Rex and Missy's Blog

Our Cute Little Men

2011-04-13T22:15:00.001-05:00

Flooding, Landslides, and Death in Costa Rica

2010-11-05T01:03:00.003-05:00

Costa Rica has been receiving heavy rainfall over the past several days. Thankfully the area where we are living hasn't been effected negatively by it, but the news is reporting that "there are 700,000 people across the country lacking potable water, 20 dead, and many homes and cars swept away by landslides from massive flooding and rainfall." Please pray for those who are suffering tonight. I would also strongly encourage you to read this amazing story. Jed and Jaime are friends of ours from our days at language school and we are so glad that God protected them.

The World's Cutest Baby (At Least We Think So)

2010-11-01T19:42:00.001-05:00

This scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox

One Month Old

2010-10-13T21:33:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe that God blessed us with this little bundle of joy one month ago today. Has it really been that long already?

Jared's First Doctor's Visit

2010-09-22T01:17:00.005-05:00

Dr. Salazar brought me into this world. I couldn't have asked for a better doctor!

Mommy and Daddy felt sorry for poor Dr. Molina, my pediatrician. I "watered" him, his wall, and his floor! He took it very well though.

I didn't like it too much when he checked my spine.

The Park

2010-09-15T18:24:00.007-05:00

The weather here today was beautiful, so we decided to spend a little time at the park next door. This was Jared's first adventure into the great outdoors, but I doubt that he got much out of it since he slept through the whole thing. The rest of us had fun though!

He's all ready to go.

Devin has been having a ball playing with Uncle Jeffrey (no pun intended)!

Today is Independence Day in Costa Rica. Many children dress up in typical outfits and march in parades. This cute little girl was pretty interested in Jared.

Who has the bigger mouth? Devin...

...or Momall?

He's Here!

2010-09-13T22:51:00.001-05:00

Photo album made with Smilebox

Missy's Baby Shower

2010-08-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

This photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

Coming Soon...

2010-08-12T13:18:00.002-05:00

WARNING

Not Responsible for Heart Attacks Caused by Post

Yes, it's been a little while since I posted (thus the warning above). Life is moving along as it has a tendency to do, and little Willy (NO, that is NOT his real name) will be here before we know it. We are all getting excited to say the least. Devin even seems to comprehend that he will soon be getting a little brother. He was super excited to go to Missy's last check-up to be able to see the baby. Lord willing our new little one will be arriving in about five weeks. We would appreciate your prayers that everything would go smoothly.

Devin loves to kiss his baby brother.

Devin's First Sleep-over

2010-06-28T17:05:00.006-05:00

We enjoyed a very special time with our national church president's family this past weekend. Two weeks ago we moved from the small apartment where we had lived for the past year and a half into a much more adequate house. We thought that it would be nice to invite the Meneses family to spend a night with us in our new place. It is quite common for us to visit with them at their home in Paraiso, but rarely has it worked out for them to visit us. So this past Friday I picked up their family after the boys got out of school and they spent Friday night and Saturday morning with us. Everyone had a great time, especially the boys! It was the first time that Devin had friends come and spend the night with him.

The Dust is Settling

2010-06-18T17:11:00.015-05:00

The dust is beginning to settle, life is slowly getting back to "normal," and it's time to get back to blogging. The last three weeks have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! Get the picture? We were privileged to have Br. Lee Rickenbach, our regional director, with us from May 29 through June 1. It was a short visit but a profitable one as we sat down for a number of hours and discussed, prayed about, and planned the future of both the work in Costa Rica as well as our personal ministry. Br. Rickenbach is such an amazing listener, and he is so understanding and wise when it comes to giving advice and direction.

The day that I dropped Br. Rickenbach off was also the day that I picked up the group from Pennsylvania (see our previous post). They got here nearly five hours later than scheduled due to a canceled flight out of Washington, D.C. Needless to say they were all very tired upon arrival, but they were still up bright and early the following day, ready to hit the ground running!

Our first destination was the Arenal Volcano, about a four-hour drive from San Jose. Arenal is one of the most beautiful and most active volcanoes in the country. We checked in at an amazing resort that sat at the base of the volcano and spent two days there. God was good enough to move the clouds and allow us to see some lava flowing from the peak of the volcano that night, something that many visitors miss out on. We went ziplining the second day of our stay. For those of you who have never been on a zipline, you basically hang by a little pulley to a cable and go flying across a canyon. We rode 8 cables, some of which were 600 feet above the rainforest floor and close to 2,000 feet long. It was raining when we went, and at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour you get quite an experience! Everyone enjoyed themselves though, even the girls.

Our groups had a whole unit of rooms pretty much to ourselves.

The landscaping at the resort was simply gorgeous!

We saw a lot of wildlife, including this baby iguana.

This picture was taken from the porch of our unit. We only saw the very top of the volcano once or twice because of the clouds, but it is a perfect cone. Notice that the right side of it is burned bare. This volcano spews lava almost constantly.

This was my first time to go ziplining and boy was it a blast! It was raining steadily, which made the rides even faster.

I'll be posting more about the rest of the group's trip over the next little while so keep checking back! Also, my brother Benjamin is continuing to update the groups blog (click here to visit it). In closing, I would like to give a great big "Thank You!" to the group for their excellent attitudes and participation. We had a lot of fun, but we also ministered and worked a lot. They always put themselves wholeheartedly into everything that they did and never complained. The young people even seemed to enjoy the various national foods that they were served. Great job guys!

Visitors from Pennsylvania

2010-05-24T12:09:00.006-05:00

For a number of months now we have been looking forward to having a group from Pennsylvania come and visit us. My next younger brother, Benjamin, teaches high school Spanish at Penn View Christian Academy. Toward the beginning of this year he talked to me about the possibility of taking his two classes on a cultural trip to a Latin American country. After weighing different possibilities he decided that Costa Rica would be the best option. TONS of work and planning on both of our ends has gone into this trip and now their arrival is nearly upon us. It is hard to believe, but they will be here a week from tomorrow. Benjamin wanted this trip to be a mixture of cultural experience and ministry opportunities for his students. Lord willing we will be spending about half of the ten-day trip sightseeing and the other half ministering out at Paraiso where we will be holding a special weekend (June 4-6) for the family. Rev. Frank Heidler and his wife, chaperones for the group, will be holding a marriage seminar. Benjamin will hold special sessions for the young people and several of the students will be in charge of activities for the children.

Click here to visit the group's trip blog; my brother is doing a great job of keeping it updated!

The Heidlers are former pastors and currently work at Penn View.

My brother Benjamin (the one with the orange shirt and tie) poses with seven of the nine students who will be coming. Benjamin's fiancée will be a chap as well, so the total group will number thirteen.

I would ask you to pray for several specific prayer requests concerning this trip.

-Pray for traveling mercies for the group. Flying internationally with this many people can be challenging, and we will be doing a lot of driving once the group gets here.
-Pray for our young people here in Costa Rica. I am really wanting the group to be a major positive influence on their lives.
-Pray especially for the marriage seminar. Pastor Rolando and I are trusting that this will be a way of getting a number of un-churched people from the community to visit our church, opening doors for us to reach them after the group leaves.
-We will have a special evangelistic service the Sunday morning that the group is here. Often a group from the States draws people who would not normally come to church, so this will be an important service.
-I would appreciate your prayers as I do my best to interpret for the Heidlers.

What Can Wash Away My Sins?

2010-05-05T13:16:00.003-05:00

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Costa Rica is predominately a Catholic nation. My heart is stirred every time I see a Costa Rican doing something to try to earn their way into Heaven. We recently took some friends to see the largest Catholic church in the country and I recorded this video. How can these people believe that crawling hundreds of feet on a hard tile floor will improve their chances in eternity? Lord, help me to be able to do something to reach them with the truth!

Church Picnic

2010-04-05T13:07:00.008-05:00

A number of our people from the Paraiso church recently got together at a beautiful park for a church picnic. The park is actually an overlook where one can get an outstanding view of the river valley far below. Everyone had a great time playing games, eating, and fellowshipping. I even jumped rope and didn't break a leg.

I wish that I could capture the beauty of the Orosi Valley with a camera, but a picture just doesn't do it justice.

Costa Rica is a soccer country. We played a lively game of "futbol" before lunch.

This was Devin's first time on roller skates. I'm not sure whether he was impressed or not.

Carmen might be a pastor's wife but she enjoys a good time as much as anyone else.

Pastor Rolando (red shirt, black hat) was our grill-master and I must say that he did an outstanding job.

Jumping Rope

Help Has Arrived

2010-03-16T16:55:00.005-05:00

A week ago today we were blessed to able to hire a maid. Domestic help is quite inexpensive down here and we had been wanting to find someone dependable to help Missy a couple of days a week. Gina has worked with language school students for a number of years and one of the administrators at the language school where Missy and I studied last year highly recommended her. We have been very happy with our decision to hire Gina; she is a hard worker with a sweet personality. Gina will be working for us on Tuesdays and Saturdays, seven hours a day. This will be a huge blessing to Missy who is continuing to fight a lot of sickness because of her pregnancy. Gina will help with cooking and cleaning, but we also want her to be able to just talk to Missy and help Missy keep up with her Spanish. Missy hasn't been able to get out much because of how sick she has been, so it is important for her to get this practice (last Tuesday Gina and Missy spent a whole hour after lunch just talking). Welcome, Gina!

Strictly for Devin's Grandmas (But You May Peek)

2010-03-15T23:08:00.001-05:00

A slideshow design by Smilebox

Haiti

2010-03-08T20:02:00.002-05:00

This is an excerpt from an e-mail that my mother sent us concerning her time it Haiti. It is a little long, but you will find it very interesting.

I see the trembling lips… of the woman who came seeking help for her spinning head, heart palpitations and stomach pain. We treated so many persons with these symptoms, understandable after all the emotional trauma that has been suffered, not only in the initial quake, but in the dozens of aftershocks since. Already-damaged buildings are continuing to collapse as the shaking continues. Knowing the pure terror I felt the morning after my first arrival when a 6.2 quake jolted me awake and sent me flying from my bed for the door, I can’t imagine what it must be like for the multitude of those who lost homes and family in the 7.0 quake. Any sizable aftershock causes a few heart-stopping moments as everyone pauses to wonder if THIS ONE will be even worse than the first. She stared straight ahead as she tonelessly related to me the horror of searching for her infant daughter for three days before finally finding and digging her bloody, lifeless body from the wreckage. It was another two days before her nine year old son, trapped in the crumbled ruins of their home the entire time but miraculously still alive, was freed from his prison and rushed to a hospital in another part of the country. She has not been able to visit him since.

My nose pricks… with the acrid, sour stench of vomit. My stomach recoiled as my flashlight beam picked out the unconscious form of the man lying on the ground in a pool of slimy, partially digested food. Don Mobley, our GMC resident missionary in Carrefour, tapped on our door that night at 10:30 p.m., saying that one of the night guards had just called to tell him that a man was very sick. What an understatement! We moved him to a table in the clinic where, for the next three hours, another team member and I fought desperately to save the life of the diabetic man who had inadvertently taken a double dose of his long-acting insulin, bottoming out his sugar and putting himself into a coma. He’s still alive today because God put us in the right place at the right time.

I taste the raindrops on my lips… and remember the welcome coolness two nights before we left, of fresh washed night air from the first rain since the earthquake. My shoes sloshed through the water and mud as I walked the short distance from the clinic to my room. I ducked under the tarp that had been stretched over the area closest to the door I needed to enter, where several dozen of the hundreds of people still living in the yard were trying to sleep. The bright moonlight played over bodies lying on soaked blankets on the muddy ground. My heart was wrung at the sight. I felt guilty lying down on my dry mattress covered with a dry sheet sitting on a dry cement floor with a waterproof tin roof overhead…

***********************************************************

All the teams are home as I sit at my computer and record memories of my few days in a world so vastly different than that which we here in the heartland of America casually take for granted. I flipped a switch on the wall this evening as it grew dark and did not waste a second’s thought in wondering if the light would come on. The candle flickering on the table is burning solely for the luxury of its scent and romantic touch, not because it is our only means of illumination. In a few minutes I will open my refrigerator and from its abundantly stocked shelves collect the makings of a warm, well-balanced supper, to be added to stomachs that have already this day digested two other adequate meals. This morning I ironed a week’s supply of shirts for my husband, and that didn’t begin to exhaust the number of them still hanging in his closet. A pile of laundry in the hall needs transferred to my washer downstairs, where the touch of a button is all that I need do for the load to be washed and rinsed with no further effort on my part. I hear the sound of my son taking a shower as I write. He didn’t need to stand in line with a five-gallon bucket this morning to get our family’s water ration for the day from a well, or worry that there will be none left for the person who follows him if he uses more than a small basin full…

I am so blessed! I pray that God will keep fresh on my mind how truly trivial are the petty things that so easily irritate me. May my life be one that He can use, wherever He chooses, to show His love to as many as possible, in whatever way He sees best.

