Busy but Good Days

I have had three very busy but very blessed days. In my Advanced Grammar class our teacher knows that we each (there are two of us in this particular group) want to learn as much as we can in our short time here, so she is really pushing us. This week we have had a test on the 9 different verb tenses in the Indicative Mood, plus we have learned the Imperative Mood, plus the 7 different types of reflexive verbs, plus we have begun the Subjunctive Mood. I'm tired just thinking about it. I have used my day off from classes today to catch up on typing all my notes and vocabulary words. I have 22 pages of new vocabulary words, in just 3 weeks!

Last night 14 of the students and/or their children gathered at a Costa Rican pizza restaurant to celebrate the birthday of one of the students. He turned 26 today. We had a great time visiting with one another. The birthday boy was very grateful for the surprise party. He told us this was the first birthday party he has had since his 16th birthday (for some reason his family stopped celebrating his birthday after the 16th birthday).

Chris is driving to Kentucky tomorrow to visit with Nancy and John and Tara and Nancy's sister Kathy. On Wednesday Nancy and Chris will drive to Athens where Chris will finalize getting his house into condition to put on the market, and then later that week they will drive to Jacksonville to visit with family members.

Good News about Dan's Mother

Some of you know that Tuesday Dan received word that his mother was experiencing severe pain during her first week of recuperation from knee replacement surgery. One concern the doctors had was that of a possible blood clot. They ran a test today that showed that there is no blood clot, so we are extremely grateful for that good news. I am waiting for further updates from home, but at this point things certainly seem to be headed in the right direction. Thank you so much for your prayers.

I have had a busy but blessed two days. I have been studying even harder than usual this week in preparation for an advanced grammar test yesterday, and praise God I did okay on the test. Some concepts are still difficult for me, but I'm definitely making progress. Today we started on a new subject in grammar class, and in my conversation class we started practicing some tongue-twisters to improve our phonetics and anunciation - Spanish versions of "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." A lot of fun!

Thanks for your love and your prayers. Nancy and I are constantly reminded of how much your support means to us. You truly are "partners in the Gospel" with us, and we deeply appreciate it. The attached picture is of a bird that was right outside the back window of the house I'm living in. Very cool. Much Love, Dan

Weekend Report from Costa Rica

Hi everyone, this is Dan updating you from Costa Rica. I had a very busy weekend. Saturday morning I visited Sonia and Edwin's ministry, Amor en la Calle (Love in the Street). They work with street kids and very poor people in San Jose. This particular event was a health campaign offered in partnership with Amor en la Calle, the Salvation Army, and two pharmaceutical companies. They provided health screenings, medicine, haircuts (a good opportunity to check for lice), toys for the kids, and a little food. Over 200 people showed up, which was a great turnout. This took place in a very poor neighborhood called Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family). For those of you who know about Cabbagetown in Atlanta, this is similar but a little worse.


Sonia and Edwin and their team work in this neighborhood twice a week. They provide food, clothing, recreation, and discipleship training. It's a great ministry and I enjoyed the opportunity for them to take me around some of the shanties (kind of like a squatter camp with tin shacks) and introduce me to people, plus hear them describe their weekly ministry. They have invited me to lead a Bible study for a discipleship group they have with teenagers on Saturday mornings which they host in their downtown offices. I will probably do that on July 19 or 26. After returning home from that event, David Mosher (a fellow student at the Institute) and I went to LibroMax in the San Pedro mall. I was hoping to find some Spanish crossword puzzle books but was unsuccessful. We then went to HiperMax, the CR version of Wal-Mart, and by the time we finished shopping there, it was time for me to go to Ray and Lidia Zirkel's house for dinner. Some of you know Ray and Lidia, great missionary friends of ours. They are sort of my mentor missionary couple, in terms of how much I have learned from them. I had a great time visiting with them, and Lidia, who is from Alabama, made sweet tea, which was a great treat for me.

Sunday, Nancy and I took care of making a ticket change that we've been needing to make for our trip to Venezuela, so that we can arrive early enough for me to team-teach the whole week of Seminary with Warren, August 11-15 (we are teaching a course on Church Growth). We've been trying to make the change for several weeks but no Sky Mile seats have been available. Through God's grace 2 seats were available yesterday morning so that we could make the change. Nancy called Delta while we were "chatting" on the computer. This was a great answer to prayer. I then went to church, and then to a bead store to price beading supplies for our mission team to Guapiles, before finally returning to my Tico home. After a short nap, I studied for an upcoming grammar test and spent some quality conversational time with my Tico family.
Nancy had an equally busy weekend at home in Wilmore, taking care of a lot of house issues while our wonderful landlady was in town. This is Day 16 being apart from one another, with 35 more to go. Aye papa!

