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We’ve received our invitation

August 9, 2006 in Mexico, Prayer, Progress by Dave | 1 comment

We’d like to say thank you to all who had been praying for us as we travelled to Mexico for our meeting with the general presbytry there. Here are some things that did not happen:

  • We did not have trouble exiting Costa Rica or entering Mexico.
  • We did not find ourselves delayed or detained as a result of the protests that have gridlocked Mexico City following the July 2nd elections.
  • We did not have any problems on our return trip and arrived in Costa Rica, albeit tired, nearly on time yesterday.

Here are some things that did happen:

  • We have received an invitation from the Mexican Presbytry to work with missionaries Paul and Sandy Kazim in M�rida Mexico. (The picture above is of the municipal palace there.)
  • We have secured housing in M�rida, which mean we’ll be able to move right in when we arrive at the end of August.
  • We were able to leave a number of personal items in Mexico during the time we were there, making our move from Costa Rica that much easier.
  • We have benefitted from the strength of your support and prayers. Thank you!

We now are facing the task of packing up our apartment here in Costa Rica in order to prepare for our August 13th departure. Please continue to remember us as we go through this time of transition.

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Now that is a bug!

August 5, 2006 in CostaRica, Media, Nature by Dave | Permalink

We had the opportunity to travel to Tortuguero last weekend to celebrate Kelly’s 30 something birthday. While we were on the trip, we realized that, besides the green sea turtles, there are other natural wonders that grow to become quite large. Spiders were certainly in that category as was this elephant beetle. Take a look at Kelly’s hand in the video if you think this is just an extreme close up!


On our way to Mexico!

August 3, 2006 in Mexico, Prayer, Progress by Dave | 1 comment

As many of you read this post, we will be preparing for our first taste of Mexico this weekend as we prepare for our meeting with the national church leadership there in Mexico City. Please pray for the following:

  • The will of God to be accomplished as we ask permission from the Mexican A/G to work in Mexico.
  • Safety of the kids as they will be staying in Costa Rica as we travel.
  • Freedom from complication as we leave and re-enter Costa Rica, and as we spend time in Mexico. The tumultuous aftermath of the Mexican presidential elections has caused disruptions in transportation in the city and may extend to transportation methods into and out of the city.
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Final Exam

July 27, 2006 in Language, Prayer by Dave | Permalink

Keeping with our theme of lasts, we’d appreciate your prayers today (Friday) as we go through our “final exam” here at CINCEL. Kelly and I will each be sitting down with a professor for a “conversation” of sorts in order to plot our oral proficiency in Spanish. That’s the reason for the photo of Joseph’s mouth above. Please pray that we will be able to put into practice all that we have learned in the past year, and that the results of this exam will be an encouragement for the both of us to continue our learning even after we graduate from our program.

disciplemexico.org turns 100!

July 27, 2006 in SiteChanges by Dave | 3 comments

100 posts that is! We’ve crossed the 100 barrier, and to celebrate, we’ve changed our look. We’ve got what we believe is a much cleaner, much less “out of the box” look with more emphasis on Mexico, especially on the area of Merida where we are going to work. Of course, all of the features and content that you have enjoyed are still around. So if you’ve been enjoying our RSS feed or our updates by email, maybe it’s time to stop on by and give us another glance. By the way, thanks for your support and thanks for making us one of your stops on the web.

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The first last

July 22, 2006 in Progress by Dave | 2 comments

When we arrived in Costa Rica last August, one year seemed to be such a long time. We had images in our mind of how we would become almost natives, learning the language perfectly, and knowing every corner of this country. On the contrary, we have found that one year is only adequate to get your feet wet in the culture of a country. At no time is this more clear than when you begin to say goodbye.

This past Sunday, we said our first goodbye to our “home” church during the time that we have lived in Costa Rica. It is the place that we first learned to worship God in Spanish, and it has also been a place where we have felt God move in significant ways. This is a picture of the back wall of the church called Centro Evangelistico. The Bible verse in Spanish, although maybe a bit difficult to make out, was a confirmation of the hand of God on our lives when we arrived. It reads “Lift up your eyes and look to the fields because they are white for the harvest –John 4:35”

As we were itinerating last year, I had felt in April that God had given me this verse in order to encourage us to reach the field as soon as possible. Thankfully, many individuals and churches responded to help us reach our budget goal and leave on time. When we arrived at the church Centro Evangelistico, we received this confirmation that we were on schedule. Now as we depart, I feel that this verse is sending us out. Telling us that now is the time to put our hands to the work.

And so, as we begin to wrap up our time here, we look toward the near future which includes packing, planning, and preparing ourselves mentally and spiritually, but we also look back, remembering the hand of God upon us here and the relationships built, and how each has affected us greatly.

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Giving Back

July 16, 2006 in Language, Ministry, Progress by Dave | Permalink

As language school students for the past year, we’ve had the benefit of taking a lot from the people around us. We’ve received 4 hours a day of lessons, we’ve stopped people along the street, in shopping malls, and in church in order to have conversations, and we’ve received advice and insight into the latin culture, but we’ve not often had the opportunity to give back. That’s why, when we have the opportunity to contribute, we feel that it is blogworthy.

This month Kelly headed up a program at CINCEL to help seniors in high school (colegio in Spanish) prepare for their math exit exams. She did interviews at the colegio in order to asses their areas of need and then was available for the past 4 weeks in order to give them the help that they needed. I also got a chance to contribute to the English program that fellow missionary Ron Marcotte has been offering to the community, I translated from English into Spanish for the beginning students during the teaching sessions and then helped as a conversation partner as each student worked on their alphabet, their numbers and various simple phrases.

