We are so excited to be going home on Saturday to see our family and friends in Minnesota! Emily's been especially homesick ever since Thanksgiving... it's nice to be in warm weather, but it doesn't FEEL like Christmas is just around the corner! We will be home for almost 3 weeks and we are very much looking forward to seeing everyone!
Roblealto's programs and offices will be closed for about a month for the holidays. Things are very busy here finishing up projects, Christmas parties for the kids, and secret santa (somehow we got involved in THREE different secret santas!). This is the end of the school year so the kids had final exams and the stress of finding out if they will be returning to the Bible Home or not in January. About 30 of the 83 children will be moving back to their families for good this week. This is both wonderful and hard news. Of course, it is wonderful that the families and the kids are doing so well to not need Roblealto's intense foster care anymore. But they will go back to poverty and unsafe communities even if their families are doing better. They will be leaving their friends and those that have become family to them at the Bible Home. Please pray for this time of transition. In January, new children will be welcomed to the Bible Home, also a time of transition.
On Thursday night we got to see the adolescent program finally. We attended the Christmas party which included a hilarious magician/comedian entertainer. It was fun to see how he got these teens to get up in front of everyone to "volunteer." Needless to say, they were reluctant. This program has about 90 teens that were at some point in one of Roblealto's children's programs. They meet together to be encouraged to stay in school, stay away from the negative temptations that surround them, and to grow in their relationship with God. This is a vital part of Roblealto's ministry and we are praying this year that it would continue to grow and support the teens in this challenging time of their lives.
We thank you for your support, prayers and love in these first 4 and a half months of our time at Roblealto. We hope to see some of you in Minnesota! We will be at St. Lukes on Dec. 20th for church and at Ridgewood on the 27th. Mark is preaching at Ridgewood on Jan. 3rd and we are also sharing about our experience for adult Sunday School that morning. We would love to see you there! Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Men of God
Last night we visited another one of the temporary foster homes at the Bible Home. We had a wonderful time getting to know the kids, getting hugs, eating good Costa Rican cooking and practicing our Spanish. The house mother, Marielos, has been working at Roblealto almost a year. She is single and has a 16-year-old son, Fernando, who plays a father role to the 10 children ages 4-12.
What impacted me most last night was during worship. Fernando led the kids in songs and the way they worshiped! I've never seen kids worshiping like this - eyes closed, hands lifted, a look of peace and joy on their faces as they sang their hearts out. It was so beautiful! It hit me that Roblealto is created men of God. The young boys don't hide their faith or their worship. It is here that they are learning how to love God and love others. These young boys have the opportunity to grow up to be good husbands, fathers, leaders, and employees because of what is modeled at Roblealto. Although many of them don't have fathers, the men that work at Roblealto (including Fernando at 16!) are teaching them how to be men of God. This is truly an important ministry and another side of the holistic healing that is happening every day at Roblealto. Praise God!
What impacted me most last night was during worship. Fernando led the kids in songs and the way they worshiped! I've never seen kids worshiping like this - eyes closed, hands lifted, a look of peace and joy on their faces as they sang their hearts out. It was so beautiful! It hit me that Roblealto is created men of God. The young boys don't hide their faith or their worship. It is here that they are learning how to love God and love others. These young boys have the opportunity to grow up to be good husbands, fathers, leaders, and employees because of what is modeled at Roblealto. Although many of them don't have fathers, the men that work at Roblealto (including Fernando at 16!) are teaching them how to be men of God. This is truly an important ministry and another side of the holistic healing that is happening every day at Roblealto. Praise God!
Friday, November 27, 2009
El Dia de Gracias en Costa Rica
Last night we celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with some of our new friends from Costa Rica. Emily cooked an 18 lb turkey to perfection. With it we enjoyed cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, jello salad, and pumpkin pie. The two additions to the normal menu were picadillo (Costa Rican meat chili with plantains) and tres leche cake for dessert. We were thankful to welcome to our house the members of the International Department in Roblealto: Pame Scianna and her husband Jonathan, Nelly Curling, Lizzy Rojas and her boyfriend Gilbert.
After dinner we played a game we learned from Joe Olson that is a little like "telephone" using written sentences and drawings. The catch was that each of us had to use our second language when writing. We laughed all night as many of the stories ended up being about Jonathan (for some reason). So each of us took our turns drawing Jonathan to the best of our ability!
