As this chapter closes…

This time next week we hope to be boarding a plane in San José, Costa Rica that will take us back to the US and Las Vegas! Woo-Hoo! Many things cross through our minds as we contemplate where we have been and where we are going.

First of all, we are grateful to the many people that have been praying for us! Many of you have told us and communicated with us directly and indirectly. We know that without your prayers and God’s daily presence in our lives we would not have experienced all the blessings we have seen: our ability to see God’s activity in and around the school, Sandy’s ability to learn Spanish while struggling with her medication, the friends and relationships we have made while here. Let me give you two concrete example of how we have seen God’s direct involvement in our lives.

One: We were very concerned about finding a doctor that knew about Hepatitis-C, the treatment for it, knew of the potential side effects and complications, and would be able to communicate with us as we learned Spanish. The doctor WE had chosen, the head of the gastroenterology clinic at the closest hospital, was unable to treat Sandy. A colleague of his, however, had studied at Yale and had just returned from working in Dallas on a one year fellowship at one of the premier liver treatment facilities in the world, and although he works at another hospital, he was willing to come to this hospital to treat Sandy. I’m glad God provided that doctor and didn’t let us use the doctor WE had chosen.

Two: We are living in a 4-plex apartment. Although it is about 8-10 blocks from the school, it was the PERFECT place for us to be. Our medical insurance requires us to get all long-term medication from them, yet they cannot ship out of the US. They will reimburse foreign retail purchases, but only twice. Students at our school are living in two of the other units in our 4-plex. What are the odds that Kim’s church would send a mission trip to Costa Rica in October and that Josh and Allison would be flying to the US and back here in November? They were able to bring our October and November medical supplies.

Coincidences? We don't think so! We believe God is watching over us and much of it is due to your prayers. Thank You.

I also want to include some random shots of why we love this country and these people: when there’s a job to do, they get it done, however they can (click on the pictures for more detail!)…

As I was walking to a local store to look for empty boxes for packing our stuff, I came across this parade of various school groups performing Christmas songs…

Please join us as we continue the next phase of our journey!

ICTUS

It takes a Spanish class to teach me a little Greek – how ironic is that?

In my fonética class (phonetics), we read a story entitled ICTUS. It told how many of the towns and countries in new testament times spoke different languages. For commerce and general exchange of information, the common language was Greek; hence the disciples preached, taught and wrote in Greek.

As it turns out, the phrase Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, in Greek appears as Iesous Cristos Teou Uio Soter. The first letter from each word, in Greek letters are: ἰχθύς (Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma), or with our alphabet: ICHTHUS. (The χ and the θ are represented by CH and TH.) ICHTHUS is the Greek word for fish! How cool is that?

But wait, there’s more…

The fish symbol was intentionally a very simple design: two opposing arcs connected in a point on one side and overlapping on the other side. Not only was this symbol used to indicate Christian meeting places and decorate artifacts, it was also used to secretly identify other believers. If after speaking with someone, instead of coming right out and asking if they were a believer (which could get you in trouble if you asked the wrong person!) one person would draw the top arc. The other person would either ignore what you did, not understanding what you meant, or draw the bottom arc, completing the fish symbol. If that happened, you would each then know that each of you were believers!

Think about that next time you see the fish symbol!

She Is My Hero!

Last month I wrote about the struggle Sandy is having with the side effects from her medication (click here for the article). Every Friday evening she gives herself an injection; twice a day she has to take three pills that make her feel tired all the time and give her headaches. Medically, Sandy is healing, but physically she is just as tired and the headaches still come and go.

Not really a bright side, but we wanted to share some of the positive impacts on others Sandy’s ordeal is generating…

Sandy told me that at the beginning of each class the instructor usually asks how each student ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?) – Sandy generally answers Estoy bien, gracias (I’m fine, thanks). The other day one of the students, when it was her turn to answer, commented “If Sandy says she’s doing OK, then I’m doing great!”

A few days ago I was talking with one of the instructors about what classes we should take next year. I described to her some of what Sandy is going through and she commented that it is tough for anyone to go through this program and that if Sandy has these issues to deal while attending these classes, “She is my hero!”

I was speaking with a friend at church this morning and she asked how Sandy was. She, too, was amazed that Sandy is not only able to attend classes, but do well!

Academics have never been Sandy’s strength; she did OK in school but quit early and later went back for her GED. In the classes here her grades are between 78 and 95… not too shabby.