Thank you for your continued prayers for us as we partner with you in the gospel. Much Love, Dan

Big Bird Gets a Nibble!

While visiting the waterfall park on Saturday, a large bird landed on my back/shoulder and began to become intimately acquainted with my left ear. At first it was an enjoyable novelty, but after a minute or so it became less comfortable. The staff told us that he was probably looking for an earring, so I reckon he was disappointed :)

Today I'm feeling a little stronger. The antibiotic is kicking in pretty well and knocking down the infection. I need my strength to continue tackling advanced Spanish grammar :) Tomorrow I will get to see Pastor Sonia as she and her team sponsor a health campaign in a poor community in the greater San Jose area. I will ride over in a taxi to help in any way they need me. Please pray for Sonia and Edwin and their ministry with street kids and other at-risk children.

Also, in Venezuela a great piece of property with use-able buildings on it has become available for the Seminary. Please pray for God to provide the funds to purchase this property. This would be a huge boost to the ministry of the UMC of VZ.
Thanks, and Much Love, Dan

Starting to Feel Better, Learning a Lot

Thanks for all your prayers. Through a small series of God-incidences, I was able to get to a doctor early yesterday morning, 15 minutes before he was to leave on his vacation :) I have an upper respiratory infection, primarily limited to my sinuses. He started me on an antiobiotic and reminded me to drink plenty of fluids and rest. I have been doing both. I feel a touch stronger today. I'm still very weak, but I can tell that I have begun to turn the corner. I made myself go to grammar class the past two days, but I did not go to conversation class, which allowed me to rest a little more. I simply cannot afford to miss the grammar classes. Hopefully I will make both classes this afternoon. Please pray for mother Edith, who is having knee surgery today, and also for our daughter(in-law) Tara, who is doing a job inteview today. Here's another picture from Costa Rica. Much Love, Dan

Feeling Puny, please pray

I woke up this morning (Monday) feeling extremely weak. I rested most of the day, skipping my Conversation class and only going to my Grammar class. I can't afford to miss any grammar classes if I can help it, because that's where I need the most help. I think I just wore my body out over the weekend with a very arduous walk on Saturday, and then a slow but long walk on Sunday. Please pray for my health to recover quickly so I can focus well on my Spanish. I have posted a couple bird pictures from our trip Saturday. I hope you enjoy them. More to come in future posts. Much Love and Many Blessings, Dan

Happy Father's Day to All Dads

Happy Father's Day to all dads out there. What a blessing to be able to enjoy rearing children and influencing them for Christ! I hope your day is amazingly blessed by grace, mercy, and joy.

Yesterday David and Jama Mosher and I went to La Paz Waterfall Park with my host father, Emilio. We had a fabulous time. There is an aviary there, plus a butterfly center, hummingbird stations, and four waterfalls. It was a beautiful day. The rain held off until the evening, and the temperature was perfect. We enjoyed celebrating the creativity and diversity of God's creation. This morning I will attend the El Redentor Church in downtown San Jose. David and Jama are going with me. They aren't staying with a host family during their visit, so they are trying to get out of their apartment and into the community as much as possible, to enhance their immersion experience. Jama is pictured here with a butterfly that visited us during lunch yesterday. I have also included a picture of David and Emilio and me next to the river on our walk to the waterfalls. I have some beautiful bird pictures to show you too, but I'll save for those for my next post tomorrow or Tuesday. Thanks for your prayers and your support!!! Much Love, Dan (and Nancy)

A Great First Week

Hi everyone. This is Dan. I have had a great first week in the Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica. The staff here are very good at assessing student problem areas and grouping the students accordingly. They strike a wise balance between stretching the students and knowing when to back off a little and let them "breathe" and process. I am thankful for this opportunity to improve my Spanish. I am going to learn a lot.

