Haciendo Conexiones

This last week, Iglesia Union in partnership with the YWAM Herdia base, put together a 3 day retreat for our missionaries on support raising called Haciendo Conexiones (Making Connections)

This is an area full of big questions and some bad theology for a lot of missionaries.  As a church, we wanted to invest in our missionaries so they can be freed up financially to pursue the dreams God has for each of their ministries.

What a fun time!  No, I really mean it!  We had six of the current Union missionaries there, along with three more people from church who are interested in missions.  We also had about 12 YWAM Heredia folks there too!  Because of the mixed group, we translated everything from English to Spanish and back again depending on who was teaching.  Love how God is using people from every tribe and nation and language group to reach every tribe and nation and language group!

And I am telling you, these people were great!!  We had laid out a packed schedule and they stuck with us the whole time!  They were full of great questions and ideas.

We talked about the biblical basis for support raising, the nuts and bolts of actually making appointments, talking to churches and small groups, how to keep in contact with supporters, how to say thank you, and how to budget.  Like I said, it was a super full couple of days! There were a couple of camp games thrown in too, just for good measure!

While Noah and I did a lot of the teaching, we also asked our friend Sofía to teach on some passages in the Old Testament where we see people asking for funding (did I mention she is an amazing Old Testament Professor at a seminary here?).  Our pastor, Paul taught on stewardship and Harold, an accountant in our church, taught on budgeting.  Such good stuff!!

Pray with us over the next few weeks, that these missionaries would make time to do the hard work of getting together their materials and ideas, and that God would bless their efforts to be fully funded so they can be effective in the ministries He has them in.

Three Weeks

Three weeks in.  Feels like we've been back a lot longer than just three weeks.

We've done a lot in that amount of time.  And there is a lot more to do to really truly be settled again.  There are still piles of things to sort and put away, we still need to register the boys for school that starts in a month, still need to restock the panty supplies fully.

But we are on the way.  I think all the bags are unpacked even though there is still stuff to put away.  The big projects are mostly done, with the exception of staining and vanishing the shelves and cabinet.

Oh, and just for the record, if you are planning on moving internationally, don't do it three days before Father's Day and a birthday.  Honestly, we've done Father's Day, Quinn's Birthday, Noah's Birthday since we've been back!  That's a lot! We totally skipped out on the 4th of July this year, much to the disappointment of several of us, me included!  Oh well, live and learn.

I think our hearts have caught up to our bodies for the most part.  It's been a bit rockier of a transition than I was anticipating. But boy, have we've so enjoyed being back at church each weekend,  and being part of our community here!  Noah's been in the office this week some, and it's been good to get back in the swing of things.

I'm hopeful that by August, when the big boys start school again, we'll be resettled.

And with that, this might be the last blog post for a while.  My computer decided to act up three weeks after being in Costa Rica, which means it gets a trip to California tomorrow, then to the repair shop, then to Illinois and then back to Costa Rica in September!  Yikes!  That's a long time without it!! Not sure how well I can blog on a tablet or phone, so we'll see ya when we see ya.

May Kamper Update

Check out our newest update and consider how you could be a part of what God is doing in Costa Rica!
 

This and That...Again

Sooooo, we are now just 8 days from leaving!  What the what?  So let me splain.  No there is too much.  Let me sum up" to quote Inigo Montoya, which if you have only seen the movie and not read the book you are totally missing out.  Which makes me think I should look to see if it's on Kindle, because it's just the kind of thing  that would make for good airport reading.  And now you see how my mind has been over the last few weeks...full of insane details!! Let me show you

• Thanksgiving week I got to help in Forrest's class for their Thanksgiving lunch.  I brought in some fall leaves that my mom and our friends brought us because most of the kids have never seen fall leaves.  Such fun!

• The Weekend after Thanksgiving, Noah preached at both services, and we coordinated another picnic/babyshower for 4 babies!  Noah did a great job preaching and the picnic was a blast!

• The little boys and I helped decorate church for Christmas, it's soooo pretty!  Just simple white lights as a canopy over the congregation.

• I finally finished up the table clothes for church that have been staring at me for way too long.

• We recovered 12 folding chairs with old coffee bags for church

• Elliot lost his first tooth without realizing it!  Funny kid!

• I have been organizing and rearranging things so the family that is going to rent our house while we are gone will have room (and did I mention how thrilled we are that God provided someone to stay here?!  Yes, we're thrilled!)

• Noah showed his car to about 8 people and yesterday finally sold it!!

• We bought a van in the US, so we have wheels when we get there.

• Started the process of washing and packing all our clothes

• We've been able to have sweet time with different friends to say goodbyes.  Just today Forrest's best friend came over along with his sister, mom and grandma for cafecito and play time.  So nice to have time built in to spend with people.

• Finished up all the Christmas presents we needed to make and they are either given or packed.

Thanksgiving: A Peace Offering

I've done some studying on peace this year and one of the things that caught attention was a sacrifice in the Old Testament called the Peace Offering.  Unlike what you might be thinking, it wasn't to pacify God or to buy Him off.  Nope, in fact it was an offering of thanksgiving.  It was one of the only offerings that was allowed to be sacrificed any time someone felt like it.  One might offer the sacrifice for the completion of a vow, or out of thankfulness for some gift the Lord gave them.  One might also offer it as a thank offering for the Peace that they had with God.  After the animal was sacrificed, the one offering it ate the meat in community with their friends and family.

