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.

Happy 2010!

Wow, how fast 4 months goes by. It seems like we just arrived and summer was still hanging around and now here we are back in Costa Rica.

We had a wonderful Christmas season with our families. It was  great to see the change of seasons and get to even see a little snow! We flew out for Costa Rica on the 30th of December and over all the trip went smoothly although we had a near disaster at the airport when we found out that 3 of our bags were too long for the airline to accept. It looked like we had to leave the bags and everything in them until Karen's dad turned the bags on end shook everything down and rolled them up. It ended up that the fellow checking our stuff was a Christan and he layed hands on Douglas and prayed for us as we headed for our gate. It is wonderful to see how God arranged things for us.

The last week has been a total blur. The whole country was closed down for several days for New Years and we had very few groceries in the house. Added to that was that our cell phones had been disconnected and our van was still in the shop. Needless to say things have been a bit stressful.

On Sunday the 3rd the YWAM base started their annual staff retreat. It has been a great chance to reconnect with the base after so much time away. This next year is going to be a great challenge. The base is growing by leaps and bounds and we are happy to be a part of it. As Douglas will be leaving for Argentina in March, January and Febuary will be a bit of a transition time. It looks like Douglas will be teaching a bible study methods class for the Discipleship Training School and helping with construction on the base as well as continuing to teach at the seminary. Karen will be be working at the YWAM base at least a few days a week possibly with hospitality.

A couple of key updates for you all. First regarding our car, we still don't have it back but it looks like all the repairs are done and we hope to have it in the next couple of days. It will be great to have our van back as the boys are getting a little bit big for a taxi. Thank you to all of you that prayed for us and where able to assist us with the repair costs. We received exactly what we needed to make the repairs.

The second update is that we recently mailed out a Decemeber update. If you didnt receive it and you would like to receive future newsletters by normal mail please send us your address and we will add you to our list. If you would rather receive an email copy in the future let us know and we will take care of that as well.

Thank you all for blessing us so much during our visit to the States!

May God bless you all.

Douglas, Karen, Gabriel and Zachariah

A weekend trip

We spent the last couple of days in Nicuragua renewing our visas. It is a very beautiful country, very green, with lots of jungle. It was also our first encounter with real poverty. The area that we live in here is San Jose is very well off in comparison. It was really shocking to see the difference in life style only a few hours to the north.

We realized the difference when instead of delivery trucks there were old pickup truck beds hauled by horses or men. The second thing was the mud. Most of the streets were falling apart and most of the homes that we saw were tin shacks on dirt floors. Most people burn wood for cooking and the air was filled with the smell of smoke.

It is truly amazing how two countrys so close together and alike in many ways are so different. Poverty exists first in the mind. It does not matter so much what you have but what you do with it. If you think poor you will be poor. Many of these people are christians but if their faith does not transform their thinking then they will stay the same as they have been.

Please pray for Nicuruaga. It is a country torn with war and stuck in poverty. }

On our part we are doing very well. We started our ministry preparation today, with lots of exercise and drama practice.

We will write more detail next time.
We love you all.
Douglas, Karen and Gabriel

Fridge Update

Sorry it has taken us so long to get back to you all about the fridge. We were looking into ways to collect donations and checking to see how much a large fridge would cost in Costa Rica. Well today I found out that some one just donated the money for the new fridge. Praise God! Thanks for those of you who showed an interest in donating.
dk&g

Problems with Pictures

Hi everyone. We are having technical difficulties uploading pictures. Sorry to disappoint but we will get them up as soon as possible. We are learning lots, making new friends and eating lots of rice and beans. We were very sick this last weekend and spent most of friday and saturday laying down and resting. However we are now fully recovered and enjoying life again.
we love you all and thanks for your prayers
Douglas, Karen, and Gabriel

Gabriels Heart

Great news and answered prayers. Gabriels heart is fine. There are no problems whatsoever. Thanks to all who remembered us in prayer. Blessings
DKG

Good News

Karen got her passport in the mail today!!!