I wonder if it is raining in Haiti tonight…

A Special Visitor

2010-02-28T20:01:00.000-05:00

We had a very special visitor this past week. Br. Steven Manley, our mission president, was with us for several days to hold some meetings, preach, observe the state of the national work, and just be an encouragement to us as missionaries. Pastor Rolando called me the day after Br. Manley left and said that he had really appreciated Br. Manley's spirit, advice, and leadership. Br. Manley, thank you for being a blessing; we enjoyed having you very much.

We didn't have much time to do much sightseeing but we did stop by the Basillica, the biggest Catholic church in Costa Rica and one of the biggest in all of Central America.

Lunch with the Meneses Family

Devin enjoyed having a special visitor as much as the rest of us.

A New Look

2010-02-23T11:45:00.002-05:00

The Sunday school rooms at Paraiso are looking much better these days. They have received a fresh coat of paint, and better yet the brethren from the church did the project completely on their own. They wanted to do it, they donated all the labor, and they provided all the supplies. A missionary loves to see that!

The new color is much better than the old green that you can see in the background!

Br. Carlos

Br. Juan donated more time than anyone else.

Sis. Carmen looks like she is having too much fun!

Our Family is Growing

2010-02-15T12:41:00.005-05:00

Yes, a picture like this usually means that a baby is on the way! Lord willing the Rex McDowell II family will grow to four sometime in September. Missy and I are very excited about being parents to our second child, although Devin just looks at us when we tell him that Mommy has a baby in her tummy.

We plan on having our baby at the same hospital where my two younger brothers, Benjamin and Jeffrey, were born. Missy had her first prenatal appointment this past Thursday and we were very happy with the experience and with her doctor. Doctor Ronny Salazar, recommended to us by some missionaries from the language school, is very nice and very qualified. The technology at the hospital is cutting edge, and for the first time we were able to watch our baby's heart beating! I borrowed an idea from the Mason's blog and added a little "baby ticker" above our profile picture so that you will be able to see how the baby is developing. Pray for us over the next number of months and we will keep you posted!

Graduation from The Spanish Language Institute, December 11, 2009

2010-02-01T22:55:00.006-05:00

We graduated from language school just a couple of days before we went to the States for Christmas and I never posted any pictures of the ceremony. Here are a few snapshots.

Gabi, the academic director, gives a little speech before handing out the diplomas.

Teachers and fellow students pray with the graduates at the end of the ceremony.

Ana was more than just Missy's teacher; she was her friend.

Sunday Service and Birthday Culture

2010-01-25T17:09:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we attended the Sunday morning service at our church in the capital and there were nine new people in attendance! I talked to a lady name Myra for a while after the service. She is probably in her late 30's or early 40's, and I felt like she is very sincerely interested becoming a part of our church family. She told me that she is tired of going to churches that don't preach against sin. A young man in his early twenties named Luis has been meeting with Pastor Walter for the last week or two and prayed to get saved on Saturday night. Yesterday he told me that he wants to start taking the baptismal study course so that he can get baptized. God is working in our church in the city, but the Devil is working too! I can't go into details, but we are facing a some very real spiritual battles there and desperately need God's help. Please help us pray for the Barrio Mexico congregation.

Rolando and Carmen invited us to Paraiso last Wednesday to celebrate my 27th birthday. Carmen and Missy made me a special birthday cake, but Costa Ricans have this little cultural custom that makes eating a simple birthday cake a good deal more complicated. The birthday person has to take a bite directly out of the cake before it is cut, and the goal is to smash the birthday person's face into the cake (hopefully the birthday person doesn't have a runny nose). We first learned about this cultural tidbit when they tried to do it to Missy with her birthday cake. So I was smart and quickly took my bite of the cake in the process of blowing out the candles, catching everyone by surprise and thus avoiding any smashage. At least they didn't try their other cultural birthday custom: smashing raw eggs on the birthday person's head.

I Couldn't Do This

2010-01-22T00:41:00.002-05:00

OK, so maybe I'm a wimp, but this just gives me the heebee jeebees! For more pictures of my mom's group visit Pastor Alan Walter's blog.

My Mom in Haiti

2010-01-19T18:39:00.004-05:00

I have copied these pictures of the medical team that my mom helped put together from Pastor Alan Walter's blog. Please pray for this group as they minister in Haiti.

My mom, Pastor Alan Walter (God's Missionary pastor at Penns Creek, PA), and two ER doctors from Evangelical Community Hospital (the ER where my mom is a nurse) prepare to board one of their flights. Evan. Hospital donated lots of medical supplies for the trip.

A mission group has been making a couple of daily flights into Haiti. This is the plane in which my mom's group flew.

The group has been working at this God's Missionary compound.

I don't think that I even want to know the details about this picture.

Please Pray for Diego

2010-01-16T12:10:00.004-05:00

Some of you may have read about Diego in one of our past newsletters. I met this young man toward the middle of last year when he wondered into a Sunday morning service at our church in the capital. Diego has had a very hard life; he watched his mother and sister drown when he was just a boy, and a little over a year ago his father was drunk and died when he fell down a set of cement stairs. For the past ten years Diego has been throwing his life away, indulging in alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. I have tried to help Diego and things were going well for a while. He spent the last four months of 2009 in a rehab center and regularly met with me and attended church. But Diego left the rehab center while we were in the States over Christmas time and once again fell into his old habits. A week and a half ago he was very nearly killed as he was lying out in the street drunk at 2:00 AM. Some young men robbed him, kicked him several times in the face, and tried to stab him.

This past Tuesday Diego came to our apartment once again seeking help. I have been working with him a lot this week, and our national pastor Rolando even let him stay in a room out at the mission house in Paraiso for a couple of days. Diego went to a clinic yesterday to follow up on some of the injuries that he received from the robbery and never returned to Paraiso like he said that he would. We haven’t heard from him since.

Please help us pray for Diego. The devil is doing a good job at ruining this young man's life, but God is more powerful than the devil. Diego is only thirty years old and there is just something about him that makes me believe that God has great things in store for Diego if he really gets his life straightened out.

Two Near Heart Attacks

2010-01-09T13:08:00.005-05:00

We left our apartment in the early morning hours of December 15th to fly home to Pennsylvania for a three-week visit with family and friends. Everything went smoothly upon our arrival at the airport. After paying our exit taxes and checking in at the American Airlines counter we still had over an hour until our plane was scheduled to leave. All that was left for us to do was show our tickets and passports to the immigration officer and go through security, or so I thought. However, this was our first time to fly since getting our Costa Rican residencies.

Costa Rica has all these little requirements that must be fulfilled before a minor is allowed to leave the country. The only problem? No one had ever informed us of all those little requirements. So even though we all had American passports, the man at the immigration booth told us that since our son was now a Costa Rican resident, we needed to have a birth certificate and two passport-sized photos of Devin, as well as photocopies of all of our passports and residency cards before he would be permitted to fly. We had none of these. All of a sudden an hour didn't seem like very much time! Mr. Immigration Man (I'll call him Mr. IM for short) decided that the birth certificate wasn't necessary. I gently, sweetly, and politely asked Mr. IM where in the world were we supposed to get two passport-sized photos, and he told me that he might be able to work with us as long as we gave him copies of our passports and residency cards. Unfortunately he didn’t have a copier, so for close to half an hour we ran all over the airport like chickens with our heads cut off. None of the airport offices that actually had a copier were open. We found a bank with a copier, but the teller who both got out of the wrong side of bed and forgot her morning cup of coffee wouldn't budge to break the bank's "policy" in order to help us out in our time of crisis. My wallet wouldn't even convince her to use the machine that was sitting six feet from where I was standing. As a last ditch effort we returned to the AA ticket counter and thankfully a kind worker had access to a copier and was able to help us.

I finally returned to Mr. IM with the copies, only to find out that several pages of paperwork now needed to be filled out. He and I began scribbling furiously as I watched the security line continue to grow. A dear Mrs. AA Worker came to ask Mr. IM if she should go ahead and bump us from our flight (at least our luggage would have made it safely to Washington, DC) but he told her that the paperwork was about done. We finally made it through immigration but still had to clear security. I gently, sweetly, and politely asked Mr. Security Man to allow us to go to the front of the line. Evidently he had to go to one of his superiors in order to receive permission to grant me my request, so while he went to ask we just gently, sweetly, and politely worked our way to the front of the line on our own. Never before in my life had I taken off my shoes, belt, and watch so quickly. My carry-on backpack had all sorts of electronic gizmos and gadgets in it which must have raised the concern of the screeners. Mrs. Security Woman reached for my bag once it came out of the scanner, but I beat her to it. I just grabbed it, said "Thank you very much," and we took off as she stood there staring. Thankfully no one chased us as we ran through the airport to our gate.

We were among the last of the passengers to board the plane and had only been sitting in our seats for about five minutes when the aircraft door was shut. If I were a cat I do believe that three of my lives would have been wasted within that fateful hour. But they say that all is well that ends well, and the rest of our trip was uneventful.

Our time in the States was very enjoyable (see the pictures below). We had a nice break after a draining year of language school and were able to visit with many family members and friends. It even snowed two or three times which allowed me to have my first snowball fight with my little boy. And to cap it all off, my dear mother-in-law was kind enough to make me an apple pie or two.

We had another near heart attack when it was time for us to fly back to Costa Rica; this one was of my own making. I had booked us to fly into Reagan National Airport on our flight to the States, but because of schedule issues I had booked our return flight out of Dulles International Airport. It had been a number of months since I had purchased the tickets and I completely forgot that we would be leaving from Dulles instead of Reagan. Imagine my surprise when the ticket agent at Reagan told us that we were at the wrong airport. Our pastor had been kind enough to take us to the airport and I was just getting ready to frantically call his cell phone and ask him to come back and pick us up when the kind ticket agent said that for no charge he could transfer our tickets to a flight out of Reagan that would get us to Miami in time to make our connection. Once again, all as well that ends well...

Devin's First Snowball Fight

A Board Game with Missy's Family

Devin really enjoyed playing with his Great Grandma Kaufman.

A Few Pictures

2009-12-10T12:53:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and if I'm not careful, Christmas will come and go without my having updated our blog. Missy and I graduate from language school tomorrow! It is hard to believe that we have been on the mission field for almost a whole year now; time is just flying by.

Our little family had a nice Thanksgiving here in Costa Rica. Turkey is super expensive down here, but that doesn't bother me one bit since I don't even like turkey. We decided to start a new tradition and buy a roast chicken instead. At about $7 it was MUCH cheaper and MUCH more delicious.

Devin's daycare at the language school put on a Christmas program a few day ago. It was so funny to watch Devin's class "participate." They all just sat there looking bashful while their two teachers sang a duet. It was still cute though.

On Monday we will be flying back to the States to spend three weeks with our families. We have really been looking forward to this visit, although I'm not sure that we are looking forward to temperatures in the teens. Please pray that God will give us safe trip home.

For Christa

2009-10-25T22:04:00.003-05:00

Here Christa, my dear sister-in-law, this is just for you. (Confused? See her comment under my last post.)

Sunday School Snapshots

2009-10-23T22:15:00.003-05:00

Wow, I guess it's been a while since I last posted. My mother-in-law has been after me to post more pictures of her grandson (or something like that), so I had better get back into the routine of posting if I want to get any apple pie the next time we visit the States.

These pictures are a few random shots of Sunday school in Paraiso.