I think that the most special opportunity that we had this past month was the birthday that we celebrated with our friend Mayra (pictured with the cake above). She was celebrating her 60th birthday, but with her children in Florida she was looking to spend her day completly alone. Kelly planned a small celebration with several students who knew Mayra, and Mayra was touched deeply.

It’s interesting. We’ve grown up in a consumer culture and have been bombarded with commercials about the things that we need to acquire, but the older I get (32 years and counting), the more I realize that we have been created to give. Nothing creates a better feeling of satisfaction, and nothing more positively reflects the image of Christ that so many others in our society need to see.

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Just what is RSS and why do I care?

July 8, 2006 in SiteChanges by Dave | Permalink

If you have been on the web reading blogs for any length of time, then you probably have been seeing icons like the above, or perhaps little “chicklets” with the letters “RSS” on them, and perhaps you’ve wondered to yourself, just what is RSS anyway? Well, wonder no more, this missionary has taken it upon himself to let you into the RSS secret.

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is for people who want to stay on the cutting edge of information, but don’t have time to browse to several sites in order to get it. RSS, allows that person, probably a person much like yourself, to “subcribe” to a “site feed” or special file of information that is coded especially for news readers. The news reader is set up in such a way that you can receive and organize information from several sources all in one interface, usually web-based. The reader also shows which feeds have been upated recently, so you can tell at a glance what you need to pay attention to.

Are you sold on the technology? Do you want to know where to get a newsreader? Well, Google offers a one as does Yahoo, but I am especially partial to Bloglines as their reader works both on browsers and handhelds.

Why do I spend such time talking about RSS? Because we’ve spent such time making this site thoroughly accessable via RSS.

  • Want to get all of the latest information that is generated from disciplemexico.org? Click on the feed icon on the sidebar of this page in order to or here in order to add this site to your list of feeds (The feed icon is the orange symbol displayed on this post.)
  • Want to track a certain topic that peaks your interest like Prayer or Mexico? Click on a category on the sidebar and then the feed icon at the top of the following page in order to subscribe to that specific theme.
  • Are you a commenter but hate loosing track of your conversation? Subscribe to the comments individual posts that you comment on by clicking on the link that is available at the bottom of every post page in order to keep up with what’s being said. (Just click on the “Read more” link in order to reach the post page.)

Sure the setup may take a few extra minutes, but once you’ve started using RSS and newsreaders, you’ll wonder how you ever stayed informed without them! Go ahead give it a try, and of course add disciplemexico.org in the process.

What God is teaching me these days…

July 1, 2006 in Day2Day, Devotional by Dave | 4 comments

Guy Muse who writes the M Blog, has started a series on what God is teaching him these days. In part from his inspiration, and in part from the events of this past week, I’d like to chime in and share what God has been sharing with us these days.

Sometimes it takes more than one teaching in order to learn a lesson.

Jonathan went to the hospital last October in order to correct a congenital hernia. Those of you who have been reading this blog may remember this post about the event. He had the operation which corrected the problem, and one would think that we wouldn’t need to revisit the situation again, right? Wrong. This week we found that he had a hernia on the opposite side as well. He went in for the additional surgery yesterday. (He is recovering well. Thannk you to those who prayed.)

To us this has been an example of how, in the same way Jonathan needed two surgeries in order to correct his problem, we often need more than one teaching in order to learn the life lesson that God is trying to teach us. Kelly had the opportunity in Thursday’s chapel to share this reality. We think that we understand how to abide in Christ, and yet God reveals to us that we have much to learn. We feel that we have a handle on how to be a humble servant, and yet we find ourselves in the painful circumstance where we need to humble ourselves in front of others.

Is it some kind of terrible game that God plays with us? Although it feels that way sometimes, I would say no. I guess it is more like what Aslan revealed to Eustace Scrubb in the Chronicles of Narnia book, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Converted into a dragon because of his lust for treasure, Eustace found himself alone and pitiful until he had an encounter with the lion Aslan. Aslan took Eustace to a pool where he told Eustace to “undress and wash.” There, in front of the pool, Eustace found that he could shed the dragon skin. So he peeled it off of himself in order to wash in the pool. To his horror though, he found that no matter how hard he tried, the dragon skin would always reappear. It was only when Aslan “undressed him” with the deep cuts of his claws did Eustace find that he was truly free from his dragon skin and the isolation that it had brought upon him.

I believe that God teaches us his lessons in an ever deeper way, so that we too may shed the “old man” the natural, selfish mindset that keeps us from reflecting Christ in this life. His teaches often hurt, wounding our pride and self-reliance, but the product is always worth the price because, in the end, what remains is less of the corruption of this world and more of purity that reflects the kingdom of God.

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Mexico Elections

July 1, 2006 in Mexico, Prayer by Dave | Permalink

Tomorrow, July 2nd, is the date for the Mexican presidencial elections, and as it is in America, the political structure can change tremendously with the election of a new administration. This new administration will be the administration under which we enter the country, apply for residency, live, and work during the remainder of our first term. Please pray that:

  • God will guide the course of the elections, granting the people of Mexico the wisdom to choose the right candidate.
  • God will begin to work in the heart and mind of the president-elect, giving him the tools that he needs to govern fairly, and
  • That God will grant the evangelical church, including the Assemblies of God, favor in the eyes of this new government so that the work of God can continue unhindered.

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