After dinner we played a game we learned from Joe Olson that is a little like "telephone" using written sentences and drawings. The catch was that each of us had to use our second language when writing. We laughed all night as many of the stories ended up being about Jonathan (for some reason). So each of us took our turns drawing Jonathan to the best of our ability!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Casa Nido
Have you ever had a group of children lay hands on you and pray for you? I can say that I never had until this week. And it was an incredibly powerful experience. On Monday night, Mark and I went for dinner to one of the homes at the Bible Home, Roblealto's temporary shelter. The Bible Home houses 83 children who come from such extreme home situations that they cannot live with their own families at this time. Roblealto has 8 houses with incredible house parents that raise these children until they are able to be reunited with their families. Mark and I had been wanting to connect more with the homes and get to know the house mothers and children better. We find we are working in our office a lot on our projects, which we love, but we've been missing kid contact - not to mention the kids are the heart of Roblealto!
We enjoyed having dinner with the kids and chatting with them in Spanish (good practice!) After dinner, we played some games with the children and then they did a little presentation for us. The older kids had an evangelical skit they did and then all 13 of them (plus the house mother's two own children) circled up and sang songs for us. It was a lot of fun to join in when we could! They sang "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty" in Spanish while we sang in English.
The children have a strict routine and at 8:00 start getting ready for bed. Just before 8, the house mom, Francinie, said we would pray together. She asked Mark and I to sit on the floor in the middle of the kids. They surrounded us and laid hands on us, held our hands, stroked my hair. Francinie explained our role at Roblealto and how we would be helping to host the volunteer groups that come. She then asked 5 of the children to pray for us. It was the most humbling experience to have these children - some as young as 6 years old! - pray with such boldness and faith. They prayed God would bless us, watch over us, provide for us. One little guy, Randall, kept praying and praying, thanking God that we had a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in. I couldn't keep my tears back. These children, who have suffered so much and seen so much, were a great blessing to us. We have been praying for them, and they, in return, now prayed for us.
Every day we learn a little more about what God is doing here at Roblealto. This is a place where families are healed, come to know God, and truly are transformed. Thank you for your support of us in this year. This Thanksgiving we are thankful for each one of you and for how God has allowed us to be at Roblealto this year. Glory be to God!
We enjoyed having dinner with the kids and chatting with them in Spanish (good practice!) After dinner, we played some games with the children and then they did a little presentation for us. The older kids had an evangelical skit they did and then all 13 of them (plus the house mother's two own children) circled up and sang songs for us. It was a lot of fun to join in when we could! They sang "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty" in Spanish while we sang in English.
The children have a strict routine and at 8:00 start getting ready for bed. Just before 8, the house mom, Francinie, said we would pray together. She asked Mark and I to sit on the floor in the middle of the kids. They surrounded us and laid hands on us, held our hands, stroked my hair. Francinie explained our role at Roblealto and how we would be helping to host the volunteer groups that come. She then asked 5 of the children to pray for us. It was the most humbling experience to have these children - some as young as 6 years old! - pray with such boldness and faith. They prayed God would bless us, watch over us, provide for us. One little guy, Randall, kept praying and praying, thanking God that we had a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in. I couldn't keep my tears back. These children, who have suffered so much and seen so much, were a great blessing to us. We have been praying for them, and they, in return, now prayed for us.
Every day we learn a little more about what God is doing here at Roblealto. This is a place where families are healed, come to know God, and truly are transformed. Thank you for your support of us in this year. This Thanksgiving we are thankful for each one of you and for how God has allowed us to be at Roblealto this year. Glory be to God!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Mid-November
Mid-November in Costa Rica is a little rainy and cool, but we know the summer weather is right around the corner here and that's a little strange. I feel like I should be putting away my summer clothes and taking out my winter sweaters, but I'll have to wait until I'm home at Christmas to wear those!