Lancaster Botanical Garden

2009-09-18T22:45:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We went to this botanical garden when Missy's sister visited us a few weeks ago. It was beautiful even though the orchid season ended back in April or May. We would like to go back next year when the orchids are in full bloom.

Br. Hight

2009-09-08T17:47:00.006-05:00

Br. Steve Hight, our former vice president at Evangelistic Faith Missions, has recently accepted the pastorate at Faith Mission Church in Bedford, IN. We will deeply miss his high level of involvement at the mission, but we are thankful that he will still be working for EFM on a part-time basis.

EFM had a special lunch this past Thursday in Br. Hight's honor. We missionaries were asked to share a few thoughts about Br. Hight, and I would like to post the thoughts that I sent. I'm doing this because Br. Hight is one of my heroes. These thoughts aren't flattery, they are reality!

1. He is my friend. It is not everyone who is blessed to have a boss who is first and foremost your buddy.

2. I have an open invitation to "dump" on him. There are very few people with whom I would share my deepest, darkest secrets, but Br. Hight is one of those people. I have shared intimate things with him and he has always been there to lend a listening ear. He has never complained when I have called him late at night to talk about something that was bothering me. And once you do "dump," he always give you good advice.

3. He is one of the most level-headed Christians I know. It is easy for a Christian to go either too far right or too far left, but in my book Br. Hight is as dead center of a Christian as they come.
He will go out of his way to help you. Br. Hight, it means a lot to have someone who is more than willing to drive ten to twelve hours one way to speak for ten minutes at your commissioning service.

4. He has a great sense of humor, even when it comes to alarm clock, electric shower heads, mother-in-laws, and things like that.

5. He is short. It is too bad that all that chocolate didn't help with the vertical growth...

I mentioned that Br. Hight has a great sense of humor. Below is a recent exchange between the two of us that gives a good example of the good, enjoyable working relationship that I have with Br. Hight.

He wrote...
Rex2,
Bless U.

Great comments
Showing good sense.

Thanks for your "write"
To Steven E. Hight.

I wrote...
You're crazy! Missy says that you must have too much time on your hands now that you are a pastor. :)

He wrote...
Hmmmm. I guess I'll just have to be serious all the time so as to appear busy and officious. No more joking!! That's an order!!

I wrote...
Yea right! I'll believe it when I see it!

He wrote...
No more joking
No more poking

No more chuckling
Just keep buckling

Down to working;
Hey, no shirking!

Can't be funning;
Must keep running.

Blowing bubbles
Just brings troubles.

So I wrote a note to some fellow missionaries expressing my "grave concerns" about Br. Hight's leadership and shared the exchange with them. I said that I was having "second thoughts" about Br. Hight being over us.

Br. Hight wrote to the people to whom and had expressed my "concerns" and said...
I can't deny
The things I've said
Reported by
That young red-head
From Costa Ricker.

I just will say,
since he did flout
My kindly words,
"So toss me out!"
I'll eat a Snicker.

I'll play racquetball
All through the fall;
And turn up the heat
In wintery sleet
And let the rest of you bicker.

(Please pardon the varied rhyme pattern
And somewhat irregular meter;
I was caught a little off-guard
By the report from that Tico Tweeter;
You can see that he's quite a kicker!)

So I ended with...
I must admit, I must be kind,
Dear Br. Hight has quite the mind!

I won't him-haw, I will shoot straight,
Our great leader just has that trait.

That trait to take, without much thought,
My true concerns, and make them naught.

So I will say, from deep within,
You have to join when you cannot win.

I posted this picture way back when, but it is worth repeating!

Trip to the Pacific

2009-08-28T11:12:00.005-05:00

Missy's sister left a week ago and I still haven't posted pictures. I guess that I had better get busy! We tried to take Christa to a lot of neat places here in Costa Rica, and our biggest trip was a visit to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately we had to take a three-hour bus trip over VERY windy roads to get there, and on the way I was holding Devin when he got sick and threw up all over the bus. But once we arrived it was beautiful.

The View From Our Hotel

Missy did a good job at taking pictures!

It was so neat how the forest dropped right into the ocean.

Devin just loved the water.

Tragic Loss

2009-08-23T20:03:00.004-05:00

Stephen Delong and I were missionary kids together in Costa Rica and Nicaragua years ago. He and his wife Yvonne were at Penn View while my family lived on campus, and Missy and Yvonne graduated together. Just a little over a year ago our families spent two weeks together at The Summer Institute for Missionary Orientation. A few days ago they went through the tragic loss of their newborn baby daughter and Yvonne almost lost her life as well. We ache for them, and we are praying for them. My mother just sent us this first-hand account of what happened (after sending it to the Delongs to make sure that they didn't mind her sharing it), and I am posting it so that you will be able to pray for the Delong family. Joanna's body arrived in the States this morning, and the funeral will be soon.

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m writing this on the plane on our way back to the United States. I wanted to contact you as soon as possible after the events of the past two days so you would know first-hand what has happened. I know there have been a lot of stories flying around, and thought you deserved to get something directly from me.

As you know, we have been in Honduras for the past seven weeks, where I worked in the EFM maternity clinic in San Luis. Rex taught classes here, as well as in Guatemala and Costa Rica during this time. Jeffrey helped by mowing grass, weed eating, painting, and breaking up rocks on the runway to make it easier to mow.

We were only planning to be here for six weeks, but Jeffrey’s ear infection prevented us from returning on July 11, as we had planned. We were surprised and disappointed at the delay, but were confident that God had everything in control. As Rex’s aunt said, “We will be excited to hear the purpose for God leaving you there an extra week.”

Well, now we know why, though frankly, the events that happened are not what we would have chosen. In the midst of the questions and pain of the loss that has occurred, we still are sure that God does not make mistakes, and we choose to trust His loving care for His children.

Months ago, Stephen and Yvonne DeLong contacted me about the possibility of my delivering their baby while we were here. They are both former students of Rex, and have been serving as missionaries in Honduras for the past several years after graduating from Penn View. Stephen’s parents and we worked together in Nicaragua when he was a boy, and he and his sisters are like part of our own family. Yvonne’s baby wasn't’t due until after we were to already have returned to the States, but we agreed to pray together about it, knowing that if God would be pleased to let them have the home birth that they wanted, then He would work out all the details.

By the time we were scheduled to leave I had delivered 7 babies in the clinic this time, giving me a total of 49 deliveries in Honduras in the six summers I’ve been here. When we knew we would have to say an extra week, I was excited to think that at least maybe I’d get to help one more little one arrive safely, making it my 50th Honduran baby in the year that I turned 50 years old. And of course, we wondered if maybe Yvonne’s baby might be that one.

There was not one birth at the clinic the rest of the shifts I worked during our extra days there, and Yvonne’s baby seemed pretty content to stay comfy cozy inside her mommy. Yvonne called me around 7:30 Monday evening and we both agreed again that, though it would be nice if something would happen in the day that was left, all of us wanted the Lord’s will to be done, and if that meant I would not get to have a part in welcoming their baby into the world, we were sure that He knew best.

We planned to go into San Pedro yesterday afternoon to be sure to be there for Jeffrey’s ear doctor’s appointment this morning. I was still up, repacking the suitcases that we had packed and then unpacked the week before, when Stephen called me at 12:15 a.m. yesterday morning. “Yvonne’s water just broke! She’s having a lot of pressure – do you think you can make it in time?”

Could we make it in time?! I had the clinic’s portable oxygen tank and a large storage container of delivery equipment and medications sitting by the front door. A quick call to Daniel Melton, who had kept his cell phone on and right beside his bed, brought him wide awake and ready to make the flying trip over the mountain. We arrived at DeLongs apartment in a record one hour and 23 minutes.

For the next six and a half hours, Yvonne alternated walking, rocking, and sitting in a warm shower while Stephen and I supported and encouraged her through increasingly stronger and more frequent contractions. Her blood pressure and the baby’s heart beat stayed well within a normal range, and her labor progress was slow but steady.

Around 9:00, she felt an unusually strong pain, and for a minute it looked like the baby was all balled up at the top of her abdomen. I checked the baby’s heartbeat, which was a reassuring 150 beats per minute. I checked Yvonne’s dilation, which was all the way to 7 centimeters. She had a small trickle of blood, but nothing more than sometimes happens at that stage of labor, and it only lasted a few seconds. I felt uneasy, even with the good heartbeat, and my mind flitted to several possibilities, one of which might be the separation of her uterine scar from her C-section four years ago with their first baby. However, their second child was born normally, at home, with a midwife attending, and things had gone fine, even with a 25 hour labor and a 9 pound baby! About three minutes later she had another small trickle of blood, lasting a few seconds, and I again checked the heartbeat. It had been between 130 and 150 every time before that, but this time it was around 100 beats/minute.

“We have to leave NOW for the hospital!” I said urgently, helping Yvonne onto her feet and urging her toward the stairs. Stephen ran to get the keys and to tell his sister Lydia, who had arrived the week before to help them, what was going on. “I can’t go like this!” Yvonne protested, gesturing to her nightgown, as we headed out the door. “That’s not as important as getting you there as quickly as we can!” I replied, jumping into the back seat of their pickup truck and helping her in beside me.

Stephen sped toward the hospital, weaving through traffic and praying aloud fervently. In the 5 minutes it took us to arrive, he had the presence of mind to pull out his cell phone and call their doctor, asking him to meet us. We whipped into the emergency room entrance, he jumped out and ran inside to tell them we were there, and I grabbed a wheelchair for Yvonne. “I’m having another contraction, and the baby’s really been moving a lot,” she said as I rushed her into a curtained cubicle in the corner of the ER.

The ER doctor and several nurses converged on us while I rapidly explained why we were there. They asked all the questions about name, age, where she lived, etc. They checked her dilation: still 7 cms. and she was not bleeding at all. “The baby’s heartbeat was too low!” I reiterated, and the nurse started searching for it with the Doppler. “76…81…83…79…84…” the digital display read. “Where were you hearing it?” she queried, moving the wand around and probably thinking that she was picking up Yvonne’s rate. “Right there,” I indicated, touching the spot. “But that IS the baby. Her heartbeat really IS that low!” Her personal doctor walked in at that moment, took one glance at the heart rate and barked an order to get Yvonne up to surgery IMMEDIATELY!!! Another nurse started to check her blood pressure. “No time for that now,” he snapped. “GET HER UPSTAIRS!” He dashed off to change clothes and scrub up. To their credit, the hospital staff shifted into high gear, starting an IV, transferring her to a gurney, and rushing her down the hall, around a corner, and up two long ramps to the operating room.

She clutched my hand as I trotted alongside the gurney. Stephen had been waylaid in the registration department, and I knew he was aching to be with her. “I’ll stay with you,” I promised, but when we got to the operating room double doors, another nurse insisted I had to change into scrubs before going inside. I dashed into the tiny restroom she showed me and did so with fumbling fingers, anxious to be back with Yvonne. When I ran back out, they were just locking the doors. I peered in through the windows and watched the flurry as first her doctor, then a pediatrician, then another doctor scrubbed their hands and forearms, donned masks and gloves and disappeared through another door.

I learned later that they tried to give her an epidural, but it didn’t work, so the doctor ordered the anesthesiologist to go ahead and give general anesthesia so he could get her opened up right away. Even so, it was still at least 15 minutes from the time we arrived until the surgery was in progress. Meanwhile, Stephen had finally finished up the registration process and dashed upstairs to where I was waiting. “How is she doing?” he asked anxiously. Just then a nurse unlocked a set of side doors and came through. “The doctor promised me I could go in with my wife!” he begged her, but she shook her head. I took his arm and pulled him into the room where the pile of clean scrub clothes was stacked. “Get changed, you’ll get in,” I promised.

A minute or so later he was back, tying the drawstring on the dark blue pants, and asking the nurse once more to be allowed to see Yvonne. “No one can enter,” she stated firmly. “She’s having surgery.” “That doesn’t matter!” I said. “It’s his baby, too; the doctor promised that her husband could stay with her, and he’s going in!!!” I stripped off the paper shoe covers they’d had me put on, and untied my mask and re-tied it around Stephen’s face as he struggled to fit the too small covers over his tennis shoes. “Right through those doors,” I pointed, and he headed through.