We know that we are in the midst of God’s will for our lives, and that His plan is always best, even when we are shortsighted. We are glad to be able to see benefit come from this treatment… not only is Sandy’s viral load decreasing, but she is providing inspiration for so many others.

Please continue to pray for us…
1) that the side effects Sandy is experiencing are minimized as much as possible,
2) that we can continue to be an inspiration for others,
3) that we are effective in communicating the gospel to others, in English and in Spanish

Time to Let Go

Have you ever bought something just to find out you bought the wrong thing… and then discovered you couldn’t return it? That can be really frustrating, especially if it was expensive. Sometimes we will try to find ways to adjust our situation to fit what we bought so the money isn’t wasted, right? Or we will say it’s not really that bad, not wanting to admit our mistake.

Yesterday during my quiet time I was reading in 2 Chronicles and saw the same thing had happened to Amaziah. (WHO is Amaziah, you ask? Don’t feel bad; a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have known who he was, either.) Amaziah was one of the kings of Judah, between Joash and Uzziah.

Amaziah was basically a good guy: He did right in the sight of the Lord (2 Chron 25:2). He only killed the people who murdered his father, and not their children, because it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which the Lord commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons be put to death for fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin.” (2 Chron 25:4). For the most part, he was following the Law of Moses.

While he was assembling his forces, he didn’t think he had enough, so to help protect Judah, he hired 100,000 “valiant warriors” from Israel for 100 talents of silver. Then we read: But a man of God came to him saying, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim.” (2 Chron 25:7). Here he was, following the Law, taking care of God’s people, investing a large sum of money to do so, and is told to not use what he had just bought.

Here’s the exchange they had: Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?" And the man of God answered, "The Lord has much more to give you than this.” (2 Chron 25:9)

WOW! What an awesome verse… and so applicable for us! 100 talents was a large sum then; Amaziah did not want to see it go to waste. He had made this decision in good faith. He was helping others. He had nothing to gain personally by this. Yet how can you argue with The Lord has much more to give you than this?

When you hear God calling you to do something, to go somewhere, to give up something… are you going to fight it and declare you didn’t hear right, or that you don’t want to waste anything? Or are you going to be like Amaziah: Then Amaziah dismissed them, the troops which came to him from Ephraim, to go home (2 Chron 25:10)?

Visa Renewal – ¡Panamá!

One of the quirks you run into when you live outside the US is the set of rules other countries impose on visitors. To make sure we don’t overstay our welcome, we are only allowed to be here for 90 days before we have to leave the country for at least 3 days; then we are allowed another 90 days. We plan to attend ILE for 2 tri-mesters, 4 months each, so we will have to leave the country at least once during each tri-mester. We could have gotten a student visa that would have allowed for us to stay up to one year, but that is a difficult and expensive process.

So this past weekend, we went to Panamá! On Friday, we took a 5-hour, $11 bus ride to the border. We saw LOTS of bananas, or at least the blue bags protecting the bananas. Once we got to the border, we had to buy another $11 return ticket to San Jose and get a $5 tourist card before going to the Panamá immigration window (they also want to make sure we don’t overstay our welcome!). This process took about an hour – did I mention it was raining? A lot?

From there we got a 1-hour, $5 taxi-van ride to the coastal town of Almirante. Next, we got a 25-minute, $4 water taxi ride to Bocas Del Toro Town on one of the islands where we stayed at Lula’s B&B for about $35 a night. It was still raining during our water taxi ride. Needless to say that between waiting at the border, the water taxi, and waiting for the taxi to the hotel, much of what we had in our backpacks got wet!

Saturday morning greeted us with sunshine and blue sky! Woo-Hoo! After some great omelets, Bryan, the B&B owner, suggested we take the bus to the other side of the island to visit Starfish Beach. That was another 45-minute bus ride (I didn’t know the island was that big) but it was well worth it.

The beach was very primitive, in a deserted island sort of way. Palm and coconut trees were growing wild. Old branches and dropped coconuts littered (no, dotted) the area giving it a unique charm. After about a 15-20 minute walk, we found Starfish Beach. The starfish were 8-12 inches across and in water just a few inches deep. We had to be careful not to step on them… yellow, orange, white and many different shades.