This year, that was our Thanksgiving meal.  We very consciously offered all the preparing, planing, time and money as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for the community He has blessed us with here and for the Peace that we have with Him. 

And what a fun day it was!!!

We had our growth group over on Saturday for a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner with a huge turkey, stuffing, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, mashed camotes, rolls, green beans, salad, pies, and ice cream! I love how this year, our tico friends brought  traditional dishes like pumpkin pie!!

There were games, zips on the zip line, jumping on the trampoline, watching the parade, eating, laughing and being together, to enjoy the Peace God has given us through Jesus.

Thankful. Very, very thankful.

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household" -Ephesians 2:19

Baptism and Church Picnic

Oh last weekend was so fun!!  On Sunday we had our annual baptism service and we added a picnic into the mix too!

Noah taught the class for those who wanted to be baptized, which included Forrest!!   After the baptisms, people came and prayed for Forrest and the others and gave them encouraging words or verses.  What a sweet time!

A little background on our actual church building.  Union first was started as an English speaking congregation.  It has since morphed into about 90% Tico with a handful of international people thrown in.  Our Sunday service is mostly in Spanish and then is translated into English.  Anyway, all that to say, we actually have a baptismal, which is not the norm here.

After the service we had a picnic.  There was some risk involved in this because after all, it's rainy season here!  But the rain held off and actually it turned out to be a lovely day!!  But we really wanted to celebrate the baptisms and just be a family together.  Noah and I worked to coordinate the picnic, put together the decorations and plan and run some of the games.

This idea of a potluck was a new one to most people here, so we worked hard to communicate that you need to bring enough for your family and to share.  And boy did they bring enough!

Since we're an international body, we thought it would be fun to have people bring food from their background.  My friend Sujin, who is from South Korea, brought sushi!! Another family brought bread from their native Columbia.  I brought a pasta casserole and a pie, because nothing says Midwest more than casserole and pie.  Maybe I should have brought a jello salad too!

We had cornhole out for people to play, tarp toss, and I found coffee bags for sack races. And of course there was a pick up soccer game!

It was such a great time of just being together as a family, sharing food, laughing at the kids and enjoying each other!

This and That

Yep, we're resorting to bullet points.  Don't judge.

• After two days of working on letters and sounds, Elliot became a reader!  Love this kid!

• I have been working on tons of projects for church!  We have a picnic coming up in a few weeks, so we've been painting and building outdoor games, sewing buntings, and figuring out relay races.  

• I am also neck deep in fabric to make new table clothes for church.

• We're working on plans to give the kitchenette at church a make over.  Fun stuff!!

• I started tutoring for my Spanish again.  It's been painful, but good.  This language learning, it's a life long process I tell ya!

• A few weeks ago, we found a desk for a steal!  After way too long of using the kitchen table as a desk, I have one again!!

• For Mother's Day (August 15, yep, it's different) the boys and Noah got me a hose and a nozzle!! So excited!

• Our neighbors, can I just tell you how wonderful they are?  Not only do they go along with almost every hair brained scheme we come up with, they take our kid to school, and bring us food, they also have a sweet fire pit and understand the importance of living in community and taking time!!

• We've started to think more about getting ready for our Home Ministry Assignment (furlough) that will start in December.  I've got really mixed emotions about that. On one hand, we're all very excited to see family and friends we haven't seen in over 2 years.  On the other hand, we are going to desperately miss our friends, church, and neighbors here!  Sigh.  This living with your heart in two places is hard. 

• Speaking of being in MI, if you know of anyone who has a car/van/something that will hold a family of 5 that needs to be driven, we're looking for a vehicle for that 6 months. 

July Newsletter

We have some great news!  The Lord has clearly directed us to serve alongside the pastor and staff at our church here in Costa Rica as assistant pastor and school chaplain!  This is a continuation of the type of disciplining ministry we were doing at Roblealto but on a larger scale as we will be.directly impacting the lives of over 100 members of the church and 100 students (and their parents) that attend the church's largest ministry, the bilingual Liberty Christian Academy (LCA).

For years, both LCA and our church have been praying for these needs to be filled. In the role of assistant pastor we will be assisting our pastor in different projects and helping to facilitate community growth and outreach for our church. At the school we are working to create a comprehensive Bible Curriculum, pre K-11th grade,  planning and leading weekly chapels, and working one on one with students and parents. We're also excited about working with the teachers to cast a vision for making disciples out of the students.  Many of students come from broken homes, and don't know Jesus.  Their families send them to LCA because it's an English speaking school.  What a huge opportunity!!

One of the things our pastor wants us to develop in our church is being the Body of Christ to one another.  What we grew up knowing as  church family, (things like bringing meals to people after babies are born, surgeries, etc, helping people move, being the physical support in times of crisis,) doesn't often happen in many Tico churches.  Our pastor has told us he really wants to see the church grow in this and wants us to not only model that, but to help people understand and grow in those areas of hospitality and community.  He also wants us to disciple the members and move them to being active serving members of the church. We also see this church on the verge of some really great outreach possibilities in the community we are situated in as well as in Costa Rica.

We have officially started in these new roles and are so excited to hit the ground running!  We are thankful for UWM and their help in this process.
 

Thanks for all your kind emails and prayers!  We wish we could have answered you all personally!  Know that God used those to encourage us and discern where He was leading!

Because of Him,
Noah, Liz,
Forrest, Elliot and Quinn