I leaned back against a wall, and wearily closed my eyes, grimly waiting for news. The sliding door leading from the hall where we’d come into the operating suite opened without warning, catching my arm and shoulder and knocking me onto the floor. I struggled to my feet as one of the attendants pushing another patient on a gurney turned his head aside, but not quickly enough to keep me from seeing his amused grin. My embarrassment was forgotten as I saw Stephen, shoulders slumped and face haggard, walking slowly toward me.

“They’re working on our baby but they don’t know if she’ll make it,” he said dully. “The doctor told me he’s doing his best to save Yvonne, but she’s lost a lot of blood, and they’re not sure about her either.” He broke into wracking sobs, and I hugged him tightly as he clung to me desperately and we cried aloud together to God for a miracle.

Managing to compose himself, he walked back into the operating suite. No one tried to stop him this time. I called Daniel Melton, who had gone to the mission apartment about an hour after dropping me off at DeLongs earlier that morning, to update him and ask for extra prayer support. I kept sending up earnest prayers while waiting, but when Stephen again walked slowly back out a few minutes later, I knew without asking that he didn’t have good news. “Our little girl didn’t make it,” he whispered brokenly. “The doctor said Yvonne IS going to be all right though.” I held him as I knew his mother would have done had she been there, as Stephen gulped out between agonized sobs, “Lord, I don’t understand why this happened, but I know you know best. Thank you for sparing Yvonne’s life and not taking her from me as well.”

We waited together as people came and went, giving us sympathetic glances in passing. At last we saw a young nurse pushing a wheeled bassinet toward us. Through the transparent plastic sides we could clearly see a tiny form wrapped in a blanket. “Here’s your little girl, Sir,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry.” She stood quietly, tears running down her cheeks, as we looked at the perfect, silent little body, then gave me a hug and left us alone. I gently lifted Joanna Brooke and held her close a moment before handing her to her grief stricken father. He rocked her back and forth in his arms for a long time, gazing at her peaceful face. “At least we know she’s safe in heaven with Jesus,” he said at last, handing her back to me. I put her back into the bassinet, and we stood silently crying, looking down at her. The pediatrician came and talked to Stephen, gesturing dramatically as he offered his explanations and apologies. “I did everything I could, but I couldn’t save her. Both the baby and placenta were outside the uterus when the surgeon opened Yvonne up. The baby bled out through the placenta.” He hugged Stephen. “I’m very sorry.” He left, and shortly thereafter Daniel Melton walked in. Stephen turned to him. “She didn’t make it,” he stated simply. Daniel looked as though someone had struck him. “Oh, no!” he gasped, enveloping Stephen in a strong embrace and starting to cry with us.

Long minutes later, the nurses came to take little Joanna back. “We’ll bring her down to your room after your wife gets out of recovery,” they promised. “The hospital doesn’t have a morgue, so you have 24 hours to decide what to do with her body and make arrangements to bury her.” Stephen asked that they let him break the news to Yvonne, and they agreed to do so.

Down in Yvonne's room, Stephen, Daniel and I discussed options for Joanna’s burial. The certainly of Yvonne's not being able to be present if the burial had to be done within 24 hours was totally unacceptable but Stephen was too distraught to sort through the maze of other possibilities. Daniel, who is blessed with a gift of having friends in high places, and knowing how to get things moving, offered to make some phone calls investigating possibilities, and Stephen gratefully accepted his help. Daniel left, and Stephen began the sad task of calling their families to break the tragic news.

As he was dialing his mother-in-law, the doctor walked in. “She’s going to be all right,” he informed us, “But she was in very grave danger. Her uterus split open vertically, from top to bottom, in a huge jagged tear. She could have bled to death, but not only will she recover, I was able to save her uterus as well, and she should be able to have more children!” At 1:00 p.m., Yvonne was wheeled, smiling bravely, into her room. Daniel Melton was back by this time, and he and I waited in an adjoining room while Stephen and Yvonne had some time alone together. They called us in soon, and still smiling through her tears, Yvonne said, “We won’t ever have to worry about her not making it to heaven now!”

Mid-afternoon little Joanna Brooke, a pan of ice under the thin plastic pad in her bassinet, was brought to the room, and Yvonne got to cuddle her baby for the first time. Joanna’s Aunt Lydia, big sister Hannah and big brother Daniel, Tiffany and Daniel Melton and their three boys, Rex and Jeffrey, and various Honduran friends were in and out, offering prayer, sympathy and love. I went back to the mission apartment around 8:00 p.m. to get my first sleep in over 36 hours. Stephen and Yvonne both hugged me tightly and thanked me before I left, but I was feeling far from good, going over and over in my mind all that had happened, and wondering the agonizing “What if’s” that always accompany such an occurrence.

*************************************************************************************

Now, finishing this up 4 days later at home, I can only conclude that God orchestrated everything, and we have to trust Him. Maybe if the surgery had been a few minutes sooner, Joanna would have lived, but would almost certainly have had permanent brain damage from the oxygen deprivation. Maybe if I had not been there, Yvonne would have been in the hospital when her uterus ruptured, but likely not. She was planning to labor at home anyhow as long as she possibly could before going in to the hospital, because she was determined to not be tied down to a fetal monitor. Without having the Doppler there to monitor Joanna's heartbeat and know to get help immediately when her heart rate dropped, Yvonne might have bled to death, since her hemorrhage was all inside.

Her mother called me last evening, and through our tears we talked about what had happened. She and her husband both assured me that they believe God allowed me to be there so Yvonne's life would be saved. Stephen and Yvonne had said the same thing the morning after it all happened when we stopped in again to see them before leaving the country. Our good friend Steve Height put it this way, "I've been reflecting on the events of the last three days or so and have come to a conclusion: That God worked Jeffrey's ear infections for the good of someone else (the De Longs), even if he doesn't see direct personal benefit at this time. I'm pretty sure that Hannah's being present was to save Yvonne's life, but you'd all have been long gone had it not been for Jeffrey's problem."

We will never know what might have been, but we know what was: God spared the life of a young mother with two little children and a husband who need her, and took to be with Him a precious, perfect, innocent baby who, though terribly grieved and greatly missed, will never suffer the pain of wrong decisions and sin, but is in a far better world, waiting to be reunited someday with her family. For whatever part He allowed me to play in that outcome, I am profoundly thankful.

Hannah

Sunday With Christa

2009-08-17T00:25:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Another Honduras Clinic Story

2009-08-10T10:42:00.004-05:00

Here is another story that my mother just sent out. As always, it is quite interesting.

...The concept of close knit family was made vividly real an hour or so into one of my afternoon shifts early last week, when I heard a car pull up outside and loud, excited voices chattering back and forth. I headed down the hall as the front door slammed behind the man known in town as “The Shooter” since he has at least two known murders to his credit. (He’s the one who very kindly gave me a lift from the center of town once when I got caught in a heavy rainstorm walking back from buying a week’s worth of fresh veggies and fruit.) The Shooter was supporting another, younger man hopping on one foot, whose face was covered with blood. As he helped me get the wounded fellow up onto our treatment table, The Shooter vociferously declared that, “It wasn’t my fault, he cut right in front of me and I couldn’t stop in time!”

Not sure what he was talking about, but certain that whatever had happened it hadn’t been good, my attention had of course immediately focused on investigating the bleeding from the jagged laceration extending from the wounded man’s hairline down the center of his forehead. I hurried around the table to the side counter and lifted the lid of one of the large round metal canisters of gauze lined up along the wall, reaching with my other hand for the tongs kept submersed in an antiseptic solution, with which we extract the 4x4’s (or a close approximation to that size) that our secretary and cleaning lady hand cut and fold from bolts of gauze fabric, and which are then packed into the canisters and sterilized in our small steam autoclave. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the man’s ankle, and whirled around to confirm what I thought I had seen. Sure enough, the leg that he was waving in the air had a joint where God had never intended a joint to be. The broken-beyond-a-doubt ankle that he couldn’t hold still kept flopping back and forth at a sickening angle, looking as though the protruding bone could pop through the skin at any moment.

“Please hold still, Sir,” I begged, while applying pressure with the gauze to his forehead, and willing my stomach contents to stay in place as the grotesquely malformed “joint” kept flopping back and forth with his restless tossing and turning.

“My leg hurts,” he groaned, clutching it and raising it off the table.

“I’m sure it does,” I replied. “You’ve broken it badly and you need to quit moving it until I can splint it for you.”

“It’s broken?!” he queried in surprise, straining his head up against my hand applying pressure with the gauze and simultaneously lifting his leg to see for himself. “Flop,” went the new joint, and I winced again.

By this point the room had filled with concerned family and friends, and I enlisted one of them (his mother, I found out later) to hold the gauze to his forehead while I maneuvered through the rapidly growing crowd of people that was filling the hall to get one of the pieces of cardboard cut from the boxes in which our supplies are delivered. The varying lengths and widths of cardboard are wrapped in strips of old sheets and make cheap, handy, disposable splints. Squeezing back into the room, I directed the people clustered around him to move aside so I could work on his leg. I’d taken a few seconds while getting the splint to give a quick phone call to our house to enlist the help of Amanda Byler, a nurse friend of ours who had just the day before arrived to work with me in the clinic for two weeks. She walked in at that moment and together we carefully applied the splint along the non-protruding-bone side of his ankle and fastened it in place with a long length of more of the torn strips of bed sheets wrapped around his foot and leg.

With the floppy ankle finally at rest, and an injection of pain killer starting its work, I could tackle once more the task of cleaning and suturing the laceration. But midway through mopping away the rivulets of sticky, drying blood to better know what needed done, our day guard’s dog wandered in the room to be close to his master (who is the accident victim’s father-in-law). Clapping my blood-stained gloved hands together and stamping my feet I stormed after him, chasing him down the hall and out the front door. Back in the treatment room once more, I pushed through the mass of bodies to get back to my patient, shooing a couple of inquisitive children (cousins maybe?) away from my table of sterile instruments.

While waiting for the lidocaine injection to take effect, I glanced down just in time to see the father-in-law’s dog trotting into the room a second time, and once more the assembled crowd was treated to the comic relief of the foreign nurse’s clapping-hands-stomping-feet-dog-chasing routine. This time I hollered for someone in the crowd out on the porch of those who couldn’t fit inside to please close the door and KEEP THAT DOG OUTSIDE! Two policemen who had stopped in to see the accident victim after determining that he had indeed been at fault in the collision of his motorcycle with The Shooter’s truck stood in the hall peering in over the heads of his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, father, sisters and mother, but I never saw them in my focus on lining up and lacing together with black silk the edges of the wound that had exposed his skull.

Amanda capably taped the gauze dressing in place when I finally finished my painstaking sewing job, while I stretched the kinks out of my back before calling the Red Cross ambulance to take him for much needed x-rays and surgery on his broken ankle. It wasn’t until the ambulance pulled up and the attendants began waving their arms and yelling at the mass of people packing the porch and hall to get out of the way so they could get in that I realized how rapidly the news had traveled and how large a crowd had assembled. Amanda counted over 30 in the treatment room and hall just outside the door, and more than 40 others outside who weren’t lucky enough to arrive in time to have a ringside seat. I wish I could have gotten clearer pictures to share with you, but the brilliant exam light above our treatment table kept my camera flash from working when Amanda snapped the attached photos. At any rate, I found out what “family support system” means in a Latin country!

The unfortunate follow-up to the story is that because the doctors and nurses in the public hospital where he was taken have been on strike to protest some part or other of the political upheaval the country of Honduras has been in since before our arrival, he still has not had his ankle set. That’s been nearly two weeks ago, and as badly damaged as it was, it will be a miracle if he doesn’t lose his foot. So much for the superiority of a socialized medical system!

Visas!!!

2009-08-05T16:32:00.004-05:00

We finally have our religious visas and can now be in Costa Rica for two years without having to leave the country or do any paperwork! It is a huge relief to have completed the immigration process; thank the Lord that it went as well as it did.

Grandpa's Visit to Costa Rica

2009-08-03T00:16:00.001-05:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

A Story from a Missonary Nurse

2009-07-31T20:18:00.002-05:00

This is just part of an e-mail that my mother sent me a day our two ago. She is working with our mission's clinic in Honduras, and always has quite the stories to tell.

