,
His love endures forever.

and comforted us when we were homesick.
His love endures forever.

To Him who helped us with the language,
His love endures forever.

and was the reason we connected with the Costa Ricans across culture and background.
His love endures forever.

To Him who is leading us now on our next adventure,
His love endures forever.

who will never leave us nor forsake us.
His love endures forever.

To Him who has provided, is providing and will always provide.
His love endures forever.

We give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever!

July!!!

Happy belated 4th of July to everyone! We had a fun day at our house having some good friends over for lunch, eating as American as we could with grilled hamburgers, baked beans and homemade apple pie! It was really fun to have some of our closest friends to our house. We are finding that we are starting to say ¨good-bye¨ to people and we are trying to spend as much time with them as we can now that we have less than a month left. We fly home July 29th and the time is flying!

Two weeks ago we had a great group from a new church in South Carolina. God really touched their hearts and we know that they´ll be back to serve again! They really connected with the children and were impacted by their time in Los Guido where they saw the land for the planned 4th child care center. They were excited to help raise money for that project and we pray that they will bring the message of Roblealto and the plans for the new center back to their church.

Mark and I are finishing up some projects as we prepare to go. The children are on vacation for 2 weeks from the Bible Home and are at home with their biological families so we don't have any groups right now. Mark is working on a mission trip video and I am organizing the files from our laptop that we want to leave with our department for future use. We hope some of the things we've started will continue after we've gone! On the 19th of July a friend from Ridgewood, Chuck Webster, his daughters and some of their friends are coming for a week and we will help host them as our last group. We pray, as always, that God will touch their hearts as they see Roblealto first-hand. It's always such an honor to show God's work in the children to people who are new to Roblealto.

Mark has been interviewing around in various LCMC (Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ) churches in the states and one, in particular, has really stood out for both of us. Although it is outside MN :( we feel that God is at work in leading us there and we continue to pray for his wisdom and direction. We are really excited for this next step! We will be home for August and likely September, so we hope to see many of you then! Thank you for your prayers for our future. God is good!

Roblealto Sponsorship Promo.wmv

Groups are back!

We had a great time last week hosting a group of college students from Virginia. These were social work students who were in Costa Rica for 3 weeks to take a social work class and Spanish class and then came for a week of service to our temporary foster care, the Bible Home. Most of the students were not believers, but what they saw here was a true witness of God´s love and work. We had good conversations with them and, even more, they fell in love with our children and saw the children´s faith and love just radiate out of them. We appreciated the students good attitude and patience in painting in 2 of the houses. One of the house mothers shared what a difference having freshly painted rooms has on the children´s motivation. We are so grateful to have groups coming throughout the summer. It was a department goal to have 15 groups this year and I am happy to report that we will have reached that goal by the end of the summer. Praise God!

Another goal for our department was to increase the number of sponsors for our children. Right now only about 60% of our children are sponsored so the goal was to get 300 new sponsors. Our biggest source of new sponsors this year has been our volunteers who have come and seen the impact of Roblealto on the kids and want to continue their partnership. In some cases, 50% of the groups have become new sponsors! But we want to continue to seek out new sponsors because of the difference it makes on the children. I translated a letter from a child to her sponsor the other week and she said, ¨It makes me happy that I have a friend in another country that thinks of me.¨ Obviously the monetary support makes a difference on our programs, but the deeper impact is that a child will feel loved and cared for by someone in another country! This is such a blessing on our children. Will you consider becoming a sponsor? Check out the video above and/or take a look at our website for more info and to sign up! The cost is just $30 a month. Click here for website.

Thanks for considering sponsorship and for your continued prayers and support of our year here! Much love!

In some ways May was quiet (we didn't have any groups at Roblealto) and in other ways, it was busy! With just 2 months left, Emily posted a list of places in CR we want to see before we leave. One was Guanacaste, which is the northwest part of Costa Rica with a lot of beaches and where a lot of Americans travel. It was VERY hot, but we enjoyed the beach and the time we spent time with our good friends Mike and Kathy who invited us on their wedding anniversary trip. :) We also just had our final visitors - two of Emily's college roommates. We enjoyed taking them to the Caribbean side, which we had yet to visit. It was really hot there too and we decided we are thankful to be living in the cooler central valley. But it was great catching up with Liz and Liz and showing off this beautiful country. They enjoyed the animals, the Spanish, the ocean, the coffee, and the relaxation as they are both exhausted teachers.

