After School English

 

San Antonio De Escazu

  I have been teaching 2 students on Mondays and Thursdays since December of 2009. Both of these students did not know a single word of English when I started, but they have been working super hard and now know a lot of English. They both come from two of the poorest families, here in San Antonio de Escazu, and it is really a blessing to be able to share this skill that will give them the tools to a better future (economically).


  About 2 weeks ago, one of my students (her name is Jazmin) asked me if I would help her study more than twice a week, specifically with reading and writing essays. It turns out that she has been offered a chance to study in a technical school for high school students. Only the best in the class are offered this opportunity, so she was pretty excited and nervous.

  The school has several programs of study, and the one she will be going into is an English program. The program is specifically focused on getting the students a job as a bilingual manager at International banks here in San Jose, and in other well established parts of Costa Rica.


  Jazmin is very excited to have this opportunity, but she has to pass the entrance exam into this program on September 29th. The exam is focused on oral comprehension, reading, and writing an essay. I have full confidence she will do very well, and I am so proud that after  9 1/2 months, she feels comfortable enough in her English abilities to take on something this advanced. She has become a very talented English writer for the short time that she has started writing in English. I hope to post one of her stories on here in the next few weeks for all to read. So please keep coming back to see it.


  Please keep her in your prayers this Wednesday as she is taking this exam. This will be such a great opportunity for her, so that when she gets out of high school, she will have a well paying job lined up to pay for her college in the future. One of her greatest dreams is to be a Veterinarian, and this will get her one big step in the right direction.

*Luke

A-B-C (easy as 1-2-3??)

For the past two weeks now, Luke and I have been working with a group of 6-10 year olds every morning at the daycare center in La Carpio. We were previously working with a much younger group of toddlers but the need came up for these older kids. This new group of kids had been failing 1st grade and were in pretty desperate need for some extra attention.

We have been very busy trying to come up with ways to help teach them the Alphabet and the proper way to write these letters. It has been very interesting and different to work with this age. It is not something we are used to and personally would not be my first choice. The new experience has already given us the opportunity to practice patience! I am sure any parent of a child learning to read and write knows what I am talking about! It can be quite a daunting task and it is difficult to see a light at the end of this learning tunnel!

This week we have been able to take things a step further and we are so proud of them. We are now practicing writing words with the letters they have been working with. It has been interesting to see how they progress. One thing that stands out immediately is how much more advanced the girls are. We have even had to split them up by gender because the girls were too far advanced to work side by side with the boys. This makes me wonder how much Latino culture may play into this.

In addition to being behind, all of the boys struggle with attention problems as well as discipline issues. Even when we have only one boy present he usually must spend much of class in "time out" and often we have had to just send them home. It is so heartbreaking to see them suffer so much. There is no such thing as discipline at home, they are lucky if their parents even know where they are during the day. All of this simply continues the vicious cycle of female battery, gang involvement and family violence. We often find ourselves overwhelmed with trying to compete with the ideas these young boys are faced with as soon as they leave our class.

In contrast, young girls in La Carpio must cook, clean and take care of their younger siblings. This work for them starts at birth. It does not matter if they have older male siblings. The work load always falls on the first female child. Sadly this causes the girls to miss out on many opportunities. If mom is sick or unwilling to take care of the family the girls are held out of school etc. in order to cook and clean for their father and siblings. Many of the 6 year olds we are working with are constantly distracted in class because they must bring their younger siblings with them and care for them throughout the day. At first glance this is seen as something sweet. How calm and motherly the older sister cares for her brothers and sisters! Once you are able to recognize that it is in fact a hindrance it truly breaks your heart for them. Many visitors are not able to catch the underlying issues and actual suffering of the young girls.

It is our prayer that these young kids might have great opportunities in life through education and the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We hope that they might be able to fight against the twisted ideas of gender in this society and hold firm to the truth given in God's word. We ask that you might join with us in prayer for their young lives and their futures. We pray that they might grow to be honest, godly men and women of great  self-worth and integrity.

14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

-2 Timothy 3:14-15 (NASB)

*Feel free to leave your comments/ideas on this topic!

In Costa Rica...

If you have battled with obtaining a successful garden, finding your "green thumb" and failed, you may want to skip this post haha!

