Because it's been too long...

Wow, it has taken me way too long to update everyone on here!  Sometimes here in Costa Rica, it feels like we're in a good rhythm of school, studying, keeping the refrigerator stocked, resting on the weekends, and church.  While it's great to be in our rhythm down here now, sometimes it makes it hard to know what to say!  However, looking back, a lot of things happen even in the rhythm of daily life, so we'll update you just a little on how things are going here in San José.

The past few weeks here have been great.  On the 21st, I celebrated my 30th birthday.  Now, as a general rule, I don't like my birthday that much, but Sara did a great job of inviting some friends from the Institute over to our house and made an awesome cake that looked like a La Liga jersey.  We had a great time, and I felt so blessed to have such great friends here already after leaving behind so many other friends in Casper.  I'm not thrilled about being 30, but I guess I'll survive!

Liga!  Liga!  Liga!

What?  Three whole candles???  I didn't train for this!

Some of the friends that we over for my birthday.  We fit more people and kids in our house than should have fit in a reasonable world, but we had a great time!

School has been going well also.  The learning is hard at times (like finding out how to correctly use 'caer bein' in a sentence!!) but we really do feel like we're making great progress!  This past week was Spiritual Emphasis week at ILE.  Every trimester, they shorten the classes slightly for a week, and have a longer chapel every morning plus another chapel service in the afternoons, along with activities for the children.  This trimester, Jim Keena came from Bozeman, Montana, and preached about Elijah all week.  He did a fantastic job, and we were so blessed by the time in the Word!  We also had a few chances to have lunch with some friends, or to have friends over to our house for some food and fellowship.  We continue to be blown away by how God is blessing us spiritually and with great friends while we're here.

Sara teaching ESL on Wednesday nights

We've also started getting more connected to ministry here as well.  Sara teaches ESL every Wednesday night at a local Christian ministry, and is really loving getting to share her life with local Ticos through this ministry.  I'll be helping with the worship and technology team at the church we're attending here, and the pastor has asked me to take the young worship leader under my wing and teach him, which I'm excited to do (though interested in seeing how that'll work with my limited Spanish at this point).  And, as our Spanish has advanced, I've had more opportunities to share my life and testimony with those around us.  Specifically, I'd love for you to pray for:

• Hector and Margarita: they own a little shop across the street from us, and I've really been trying to know them and find ways to be a blessing to them and their son, Brian, who also lives across the street.
• The other Hector: He lives around the corner, and everyone calls him "the other Hector" or "the older Hector."  He has a barbecue across the street a few times a week, and I'm hoping to get to know better him as well.
• Other random people we encounter:  People like Carlos, who was my cab driver on Thursday that I had a great conversation with, or people like Benjamin, who is from Mexico City, but now lives a few miles south of us here in San José.  I met Benjamin at a soccer match this past Thursday evening, and was so blessed to talk with him for a while.  I don't know if I'll cross paths with either of these men again, but I know that every day I encounter people like them, and we want to be faithful to love them and share Christ at every opportunity.

More teaching on Wednesdays

Other than those things right now, we feel sometimes like we're just working day to day on very small parts of the big picture.  One day, we learn how to use complemento directos correctly, the next day we practice reading the scriptures in Spanish out loud, and then we talk about how to order in a restaurant in Spanish.  Sometimes, it's hard to realize that each of these things, in the future, will be tools that we'll take for granted as we share the Gospel with the people of Mexico.  So, this is a time of preparing, refining, equipping, and sometimes, silence, as we seek to be made ready vessels of God, eager to be poured out for His glory wherever He may send us.  I hope to write more later this week about some of the spiritual battles we're facing here, but for now, it's just a joy to know that God is working in various ways, and that the end result will be His glory and His renown among the nations!

One of the geckos that live in our house sometimes.

The kids are still as cute as ever!