We have enjoyed having Lois, from Ridgewood, staying with us this week! She is here to begin planning Ridgewood's trip in February and for a Mom's In Touch event happening today. Women are meeting to pray for their children and their schools in over 1,600 sites today around the world. Lois is helping Pamela (our boss) lead one of the main Costa Rican sites at our church, Ciudad de Dios. We pray that it is a blessing to many! We've enjoyed talking to Lois about Roblealto and picking her brain for ideas of how to promote the projects. Our favorite day was bringing her to the Bible Home, the temporary shelter, where she is loved by MANY. Kids ran up to her with lots of hugs. One little boy insisted that I confirm to his whole house that HE saw Lois first! Mark and I haven't gotten into the houses much and so we enjoyed that a lot. I (Emily) enjoyed getting to do some translating for her too! It truly is amazing the relationships she's built over the years at Roblealto.
We have a lot of big projects in the works in the International Department. The main project for the mission trip groups this year is to rebuild the Arco Iris house at the Bible Home. This house is 40 years old and is rotting, has poor ventilation and lighting, and has a poor floor plan for the 16 people that live there! The projected cost is $160,000 and we've written the proposal plan that will go out to churches with groups coming to explain the necessity of this project. Also, we are really excited about the Los Guido campaign that is just beginning. Los Guido is the community we visited 2 weeks ago that has 25,000 people squatting in extremely poor conditions. After seeing Los Guido, we couldn't help but get passionate about the plan for a new child care center that Roblealto has committed to build. The first stage is projected at $300,000 and will allow some children to begin to receive services.
We've also been preparing packets and a powerpoint for mission trip groups that are coming and a big mailing went out this week to our sponsors informing them of the progress in 2009. So it's been a busy couple of weeks! Thank you for prayers for these projects. We know that God will provide for Roblealto and the hundreds of children that are served by its programs. We continue to be thankful that God brought us here as we fall in love with Roblealto!
Afterthought... Yesterday we experienced our first earthquake in Costa Rica. We were at the central offices when we heard a faint boom followed by the building shaking. It turned out to be a 5.1 earthquake centered about 45 miles away at Jaco Beach. New experiences!
We have enjoyed having Lois, from Ridgewood, staying with us this week! She is here to begin planning Ridgewood's trip in February and for a Mom's In Touch event happening today. Women are meeting to pray for their children and their schools in over 1,600 sites today around the world. Lois is helping Pamela (our boss) lead one of the main Costa Rican sites at our church, Ciudad de Dios. We pray that it is a blessing to many! We've enjoyed talking to Lois about Roblealto and picking her brain for ideas of how to promote the projects. Our favorite day was bringing her to the Bible Home, the temporary shelter, where she is loved by MANY. Kids ran up to her with lots of hugs. One little boy insisted that I confirm to his whole house that HE saw Lois first! Mark and I haven't gotten into the houses much and so we enjoyed that a lot. I (Emily) enjoyed getting to do some translating for her too! It truly is amazing the relationships she's built over the years at Roblealto.
We have a lot of big projects in the works in the International Department. The main project for the mission trip groups this year is to rebuild the Arco Iris house at the Bible Home. This house is 40 years old and is rotting, has poor ventilation and lighting, and has a poor floor plan for the 16 people that live there! The projected cost is $160,000 and we've written the proposal plan that will go out to churches with groups coming to explain the necessity of this project. Also, we are really excited about the Los Guido campaign that is just beginning. Los Guido is the community we visited 2 weeks ago that has 25,000 people squatting in extremely poor conditions. After seeing Los Guido, we couldn't help but get passionate about the plan for a new child care center that Roblealto has committed to build. The first stage is projected at $300,000 and will allow some children to begin to receive services.
We've also been preparing packets and a powerpoint for mission trip groups that are coming and a big mailing went out this week to our sponsors informing them of the progress in 2009. So it's been a busy couple of weeks! Thank you for prayers for these projects. We know that God will provide for Roblealto and the hundreds of children that are served by its programs. We continue to be thankful that God brought us here as we fall in love with Roblealto!
Afterthought... Yesterday we experienced our first earthquake in Costa Rica. We were at the central offices when we heard a faint boom followed by the building shaking. It turned out to be a 5.1 earthquake centered about 45 miles away at Jaco Beach. New experiences!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Our first visitors
Hi everyone!
We just had our first visitors and enjoyed hosting in our house in Costa Rica. Emily's friend from her school last year, Janna, came with a friend for 3 days. They are both teaching in Panama and so they took the bus up to visit (a 10 hour bus ride plus 4 hours at the border - oof!) We had fun taking them to a great restaurant that overlooked San Jose, going to a soccer game, visiting the Poas volcano, and going to one of our favorite places -La Paz - where we played again with the toucans. We really enjoyed showing off our new country and comparing living in Costa Rica to living in Panama!