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises to our God on the lyre, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

-Psalm 147:7-8 

As many of you know, Central America is currently in their raining season or green season as some prefer to call it. For Costa Rica, this means we experience incredibly heavy rains from about 1pm-8pm or 9pm (although it often rains well through the night as well) every single day. This has gone on since about April and will go on until January"ish". October is notoriously the worst for heavy rains and usually it will rain the entire month of October starting in the morning and going well into the night. If you have tried to call us during these hours you know just the kind of "heavy" we are talking about! You cannot hear anything!

These heavy and consistent rains bring a whole new adventure to Costa Rican life. During these months, literally everything turns green with plant life of all kinds. Even our cement patios, drive ways and streets become almost "jungle like" in appearance. Just walking down the street becomes a difficult task as the sidewalks/streets grow a thick green algae type plant that makes things very slippery. I wish we could film ourselves attempting to walk our rather large dog (German Shepherd mix) everyday. We slip all over the place (our dog as well)!

I have taken some pictures of just the kind of plant life I am talking about. These pictures are from around the rented mission home. I would like to say that the place we rent has no yard whatsoever. We do however have a small garden in the front of the house. This garden was built over a section of our cemented patio and only has about 2 inches of dirt! Other than that small section with 2 inches of dirt...everything else you see is growing directly out of the cement!

This is the cement on our back patio...it is usually just plain gray but in raining season it becomes this!

This is some sort of plant/weed that springs up where we park our car. It has been cut down and the roots pulled out several times but it always comes back. Yes, it is growing right out of the cement!

This is a very tree like plant growing out of our drive way. I am 5ft 2 just to give you a point of reference! It has also been cut down and the roots ripped out several times but always comes back healthy as ever. We usually let these two plants grow until they make it impossible to get in and out of our car! Again there is no dirt here!

This is our laundry room. The vine you see grows all along our wall and into our neighbors guest bedroom wall!!

Front patio/ somewhat organized garden. All growing from 2 inches of dirt laid on top of cement!

And finally...

 

We praise God for the beauty He allows us to experience in Costa Rica! Remembering the beautiful wonders of this country help us get through the tough days.

"In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."

-Acts 14:16-17

The light in darkness

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god (Satan) of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NASB)

 The following are news stories from the month of September. (please be warned these are not easy stories to read)

  A 13 year old has been detained in the killing of Steward Alfaro Barrantes, 9 (years old). The crime happened Aug. 31 when the 9 year old was on the way to a local store in the La Carpio district. He was struck down by a stray shot generated by gunplay between rival youth gangs. A woman also was wounded.
                                                                                                              - (AM COSTA RICA 9/1/2010)

  Bullets continue to take their toll on unintended targets. A 6-year-old suffered a bullet wound to the head Sunday when two gangs exchanged fire in La Carpio in La Uruca. .... La Carpio, a settlement that is south of Hospital México in La Uruca, has a long history of problems. The dispute erupted Sunday morning between the two youth gangs, and shots were fired. The boy was being examined to see if the injury is more than it appears.
                                                                                                                - (AM COSTA RICA 9/15/10)

  One of our biggest convictions is to work with teenagers in troubled environments. One of these areas is a shanty town called La Carpio, on the west side of San Jose, Costa Rica. This town is one of the poorest parts of Costa Rica with 50% of the population living below the poverty level. There is a very limited police presence in this town, and by no means sufficient. Gangs made up of teens (starting from ages 9 or10!) control the streets at any time of day, most noticeable at night. Being a teenager is very hard in this neighboorhood, because you are either the victim or the one hunting the victim. Most teens will choose to join a gang for protection on the street. Thus continuing this vicious cycle of poverty, violence, rape, and insecurity for the children and teenagers. One of the kids we are ministering to has had one of his older brothers put in prison, and almost died from wounds in a gang shooting. We are praying that this young boy does not follow in the foot steps of his brother, and that God will get ahold of his life. Knowing that there is more to life than this.

Street in La Carpio. It is a shanty town and therefore many homes are stacked on top of each other and made out of any materials found in the San Jose trash dump (which happens to be in La Carpio)

  As sad as this story is. It is a very common story to hear throughout poorer neighboorhoods in Costa Rica and throughout all of Central America. Crime is on the rise in Central America. The Latin American Herald Tribune in Caracas, Venzuela. Reported that the U.N.D.P (U.N. Development Program) has made a report stating that Central America is the world's most violent region (for non-political crime), with a homicide rate of 33 per 100,000 people in 2008. That is around three times the world average. In comparision the U.S. has an average of about 6 per 100,000 people. This report is an average with Costa Rica and Panama around 12-20 per 100,000 and Honduras, Guatamala, and El Salvador (The most dangerous of all) with a homicide rate of around 45-62 per 100,000.