..."His is one of the many sad cases that arrive at our door as a consequence of sin. But in a land where grudges and arguments are resolved with slashing machetes, some of those involved don’t make it here in time to do them any good. Hopefully, that wasn’t the case with the man who was wheeled in on the Red Cross ambulance stretcher not long ago. It was only my second time in six summers of working here that the ambulance had ever brought me a patient, as opposed to the usual taking them from here to a larger facility. As soon as I got a good look at him, I knew we’d just be stabilizing him, and the ambulance crew would wait to take him on. At least, I hoped we could get him stable enough to leave, and not have him die on our treatment table. He was, without question, the most desperately wounded person I have ever seen. The stretcher was completely covered with a sheet of clear plastic, the size and thickness of a large tablecloth. Someone on either side held up the edges of the plastic so the copious amount of pooled blood would not pour off onto the floor, as yet a third person carefully guided the stretcher with its gruesome burden down the hall.

The wounded man was praying loudly and brandishing his Bible aloft in his right hand. His left arm lay inert and helpless beside him, grit and splintered fragments of bone mixed with the mangled flesh of a nearly severed forearm. The ambulance attendants and I lifted him with infinite care onto the table, and with shaking hands I inserted a large bore, #18 IV catheter into his right arm and started a liter of fluids infusing wide open to replace the lost blood. “Tell me what happened,” I questioned while assessing his other wounds: a deep, 2 ½ inch long gouge on the right side of his neck that narrowly missed his jugular vein and another, longer one on his right upper back. I worked to dress and bandage his wounds while listening, horrified, to his story.

During his walk down the mountain on the main dirt road leading to town, he had chanced upon a stranger, and began witnessing to him of Jesus. The fellow listened with mounting fury, which was unnoticed by the gentleman intent on evangelism. That is, he didn’t notice his companion’s agitation until the stranger suddenly jerked his machete from his belt, screaming, “Well, let’s see if your God can save YOU,” and took a frenzied swing at the guy’s head, intending to sever it from his body. His victim reflexively threw up his arm to ward off the attack, catching diagonally across his elbow and the length of his forearm a blow of sufficient force to have rolled his head into the dirt. His upper and both lower arm bones were all three shattered, and half of his forearm sliced away. Thankfully only the tip of the machete reached its intended goal, leaving the gouge on his neck. A second wild chop whistled down across the man’s shoulder and upper back before his attacker fled.

By the time I’d heard his story and his wounds had been dressed, the man was silent and pale, drifting in and out of consciousness. I started a second bag of IV fluids and prayed aloud for God’s healing touch, and for safety in the journey. We loaded him carefully onto the ambulance once more, and the driver revved his motor, heading out with his fragile cargo. Tragic indeed! Yet what comfort the viciously brutalized man had in the midst of his agony – the promise of a loving heavenly Father to go with him even through “the valley of the shadow of death.” Whether he crosses that valley now or not, he has the hope of an eternity in heaven. How much better than the end awaiting his would-be murderer, who hates so intensely a God who loves him so dearly that He died to save him."

And Now, For the Rest of the Story

2009-07-24T22:47:00.002-05:00

After standing along the highway for about half an hour the police were ready to take the two criminals to the police station. Steve and I were supposed to go there too and give a report of what had happened. Thankfully the police with whom we were riding took us home first, and I was able to change. They then drove all over creation trying to find the police station (the police that we were with were from a different district and were too embarrassed to radio for directions). I’m guessing that we probably arrived at the police station at about 4:30.

We thought that we might just have to give a report and then we could be on our way. Simple, right? Guess again! I don’t think that anything having to do with the Costa Rican government is quick or painless. For some reason the officer who took our report had to write it out by hand. Or, should I say that she had to right THEM out by hand. The next time that I have to go to a police station I think that I will take my laptop and teach them how to us the copy and paste features. Then again, I don’t know if my laptop could even be hooked up to their archaic printer. Anyway, I had to give my information. Steve had to give his information. The police had to give their version of what happened. They had to fill out on official report on the robber and how the whole episode went down. Then they had to fill out the exact same report for the driver (enter copy and paste). They no doubt had to fill out a report of what both the bad guys had to say. Are you getting the picture?

After all the reports had been filled out, we were told that we would have to go to some court house a ways away to give more reports. But of course they had to wait for an official transport vehicle to come and take us and the criminals to the courthouse. So, we waited and waited and waited some more. After a while we asked if would could go outside and were given permission to stand out front with the robber (who was handcuffed to a gate) and the driver (who was handcuffed to a motorcycle). The robber kept his jacket pulled up over his head so that we couldn’t see him; he must have forgotten that we had been with him for about a half an hour along the road. The driver was only 17 (did I forget to mention that he didn’t have a license) and got really bored. I heard him complaining to a policeman that he had missed his supper.

Our transport, AKA a pickup truck, finally showed up at 8:30. If you do the math, that is about 4 hours after we first got to the station. Of course the efficient police force didn’t want to waste gas, so they got the bright idea to send five policeman, two Americans, and two robbers in a little Mazda extended cab. At least Steve and I got to sit inside; the bad guys were just handcuffed hooks in the bed of the truck.

By the time we finally got to the courthouse Steve and I decided that we really needed to call our wives to let them know what was going on. The last that they had heard from us was our goodbyes as we jumped into a police car around 4:00. But we were told that we couldn’t use the “only available phone” (I have my doubts) because it was in the same general vicinity of the criminals and we might actually see them. Never mind that we had seen them during the robbery, along the highway, at the police station, and then sat 4 inches from them (through a glass window of course) on the way to the courthouse.

Well, to make a way-too-long story a little shorter, we had to wait to call our wives until the officials got done doing whatever it was that they did with the robbers. By the time that we could actually call home it was about 10:00 and our poor wives were worried sick. We finally got done giving our reports at the courthouse (basically the exact same report that we had given at the police station [enter copy and paste again]), and then had a wild ride back home. Don’t ask me why the cops down here have to fly like crazy no matter what the occasion. We were going full tilt, running a red light our two with lights flashing. And oh yes, on the way back the two policemen who had sat in the bed with the robbers on the way to the courthouse got to sit inside and the two Americans had to sit in the bed. Steve saw a Costa Rican laughing at us; I was quite indignant. We finally made it home to our waiting wives at 11:45 PM.

The End

Armed Robbery Part 2

2009-07-22T21:54:00.002-05:00

...It is amazing that the police were able to capture the robber. He had jumped out of the getaway car, run to a bus stop, and actually gotten onto a public bus before the police located the getaway car! However, witnesses had seen him flee and when the police pulled over the getaway car they were told what the robber had done. Upon receiving a description of the bus, the police were able to chase it down and pull it over. Four officers stormed onto the bus and arrested the robber; I’m sure that the other riders were quite surprised!

The police searched the car and found the black scarf which the robber had worn under the front seat, and they also found the robber’s hat which he had tried to hide in the glove box. We were along a very busy road this whole time. Four police cars, a dozen police, a junker of a get-away vehicle, two Americans (one of them still in his PJs), and two young guys under arrest attracted plenty of stares. I did plenty of staring myself; cops and robbers make me very curious.

Some police retraced the route that the robber took when he jumped from the car, and they found Steve’s sopping wet wallet which had been thrown into a sewer. The approximately $60 cash that had been in the wallet were missing, but the robber hadn’t taken Steve’s credit card. The cash and the gun were never found, so it is possible that either there had been a third person in the getaway car who ended up not getting caught or that the robber threw the gun in a bush or something like that.

I wish that I had time to tell you what happened next, but I need to do a translation assignment so I will have to tell the rest of my story later. Don’t worry, there is plenty more to tell.

Armed Robbery Number Three

2009-07-21T11:21:00.003-05:00

Never witness an armed robbery unless you have a lot of time on your hands.

Yesterday at about 3:00 in the afternoon I was sitting at my desk when I happened to look out our front window in time to see a man with a gun and a scarf wrapped around his face robbing our neighbor and fellow language school student Steve. It was literally happening about fifteen feet from where I was sitting. I turned and told Missy “someone is getting robbed!” The robber took Steve’s wallet, patted him down, and then turned to run. As the robber turned, he looked right at Missy and I who were just staring out the window in semi-shock. The thought struck me that the he had big eyes and looked very nervous. Steve later told me that the robber was really shaking during the robbery.

The daycare at language school is shut down this week due to swine flu concerns, and so I had stayed home with Devin all day yesterday. I was in my flannel lounge pants, a t-shirt, and flip-flops when the robbery took place.

When the robber took off, I hollered for Missy to open our electric gate and I took off after the robber. I knew that he had turned the corner and was heading toward a police station which sits two blocks away, and I was hoping that a police would be out. Just as I ran around the corner of our block a mailman on a motorcycle came around the corner at the other end of the block and headed straight toward me. I figured that the robber had run up the street from which the mailman had just come, so I started hollering to the mailman, “chase that guy!” He hollered, “did he rob someone?” and when I yelled “yes” he whipped around and headed back up the street after the robber. I kept running toward the street that the robber had taken, and when I got to the corner I could see the mailman following a brown car. I yelled toward the police station at the top of my lungs, and right away an officer came out.

The mailman followed the getaway car up to the main highway and then came back to where I and the policeman were standing and gave a description of the vehicle and the license plate number. The policeman immediately radioed out the information, and then I took him to talk to Steve.

The police man and I had perhaps been standing talking to Steve for two minutes (the officer was in the process of telling us that there are now about 15 robberies in our neighborhood a day) when a patrol car pulled up. Two officers jumped out and told Steve and me to hurry up and get in the car because a suspect had just been caught a little ways away. So Steve and I (of course I’m still in my PJs) jumped into the car and took off. We drove a couple of blocks up to the main highway and then started weaving through traffic with sirens blaring. Spectators were probably wondering what in the world was up with the two Americans sitting in the back seat of the police car.

We came upon several more police cars and the getaway car which had been pulled over about 3 miles from our house. Police were everywhere, and a young kid was standing beside the car. However, he didn’t look like the robber. Steve and I got out of the cop car and were standing there waiting when another police car pulled up with the robber sitting in the back seat. It is amazing how they caught him. I need to walk Missy to language school so I will have to tell the rest of my story later. Don’t worry, there is plenty more to tell.

Tonight: The View From Our Front Window

2009-07-15T22:33:00.002-05:00

Our First July 4th in Costa Rica

2009-07-06T00:58:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Laptops and Gunshots

2009-07-02T10:00:00.008-05:00

This morning on our way to language school we saw two guys wrestling up in front of us. I said, "Missy, I think somebody's getting robbed!" Sure enough, the two guys take off running, and then we heard a shot followed by a second shot a few seconds later. We hurried up to the corner to see what had happened and saw an American lying on the road.

We had passed the same American a few days earlier on our way to school. He would sit on the curb with a laptop, trying to get a wireless signal. Missy and I had commented about how foolish he was being. Well, today a guy pulled a gun on the American and asked for the laptop. Instead of just giving the robber the laptop, the American put up a fight. The robber shot the American in the foot, but the American kept chasing him, so the robber shot him in the leg.

Someone called 911 right away, but it took about 20 minutes for the police to show up (even though there is a police station a few blocks away) and 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. By that time the victim's thigh had swollen to the size of a basketball. Thankfully, the man was hit in the leg instead of the upper body and the bullet passed through. I was the only one on the scene who knew Spanish and English well, so I translated for the police and ambulance driver. Yes, I said ambulance driver, because he was the only one who came in the ambulance! A fellow student from our language school who had also seen the robbery take place ended up riding with the victim to the hospital, or else the poor guy would have been in the back of the ambulance all by himself.

So the moral of the story is, "Don't sit on a curb with a laptop, and if you get robbed and gunpoint stop chasing the robber after he shoots you in the foot." Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any pictures to share.

A fellow language school student was robbed at gunpoint yesterday at about the same place. It is scary, but at the same time we just have to trust God and not live in constant fear.

Perfect Pooch

2009-06-29T10:49:00.002-05:00

My mother-in-law has mentioned a time or two that she would maybe enjoy having a small dog around the house. I found the perfect match for her!