I am also thankful for the immersion experience with my host family. We are enjoying one another. They have permitted me to cook breakfast two mornings, and this morning they provided a Costa Rican breakfast of scrambled eggs with onions, combined with a delicious version of black refried beans. Emilio, the father of the host family, also asked me to try an avocado sandwich with butter. I don't like avocado, but I felt I should try it anyway. I actually liked it a little bit. It won't make my list of favorite foods but it was palatable. He was very pleased.

Today (Friday) I am going with Emilio to do some kind of work project that he has. He is a freelance truck driver (small panel truck). He does all kinds of jobs, from hauling trash to delivering furniture. I'm not sure what we'll be doing this morning, but I want to experience more time with him because he talks very fast and so being with him is developing my capacity to understand native speakers.

Tomorrow Emilio is going to take me and two friends of mine from the Institute to a park that has a small butterfly center, hummingbird station, and two or three beautiful waterfalls. Nancy and I have been in the past, with our great friends Virgil and Jo. I look forward to introducing this area to my new friends David and Jama Mosher. They are school teachers in the Knoxville area and they are participating in the Institute in order to improve their ability to communicate with their friends in the Hispanic congregation that they are a part of. I'll update the blog again Saturday night or Sunday and let you know how my work project goes today with Emilio, and also how our day trip goes on Saturday. Please keep praying. Pray especially for my blood pressure. It's been a little high. It's better today, so please pray for that trend to continue. Much Love, Dan

Musical Treat Sunday night

Sunday night I had the pleasant surprise of getting to listen to Diego and six of his friends play music for several hours. Diego is playing the keyboard in this picture. He is a music education student and very talented. He and his friends have been practicing on Sundays for about 5 weeks now, and they sound very good. I was reminded of the days when Chris and John had their band practices in our home. Good memories! Diego is the 19-year old son of my host family. Rodrigo is the older son (20), the father is Emilio, and the mother is Zoraida. I hope to take a picture of the entire family soon, but they are never all home together! Rodrigo leaves the house at 5:45am to go to work, then he goes to night classes at the university, so by the time he gets home, I'm already in bed. Hopefully we can work around their schedules somehow to get a picture of them together. Anyway, they are a great family and I am thankful for their hospitality. Please keep praying! Much Love, Dan

Church Yesterday, First Class Today

Yesterday I got to worship at El Redentor Church in downtown San Jose, and then enjoy lunch with our missionary friends, Ray, Lidia, Sarah, and Emma Zirkel. They are some of our ¨missionary mentors¨ and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

Today I had the first day of classes at the Language Institute, and I am very thankful for this opportunity. The classes were fabulous, and I am going to learn a great deal while I am here. Being immersed in the language with my host family is also a big help, and they are wonderful people. I hope to have a picture of them for you in a few days.

Please continue to pray for my time here in Costa Rica, and for Nancy as she takes care of things back in the States while I am away. Many Blessings, Dan

Dan Arrived Safely in Costa Rica

I arrived safely in Costa Rica today. I am almost finished unpacking and settling in with my host family. I will attend the El Redentor Church tomorrow and then begin my Spanish training on Monday. My host family hopes to buy a router on Monday so that I can use my laptop in their home. If that turns out to be the case, I will try to upload some occasional pictures with my updates. Thank you for your continued prayers. Much Love, Dan

Georgia, then Costa Rica, then Venezuela

We have enjoyed a couple days in Georgia visiting with good friends, and are reminded of how blessed we are to have so many wonderful people in our lives. On Saturday Dan flies to Costa Rica to begin his 11-week ministry trip. During the first 7+ weeks he will be in language school. He will also be working on an independent study for his doctoral program, related to how Costa Rican churches reach non-Christians. At the end of July Nancy, Ralph and Donna will fly down to meet Dan and we will all enjoy 4 days of vacation prior to the mission team coming down to work with Pastor Sonia in Guapiles. We are looking forward to this mission team experience. After returning to the States for two days to wash clothes and re-pack, we will fly to Venezuela for two weeks, where we will celebrate the first graduating class of the Wesleyan Seminary of Venezuela, and where Dan will teach a class titled "Encounters with Christ." Please pray for us during our summer ministry time.
Many Blessings, Dan and Nancy

Preaching in Nicholasville

Last night (June 1st) we worshiped with the Hispanic congregation at Nicholasville UMC, with Dan preaching. We enjoyed being with these loving brothers and sisters in the Lord, and were especially moved as they gathered around us and prayed for our summer travels. We invite you to be in prayer for us too as head to Georgia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.