  Gangs and organized crime are starting to grip this country as it has their neighboors north of us. Drugs, murder, etc... are everyday stories in the news, and alot of deaths and crimes aren't even published or reported due to fear of the murderers.

  We are hoping to continue our work here in Costa Rica, and to further bring the hope, love, and peace of Jesus Christ to these young people. We are currently helping with different organazations (The Humanitarian Foundation of Costa Rica) that have kindly allowed us to use their building for English and health classes. But most of the time we do not have a location to be able to fully minister to these kids. We are in the process of trying to raise money to buy a piece of land where we can raise up a communitry center for the youth. Our desire is to offer an environment away from the chaos, with classes, music programs, games, books, etc. We ask that you join us in prayer and if you would like to be involved in helping us start a community center (Fund Rasing, short term mission opportunities, donations, or praying), please check out our Contact Us page, we would love to hear from you, and talk about how you can get personally involved.

Home in La Carpio, this is typical of a home in La Carpio near the river. Many of the children we work with come from homes like these near the river.

-Luke and Summer Felcyn-Ghenco
Missions Costa Rica

189th Independence Day

 History

Today, September 15th marks the 189 Independence day for Costa Rica. In fact, all of Central America gained it's independence from Spain on this day. Spanish presence in Costa Rica began when Christopher Columbus discovered it in 1502. He described it as containing great wealth. He claimed he had seen, “more gold in two days than in four years in Espanola”(Vorhees & Firestone, Lonely Planet Costa Rica pg.36). Hence giving it the name Costa Rica (Rich Coast).

It was not until 1821 that Central America finally gained its independence from Spain.

There is a rather funny story to the independence of Costa Rica. Most Spanish colonies failed in Costa Rica due to its difficult jungles and many volcanoes. In fact it was regarded by the Spanish as the, “poorest and most miserable in all the Americas” (Vorhees & Firestone, Lonely Planet Costa Rica pg.36). This was of course very different from what Columbus had originally claimed it to be.

A beach on the east cost of Costa Rica, near where Christopher Columbus landed

This is a picture we took of Volcano Arenal this summer. ( One of Costa Rica's many volcanoes)

A picture we took of a Costa Rican river.

  While all other Central American countries were celebrating their independence, Costa Rica went on with their day very much unaware of their own independence! In fact it was not until a full month later that Costa Rica “learned” of its own independence. This is evidence of it’s extremely passive nature as well as lack of strong Spanish presence.

Celebrations

Independence day is very important for most Central American countries and it is celebrated in a very unique way. Although, most Central American countries claim their festivities to be special and different with great meaning behind it, all Central American countries celebrate with incredibly similar celebrations.

The celebrations begin with the sound of the beating of drums several months before September. This is because the school children have begun practicing for their big march through town. On September 14th the actual festivities begin. It all starts with the "Freedom Torch". This is in its essence a giant relay race. The freedom torch is run from Guatemala all the way to Cartago, Costa Rica. It typically arrives at its destination in Costa Rica around 6pm (ish). The symbolism of the freedom torch is also further accentuated by a parade of lights/lanterns (called Farols). This consists of handmade lanterns made by children often as a school project.The lanterns are carried from one particular point in town all the way to each towns central park.

Once everyone has reached the Central Park of each town, there is a great party. This typically involves a message from the mayor, live music, various student performances and ends in fire works.

The following morning on the 15th, celebrations include a several hour parade. This parade is not the typical parade we think of as North Americans. The parade involves every school (preschool-university). The kids are all dressed in uniform (typically blue dress pants and white button up shirts) and march down the street (similar to soldiers). They march to drums, cymbals and marimbas. Occasionally, certain schools include a typical dance or special performance along with their marching band of students. Costa Ricans take particular pride in this event because they claim it symbolizes their lack of an army and importance on children and education instead. (Interestingly, all the other Central American countries also celebrate with the exact same parade, children are even dressed in the exact same uniform country to country. Costa Rica is the only country that does not have an army.)

 Sujaylin (girl) we work with in La Carpio. This is the farol we helped her make this year. A small candle is lit inside and the light glows through a series of windows cut into the castle.

We are so grateful to serve in these beautiful countries and we wish them a very happy Independence day! Our prayer is that Central America will experience great growth in the next coming years. We also pray for improved solutions against crime and violence that have ravaged these countries for far too long.

