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