Culture Day

2009-06-23T23:40:00.007-05:00

Happy Father's Day two days late to all you dads. We had a good Sunday at our main church in Paraiso. There were around 50 in attendence, which is the highest that I have seen since we have been here. Pastor Rolando and his wife Carmen have been working with a number of different new families through the ministry of counseling. They have found that to be an open door which is really yielding fruit.

Last Friday I had to go to immigration while Missy got to go to a special culture day at the language school. The theme was a typical country fair and they had a lot of really neat activities. I wish that I could have been there, but then again what can be more fun than going to immigration.

Missy tried her hand at fishing. If we ever fall too far behind in support I'm sure that she could provide for us by opening a seafood store.

Teachers' faces make pretty good targets for darts.

Our Wonderful Academic Director

They even had cotton candy!

Missy threw three of her ping-pong balls through the clown's mouth and won a candy bar.

A Sunday at Paraiso

2009-06-15T23:03:00.002-05:00

Pastor Rolando with a Visitor

Our Future

A Redecorated Church

A Streetfull of Church Members Going Home

Ear Infection and Big Blue

2009-06-06T17:46:00.004-05:00

Well, our little man came down with an ear infection on Wednesday. It is the second one that he has had since moving down here, and he never had one before that. Hopefully we are not developing some sort of trend! Missy and I took turns staying home from school with him on Thursday and Friday. He seems to be doing better now, but we are still not sure that he is over it. The one positive thing about his sickness is that I have a good excuse for not posting sooner (I think).

I'm not sure how much of the time the devil is directly involved in a missionary getting sick, but a ministry can really be affected by illnesses. A good way to pray for missionaries it that God will keep them healthy.

I could post a couple of picture of a sick boy, but that would be sorta depressing. So I'm going to post "before and after" pictures of bath time instead.

Before Big Blue (Kitchen Sink, Not Fun, Very Messy)

After Big Blue (Shower, MUCH Better)

The Rainy Season

2009-05-27T23:49:00.003-05:00

The rainy season is upon us in full force. They say that when it rains, it pours; that is certainly true for down here! Yesterday we got drenched on the way home from school. Today, it rained hard for a number of hours non-stop. They say that it will rain almost every day until close to the end of the year...I can't wait.

Second Trimester

2009-05-21T23:53:00.009-05:00

The second trimester is in full swing at language school, and things are going well. Missy and I both have new classes with new teachers, and both of us are very happy with both our classes and our teachers (I tried to think of a way to throw in a few more "boths," but the only thing that I could come up with was a parentheses about "boths," which would both explain so many "boths" and at the same time let me use "both" a few more times). Missy is taking two hours of grammar and two hours of language each day, and I am taking a two-hour translation class. Devin has gotten to the place where he gets excited almost every time we take him to daycare. So, thank the Lord for his help once again.

Alejandra, Missy's Grammar Teacher

Missy's Language Class (Teacher Eugenia 2nd From Left)

Ana, My Translation Teacher

My Studious Translation Class

First Bike

2009-05-16T22:46:00.006-05:00

We bought Devin his first bike today, and boy is he a happy camper! It even comes with a little air horn and a little water bottle. He hasn't quite figured out how to make it go on his own, but he enjoys just sitting on it. After much begging, I even put the bike on our bed so that he could "ride" it up there (PLEASE don't tell Missy).

In case you hadn't noticed, Devin was not in the mood to pose for this one.

A Pet Peeve

2009-05-14T22:53:00.004-05:00

Lawn mowers are few and far between down here. Then again, yards are few and far between here in the city. Most houses have a little strip of grass somewhere that could be maintained with a pair of scissors. But instead of using scissors, most people hire one of multitude of guys roaming around with a weedeater. Those guys will then proceed to scalp the poor patch of grass, literally just turning the their machine sideways and putting it right against the ground. Boy, does that drive me nuts (consider the pictured strip in front of our house that just got scalped). The only benefit that I see is that the owner only has to get his patch of grass cut once every couple of months.

Thank You, God

2009-05-10T19:55:00.005-05:00

What a blessing it is to have three mothers in my life who are loving, kind, supportive, exemplary, caring, spiritual, and the list goes on!

Nimrod

2009-05-09T09:21:00.004-05:00

Congratulations, Jason (Missy's brother)! I'm very happy for you, but at the same time I'm saddened to think that I won't be able to hunt with you guys this year. I wonder if missionary hunters get extra stars in their crowns when they have to give up hunting.

The "Can't Think of a Title" Post

2009-05-06T18:28:00.014-05:00

We just returned from a short trip to the States (more on that in a minute), and while there we had several people tell us that they enjoy reading our blog. I must admit that I started our blog as a hobby, and the hobby aspect has sorta worn off. However, the comments that I received last week reminded me that there are people who are interested in following our ministry. I have noticed that the views our blog receives has gone down, but that is probably due to my lack of activity. So I am going to try to do my best to get back to posting more regurlarly, and your visits and comments will in turn serve as an extra motivation. We do like hearing from you too. Comments like the ones left on our last post are so encouraging.

For any of you who have been missionaries, you know the hassel that immigration stuff can be. We entered Costa Rica on 90-day tourist visas, but time ran out before we were able to jump through all the hoops to be able to get our 2-year religious visas. We ended up having to leave the country for at least three days. We were able to find roundtrip tickets to Washington, DC for $294, so it worked out for us to be able to fly home and surprise both sets of our parents in between trimesters at language school. The surprise worked beautifully, with my dear mother-in-law nearly fainting when she saw us and my mother giving a holler that could no doubt be heard across the Penn View campus.

I have a lot of pictures that I could share from our trip, but this post is getting long and people rarely read long blog posts. I do want to share two very important pictures though before signing off. Some of you who have followed our blog for a while remember the hardships between my mother-in-law and me over apple pie. Well, she acutally made me one while we were home this trip, which is proof positive that she either wanted on my blog again (she did hint in that direction several times), that she misses me to no end, or both. For some unfortunate reason she waited to bake the pie until the night before we left, but I was able to enjoy three pieces of it. So dear Mom-in-law, I will grant your wish and thank you publicly for my pie.

The Baker

The Pie

Missionary Trivia

2009-04-19T21:22:00.007-05:00

Too much time has passed since my last post, for which I offer my most humble appologies. We have not fallen off the face of the earth. In fact, God met with us today in our service in Paraiso. There was a good crowd, Pastor Rolando gave a good message, and there was a good spirit in the service.

I have a quick trivia question for you. As a missionary, is my time better spent preaching, teaching, painting, sleeping, or building relationships? Hmmmm................

I have no idea how you might rank my options in order of importance, but I believe that one of the most important responsibilities of a missionary (and of a Christian I might add, but I won't get on my soap box) is to build relationships. We recently had a chance to do that with Rolando, Carmen, and their four boys when we invited them to our house for pizza. After eating, we all enjoyed a nice time at a local park.

The National Theator

2009-04-04T13:06:00.007-05:00

When my family used to live down here, we would go to the National Theater every once and a while to listen to the National Symphonic Orchestra. From that, I developed an appreciation for classical music. Now I know that there are some of you who would rather read through a phone book than to listen to classical, but that is ok. Anyway, a couple of Fridays ago we all went to a concert. Tickets only cost about $5.50 a person; you can't beat that. The National Theater is beautiful; I have never been in a more beautiful building. I can't share the music with you, but I can share some pictures. Unfortunately, pictures taken in the semi-darkness do not come close to doing justice, but they will at least give you an idea of its beauty.

So, what do you think?

"Flowers for Mommy" by Devin

2009-04-04T12:43:00.005-05:00

Mommy has been pretty sick the last couple of days with a respiratory infection and bronchial spasms, so Daddy took me on a walk yesterday and we picked these flowers for mommy. I know that they aren't super fancy, but she really liked them. Daddy had bought mommy some flowers too; they almost match mine. Please pray for Mommy. She has had a lot of problems off and on with her breathing ever since we moved her. The doctor has her on medicine now, so hopefully that will help.

You Might Just...

2009-03-25T23:17:00.009-05:00

If you realize all of sudden that your little guy has been very quiet for the last little while, and you further realize that he has gone into your bedroom and shut the door, you might just be wise to investigate. And when you investigate, you might just find... And the worst part is that might just find that there is not only marker all over your little guy's arm, but also over his shirt, the sheets, and the pillowcase. So at such times, you might just have to look up some pictures of sweeter moments, and thank God for giving you a little guy that is healthy, active, mischevious, and all boy. And, you might just have to pray for endurance and longsuffering in the same breath.

Sweeter Moments

Sunday School at Paraiso

2009-03-18T00:00:00.003-05:00

What Would YOU Do?

2009-03-11T00:21:00.005-05:00

Our trash gets picked up twice a week here in Costa Rica. Usually the garbage truck comes very early in the morning, so most of the time I set our trash out the night before. Tonight I set our trash out at a little after 9:00. At about 11:15, I went outside and took this picture. You might think, "Ahh, those pesky dogs got into the poor missionary's trash." Wrong! Missy looked out of our apartment window not long before I went out to take a picture and clean up the mess, and there was a man rooting through our trash trying to find some goodies. So you might think, "Ahhh, that's disgusting!" And yes, it is disgusting, but it is also a sad reality of life down here in Costa Rica. Even though we are living and a wealthier neighborhood while we are attending language school, there a still plenty of homeless people roaming the streets just trying to survive.

Now, I'm going to ask you a thought-provoking question. If you were a missionary here and some down-and-out looking person came to your door begging for money, what would you do? You could give a monetary gift, but it very possibly would go towards beer or drugs. I once gave an old man some money after he told me than he was going to run up to the bakery to get some bread. Just a few minutes later, he came walking back down the other side of the street, heading the opposite direction of the bakery. There was NO way that he had time to make it to the bakery and back.

OK, so money might not be the best option. What if they ask for a tube of toothpaste and a bar of soap. We gave a man those items one day, only to be told a couple of days later that people will habitually ask for things like that, and then either sell them to buy drugs or just trade them outright for drugs.

OK, so toiletry items don't make a good option either. But food is always a good option, right? We were told that one beggar was given a nice bowl of soup from a home, and the guy took a couple of steps, turned around, swore, and through the soup on the ground right in front of the lady that gave it to him. One day a man came to our gate asking for food. He was very specific, asking for either a canned item or something in a plastic container. When I gave him a bag with some bread and cookies, he looked very upset. Guess what? People take food and either sell it to buy drugs or just trade it for drugs outright.

OK, so what would you do if you were the missionary and someone came knocking at your gate asking for money, food, or other items? We have to make those decisions all the time.

Language School: Devin's Day Care

2009-02-28T10:19:00.004-05:00

Devin's Teachers, Stephanie and Samantha

There are eleven children in Devin's class, and all of them are two years old.

How to Use an ATM (In Honor of My Mother-In-Law)

2009-02-24T23:38:00.001-05:00

MALE PROCEDURE:
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.

*******************************

FEMALE PROCEDURE:
What is really funny is that most of this part is the Truth.!!!!

1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash required.
14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card.
22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided!
23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release Parking Brake.

A Good Sunday

2009-02-22T22:22:00.004-05:00

Thank the Lord for a good Sunday. We attended our church in the capital, and God was present and working. A couple had come to the church an hour before service time and had wanted to talk to the pastor. They had told him that they really wanted to get their lives straightened out, and during the service they prayed to get saved!

Right after the service was over, a drunk came to the church. The pastor talked to him first and prayed with him, and then the man wanted to talk to me. John was definitely drunk, but he was at least partly with it. One thing that stuck out to me was that although he was drunk, he did not have the appearance of a bum. John told me that he is a mechanic and owns a shop right down the street from the church. He said that he has money, but that he is not happy. I was able to share with him the only true Reason for happiness, and he really took it all in. At the end he really hugged me, and he asked for my phone number. He said that he wants to start attending our church, and the he wants to be my friend. We have his number as well, and the Lord willing we will be able to build a relationship with John. Please pray for this man. Sometimes it is hard to interpret a situation like that, but I do know that God specializes in hard cases.

Unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us this morning, so I can't share pictures of John or the couple who got saved. I guess I will just have to post a random picture of our little man instead.