This coming week, we will be working with a group of students with a Spanish Academy who are doing some painting at our temporary shelter, the Bible Home. We are happy to be done with our marketing project: researching new church contacts for Roblealto. We have 840 new contacts for them to advertise to and we'll be sending out a mailing to invite the churches to come on a mission trip before we go. It's exciting to think about all the new churches that could get to know Roblealto's mission! Emily continues to enjoy helping with translating letters and reports when she can.

The job search continues and we appreciate your prayers. We're grateful for a couple of interviews Mark has had and for a couple of preaching dates he's set up for when we return. We'll see where God leads! Much love!

Connecting to the ministry

We are in the middle of May with two and a half months left here and with no idea of where God wants us to be next. We are praying for our next step more than I think we've ever prayed for anything. Coming to Costa Rica seemed so much easier than where we are at right now. We knew we were coming about 8 months ahead of time. God provided our position here, our house we are renting, found us renters for our condo, provided financially through dear friends and family, etc. It was literally one thing after the next, everything fell into place. We are so thankful for that because we've never had a doubt we were supposed to be here. Even when things were a little tough this year, we KNEW that God called us to Roblealto.

But now, we really have no idea where God is calling us next. We were hoping we'd know by the time we left Costa Rica at the end of July, but we're beginning to wonder if that will happen. So we keep praying for guidance and wisdom. Thank you for your prayers. There are a few church possibilities right now, but we'll have to see where they lead. What we do know is that as God was faithful to us this year, he will be faithful to us in the next year. And we are grateful for that assurance.

One thing that has recently been a blessing for me (Emily) is helping our department with translating the last couple of weeks. I've been reading and translating letters from the kids here who are writing to their sponsors. They say really cute things such as one little boy who wrote to his sponsor: ¨Today I'm going to play soccer and all the goals I score I will dedicate to you.¨ I've also helped translate progress reports that are sent once a year to sponsors about their kids. These are reports that the instructors and social workers fill out about how the child is doing, what he or she is interested in, and what the family situation is. The reports are sometimes hard to read because the families are in such severe poverty, often are single mothers, maybe the child has been abused or the parent has lost their job. It's one thing to know these things about the population we serve and another to read about specific cases and translate them for the sponsors. We want to be honest about the difficulties the families face so that sponsor will know how much their support is needed.

Although hard, this translating has been a blessing because it's made me feel close to the ministry of Roblealto. We are often in our office working on our computers and it's easy to feel distant from what Roblealto is all about. But with these reports I was reminded that what Roblealto does is so important and necessary. The children have a safe place to stay while their families receive classes and support to heal and be able to provide for their children. God is at work and using Roblealto to minister to the families and children. And that is what this place is all about.

Living in Costa Rica Means...

After living in Costa Rica for 9 months, we've come to take for granted what is normal for us now... We've adjusted, in general, to life here. But as we think about preparing to move back to the US, we don't want to forget day-to-day life here. For us, living in Costa Rica means...

• Looking out our window to gorgeous mountains
• Eating fruits and vegetables we've never heard of before
• Having fresh pineapple and mangoes every week at our house
• Seeing men in rubber boots cutting grass with machetes
  
• Watching smoke come out of the top of a volcano
• Driving only an hour and half to the nearest beach and the Pacific Ocean
• Sharing a car, a house, a job and being together 24/7
• Working at an organization that is meeting REAL needs
• Seeing Roblealto's mission through fresh eyes when volunteers come
  
• The sun setting suddenly at 6:00 pm all year long
• The sun directly over head at noon
• Cows living on either side of us
• Eating in open-air restaurants
• Driving by coffee plantations on the way to work
• Walking through rain forests
  
• Baking blackberry pies with berries from our landlord's garden
• Worshiping in Spanish
• Talking to family on skype
• Seeing the most beautiful rainbows
• Throwing used toilet paper in the trash
• Getting hot water from the shower to wash our dishes
• Planning our day around the afternoon rain
• Shooing chickens and dogs out of our kitchen
• Learning how to cook differently
  
• Not being able to find ingredients for recipes we're used to
• Learning to kill really big spiders
  
• A bigger perspective on God's work in the world
• Connecting with people across cultures just because we all love Jesus
• Meeting families struggling in desperate communities
• Falling in love with the children at Roblealto
• Never having to wear a winter jacket or drive in snow
• Learning how to drive defensively, but rarely driving over 45 mph
• Being trusted by the Roblealto staff with real ministry
  
• Reading a psalm in the morning and praying together more consistently
• Relying on friends and family's prayers
• Seeing God's faithfulness over and over
  
• Seeking God's direction for the future

We are indebted to you for your support and prayers that have made this year of service in mission possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.