After several hours of sunning and swimming, we were ready for lunch. Drew and Jesse, two of the teenagers with us, ordered red snapper and were not ready for the WHOLE fish that arrived. Beth used some of her rice to cover its eyes so it didn’t watch her eat it! We hung out a little longer, before taking a bus back to the hotel. After cleaning up, we were ready for some seafood. Bryan suggested the Cosmic Crab Café, a 5-minute water taxi ride away. Dinner was great and of course it started to rain 10 minutes before we were ready to leave (someone had to have some ice cream or we probably would have made it back before the rain… oops! – sorry).

Sunday morning, after a filling pancake breakfast, we reversed our route and got back to San Jose without incident. We got our clothes washed, did some homework, got the backpacks ready, and called it a weekend! Indeed, missionaries do take time to enjoy what God provides, amen?

Mommy, Look What I Made!

Ever have one of your kids come up with their latest drawing? They were so proud of it and were eager to point out everyone and everything in the drawing, right?

Do you ever get that way with things YOU have made? I don’t mean the “practice” things, but something you’ve made or something you’ve done and you were downright proud of what you had made or done (even if you didn’t want to admit it!). Maybe it was cutting the grass, trimming the edges, AND sweeping up the mess. Maybe it was painting a room of the house. Maybe it was a paper you wrote and the teacher marked EXCELLENT on it. I’m sure we can all remember several things we have done that we wanted to show someone else.

This past weekend I had an opportunity to take a hike into the mountains to see the Three Crosses outside San Jose, Costa Rica. The views we had of the mountains, the meadows, the crops, the city, everything was awesome in the clear air. A friend of mine here at our school, Marvin (named in one of the photos), had a really brilliant observation: You know, Bill, God made all of this for our enjoyment. I’m sure he gets a kick out of watching us enjoy it.

You know, that’s really true: God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. – Genesis 1:27-28 (NASB). The bible goes on to say: God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. – Genesis 1:31a (NASB)

God, Himself, declared that it was very good; now when GOD says something is very good, you know it is very good! And just like us when we make something we like, He wants to share what He has made. So get outside and enjoy what God has prepared for us. Don’t feel guilty, but don’t forget where it came from, either!

Not My Will, But Yours…

Have I mentioned one of the benefits, or blessings, of learning Spanish here at ILE, in the midst of over 100 other missionaries, is that we have chapel twice a week. This morning’s message was led by Julie Chamberlain, the ILE director, and intertwined the Lord’s Prayer with worship songs. When she got to the passage Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven, she used as an example, Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemene: Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done, or paraphrased, “Father, I don’t want to go through this suffering, but more than that, what’s really important, is that Your will be done – that’s what I really want.” (MBV – Mister Bill Version!).

Many of you know Sandy is undergoing treatment for Hepatitis-C. It is a 48-week program complete with weekly injections and six pills daily. The side effects she is experiencing include extreme exhaustion (can no longer walk to school without stopping at the park part way – it was a 10-minute walk – and nearly mandatory afternoon naps) and frequent headaches (such that even light is painful). Not to mention the pain from the shots themselves, the depression, the lowered white blood cell count leaving her with a weakened immune system, etc.

Sandy had a blood test two weeks ago that measures the viral load in her system. If the results of that test show her viral load is now undetectable, her 48-week program can be reduced to 24-weeks. We got the results yesterday and her viral load had decreased from 10+ million to about 170,000 – a tremendous response to the medication, but not undetectable; hence no shortening of her program.

Needless to say we were disappointed. Hadn’t we done everything right? Hadn’t we obeyed God’s call to leave family and friends to do God’s work? Hadn’t we already submitted to God’s will for our lives? Why didn’t God either heal her outright, or at least minimize the treatment program. Others get that benefit, why not us?

Then the chapel lesson this morning… yet not My will, but Yours.

OUCH! What did Jesus do to deserve death on a cross? Why did He have to suffer so much? Didn’t He deserve better? What a poignant reminder that it’s not about what we deserve, it’s not about how good we are, it’s not about how comforted we are – it’s all about submitting to His will even when we don’t understand it. It’s all about having the right perspective. It’s not about us – it’s all about Him and trusting in the faith that comes from Him.

Wow! Do you see God at work here? Yesterday we get “bad news” and are distressed that we cannot cut our suffering short, and this morning a message about yet not My will, but Yours – who could have better timing than God Himself?

Thank you, Jesus, for loving us when we didn’t deserve it. Thank you, Jesus, for the life we have. Thank you, Jesus, for the sacrifice You made for us. May we continue in Your will, not ours.