Crazy Weather in Costa Rica

This morning I woke up, put on wool socks my sweats, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweatshirt then wondered, "when did I move back to Oregon?"  I'm not sure I remember such cold weather the whole time we have lived here in CR. This cold front is following a week of terrible rain that has caused much flooding, many landslides and led to over 20 deaths. We are all thankful it seems the rains have slowed and now we are just cold.

Please join us in prayer for all the families that have lost there homes and or family members.

Hello Again from Costa Rica !

As we were looking over our blog's we became very aware that we have been very poor communicators over this whole last year and that we have missed out on sharing with you a lot of what has happened over the last seven months. As you all know from the few blogs we have written we have had a very busy and some times very difficult year. But as we look back over all that has happened it is exhausting and very exciting all at the same time. We decided the best way to catch you up is with pictures, so here is a look at some of the events in our lives over the last several moths.
 

Back in January my (karen's) cousin Travis came for an overnight visit. It was great to get caught up as it had been many years since we had seen each other.

Gabriel lost his first tooth in Feb. and his second a few months later.

We took a quick trip to the beach at the end of Feb. before Douglas left for Argentina.

 

My Parents came for a visit while Douglas was away. Mom stayed 2 whole Months!!  What a blessing!!

My mom and I redid our front garden area while Douglas was away.

My mom also finished the mosaic she and I had started the year before.

Gabriel participated in a small competition at his gymnastics gym and got first place in his age group. there were only two others his age in his group but he was still very excited.

                  On the 4th of July we celebrated Zachariah's 4th birthday. Some of our closest friends here in CR recently moved to the coast so we went and celebrated with them. We got to go to a fire works show at a resort near their house that caters to Americans. It was the boys first real fireworks show and it was great! Riah thought they were all for him.

July also brought the start of the school for Douglas.

 

In August we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of YWAM here in CR we hosted the event for all of central America. It was a great honor and a lot of work for every one on the base. Loren and Darlene the founders of YWAM were here to lead the event and it was an amazing time of remembering God's faithfulness in the first 50 years and looking forward to the next 50.

The last weekend of Aug. we took part in a retreat for the bcc students. They spent the whole weekend reading Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges. They read out loud and at one point Gabriel got to read a chapter or repeat what someone else read. 

Douglas and I and the the two other staff members did all the cooking so the students could focus on their reading. It was great to be able to help out and be part of the weekend.

September brought Gabriel's 6th Birthday and a new skate board!

Dress up day at school."I'm King Daved" This year Zachariah is in pre- kinder and Gabriel is in Kinder. School here runs Jan.- Dec. so we are coming to the end of the year in just over a month.

Just a  week ago After all this craziness, God blessed us with a whole week to just get away as a family ! we spent only the first night of our trip in a hotel and then spent the next 7 days at a condo on the other side of the city from where we live. 

we went out to eat,

We played in the pool,

or laid in the sun.

Zachariah learned to ride his bike with out training wheels and Gabriel who had just learned got more comfortable on his.

We spent one whole day at an amusement park just outside of San Jose and the rest of the time we....

Played games and we even went to the movies one night.




 These few pictures don't tell even half of the story but they fill in a few of the holes.

In truth it has been a very trying year as we are just starting out full time with YWAM and we feel how we have been under attack as a family as we try to start this new bible core course and as i step in to my role at the base working with the  staff and doing a lot of logistical stuff.
We Thank God for all his protection and provision over the last months and trust him for the future. 
Thanks to all of you that have been praying for us and supporting us in so many ways we could not do what God has called us to with out you.

The Bible school starts at last!

After a long three months in Argentina and a month of preparation, the first Bible Core Courses  at YWAM San José, Costa Rica started this last Monday.

This is our classroom about two weeks ago. We have had a lot of fun getting everything together although it has been a tremendous amount of work. In addition to translating materials from English to Spanish we also have been trying to collect books for a library for the school and preparing a classroom. There were short term teams staying in our classroom up untill the tuesday before the schoolstarted. So in a little less than a week it was transformed from bran new bare walls to a beautiful classroom.