Things in the office continue to go well. We have 11 volunteer groups coming next year so far. This is a huge answer to prayer! We started with 5 groups with a goal of 15 so we are almost there! Mark made many phone calls to churches who are long-time supporters of Roblealto and this strategy seemed to have really worked!
We also enjoyed going to the dedication service for the newest house at the temporary shelter. The Ridgewood team helped build this house so it was exciting to be part of the dedication. There was a lot of prayers and gratitude for the ways God has provided for Roblealto and rejoicing at 10 more kids will be able to receive services at the Bible Home!
Today we went with a few of our co-workers to the Los Guido neighborhood in San Jose. This is an extremely poor neighborhood south of San Jose where many of our children live. It was very difficult to see how over 200,000 people are living as squaters. Many are immigrants from Nicaragua or Columbia. Problems include poor sanitation and nutrition, drugs, prostitution, lack of education, and extreme poverty. Roblealto is definitely a bright light to this community and was given land 7 years ago right in the middle of the neighborhood to build another day care center. This center is SO necessary for the community, but as you can imagine, Roblealto needs to raise a lot of money for this project. We have joined them in praying for this new center to be built soon because of the hope and possibility it would bring to the community. Please join us in praying for the Los Guido Day Care Center! Thank you!
We just had our first visitors and enjoyed hosting in our house in Costa Rica. Emily's friend from her school last year, Janna, came with a friend for 3 days. They are both teaching in Panama and so they took the bus up to visit (a 10 hour bus ride plus 4 hours at the border - oof!) We had fun taking them to a great restaurant that overlooked San Jose, going to a soccer game, visiting the Poas volcano, and going to one of our favorite places -La Paz - where we played again with the toucans. We really enjoyed showing off our new country and comparing living in Costa Rica to living in Panama!
Things in the office continue to go well. We have 11 volunteer groups coming next year so far. This is a huge answer to prayer! We started with 5 groups with a goal of 15 so we are almost there! Mark made many phone calls to churches who are long-time supporters of Roblealto and this strategy seemed to have really worked!
We also enjoyed going to the dedication service for the newest house at the temporary shelter. The Ridgewood team helped build this house so it was exciting to be part of the dedication. There was a lot of prayers and gratitude for the ways God has provided for Roblealto and rejoicing at 10 more kids will be able to receive services at the Bible Home!
Today we went with a few of our co-workers to the Los Guido neighborhood in San Jose. This is an extremely poor neighborhood south of San Jose where many of our children live. It was very difficult to see how over 200,000 people are living as squaters. Many are immigrants from Nicaragua or Columbia. Problems include poor sanitation and nutrition, drugs, prostitution, lack of education, and extreme poverty. Roblealto is definitely a bright light to this community and was given land 7 years ago right in the middle of the neighborhood to build another day care center. This center is SO necessary for the community, but as you can imagine, Roblealto needs to raise a lot of money for this project. We have joined them in praying for this new center to be built soon because of the hope and possibility it would bring to the community. Please join us in praying for the Los Guido Day Care Center! Thank you!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Our First Run for the Border!!
One of the interesting parts of our life in Costa Rica is that we are required to leave the country every 90 days to have our visas restamped. Because we must be gone for 72 hours this is a chance to explore other nearby countries. We could not believe that our first three month period is already up!
So last Friday we boarded a bus in San Jose to travel east over the mountains to the Caribbean side and on down into Panama. This was the first time we had seen the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It was beautiful -- broad flat plains filled with banana plantations, rushing rivers from the mountains and many little towns along the coast. Five and a half hours later we arrived at the Panamanian boarder where we faced a series of memorable challenges in order to be allowed to enter Panama. This could have been a reality show! It was an adventure that included one bus, one taxi and two boat rides to get to our hotel. The methods of transportation are one story, but the experience at the border was another. Let me describe in detail. The bus pulled up into a small border town called Sixaola where we exited the bus and began to look for the border crossing. All we could see were food stands and clothing stores, but eventually we followed some Europeans who had done this trip before. We climbed a staircase and checked in at the Costa Rican side first to be "stamped out". Then we followed the crowd across the river between the two countries, which is spanned by an old wooden bridge with missing slats. Below was a raging river reported to be filled with crocodiles. Successfully crossing the bridge is step two of the border process!
