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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.

Predique hermano, Predique.

June 21, 2006 in Mexico, Ministry, Progress by Dave | 2 comments

Preach Brother, Preach!

In order to keep a license to preach with the Assemblies of God, a minister needs to preach at least 10 times within a year’s time. Now while that wasn’t a challenge in the states where we preached over 150 times in the course of our itineration, we’ve had a more difficult time fulfilling that requirement here in Costa Rica, especially since we had to learn to preach in Spanish in order to secure a preaching date.

We’ll I’m happy to report that I got back on track in fulfilling my licensing requirements as I preached my first sermon in Spanish today before the professors and students of CINCEL. The sermon was on John 15, the passage in which Jesus talks about abiding in the vine. It is available here, for those of you who would like to read it in Spanish.

It’s hard to describe the significance that this event has for our lives. During our commissioning service, we were given a Spanish Bible with the admonishment to preach the Word in the language of the people to whom we have been called. I remember opening that Bible in the days after and finding it difficult to even understand a few words. Now to be able to not only read, but share the Word of God in Spanish is something of a dream come true. We are amazed at how far God has taken us, and reflecting on His faithfulness has increased our faith in God’s plan to use us to reach the people of Mexico.

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Estamos viendo el Mundial

June 14, 2006 in CostaRica, Culture by Dave | 2 comments

The sidewalks are empty. The shopping centers are deserted. There is an eerie silence in the streets. No, this is not a city-wide disaster drill, we’re watching the World Cup.

What is this you say? Well as you have noted in my previous post, soccer is not simply a sport, it is a way of life for many Costa Ricans specifically, and world sport fans in general. In fact, although baseball is America’s Game (and my favorite), soccer is truly the world’s sport. The World Cup is a tournament that takes place each 4 years, in which one country wins the right to be the world’s best in the world’s biggest pastime. 32 teams have classified in the years preceding this tournament and have won the opportunity to play for the title. The US is in it, and the Costa Ricans, having beaten the US last year in order to receive their classification have also entered into the tournament.

So what is this baseball loving north American supposed to do? Well, go out an buy a jersey and root for the home team of course! (Fortunately Costa Rica doesn’t come up against the US or Mexico in this round.) As a school, we watched the defeat of Costa Rica 3-2 against Germany last Friday, and we rooted and booed with the rest of the country glued to their TV sets. I realized, of course, that my Spanish wasn’t getting much better in the process, aside from being able to practice rolling my r’s with the announcers, but something happened in the process that was more profound than the conjugation of verbs. As I sat side-by-side with Ruddy Pizarro and his brother, sharing one of their passions, I found myself identifying just a little bit more with the culture that God has called us to serve and moving closer to the incarnational model of ministry that Christ modeled for us. And, who knows, although Spanish grammar is on the schedule, 8:00 AM tomorrow may just find us seated around another game as Costa Rica takes on Ecuador.

For more on the World Cup ’06 through the eyes of missionaries, Jim Cottrill, the man with his finger on the pulse of evangelical missionary bloggers at www.missionary-blogs.com, has posted some great highlights, including a World Cup Prayer Guide.

Photo credits: CLF (2006). Predator Absolute & Teamgeist. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/clf/85998174/

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Taking time

June 8, 2006 in Day2Day, Prayer by Dave | 1 comment

When I wrote down my thoughts at the beginning of the year, I intended to form a base from which to work, a foundation on which I could build the rest of my missionary life. But, as many of realize, our intentions are not always what get carried out. My conversation teacher, Giselle Mata, says, “Hay algo entre el querer y el hacer.” As I have reviewed my concepts for living, I have found that in some areas, I have moved forward, but also that in several, I have lagged behind, or fallen flat. I guess that is precisely the reason why many don’t make resolutions, because they are afraid that they can never live up to them. On the contrary, I believe that without a clear goal we’ll never know when we have arrived, or possibly we’ll never arrive anywhere. With a goal it is easy to see when you have failed, but without one it is impossible to know when you have succeeded.

