Finsihed Language School Yesterday

After seven very busy, intensive, but enjoyable weeks, I finished my stint at the Language Institute yesterday. Hopefully my Spanish has improved with this investment of time and energy. I have received a lot of new information that should help me, but the information has come so fast and furiously that I'm not sure how well I've assimilated it to the point where I can actually use it correctly in conversation. I am praying that God will grant me favor with my Spanish so that I can be used by Him more effectively in ministry with Spanish-speakers in America, Venezuela, and Costar Rica. I ask you to pray the same thing.

Nancy and Ralph and Donna come in two days!!! Then the Guapiles mission team will come on August 2nd. I'm really looking forward to our week with Pastor Sonia and the street kids at the ranch. We will be doing some type of construction work with the teenage boys, and sewing/jewelry-making with the teenage girls. I will be translating for the team members who work with the sewing and jewelry. Thank you for your continued support of our ministry. Nancy and I deeply appreciate the opportunity to serve Christ together through our partnership with you. Much Love, Dan

5 more days!

Only 5 more days until Nancy arrives with Ralph and Donna. Hurray! My back has greatly improved since Sunday evening. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. I have three more days of classes at the Spanish Institute. I am taking an extra private class each of those days to try to finish all 15 rules related to the Subjunctive Mood. I know I won't be able to "capture" all the information and use it right away, but this will help me get a complete set of notes that I can continue to study when I get home. I have posted a picture of my Costa Rican host family. They have been so gracious to me, and I appreciate them very much. Pictured from left to right are Rodrigo, Zoraida, Emilio, and Diego. Please keep praying for God to provide the funds to purchase the Seminary property in Venezuela. We hope to close next week. What a great ministry tool this will provide for God's work there. Much Love, Dan

Seven More Days!!!

Seven more days until Nancy and Ralph and Donna arrive in Costa Rica!!! This is Day 44 of our separation. Yuck. However, I am definitely learning a lot of Spanish, so I am grateful for that. Today I ask for special prayers for my back, which went out on me yesterday for some reason. I'm icing it and resting it, but I'm a LONG way away from my chiropractor, so please ask for God's provision and healing. Please pray too for God's wisdom as I lead a Bible study this coming Saturday morning for a group of young people affiliated with Pastor Sonia's ministry in the San Jose area. Many Blessings, Dan

A Blessed Sunday

Hi Everyone,

Nancy and I both had blessed Sundays yesterday. Her presentation about Sonia's ministry went well. The teenagers seemed engaged and interested, and they prayed for her at the end. Yesterday I heard one of the best sermons in Spanish that I've ever heard, and at the end of the service 6 people gave their lives to Christ. There was great celebration in heaven! It was wonderful to be a part of a congregation that considers new converts to be a normal part of its life, so that they expect conversions to take place, they invite people to say Yes to Christ, and they are prepared to follow up with them. I was also able to get a picture of Roland and his wife yesterday, which I have posted here. He is the friend I told you about in a previous blog whom I used to know at Mount Pisgah, and who now lives in Costa Rica. This week I am focusing on my Spanish classes, plus I am continuing my work on designing the Church Growth course that Warren and I are going to team-teach in Venezuela in August. Thank you for your prayers and your financial support that make it possible for me to serve Christ in this way.

Much Love, Dan

Nancy speaking Sunday in Kentucky

Hi Everyone,
I want to let you know that Nancy will be offering a presentation this Sunday, July 13th, to a high school Sunday school class at the Nicholasville UMC in Nicholasville, KY. She will be talking with them about Pastor Sonia's ministry with street kids in Costa Rica. This Sunday school class is excited about supporting Sonia's ministry through their prayers and theirs gifts. They are praying for all of the teenage residents of the ranch program in Guapiles by name, and will be sending personal greeting cards by way of Nancy when she comes in a couple weeks. It is great to see the Lord beginning to stir a missionary spirit with this group of young people in Kentucky, and we pray that this excitement about global outreach will spread throughout the congregation. Thank you for your support of our ministry that allows us to engage in this kind of teaching and encouragement.
Many Blessings, Dan