Armed Robbery and the Great Shampoo Heist

2009-02-17T19:49:00.007-05:00

This afternoon I was playing with Devin outside in our gated garage area. I saw a taxi drive by slowly, but didn't think anything of it. I also noticed a well dressed man standing at an apartment halfway up our block. All of a sudden I saw a young guy come around the corner of our block and start hurrying up our street. As soon as I saw him, I knew that something didn't feel right about the whole situation. Sure enough, the young guy went running up to the business man, pulled a pistol out of his pants, cocked it, and started hollering at the man! After doing a little jig, the man handed over his cell phone and wallet. The thug started running back down the street, and I quickly pulled Devin inside the house. As the guy ran by our apartment, we made eye contact. I stared him down, and he quickly pulled the hoodie of his jacket up over his head. Then the robber looked back up the street and noticed that the man he had just robbed was coming after him! The robber started swearing and hollering at the man to turn around and go back. By this time Missy was with me at our door, and we watched as the robber lifted his jacket and started to pull out his gun again, and then turned, ran around the corner, and jumped into the waiting "taxi." The whole time the getaway car and driver had been sitting just two blocks down the road from the police station in plain view. The victim ran down in time to get a description of the car, which was a fake taxi, then came running over to us and asked to borrow our phone to call 911. In a little while a police van pulled up, saw us outside, and stopped to talk to us. They then went and talked to the victim. Throughout the rest of the day we saw a lot of police vehicles cruising around, but I doubt that the robbers were caught. This was the first armed robbery that I have witnessed, and it was rather scary, especially since it happened in the middle of the afternoon in our "quiet" neighborhood just two blocks from the police station.

A police van sits right up the street from us where the robbery took place.

However, that is not all the excitement that we have had within the last 24 hours. Last night, two of our bottles of shampoo were stolen. Here is what happened...

In the middle of the night, someone climbs over our gate (I doubt that they climbed over the wall pictured below, which is our northern boundary). These gates are probably close to 10 feet tall, but that is no problem.

The robber opens our bathroom window (which we had left cracked open for ventilation) perhaps standing on the water faucet (since most Costa Ricans are short).

The robber reaches through the window and begins to take bottles of shampoo of the windowsill.

Ooops! The robber knocks one of the bottles of shampoo onto the shower floor. Although it didn't wake us up, we hope that it scared the tar out of him. The robber no doubt goes flying back over the fence, and we continue to sleep peacefully.

Missy gets up at around 4:30, sees the fallen and the missing bottles, and after crawling into bed wakes me to tell me about it.

Both of us wonder why in the world someone would go to all that trouble for a little shampoo, but we are able to go back to sleep.

We wake up to get ready for school, and I run outside to take pictures for an exciting blog post.

We discuss whether we want to: 1) just start locking that window at night, 2) fill some more shampoo bottles with vegetable oil and put them back on the sill, or 3) leave a shampoo bottle up there with a tract taped to it.

After thinking about our options throughout the day, we decide to go with option 1.

Well, that has been our excitement for today. If you ever get too bored, come down and visit us.

Ear Infection

2009-02-12T19:02:00.003-05:00

Please pray for Little Man, who has an ear infection. NOT FUN!!! And please pray for Little Man's mommy and daddy, who are feeling under the weather too.

Children's Museum

2009-02-07T23:12:00.001-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We are having a three-day weekend due to the teachers having a convention or something, so yesterday we took Devin to a children's museum. It was a great museum, and it cost less than $5 for all of us to get in. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Language School: Our Teachers

2009-02-03T22:35:00.008-05:00

Missy and I have been blessed with excellent teachers at our language school. They are all well qualified, but more importantly they take a genuine interest in their students.

Missy never knows what she will be doing in Francisco's grammar class. He is an awesome teacher who keeps class very creative and interesting. Students might have to teach a Sunday School class, illustrate a Bible story, or tell a parable. He has a great sense of humor too. She is very happy with him as a teacher and is learning a lot.

Anna is Missy's quiet language teacher.

Missy and I both have Dixiana for a teacher, although we are in different classes. Dixi pushes us hard and sometimes is tough, but it is for our own good.

And last but not least, Mecbell teaches my grammar class. She has a very outgoing personality and is a blast to be around. Our classes with her are never dull; no doubt those in surrounding classrooms can hear us dying laughing many times throughout the class period. This class is unique because all four of us students have a good Spanish background. We covered the first trimester of the grammar book in three weeks, and so we have a little extra time for some diversions.

OK, so these aren't teachers (thankfully), just two of my crazy classmates. Of course, I am always laid back, reserved, quiet, and quite mature. One nice thing about the language school is that they keep the classes small. The student body is well over 100, but many classes only have 3-5 students in them. These two girls are in both of my classes, and in this particular class I am the only guy in a room with these two and Dixiana. That's right, I can use some extra prayer.

We Braved the Bombers

2009-01-31T22:39:00.002-05:00

Today we went to downtown San Jose just to get out for a little while and do some shopping. Hundreds of dive bombers, commonly known as pigeons, call a plaza next to the National Theater "home." We decided to risk the possibility of getting bombed in order to let Devin chase the birds around. Although there was very ample evidence of bombing runs all over the ground, thankfully none of us were targeted this time around. Devin had a blast (no pun intended) chasing and feeding the pigeons.

I took this picture of the National Theator and plaza from the balcony of a McDonalds that would put the McDonalds back in the States to shame.

Hey, birdy birdy, want some corn?

A Shooting

2009-01-29T19:52:00.005-05:00

Early yesterday afternoon Missy and I were in our apartment when we started hearing a lot of sirens close to our house. We did not find out until today that yesterday a policeman was shot about six blocks from our house. Evidently there have been two guys riding around our area on a motorcycle and robbing people. Yesterday they had robbed a vendor, and the vendor called 911 as soon as they had left. Two cops on a motorcycle received the call and came across the suspects. The cops gave chase, and the guys on the motorcycle pulled over. A twenty-four year old policeman started walking up to the guys on the bike, and one of them pulled out a 12 gauge shotgun and shot the cop point blank three times. The thieves got away, although the other police did shoot at them.

This police station is just two blocks from our house, and we have felt pretty safe because of the police presence (even though we have to call a completely different police station who will then radio this station in case of an emergency, since this station has no telephone). I talked with one of the officers today, and he said that our neighborhood is becoming more dangerous because a lot of Columbians and and Nicaraguans are moving into the area. He also told me that the policeman who was shot lost one of his lungs and is in critical condition. According to this article in a local newspaper, the suspects have been identified and the authorities are looking for them.

Fun at the Park

2009-01-23T19:21:00.003-05:00

There is a nice park just two blocks from our house, and we have taken Devin to it the last couple of evenings. He really enjoys playing on the playset. The park is very safe; there is a police station right on the edge of it. Notice that it is cool enough down here to wear a jacket. I think that it might have gotten down to the 50's the last couple of days! Oh, the suffering that we have to endure while working in the tropics.

A Bloody Mess

2009-01-19T23:55:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday we were at our church in Paraiso. Devin was out with some of his little friends when one of them came in to tell us that he had fallen and was bleeding. We weren't quite prepared for what we saw, but fortunately the wound looked worse than what it really was. Devin must have fallen on a stone and punctured a small hole in the back of his head. He never cried throughout the whole ordeal.

Oh yea, if you don't have anything to stop a bleeding wound, pour a some coffee (in the pre-liquid state of course) on it. That's what we did, and it seemed to work.

"It Makes You Want To Cry"

2009-01-17T11:23:00.004-05:00

This was our first full week of classes, and we are starting to get into the swing of things with language school. Classes begin at 7:30 and we get out at 1:00; there is a chapel break in the middle of the day. Devin has adjusted very well to his day care. It is so nice having him right there in the same location while we are studying.

After seven years of faithful service here in Costa Rica, Br. and Sis. Orozco returned to Guatemala at the beginning of the week. They were wonderful people whom God really used with the work here. Missy and I were privileged to attend a farewell party held in their honor. I was going to post pictures, but as I was trying to upload them, my computer completely erased all of our pictures (from before Christmas until now) off of our memory card. Unfortunately I had not copied any of them onto our computer yet, so they are a complete loss. Technology is nice, but sometimes it makes you want to cry.

We would appreciate your continued prayers for are safety. The crime rate here is continuing to climb, and we Americans are prime targets. Although murders or kidnappings are not all that common, armed robberies take place frequently. Already a couple of our classmates were held up at gunpoint in broad daylight.

A Shaky Day

2009-01-09T17:58:00.003-05:00

Have you ever been standing on a chair trying to reach something on a high shelf when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits? If not, you should come down to Costa Rica, because that happened to me yesterday. This is a country known for its earthquakes, but we have been told that yesterday's quake was the strongest one this area has experienced in 150 years, with the epicenter being someplace around 50 miles from us. You probably can't imagine how scary it is to stand and literally watch your house walls rocking back and forth for 40 seconds. Thankfully no one in our immediate area was killed or hurt, but as I write the death toll is at 15 and there is a lot of structural damage in many areas of the country. We are praising the Lord for safety, but praying for those families who suffered loss.

Yes, We Survived Day One of Orientation

2009-01-05T21:32:00.007-05:00

"Always be flexible!" That is what they used to teach us in missions classes. This weekend we had a good opportunity to put that into practice. Early Saturday morning we made the three-bus, 1.5 hour treck to our main church. The first thing on our agenda was some sort of a meeting...I never did quite figure out the official name for it. We started at 9:00 A.M. Latin time (10:15). It wasn't what I was expecting, but it went well.

Br. Lee Rickenbach flew in Saturday morning to be here for a week. Saturday night and Sunday morning were times of special services, and they were also times crowned with victory. Saturday night a 19 year old you lady got genuinely saved. What an exciting way to start out our time of ministry! Sunday morning, we held a special, yet unplanned, baby dedication.

On Sunday afternoon we returned to our apartment in San Jose, and today we had our first session of orientation with the language school today. It went well (I guess not much can go wrong in a one-hour session). Tomorrow we start the real deal, Devin starting daycare and orientation lasting from 7:15 till 3:00.

Keep praying for us, and we will continue to keep you posted.

Lunch Break on Saturday

Just be thankful YOU didn't have to clean up the mess.

Wendy, welcome to God's family!

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Safely Here

2009-01-02T14:43:00.005-05:00

Thank the Lord, we made it to Costa Rica safely. After a trip that started out from home at 12:15 A.M., we and our 16 pieces of luggage (not counting our carry-ons) made it to our apartment around 3:30 in the afternoon, Dec. 30. However, when we finally made it to our new home, it was not quite what we expected. It was definitely livable, but we decided to look around a little just to see if we could happen to find anything that we liked better for less rent. That was a tall order for the spur of the moment, but to make a long story short, God worked out a lot of details in a very short time. There was another missionary family coming in on Jan. 1 who needed a place to stay, and they were very grateful to get our first apartment, and we found a smaller one that we liked better and was a little cheaper. The only problem was, we had already started unpacking, so we had to repack and move all of our stuff to our new apartment about five blocks away.

Carmen and Rolando, the young pastoral family at our main church, had invited us to spend new year's eve with them. So the evening after we arrived, we road three busses to get to their house to spend the night. We all stayed up until after midnight, and man do the Ticos (Costa Ricans) ever celebrate. It sounded like a war zone outside, with huge explosions from firecrackers right outside our windows, music blaring, people banging on drums, and kids yelling. The commotion went on for several hours, but after some delicious shish kabobs prepared by Rolando, we actually had a good nights sleep. The following morning we had a nice little celebration for Devin's birthday, which was on Dec. 30th.

We are still trying to get settled in before language school orientation, which begins on Jan. 5th. So far we don't have a very reliable internet connection, but I will try to keep posting as much as possible.

Missy and I would like to say a great big thanks to each of you who were praying for our trip down. All of our boxes made it safely, and the only thing that got dammaged was one picture. That is a small miracle in itself. The move has been hard, but God has been good.

Train up a Child

2008-12-20T21:50:00.007-05:00

I'm not sure what Deving thought, but I am postive that he was quite impressed.

Well, we have just 10 days until we leave. Guess what we have been doing lately? You guessed it... packing and storing, packing and storing, and packing and storing. It really is a bigger job than one might expect. And once we get to Costa Rica we will be unpacking and moving in, unpacking and moving in, and unpacking and moving in. And the moral of the story is, don't expect too many posts during this time :).