Evaluating the past 5 months, the areas in which I have failed the most have been in the areas that have required taking time. Not that I haven’t been without excuses. This morning, for example, caused me to find a car that could borrow to take a lunch that my daughter forgot to her school and make it back to attend chapel at CINCEL by 7:45 AM all after running 3 miles and getting the boys showered and ready. I say this not to complain, but to show that time is something that has a tendency to slip through my fingers. Unless I mark out a place in time intentionally, I never get the time that I need to do the things that I believe are important, like pray with purpose, read the Bible allowing the words to affect my soul, and be an intentional spouse and father. I have been recommitting myself to these priorities.

In recent days, Kelly and I have started reading a devotional “My Utmost for His Highest” together. It has served as a springboard for sharing our feelings and out prayer needs like never before. But it would never have been realized unless we had put aside the books for a few minutes in order to share this time together. This last weekend, Joseph and I went on to a Father/Son camp. The picture above is of Joseph and me along with a few of the friends that we made there. We spent time learning to build fires, (campfires), shoot BB rifles, and roll in the mud. Certainly none of these activities was necessary on its own, but the time that I spent with him was priceless, especially as I got to see him pass to the altar on Saturday night to accept Christ.

We received a statistic from DeLonn Rance, a fellow missionary and AGTS professor that said that 90% of missionaries spend less than 10 minutes a day in prayer. Why: I believe for lack of time. I can understand this. I see my time taken up with homework, study, projects, preaching, and miscellaneous activities everyday, but I can’t allow them to be my excuses. I need to take time, time from the urgent in order to do the most important. How about you?

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Sickness, missionary ingenuity and why tubs are scarce in Costa Rica

June 1, 2006 in CostaRica, Culture, Day2Day, Prayer by Dave | 3 comments

Well you can’t tell from the picture, but this week found Jonathan sick for the third time in 2 weeks. This time with a fever. We are now in the start of the rainy season here, and like what happens in the States during the onset of winter, it seems like people come down with sicknesses during this time of year in Costa Rica.

With the kids in the Kinder program here at CINCEL it has been quite a ride. The ladies are doing there best to keep up, but sickness has taken hold of many as the children pass germs more readily because of the need to stay indoors. Today, the day Jonathan went back, three were sent home with fevers or symptoms of infection. So pray, please, for the kidos. When they’re down it really adds to the pressure of learning and adapting to the language/culture.

Now of course with sickness comes the great variety of home remedies, and Costa Ricans have an abundance. (One that was prescribe for the stomach flu that hit last week was a rice/cinnamon drink.) Now one home remedy that most believe in is the use of a tepid bath to bring down a high temperature. The only problem is that, here, bathtubs are almost as scarce as dish washers!

So what is one to do with a sick child, and no tub in which to give a bath. Well, if you are a missionary, you improvise! We hauled 11 action packers full of clothes and household stuff to Costa Rica. Their size and shape made them perfect for the taking on the plane with us, but the one-piece plastic construction also makes for a great substitute for a tub for a toddler with a temperature among other things. (Fellow missionary Kevin Stewart used one of his for a bassinet for his newborn.) So, the night before last, Jonathan got one of only a handful of baths in Costa Rica. Only this time his plastic tub also doubles as a suitcase.

That brings me to the last part of the post. Why are bath tubs so scarce here in Costa Rica? Well, the first answer that I received to that question was that it was because they were so expensive. However, is it because they are scarce that they are expensive, or is it because they are expensive that they are scarce? (If that confused you email me and I’ll explain that subtlety.) So in probing deeper, Kelly found that the Costa Ricans believe in taking cold showers. They feel that the cold shower helps their skin to stay younger, and helps their breathing as well. (One teacher explained that deep breath that one takes in when entering the cold stream is good for the lungs.) In fact, missionary Jon Dalahger when hosting a building team had to have electric shower heads installed in homes where the construction workers would be housed because none of the homes in that area had hot water tanks. So, according to one theory, since tubs are usually for taking baths in hot water, the fact that Ticos shower in cold water made the tub unnecessary.

So, if you are planning trip to Costa Rica, don’t assume your hotel will have a tub, or hot water for that matter, and if you are traveling with the kids, you may be surprised at how versatile your luggage can be.