May God bless Costa Rica as well as all of Central America!

"Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This"

 For those of you hopeing to hear about a true day in the life of  a missionary...this is a post for you!
Last night ( 9/8/10) we spent a good amount of time wide awake and unable to sleep. Most likely from all the stress of  ministries, we just could not sleep. Because I spent so much time awake last night I tried to stay in bed a little longer than usual, for us this means anytime past 6am would be great!

By the time I finally drug myself out of bed, my feet hit something very odd on the cold tile. It was kind of warm, soft and very "rope like". I looked down to see my bare feet on a dead snake in the middle of my bedroom! Our cats must have killed it sometime last night (thank God for our little protectors!). As you can imagine by this time I am fully awake now and headed to take a suicide shower.

Hot showers in central america are not just showers they are called suicide showers. The reason for the name is because you must be ok with possibly dying everytime you use them. In order to use these showers you must mix two notoriously unmixable things: electricity and water! Yes, thats right! Our shower head has an electrical coil in it that must be plugged into the wall. The electricty in most places is not grounded by any means and we constantly have power surges/brown outs. Our house is no exception so this puts a little added edge to our morning shower game of chance.

Our Shower

 While in the shower I noticed the sound of an extra rushing of water. After some inspection we realized that we must have had an earthquake in the night that shifted our water tank. The mechanism for stopping the filling of our tank when full had broken off. This means our water tank had been filling all night and our landry room/storage was flooded. We must not have heard the water during the night because of the heavy seasonal rains.We lost a car battery charger and small vaccum in the flood. I am sure our water bill this month will be quite interesting. I know there are worse things, like when we have no water in dry season! We are thankful for the rain and the water it brings!

Finally after a successful shower and cleaning up the mess, we headed out to walk our dog. While walking, Luke walked right into a huge spider web that had been built over night across the walk way. The web was so big it covered his hair, face and even made its way into his mouth (eek).

By now, it was time to head out to La Carpio for our morning work at the daycare. La Carpio is roughly 8 miles from where we live. We nearly got hit by other cars some 10 times before making it to La Carpio (anyone who has driven in Central America will understand how stressful it is). The kids were great! Our ministires are so uplifting by this point after our eventful morning. On the way home we sat in traffic for almost an hour since a major road has been closed and will be closed for the next 3-6million years (probably much longer than they have stated).

Prisila-One of the girls we work with in the mornings

Taxi in front of us (notice the bumper is held on with a bungee cord)

Traffic on the way home (notice the prominent catholic church)

  That afternoon we finished off the day with some much needed laundry. I put the first of 3 loads in and about an hour later I walked out to our landry room assuming it was well done. The washer had been running its first spin cycle for the entire hour. We now have to manually change each setting of the washer. This takes some guessing as we have to guess if we think the clothes have been spinning, washing or rinsing long enough etc. On a side note we are so grateful to Luke's parents for helping us buy our lovely dryer last month, it works great!!!

 That night we had a good laugh at yet another crazy day on the mission field!
(Sorry I do not have a picture of the snake. In all the caos we did not think to take one)

*Please note that this is in no way a list of complaints but merely written as a glimpse into everyday life for missionaries. Not all days are this bad and some are worse. We are quite grateful and thankful to those missionaries who are working in much more dangerous countries around the world! We thank God for the amazing calling He has given us. We are honored He has choosen to use us for so many incredible things here in beautiful Costa Rica!

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

-James 1:2-3

Ladies English Class

I have been teaching a group of ladies for 3hours every Saturday since January. This small group of women have been a blessing and a challenge. Most of them can not even read or write properly in Spanish and many have not made it past the 3rd grade. The majority of them are Nicaraguan and are living illegally in this shanty town (This is very common in La Carpio). They currently all work as daycare workers for several daycares set up by the Humanitarian Aid Foundation.

I was asked back in January to teach English to these women. I am sure you can imagine the difficulty it has been. I have found myself not only teaching them English but also teaching them fundamental skills such as telling time. My academic year with them is coming to an end.  My goals for these women started out simply being to teach them English, but as our understanding of La Carpio and their role in it as daycare workers has grown so has my desires for them through this class.

