Farewell, Costa Rica!

Today, a little after noon, we will board a plane here in San Jose that will take us away from a country that we have called home for over a year now. We have, in the mean time, acquired a better understanding and grasp of the Spanish language and, hopefully, an ability to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

There have been sorrows and joys, frustrations and blessings, hellos and goodbyes, tears and laughter, humiliation and success (in learning Spanish). But, especially, there has been growth in discovering how good and faithful our God is. He has provided for every need (using many of you) and loved us and nurtured us through a challenging year.

It has been a blessing not only to attend, but also to serve the school here. Tony served as chaplain one trimester and as student council president another. Beverly, in addition to studying, has been part of a women's Bible study group, served as cashier for the student council and as a friend and mentor to many. We have had challenges in learning a language that really likes to do strange and mysterious things with verbs and pronouns, but I think we are at a place where we can talk with people here in Latin America with some degree of dignity and something beyond a kindergarten level of communication.

We are thankful for the school and individuals such as Julie Chamberlain, director and Graziela Arguedas, academic director, as well as our teachers, Ana Silvia, Dixiana, Eugenia, Laura, Maritza, Marlene, Oscar, Patricia, Sandra and Tahiri. We appreciate the staff here as well who have been an encouragement and blessing to us. Finally, we have made lifetime friends who are going to all the world to share the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We love and will miss you all.

And now it's on to Mexico - the goal and purpose of all of this. There are more friends and more challenges ahead for us and there is and always will be the same God over all of our experiences. It is such an adventure just to be obedient and watch God work. (You don't have to be a missionary, by the way, to experience that.) It is always worth the sacrifice and hardship to experience the blessing of saying yes to God's will.

Thank you again and again, to all of you who lift us up in prayer and with your support. We love you all!

Tony and Beverly

Transition Time

We are a week and a half from graduation from the Spanish Language Institute here in San José, Costa Rica and the Lord has sustained us here for nearly a year through the blessing of your prayers and support. We are grateful for His blessings and for the ability to communicate more effectively in the heart language of Mexicans and others in Latin America.

Downtown Jerez at Night

As we posted last month, we made a trip to Mexico during Holy Week (Semana Santa). We were disappointed at first to find that the house we were hoping to look at to live in was no longer available. After we got this news we went to a restaurant in Jerez to eat lunch and we asked our waiter if he knew of any houses for rent. He collaborated with some of his co-workers and they sent us a few blocks away to look at a possibility. We couldn't find the house they were talking about, but we drove into a neighborhood and found a family cooking lunch outside on the grill and, after telling them about our search, a couple of the women got into the car with us and took us to another house. We found out where the landlord lived (who was not at home that day). The next day we went back to the landlord's home and found him there. He said he had someone interested in renting it, but hadn't heard from them in a couple of months, but he wanted to check with them first. The next day he called Tony on his cell phone and said it was ours.

Our Future Home by God's Grace and Provision

We are grateful that we found a wonderful house to live in, at a very reasonable rent and that the Lord gave us several divine appointments in the process to meet some wonderful people whom we hope to continue to befriend.

We will be coming back to the United States April 26, the day after graduation and staying a few weeks to gather our belongings and prepare our van for the trip back into Mexico. We will be driving back to Mexico the week of May 20. Once we are there, we will have just barely a week before our first team of the summer arrives. As you can guess, our heads are spinning a bit with all that must be done, but our God is able to supply the strength and help to get it all done.

Please pray for all of our plans and preparations to fall into place and for God's provisions for all of our material needs to get set up in Mexico. We are so very grateful for all of your love, prayers and continued support. Please keep us before the throne.