Update: 6/7/2006 Jim Cottril has included this post in his compilation of missionaries blogging about culture on Missionary Blog Watch Check out his comments and the other posts that he has included.

The tongue…

May 24, 2006 in Day2Day, Language, Progress by Dave | 1 comment

A thing for talking. A thing for taming. A thing for tasting?

It’s funny how things seem to tie together in one’s life, but I recently came upon an interesting convergence of sorts. I was planning for my first Spanish Bible Study, and I was reading in James 3:1-12 where James talks about the tongue as an uncontrollable fire that can burn up our very lives. As I wondering how we could control such a savage beast, Myra, one of our Costa Rican friends, was introducing us to a new dish, tongue! Aha! I said to myself, pull it out and serve it for dinner! Of course, the idea quickly left the table of viable options.

However, As cataloged in one of our classmate’s blog, the tongue of a cow (pictured in Kelly’s hand) is indeed an edible, and actually quite tasty item. It is slow cooked overnight and then simmered in tomato sauce. (Myra used Prego.) The outer covering is removed during the process produce a very soft, pleasant meat.

Of course it may come to mind that what you are tasting may have at one time been able to taste you, but really, how many of us really know what goes into some of the things that we eat…like hot dogs? I highly recommend cow tongue, but if you buy it for the family, be sure to buy a big one, or get two because they shrink when you cook them.

But back to the convergence, the taming of the tongue is a daily process, is it not? We have now been in this stage of language-learning for about 8 months, and one of the more difficult things I have dealt with has been the phonetics involved in producing what I want to say. In Spanish a word with the same letters and different accent can have a completely different meaning. Also, words like “aeropuerto”, or “inmediatamente” were just a challenge for this Gringo to master. At times I’ve wanted to ask where I could buy a Spanish tongue so that I could trade it out with my American one before heading into class, but I have realized that there is no shortcut to pronunciation. It takes time and patience in order to speak correctly a foreign language.

So it is with God’s process in taming the words that we say, be it in out native language or a foreign one. We must admit that we need His intervention to pull out some of our cynicism, sarcasm, and complaining. It is a decision to allow Him to do his work, but it is also a process that takes time and a continual dependence upon the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I have more to say on this in my Bible Study (in Spanish).

So there you have it: The tongue: a thing for talking (in languages foreign or domestic), for taming (through time and the work of the Spirit), and, as long as it is tongue of cow, a thing for tasting!

It Lives!

May 16, 2006 in Day2Day, Misc by Dave | 1 comment

You may have remembered my casualties post, in which I had written about my Pocket PC that met its demise when I fell on it during a practice for the Luis Palau outreach earlier this Spring. Well, it lives again!

Proving that God indeed cares for the details in life, I had thought about purchasing a new screen for the PC after the fall, but the price, nearly $150, the hassle that is involved in shipping anything overseas, and the fact that Kelly philanthropically donated hers to me made me put off the purchase. I put the unit aside and put it out of my mind. On the desk it sat, unusable until our children decided it was time again to explore.

Rebekah, Joseph, and Jonathan are adventurous types. They would rather be anywhere but in their own home. So when Uncle Garritt and Aunt Tara* arrived home, they decided that they need to go upstairs to “see” their apartment, even though they had seen it many times before. The permission granted by the Kenyons allowed the kids to hang out in a different place for awhile, but it also gave the adults a chance to talk.

Garritt likes technology and gadgets abound in his apartment. Blessed with new iPods before coming to the field, he “just happened” to have a Dell Axim x30 that he wasn’t using, not the same exact unit as the one I broke but with the exact same screen. I told him of my situation, and he offered it to us free of charge. So after about 30 minutes of wrestling with both units, I was able to swap the screen of the lesser, functioning model for the screen of my non-functioning unit, and, as the picture shows, the old friend is resurrected!

That a replacement part for my specific Pocket PC could be hand delivered free of charge to Zapote, San José, Costa Rica to our apartment complex is absolutely a miracle. Situations like this remind me that God is truly in control of the big picture and the details as well.

*In A/G Missionary Culture, adults in the missionary family are called Uncles and Aunts by the missionary kids.

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