As any leader or teacher, my foundational desire is to duplicate myself. In other words I hope to be able to touch their lives and in turn they may be able to touch the lives of others. The best way I felt I could do this was not only through education in the English language but much more importantly with Biblical education. Luke and I have found that there are several churches in this shanty town. Many of the people we have met claim to be faithful members of these churches yet, it seems that their knowledge of the Scriptures and of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is lacking. (Many of the churches we have visited in Costa Rica do not place focus on any strong discipleship, leaving their members quite malnourished of the Scriptures and there applications.) It has been my desire to try and fill these voids in education through my simple class every Saturday. This has been a challenge as I have had to fit many different subjects into a short amount of time every week. Throughout this class I know I have grown a great deal as an educator and I hope my students have grown as well.

FROM LEFT: Gloria, Jorling, Yessenia, Summer, Yessenia's daughter, and Emilce

 I ask that you keep these women in your prayers as we gear up for the end of this class. I also pray that their interest in the Scriptures will continue to burn within them and they may continue to study the Bible and develop deep relationships with a personal Savior.They will be working the next several weeks on their final project. For their final project I have asked them to properly prepare and deliver a class to a group of children Luke has been working with on Saturdays. Our desire is to be able to have others take over these tasks so that we may be able to reach more with both Education and hope and salvation through Jesus Christ.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

-Proverbs 1:7 NASB

Looking for Hope

“Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright"   -Benjamin Frankilin

  Looking for hope when you feel like you are losing everything, feels like you are holding on to the edge of a cliff, and being unable to grip it. All of your thoughts are anticipating the fall. After having fallen, with your body broken and frail, the mountain looks impossible to climb again.

  We see this time and time again, while feeding the homeless in San Jose, Costa Rica. It always starts the same way. We see a brand new face on the street. Their story is normally my family wants nothing to do with me, because I drink too much or because I am addicted to drugs, or I have lost my job. The next time we see them their clothes are all torn, shoes missing, they haven't bathed for days, and the hopelessness of their situation seems to have taken over. This process continues until the same person you saw the first time is completly unrecognizable. No longer understanding how it feels to be loved, having forgotten what love even was. This is the ultimate depravity of man feeling seperated from God, love, life, and your mental stability.

  We ask that you keep these men and women in your prayers. They truely have no one, and they need a Saviour to rescue them and for them to follow.


"As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, o God."
                                                                                                                           - Psalms 42:1

"My father's son is in trouble". "You mean your brother?" "No,he is an only child". -Don knotts

Throughout our lives we are exposed to and often use many different excuses to get out of our responsibilities. One all time favorite in our family is the quote above from Don Knotts in "The Reluctant Astronaut". I am sure we have also all heard of the ever famous "My dog ate it" or the old, "My grandmother passed away". (No offense intended grandmothers)

When we hear these worn out excuses we can't even help but laugh at the audacity one has to even attempt to use them anymore!

Well, Luke and I have also heard some very interesting excuses over the past year and a half on the mission field. Many come from students not showing up to our classes or Bible studies. They always seem to give us a little laugh so we thought we would share (these are translated from Spanish with no exaggerations):

Young student, "I was on my way to class but then I had to go to the store"

*This was an excuse for a two hour class and the store was 2 doors down!

Adult student, "I can't come to class anymore because my brain is sick and the doctor told me not to use it for awhile"

Adult, "I was going to come but then it started raining"  (This was for church)

Adult student, "I can't study English today because I hurt my finger last night in my sleep"

Adult student, "I can't come to class today because my sister is in the hospital from a miscarriage"

Me, "So you are going to the hospital?"

Student, "No, I am going home to take a nap"

Adult student, "I can't come to class because I have been throwing up"

*(Approximately 10 minutes after she said this I passed her at the bus stop catching a bus to downtown San Jose to go shopping. We ended up giving her a ride to San Jose... to make things more awkward she never brought up that she just spoke to us about being "sick"!)

Me, "Where is Christopher?"

Adult Mother, "Oh, he did not feel like coming to church tonight so he is home watching cartoons"

*Christopher is a 5 year old child that was coming to our kids church program! It is common in Central American cultures for children of any age to make their own decisions about going to church or even school.

Adult Student, "I can't come to class today because my brain hurts"

Adult Student, "I did not go to class because I did not know where it was"

*This was for a 3 hour class that has been held in the same place for 2 months straight (the student above was attending this class faithfully for the full 2 months)

And last but not least......

Adult Student, "I can't come to class anymore because my brain is not built for that"

Well, we hope you were able to enjoy these as much as we did! I am sure there are many other teachers/leaders who could add to this list as well. Feel free to comment with some good ones you may have heard in the past! 

9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

-Galations 6:9-10 (NASB)