"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

Average "Jose"

17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him.

-1 John 3:17-19 NASB

There are several comments that we hear as full time missionaries often from our wonderful supporters, friends and family. A few of them go as follows:

"You amaze us"

"You guys are incredible"

"How do you do what you do?"

"You are so strong"

"You are not like me"

These are all very encouraging statements for us but we can't help but feel unworthy. The truth is... we are no different from anyone else. Unfortunately there is no special magic dust we have been sprinkled with, no special conversion, and no extrodinary calling. We are about as "ordinary" as it gets. We have worries, fears, concerns, needs and desires. We have unbelievable student loans to pay off! We get tired, lonely, frustrated and scared. We don't have some huge plan mapped out and to be honest...most of the time we don't have a clue what we are doing!

I think that may be a big reason why so many people are not actively going out and reaching the world with the Gospel. As Christians we tend to place high admiration on pastors, missionaries or other leaders of ministries.This is great and I think they do deserve our respect for their sacrifices but it seems all too often we are misplacing our admiration. These people after all are just people like you and like me. What makes them extodinary is they have exchanged their lives for the extrodinary life of Christ!

As a missionary many people want to know our "calling" story. How did God call us to do what we do? Our answer is simple...we believe in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for our sins so that we do not have to make that payment for ourselves. As a part of believing in Him we decided to exchange our life for His life and purpose. In doing this we took on His name and are now called Christians. To His followers, Jesus commanded:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...

-Matthew 28:19a NASB

That's pretty much it. He said to go so we went. No big bang, bright light or calling to us in an audible voice in the night. There was no angel who appeared to us. It is God's love for us that compels us. We were once lost, dirty and cast away yet, Jesus came along and found us where we were, He woke us up, fed us and clothed us. He offered hope and incredible love. How can we not share this amazing story with others? So how do we share this story with others? We share this story through service and love not picket lines. 

As Christians we carry the name of Christ with us wherever we go. When people look at us they are to see Christ. 1 John 3:17-19 provides a very clear picture of how we are to show love. It states a difficult truth not only in our testimony of Christ but also in our personal relationships. Actions will always speak louder than words!

If you have not been serving or sharing the love of Christ with others, we would suggest you speak with your pastor or other church leader on ways you can get involved in the spread of the Gospel in a very real way! Do not put it off until the "perfect" timing comes along! The truth is there will never be a perfect timing. Jesus did not ask His followers to get their life in order, raise their kids and advance in their carreers before they followed Him. He said,

17"Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

-Mark 1:17-18 NASB

21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead."

-Matthew 8:21-22 NASB

While it may have been wiser (in human reasoning) for us to stay in the US with good jobs, make money and pay off our loans before following Him, this is not what He has asked of us. He is seeking your service now not later! 

Leave your nets and immediatly follow Him. He has so much for you and a greater purpose than you can imagine. All you have to do is let go and let Him drive! You do not have to be a "somebody"!

*If you would like to know more about Missions Costa Rica and how you can become an active part of what God is doing in Costa Rica you may email us at:

missionscostarica@yahoo.com

Feeding the homeless of San Jose