Please pray for my BP

Please pray for my BP. It's been a little high yesterday and today. My medication and exercise have been effectively handling the BP so far in Costa Rica, so I don't know what has caused the elevation. Probably missing Nancy! Anyway, please pray. I've had another two good days in class today and yesterday. I have now learned 5 of the 15 rules related to the Subjunctive in Spanish. My brain is continually tired and twirling, but I keep reminding myself that this is the reason I have come! Nancy heads home tomorrow after visiting with family in Jacksonville. Please also pray for her safe travel. Much Love and Many Blessings, Dan

A Wonderful Sunday

Today I went to the Alajuela Evangelical Methodist Church, and was pleasantly surprised to see a friend from years past. Some of you will remember Roland Torres (I think his first name is Roland, but in my old age I'm not certain), who is the son of Letty Torres and her husband (whose name I have forgotten). This family used to serve with the Hispanic Ministry at Mount Pisgah. Roland has travelled to Costa Rica several times with mission teams, and he is the best translator I have ever personally seen. I knew that he had been "struck" with a Costa Rican girl on one of the mission trips, but after Nancy and I moved to Wilmore in 2006 I lost touch with him. Turns out that he and his girlfriend got married last April, and Roland moved to Costa Rica in September. It was a great joy to see them and visit for a little while after church.

I also met a mission team from the Lawrenceville UMC, where one of my friends, Davis Chappell, is the pastor. The team is helping the Alajuela church with a building project. They arrived yesterday and will be here for a week. There are about 20 people on the team, and they are sleeping on mattresses on the second floor of the church's education building. I always appreciate meeting mission teams, because they are such an integral part of our ministry. During worship today we celebrated communion together, which is something else I always appreciate. It both reminds me of God's amazing love for me, and of the worldwide Body of Christ.

Thanks for your continued prayers. Please pray for God to grant me favor with my Spanish. I have three more weeks in the language institute, and I want to take full advantage of them. I am counting down the days until I am reunited with Nancy (22!). It has now been 29 days that we have been apart. The longest period in our marriage up until this trip was 19 days, so I'm getting pretty difficult to get along with (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). Also please pray for God to continue to pave the way for our mission team experience in Guapiles August 2-9, when we will be working with Pastor Sonia and her residential ranch program for street teens. We still have room for folks if you would like to come. Just send me an email and I can give you the details. Much Love, Dan

Update from Costa Rica

Hi everyone,
Sorry it's been so long between posts, but I've been busy with advanced Spanish grammar. Aye papa! Sunday was a really good day. I worshiped with the congregation at the Evangelical Methodist Church in Alajuela. The music was inspiring, the preaching was encouraging, and the people were very friendly. Afterward Emilio, Zoraida (my host family parents) and I went to lunch at Rosti-Pollo, one of my favorite Costa Rican restaurants. We then picked up another student flying in for a one-month intensive at the Institute. She is from Chile but has lived in the States for seven years and is starting to lose some of her Spanish, so she decided to do the one-month intensive to get back to full fluency. After dropping her off at her host family home, we came home and enjoyed a relaxing evening watching television and talking.

My fellow classmate David and I have really been pushing ourselves in grammar class, because we want to take full advantage of this great opportunity. The teachers at the Institute do a great job of explaining the advanced stuff and helping us work through a lot of examples. It is very taxing, but I'm thankful for the new learning. Hopefully it will pay off in the long run. I continually pray for God to grant me favor with my Spanish.

We have been without water in the house a couple days this week, as the city tries to repair a broken water main. We have also been without electricity a few times, but as is common in Costa Rica and Venezuela, you just learn to roll with the punches.

Nancy and Chris are in Jacksonville for a few days visiting with family. They plan to visit my mother in the rehabilitation center where she is staying right now while she does her physical therapy following knee replacement surgery. I know she will be thrilled to see Chris, as well as Nancy. As always, thanks for your continued prayers. Please keep praying especially for the funds we need to purchase the Seminary property in Venezuela. We need to raise about 300K in the next several months. We are trusting God to provide through God's generous people, and we would deeply appreciate your prayers and your gifts. This is an excellent piece of property with use-able buildings already on it, and we are very excited about the ministry that will take place there. Much Love, Dan