Posts Tagged ‘christian surfers’
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.Hebrews 13:16
Friday night they begin to arrive, young families with their fishing poles, pre-teen boys with their surfboards, young professionals with their friends. I pull another bag of frozen fish out of the freezer and grate the rest of the cabbage, check the rice and beans to make sure there will be enough. Someone brings drinks and I have one of the pre-teens clear the table of surf magazines, bibles, stickers, toys, back packs, school books, wet trunks and towels. We gather and pray, another car arrives, head count goes from 16– 20. We sit and eat, talk about school, grades, family, jobs, Jesus, surf reports….. This is the beginning of a typical week-end at the Leon house. The fun continues with small group discipleship, service projects, chores, counseling, English classes, Kids Club, more food, fishing, friends and culminates on Sunday with worship and a cele-bration of the love of the God we serve. During the week we catch up on the laundry, house cleaning, and other ministerial chores in preparation for another full weekend of living together and following Jesus.
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You know you live in the tropics when your baby’s dirty diaper smells like mango!
It is mango season in Costa Rica. There are about five different types of mangos that I have been able to identify and consume in the last 4 weeks. We have made mango pie, mango bread, mango smoothies, mango juice, mango popsicles, dried mango, fresh mango and mango lasi. After eating 3 courses of mango dishes yesterday Dennis brought home my favorite kind “mango Rosa” I ate two! Imagine a rose infused mango, that is what they taste like, and I hope they have them in heaven. Did I mention it is avocado season too! Our grocery bill has gone way down this month as you can imagine!
You may remember the saga of my oven. I love to bake and an oven was one of the things that we had been on the lookout for since we moved here. Dennis bought me one for Mother’s Day last year and it was a bit of a disaster, it even caught on fire at one point leaving me oven less again. About 4 months after that a friend gave us their old electric oven from the 70’s and it was amazing! I became the official birthday cake baker for the neighborhood. A few ladies mentioned wanting to learn to bake so I had them over one day showed them how to do yeast bread, cookies and biscuits. I also gave each of them a sack of flour so they could try at home. Little did I know that this was to be our first step into being a blessing by establishing microenterprises. Over holy week a local boy came to my door selling homemade bread. Not only was it delicious, a rarity in Costa Rica, but it was made by one of the ladies who had come to my house that day! I saw her later that week and complimented her on her baking skills. She told me what a blessing her little business has been to her family, enabling her to buy her three children the books and pencils they needed for school.
The great coordinator that we serve was at it again as we traveled to Indy for a series of interviews, trainings, meetings, orientations, photo sessions and doctor appointments.
To begin with our flight from Miami to Indy was canceled, which was a bit frustrating, but who should we see while waiting for the hotel shuttle but Cal Fisher, Christian Surfer’s Latin American coordinator! His flight was also canceled and we were put up in the same hotel so we were able to have an impromptu meeting with him that night. What a blessing it was to connect with him and see the ways God is moving through CS in Latin America.
When we finally did make it to Indy we were blessed not only by my dad coming to stay with us to watch the kids, but by the Miller family who made their house available to us for our stay there.
During our seven day stay we met with over 15 people whose job is to make sure we are the best missionaries we can be for the glory of God. What a loving and supportive team we have behind us at Free Methodist World Missions, with years of experience and wisdom.
We are on track for officially becoming FMWM extended term missionaries in the late summer after we finish some required course work. At that time we will be going to California to look for churches, businesses and individuals who would like to partner with us in the work that God is doing here in Costa Rica.
Pray:
- Kyle’s Grandmother Verna whose health is failing
- continued support as well as new partners
- thank God for the safe arrival of Sol Arthur, Kyle and Dennis’ newest nephew
- wisdom as we plan for the future of ministry
- leaders at FMWM as well as here in Costa Rica
- effective evangelism during Holy week
- healthy boundaries and use of time
We are going to Indianapolis to be interviewed to become extended term missionaries with Free Methodist World Missions! Getting to this point has been quite a journey with many false starts and faith building waiting periods but we are going to Indy April 5-13. God is so good and He not only provided in miraculous ways financially but with the scheduling of this trip as well. We are being blessed by the master coordinator and want to thank those of you who contributed to getting us to this point in our ministry through financial support, prayers and encouragement!
We are going to Indy although our financial goal for this trip was not met. Please prayerfully consider giving to this important part of our ministry as we want to be the best we can be for the glory of God and to be able to continue to give hope to the people in Costa Rica.
Love, Leon family
P.S. To those faithful readers who are waiting to see the promised answer to “what do you do?” Keep posted.
Pura Vida