Following this test of strength and skill we entered a street lined with offices where we needed to complete the next steps: buying our return bus ticket (necessary in order to show we intend to leave Panama), buying our tourist visas, and finally being processed by immigration. But, without any signs to guide us, and since the offices are not in any obvious order, this next test before entering Panama was one of wit and endurance (it was 95 degrees in the shade). But, thanks to God, Emily's abilities with the language, and locals who were happy to guide us through (asking for a small tip, of course), we finally got into our taxi and headed to the port town of Almirante where we caught a water taxi to the Bocas Del Toro islands to stay for the next three days.
What a beautiful place! Because it is low season for tourism the hotel and other activities were inexpensive and uncrowded. We enjoyed a peaceful little hotel, time by the water reading and relaxing, snorkeling (Mark's first time) and walking along the beach. We were slightly afraid of the crabs that were EVERYWHERE. In the nighttime the big blue ones came out and you could just hear them skuttling all over the place. Tough to see them on a mostly dark island.
It was a nice break break from a busy couple of months on the job with Roblealto's International Department. In our first quarter Emily worked hard on numerous reports and translations for Roblealto, including a promotional mailing to Roblealto child sponsors inviting them to come visit their sponsored child. Mark has focused on fine-tuning the website and contacting all the churches that support Roblealto financially by way of phone call and an e-flier. The goal is to invite these churches to consider bringing a mission trip. These tasks along with many others have made for challenging but exciting days.
Those projects having been accomplished we look forward to another productive two months before Christmas. Only two months away!
So last Friday we boarded a bus in San Jose to travel east over the mountains to the Caribbean side and on down into Panama. This was the first time we had seen the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It was beautiful -- broad flat plains filled with banana plantations, rushing rivers from the mountains and many little towns along the coast. Five and a half hours later we arrived at the Panamanian boarder where we faced a series of memorable challenges in order to be allowed to enter Panama. This could have been a reality show! It was an adventure that included one bus, one taxi and two boat rides to get to our hotel. The methods of transportation are one story, but the experience at the border was another. Let me describe in detail. The bus pulled up into a small border town called Sixaola where we exited the bus and began to look for the border crossing. All we could see were food stands and clothing stores, but eventually we followed some Europeans who had done this trip before. We climbed a staircase and checked in at the Costa Rican side first to be "stamped out". Then we followed the crowd across the river between the two countries, which is spanned by an old wooden bridge with missing slats. Below was a raging river reported to be filled with crocodiles. Successfully crossing the bridge is step two of the border process!
Following this test of strength and skill we entered a street lined with offices where we needed to complete the next steps: buying our return bus ticket (necessary in order to show we intend to leave Panama), buying our tourist visas, and finally being processed by immigration. But, without any signs to guide us, and since the offices are not in any obvious order, this next test before entering Panama was one of wit and endurance (it was 95 degrees in the shade). But, thanks to God, Emily's abilities with the language, and locals who were happy to guide us through (asking for a small tip, of course), we finally got into our taxi and headed to the port town of Almirante where we caught a water taxi to the Bocas Del Toro islands to stay for the next three days.
What a beautiful place! Because it is low season for tourism the hotel and other activities were inexpensive and uncrowded. We enjoyed a peaceful little hotel, time by the water reading and relaxing, snorkeling (Mark's first time) and walking along the beach. We were slightly afraid of the crabs that were EVERYWHERE. In the nighttime the big blue ones came out and you could just hear them skuttling all over the place. Tough to see them on a mostly dark island.
It was a nice break break from a busy couple of months on the job with Roblealto's International Department. In our first quarter Emily worked hard on numerous reports and translations for Roblealto, including a promotional mailing to Roblealto child sponsors inviting them to come visit their sponsored child. Mark has focused on fine-tuning the website and contacting all the churches that support Roblealto financially by way of phone call and an e-flier. The goal is to invite these churches to consider bringing a mission trip. These tasks along with many others have made for challenging but exciting days.
Those projects having been accomplished we look forward to another productive two months before Christmas. Only two months away!
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