Thanks for all of those who left kind comments about my Grandpa's passing. We were able to drive down to NC for the viewing and funeral, and they were both very nice.

Notice verse nine.

Grandpa's three daughters say "goodbye."

My brother Benjamin was the pianist for the funeral.

Home in Heaven

2008-12-04T22:51:00.004-05:00

Two posts ago I shared a couple of pictures of Grandpa Kaufman, my spiritual hero. Tonight, Grandpa is in heaven. He passed away peacefully at 11:12 this morning. All five of his children were with him, and he woke up from a 24-hour coma about three minutes before he died. My mom said that he recognized those with him, and that it was a beautiful moment.

We will be heading down to North Carolina early tomorrow morning. The viewing is tomorrow night, and the funeral is Saturday morning.

I will really miss Grandpa's prayers.

My mom is the first child, I am the first grandchild, and Devin is the first great-grandchild.

"Tis the Season"

2008-12-01T19:39:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of deer season in PA, and yes, I shot my deer. I was hunting with Missy's two brothers and dad, and we saw more deer than we have seen on opening day for quite a while. I can't upload the picture of my deer right now, but here are some other pictures for all you hunters.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T10:44:00.004-05:00

In a few hours we will be eating turkey, lots and lots of turkey... (I still think that the Pilgrims should have shot some wild boars instead of turkeys). Then tomorrow we will be eating turkey leftovers, lots and lots of turkey leftovers... Then on Saturday...well, you get the picture. I can assure you that I won't be taking cold turkey sandwiches into the woods with me Monday. Anyway, if I don't get these pictures from our last visit with our grandparents posted now, you probably wouldn't ever see them. Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

My Grandpa, My Hero

"O.K., I have had enough of pictures!"

A Thoughtful Card

2008-11-26T09:38:00.003-05:00

Some friends that we met during deputation, Br. and Sis. Eckroth, just sent us this card for Thanksgiving. It is a perfect example of becoming involved in a missionary's life, which means so much to us missionaries. Thank you, Br. and Sis. Eckroth.

Commissioning Service

2008-11-25T13:58:00.009-05:00

Life is busy, busy, busy right now. We got home late last Friday from our visit to North Carolina and Virginia. On Sunday we had our commissioning service, and yesterday we had Thanksgiving with my side of the family. I have tons of pictures to share, so it's catch-up time.

Our commissioning service was very special for both Missy and me. Br. Steve Mowery, our missions director from our Penn View days, was the special speaker. Br. Steve Hight drove in all the way from Indiana to do the actual commissioning, and several of our family members shared in music. We want to say a special "thanks" to each one who participated.

I want you to notice the picture above and the picture to the left. My mother-in-law is crying at the thought of me leaving, and my sister-in-law is giving me a big hug. See, their true feelings do come out, even though they would never tell you just how special I am.

Winding Down

2008-11-13T10:43:00.003-05:00

We are in West Virginia, and last night was the first of our final three deputation services. In a little while we will be heading to North Carolina, where we have a service and will be spending time with my grandparents and my mom's side of the family. Wednesday we head up to Virginia for a last service and a visit with Missy's grandparents. This will be our last time to see our family living down south, so we are looking forward to it. Devin has been doing well, but he is getting tired of traveling. Here are a couple of pictures from our services last Sunday.

And from a couple of days ago...

I Don't Know... I Can't Think of a Title

2008-11-05T21:12:00.003-05:00

As a Christian, have you stopped today and thought of how many things haven't and won't change even though the election didn't have the outcome you may have desired? Something to think about.

I'm sorry to say that my blogging has been falling by the wayside. With just 54 days until we leave, other things are taking our attention. We spent a good part of today going through stuff and deciding what to store, what to take, and what to get rid of. Tomorrow we will be washing our windows, blinds, and curtains in preparation for my cousin and wife to move into our trailer once we leave. But instead of continuing to bore you with our agendas, I will post some pictures our our little guy.

Devin isn't worried about gas prices.

E-mail the "LA Times"

2008-10-30T09:57:00.003-05:00

I just dropped the "LA Times" a note, asking them why they won't release the Obama/Khalidi tape. I found their address, readers.rep@latimes.com, on Fox's website. Maybe you would like to write to them also.

A Scary Evening

2008-10-27T21:22:00.008-05:00

Thank the Lord for His protecting hand over my mother (Hannah McDowell) this evening. She was hit pretty badly on her way home from work, but it could have been a lot worse. Although she does not have very serious injuries, she is in a lot of pain. This evening after she returned from the ER, she started coughing and felt a pop in her side followed by excruciating pain. They think that she might have a broken rib. I'm sure she and Dad would appreciate your prayers.

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation

2008-10-24T18:11:00.000-05:00

Missy's aunt passed this along, and I thought it was pretty good.

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

Another Picture from the Mighty Hunter

2008-10-21T22:39:00.004-05:00

That's right, you may call me Nimrod if you would like. After all, how many hunters do you know who have outsmarted a foot-long beauty like this. I took this monster down with a single shot from my faithful old .22. First a snake, now a frog, tomorrow a water buffalo; you never know what my pond might produce.

All in a Day's Work

2008-10-20T10:49:00.001-05:00

It All Makes Sense Now!

2008-10-16T19:30:00.002-05:00

Man, why couldn't I have figured this out on my own? Maybe Obama is friends with John Avery Whitaker, and uses the imagination station! And oh yes, I just read that Obama now has paid adds in video games such as Need for Speed, where you are racing along and see and Obama billboard.

Back Safe and Sound

2008-10-16T15:31:00.005-05:00

We're home, and I can tell you that there is nothing like home sweet home. Although our tour went well, it is good to be back. I kept track (or actually our GPS did) of how many hours and miles we spent on the road, and we traveled over 3,000 miles in over 50 hours driving time in three weeks to be in 15 services. Thank God for traveling protection!

I know that posts over the last three weeks have been few and far between, so I will try to get back on track. Hopefully this will pull us out of our present viewing slump :).

Our last service, held at the Beauty of Holiness Church in Jackson, OH, was quite interesting. I mis-calculated our driving time there, and we ended up arriving 30 min. after the service started. The congregation was very understanding, and we had a good service in spite of the fact. It wasn't until after the service that I remembered my quartet service at this same church four or five years ago. In route to that service, our van had a flat, and our group ended up being way late for that service too! Coincidence?

That night we had a very nice stay with the Craces. Br. Crace is 62 years old, his heart is 55, and one of his kidneys is 41 (I think I got the numbers right). It is a miracle that he is alive today, but he has been going for over 20 years on a transplanted heart. He does beautiful woodworking, as you can see by this hutch and corner cabinet.

In closing, Devin hangs out in TN.

Still Alive

2008-10-09T12:53:00.004-05:00

Deputation continues, and we are still alive. This tour has been our busiest schedule by far. Our first week out had us in six services in five days, and from this Wednesday until Sunday we will have been in five more services in five days. One answer to prayer on this trip is that we have been able to raise more shares than normal, and God has blessed us with several very good services. Another highlight of this trip has been a chance to spend several days with Missy's brother and wife, Scott and Sarah Susan. Devin has enjoyed playing with his little cousin Ethan.

On Thursday of last week we had the privilege of speaking in a chapel service at Union Bible College. That was the first time for Missy and me to spend time on the campus (I had driven by it when I traveled with a quartet from Penn View). I'm still partial to Penn View, but it was exciting to see how God is working at this sister Bible college.

I went hunting this morning for the first time this season. Actually, Scott went hunting and I took a video camera. Since I do not have an OH hunting license, we were hoping to make millions by my being able to capture Scott shooting a monster buck on video. Unfortunately we were skunked (for you non-hunters, that means that we didn't see any deer, not that we were sprayed by a skunk). It was still fun though, and I know that the deer back in PA are already getting scared over the fact that I will be back in town next weekend.

Well, enough of my rambling. Here are a few pictures in closing. We would appreciate your prayers as we finish the last week of this tour.

Devin's new little girlfriend (and yes, they are holding hands)

Go-carting at the Dotsons

Devin gives Cousin Ethan a kiss

Bedtime

Too many hours on the road

Deputation Continues

2008-09-24T15:03:00.004-05:00

Devin and cousin Julissa discuss politics.

We had a beautiful room at the bed and breakfast where we stayed this past weekend.

Do you know anyone else who can do this?

The Adams, McDowells, and Pastor and Mrs. Snyder pose for the camera.

We will be leaving for a three-week trip in about an hour, having services in PA, OH, IN, KY, and TN. Please pray for us as we fulfill a very busy schedule.

The 3-foot Catch

2008-09-19T15:20:00.004-05:00

That's right, I had a 3-foot catch out of my pond a couple of days ago. The only problem was that my catch was a snake, not a bass. That's right, I caught this guy (or gal, I haven't figured out how to tell on a snake). It was sticking its head out of the water, so I tried to snag it. And to my surprise, I did snag it with my superior fishing skills. Now, can you tell me what kind it was (was in the past tense since I decapitated it)? We think it might have been a water moccasin, but are not sure.

Politics Anyone?

2008-09-16T09:47:00.004-05:00

" First, the ad is dishonest. McCain has been one of the Senate's leading authorities on telecom and the Internet. In 2000, Forbes magazine called him the "Senate's savviest technologist." That same year, Slate's Jacob Weisberg gushed that McCain was the most "cybersavvy" of all the presidential candidates that year, a crop that included none other than Al Gore.

One reason McCain is not versed in the mechanical details of sending e-mail and typing on a keyboard is that the North Vietnamese broke his fingers and shattered both of his arms. As Forbes, Slate and the Boston Globe reported in 2000, McCain's injuries make using a keyboard painfully laborious. He mostly relies on his wife and staff to show him e-mails and websites, though he says he's getting up to speed."It's extraordinary," Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said, "that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail." For the record, President Clinton sent exactly two e-mails while in office, according to the archives in his presidential library.

Besides, by this logic, Obama is even less qualified to be commander in chief because, unlike McCain, Obama has never fired a gun, flown a plane or led men during wartime. And if the Obama campaign did not intend to mock a disabled veteran, what does it say about his supposedly "cybersavvy" campaign that they don't know how to conduct a five-minute Google search to find out these things? "

I really am a political buff, although I have tried not to get too political with my blogging (for those of you who would rather watch your artificial potted plant grow rather than discuss politics). I thought this was pretty good though. It is part of an LA Times article responding to this Obama add.

First-time EFM Missionaries

2008-09-15T21:38:00.003-05:00

Yesterday evening we had a service at a small church about an hour from our place. The church was founded in 1951, and its founding pastor had met late EFM president Victor Glenn and encouraged his congregation to start supporting our mission. But although they have been faithfully supporting EFM for several decades, they had never actually had an EFM missionary come to their church! It was a real privilege to be able to have a service with them.

Our Little Booger

2008-09-13T21:18:00.002-05:00

Devin loves doing this just to pick (no pun intended) on his mommy. Sometimes he will stand behind one of us with his fingers jammed up his nose, just waiting for us to turn around and see him. As soon as we notice, he will laugh and laugh. We probably should break him of his habit sometime, but for right now it is too funny.

News Flash

2008-09-10T18:09:00.002-05:00

I heard on the radio today that according to a Rasmussen poll, 69% of Americans believe that the media is actually trying to sway the election in Barack Obama's direction. This report shocked me; it is absolutely unfounded and ridiculous! Why in the world would anyone think that the media is pro-Obama and pro-liberals?

"Portraits of Costa Rica #3"

2008-09-09T12:13:00.006-05:00

One of the obvious needs found in Costa Rica is the large number of homeless people. We don't know how well we have it, do we?

We found this man sleeping against the gate of the church as we were heading out the door to the airport so that could catch my return flight to the US. Br. Orozco had to move his head before we could even open the gate. The man never woke up.

Perhaps this is the the most haunting snapshot that I have ever taken. This man was in the red-light district of San Jose picking a meal out of a garbage bag. I don't like to let people see me taking pictures like this, but thought that I could take one without him seeing me. He turned just as I snapped, and his look still grips me.

A Visit to Our Landlord's Barn

2008-09-07T12:29:00.003-05:00