The picture on the right is of my two fearless partners. Melinda is from YWAM Perth wich is in Australia. She is helping us pioneer the BCC here in CR. She has lead over a dozen BCC's and her expertice is invaluble. The other lady is Grace from south Korea. It has been an incredible blessing to have her as part of the team.









Here are some of our students helping us to paint, clean up the cobwebs and sweep up the floor. Most of our students have either been staff at the base or students in other schools meanning they were all avalible to help out and it was such a blessing.

Between the 7 students and three staff, we have 8 nations represented: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, the USA, Canada, Saint Lucia, Cameroon and South Korea. 

To start the school we heard the books of the New Testament recited in Spanish, English, French and Korean. We are very happy that this school will be a truly iternational experience. This has its benefits and its challenges to be sure. 

The first couple weeks of the school are spent learning the basic steps of the inductive bible study method which is the the heart of the course. This week we are reading the book of Acts, breaking it down into its basic elements and then putting it back together so that we can better understand it. For today we have distributed the book between the students who are writing out titles for each paragraph in their portion of the book. The idea is to capture the big picture and the general flow.                                                                                                       

 To kick off our school and the Discipleship Training School that is starting, the base had a great party including a traditional costa rican meal, music,and dancing .







We could certainly use your prayers during this time. It is an incredibly busy time with the school and all the ministry that Karen is involved with. We are trying to find balance in this new season of life while still recovering from 3 months apart.

Thanks for your continued intrest in our crazy lives here in CR,
Douglas

Home at last!

It's so great to be writing you again after the most intense 3 months of my life and possibly Karen's as well. It's so wonderful to be a whole family again after 3 months of being apart.

 This picture is my graduating class from Argentina plus the staff. The two fellows on the left are Carlos and Rafael, both staff members of the bible core course, then Jeremy, Nahuel, Monica, Jimena and myself, all students. On the far right is Paul another staff member. It was a great group of people and i was very blessed to get to spend three months with them.

I got back into Costa Rica on the 6th of  June very ready to be with my family again and there were 2 very happy boys and one very happy wife waiting for me at the airport.there was lots of hugs and kisses and i got to carry Gabers and Riah to the car.
Although is was very difficult to be so far away from my family for so long the course itself was a very good experience, lots of bible reading and study, long hours and late nights. The part that excites me the most is that now we have the opportunity to bring the course here to Costa Rica.

Since I got back I have been on almost constant kid duty seeing as how it is definitely my turn and Karen is getting to sleep in for the first time in three months. A well earned break! It is very strange how fast they change and grow. It was a very necessary three month absence but i certainly do not want to repeat it any time soon.

We took things pretty easy the first week that i was back but things are speeding up quickly now. At the YWAM base we are entering into one of the busiest times of the year as the base hosts many short term missions teams over the summer. Yesterday we had a team of 15 arrive from a Korean church in Texas. Karen has been handling more and more of the logistics of the base making sure that everyone has a place to sleep and helping new long and short term staff get settled and involved in ministry as well as a hundred other things. It has been a good experience for her as she is really getting an opportunity to use her gifts and talents but it is also a lot of work and has been pretty stretching. This picture below is of her and Paola, a Ywamer from Costa Rica that works with Karen and manages all the short term teams that we host here at the base.

Our first Bible Course here in Costa Rica starts on the 9th of July. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Malinda the course leader as I will be assisting  her and finishing my training during this first school. We are very blessed that she has agreed to come and help us pioneer this school in CR otherwise it would have meant another 3 months out of the country to help staff the school at another base.  So far we have 8 possible students for the Bible course and they are from many different parts of the globe. We have at least one Canadian possibly two, a couple from Cameroon and Saint Lucia, the rest are from either Costa Rica or El Salvador.  About half of them are actually staff from the base that are wanting to study God's word so that they can be better equipped for ministry. We are very excited for the school to start and are pulling together the details, reading through application and putting the finishing touches on the schedule.

Here are a few things that you could keep in prayer for us.

• Please be praying for us during this transition period as we re-adjust to family life.
• Pray for Karen as she is working hard to organize the personal of the base during one of the busiest times of the year,  also that she will be able to continue meeting with staff for discipleship, with all the administrative duties it is getting squeezed.
• Pray for the Bible course team as we put together the final details and prepare for our students.
• Pray that the money that we need for books for the school comes in quickly.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!

Many blessings!

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

Update from Corrientes, Argentina

The last couple months have flown by and my time here in Argentina is coming to a close. I am very excited to get home to my family and i am trying not to count the days. I have stopped looking at the pictures of Karen and the boys because i get too emotional really fast and i dont want to be all sappy for the next three weeks. I have made some excellent friends here as well that i will miss a lot.


The Bible course has been a real challenge. Often we are studying far into the night and seem hardly to finish before we are handed our next assignment. We are now about 3 quarter through reading the Bible.
 
It is amazing how fast it goes when you really throw yourself into it. The class here is small, 5 of us in total. 3 people from Argentina and myself and one other fellow from the States. It is always a blessing to see how God brings together such different people for a school like this.

The part that excites me most is getting to teach all this is Costa Rica. Our first inductive Bible course starts the 9th of July and so while i am finishing up my time here in Argentina we are getting really for our own course that starts in less than 2 months. We already have 4 students confirmed and a possible 2 more. It will be a challenge of course but i am looking forward to it with great anticipation.

Back in Costa Rica Karen has been very busy keeping track of two very active boys and also ministering on the base. She is doing discipleship and mentoring with some of the staff as well as helping to orientated new staff and volunteers. It has been a long couple months and we are all ready for me to come back to Costa Rica.

The boys have enjoyed playing with their granddad who visited for a couple weeks and with Grandma who is still in Costa Rica helping to make life a little more sane. They are growing up so fast.

Major updates

The last month and bit since we returned to Costa Rica has been very packed. We jumped back into things right away and have been working hard ever since. We have several major updates so we figure we will take them one at a time.

• First, we officially became Youth With A Mission (YWAM) staff in January. For the first few days we were trying to figure out what our role would be on the base. After a couple of conversations with the base leadership they asked me (Douglas) to teach a bible study methods class for the Discipleship Train School until i leave for Argentina in early March. I accepted of course and it has been going very well. There are 21 students from Latin America, the US and Europe. The group includes a couple of married couples and ranges in age from 18 to mid 40ish. We have been going through different types of books in the Bible and studying how to read them and understand God message. I have been wanting to teach this kind of class for a while so it has been a lot of fun.

• Second, during our conversations with the base leaders they asked Karen if she would start meeting with the staff and short term volunteers who are not directly under any other leader to help provide continuing discipleship and mentoring. She meets with some 15 staff members and 5 or so short term volunteers as well as with the dating couples on the base. This is something that Karen is especially gifted to do and although it has been a really challenge she has been enjoying using her gifts for ministry.

• The third major update is that my trip to Argentina is getting very close. For those of you dont remember or haven't heard, this year I am going to be helping to start a new intensive bible course here at the YWAM base in Costa Rica. In order to plant the school i first have take it as a student. Thus the trip to Argentina. I will be leaving the 5th of March and will not get back until the beginning of June. Needless to say this will be a great challenge for our family so we appreciate your prayers. Karen's mom will be here for a couple of months so Karen will not be alone for much time at all but it will still be difficult. I have been officially accepted to the school and have by a miracle of God purchased my airline tickets so everything is a go.

• The fourth and last update is about my class at UNELA. I came back to Costa Rica all ready to teach the history class that i taught last year and then 2 weeks before classes started i learned that they wanted Jose and I to teach a new class called Basic Christian Doctrine. Despite the late notice the class has been going very well. It is my largest class so far at UNELA. Out of 9 students 7 are missionaries. The class itself is focused on building a theological base of basic doctrines of Christianity.

OK that is enough major updates for one blog post. It is great have things to write about because it means that God is a work. And who can ask for better than that.

May God bless you all richly,

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah.