The Mathematics of God

"Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.

                                                                                                                          - Mark Ch. 10: 28-30

I remember reading this passage over two years ago on our Come & See weekend. At the time it really strung a cord with me knowing I would be leaving my family in the United States to go somewhere in the world (not even knowing where that would be at the time). This made my discernment very difficult because I am very close to my family and have amazing friends who I consider my family. But God also spoke to me in this passage knowing the struggles I was having. I felt like He knew what I would be giving up and He knew it was hard. 

Now fast forward over two years later and our family is living in Costa Rica (going on 8 1/2 months) in a new mission post. Just the fact that our family came to Costa Rica last May as the first FMC missionaries in Costa Rica is amazing knowing the person I was at my Come & See weekend. Now that we are here and I can look back at all that has happened in the first 2 years of being FMC missionaries I realize a whole new perspective of this passage. How many more brothers and sisters, homes and land, mothers and children the Lord has blessed our family with! This doesn't mean that my family and friends have been replaced. No, no! I still love them and miss them and I always will. But God has grown our hearts and our family in our yes and surrender to Him.

...brothers and sisters and mothers and children...

The first week we arrived in the Philippines (our first foreign mission) we found out we were expecting a baby. There is a really cool story all about that here if you missed it the first time. 

Our sweet little missionary Gabriel is already 15 months old!

This kid loves shoes! His shoes and
everyone elses too!

Our own family grew but so did our missionary family. The last Intake (3 month training for FMC missionaries) welcomed over 50 new missionaries. There are currently over 150 of our FMC missionary brothers and sisters in foreign mission. Then there are all the brothers and sisters, friends and families we have come to know and love in the Philippines and Costa Rica. 

Our 7 + 7 family the first day we arrived in Costa Rica.
We lived with Pablo and his family of 7 for 7
weeks before moving into our house.

This past Saturday we welcomed our new friends the Geerling family to Costa Rica. They just went through Intake 2015 and are on their first foreign mission with FMC here in Costa Rica. They are such a blessing to our family and a beautiful expansion of our FMC community here. They are currently in language school and will join us in February.

Penny, John, Mary, Catherine & Teresa

...houses...and lands...

When we heard that we would be welcoming a new family to Costa Rica to join in the mission here we were overjoyed. Then came the necessity to find a home for them to live in. We talked to our friend Pablo about how we had been looking around Coopevega for a home to rent for the new family. He was also very excited about the Geerlings and offered to call our landlord to let him know a new family would be coming. Pablo had mentioned that our landlord had been planning on building more houses on the property where we live at some point in the future. Our landlord told Pablo, in their phone conversation, that he wasn't planning to build a house right now but he would think about it. It was already the end of December and we only had until January when we thought the family would be arriving. We returned home after our visit with Pablo. Three days later construction started on the new house! Our landlord decided to build a house he and his wife had planned out. It will have 3 bedrooms so it made sense to move our family into the new house and let the Geerlings move into our current house. This is quite the event around here so of course I have too many pictures!

Laying the foundation with cinder blocks.

Building the foundation wall.

Filling in the foundation with more dirt.

Putting up guidelines for the interior walls.

Interior walls going up. Rock drain in front of the house to prevent
flooding during the hard rains.

Our amazing landlord hand mixing
mortar. He is at the house everyday and is
often helping.

On top of the cinder blocks the wood wall frames are
being set.

The metal roof frame arrives!

Roof frames put into place

Flatten that dirt Felicity!

The metal roof sheets are on!

Grace loves to hold her brother.

Cement floor is done.

Tile floors are going in.

Wearing his normal attire Gabriel loves to
visit the new house with Daddy.
Every morning he wakes up and says
 "houssssse" because he wants
Donovan to take him to look at the house.

Our homes are right across the dirt road from each other and on a piece of beautiful property lined with all types of trees and plants. What a blessing to be close to the Geerlings and see what mission God had planned for us together! We expect the house to be ready in February around the same time that the Geerlings will be returning from language school.

...there is no one...who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.

How much we have received from the Lord in our yes to follow Him. There are so many blessings: growing our faith and surrender, opening our eyes to see what we couldn't see before, experiences of miracles and healings, growing in virtue, becoming more united in our marriage and family, and so much more. Thank the Lord that he doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called! He took us where we were and are at and works with us. He is loving and FULL of mercy.  

And of course I can't forget to mention our newest
"family member" Princess. The girls are so happy
to have a kitty (mom and dad are happy that
the girls are happy)!

30

Humility We Need You

Since arriving here in Costa Rica we have attempted to learn how to live like those around us. As FMC missionaries we are called to live in solidarity with the poor. This started two years ago when we sold many of our things, or gave them away, as we prepared to leave our home, families and friends to move to Louisiana and become foreign missionaries.

The girls sleeping in our house in KS after selling most of
the furniture.

In the Philippines we were humbled on a daily basis by the poverty that was all around us. A trip to the store was always accompanied by someone asking for food. Sometimes it was the children who lived on the street with no parents to care for them. We encountered people who couldn’t even afford to buy a kilo of rice for their hungry family for less than what we would spend on a coffee or ice cream in the United States. Our decisions about what to buy for our family to eat or use was challenged by the knowledge of what our friends and community could and could not afford to buy for their families. It was a constant question in our minds (should I buy this?) and an opportunity to sacrifice and have true empathy for our brothers and sisters who suffer in poverty on a daily basis.

There were days when we were asked to give what we had (even what we needed for ourselves) so that we could give not from our surplus but from our own need.

Maricel and family in front of their new house we
were able to help build in the Philippines.

One of our most memorable experiences in the Philippines was the day we bought rice and some other things for our friend Maricel. As we were walking with her to her home Donovan accidently dropped the bag of rice into the dirt and the bag busted open. Our immediate reaction was that the rice was ruined and we would have to go buy some more. But as we turned around we saw Maricel bending down over the rice gently picking up each piece of rice and putting it back into the bag. What I saw as a little inconvenience she saw as her entire weeks’ worth of food in jeopardy. In her humility she wasn’t willing to waste the food that had been provided to her.

Now in Costa Rica we don’t see the poverty all around us in the same way as we did in the Philippines. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not here. It just looks different sometimes. Of course there are people here in great poverty living in makeshift homes and living off of very little. In the rural area where we live there are several different kinds of houses. Some are made from only wood slats with windows cut out. Others are made of cinder blocks and wood and others just cinder blocks. Some homes use fire to cook with and others have gas burners or even a full oven with stove top. Air conditioning is rare and many homes don’t even have screens or glass windows.

A log truck delivering wood from the farm. Most jobs
are manual labor in our town.

I was talking recently with someone about the average wage for people who live in this area. It turns out that most workers find jobs working the local farms (palms & wood) and make a little under $1.70 per hour. They work 12 hours a day and 6 days a week if there is enough work. When work is slow they don’t have a job and don’t get paid. For those who have full-time work it comes out to about $525 per month! Now this sounds low and especially because in most families only the father is working. Then add the fact that food costs about double here than it does in the states. So, for example, a carton of eggs costs $3.20 and a quart of milk $1. 

Picadillo and rice served at a fiesta.

To better understand what kind of prices these are I thought about what it would cost someone in the states working minimum-wage to buy the same items. So if you make $7.25 an hour and work the same amount of hours your monthly income is $2,244.60 before taxes. To buy a carton of eggs would be like spending $13.63 and a quart of milk $4.26 (a gallon would be $17.04), a loaf of bread $12.05 and a jar of Jif Peanut Butter $24.11! It makes sense why so many people eat mostly rice and beans with some vegetables, eggs and meat added as sides. It also makes sense why many people in Coopevega don’t have cars and walk or take the bus. Gas costs about $5 per gallon so that would be like paying over $20 per gallon!

Carne asada is a special treat because meat is so expensive.
Our family eats mostly vegetarian with an occasional
chicken or ground beef once a week.

Again the Lord is humbling us by asking all of us: What choices are you making when you shop for food? Do you appreciate what you have? Do you really need that? What can you give up so that you can give to someone who is in more need than you? Are you only giving from your surplus? These are questions I ask myself and struggle with.

And most importantly:

Do you know how much I love you and will provide for you what you need? Can you trust me to take care of you?

Humility is realizing that I cannot control everything. Humility is turning to the Lord and knowing that He is in control of my life. Humility we need you.

Exciting news and a great resource!

            Just when we need it most the Lord gives us what we need. Since returning from language school we spent a lot of time at home while Donovan recovered from Dengue fever. Then in November my mom came to Costa Rica to visit and we had an adventure travelling around the country and getting to know other parts of Costa Rica.

            We are so excited to announce that we will have a new family joining us here in mission in January! The Geerlings just finished Intake 2015 and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit are being sent to Costa Rica. We are so happy to be welcoming another missionary family and look forward to sharing the mission and living in community with them. Please pray for the Geerling family as they prepare to leave it all behind and move to Costa Rica.

John and Penny have been married for 12 years. They have been blessed with three beautiful daughters who are all 7 years old. Mary, Teresa and Catherine are currently in second grade.

            In January we will start two new mission opportunities here in Coopevega. We will be showing the Catholicism series once a month at church. We are also starting a monthly walking rosary around the town, with a mystery at 5 different houses. We hope that both of these opportunities will give people a chance to join us on this journey towards God. We are not here because we are perfect and have everything figured out. We are all broken and need the love of God to show us the way. We hope that our own witness to the mercy and love of God in our own lives will draw others closer to Him in their lives.

             It has been challenging at times, and especially so recently, to be the first family here "starting from scratch." We have questioned if we are "doing enough" and forget, at times, that laying a solid foundation takes time. I was reminded today by a beautiful friend that God loves me always no matter what. Those times that I am struggling and thinking that I am not good enough, worthy enough, a good enough missionary/mom/wife, I am reminded that these thoughts don't come from God. He doesn't put us down and give discouragement. God builds us up and encourages us. He loves us out of our own short comings and failures, out of our sins, and forgives with the greatest of mercy. It's funny how much I forget that truth while I am in the middle of beating myself up!

            And then this evening I received another reminder through a video in a great series on the Holy Spirit. Our friend Jonathan Weiss edited these videos and sent them to all the missionaries. The first episode is about God's love and a great place to start. Please take the time to watch this series. Watch it, spend time in silence, pray with it. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you during this Advent season. Click the website below and start with the first video: God is Love.
enjoy!

            http://thewildgooseisloose.com/

Language School & Dengue Fever!

 

We were so blessed to attend Language School for 3 weeks in October. We drove 8 hours (7 hours plus a detour on a road that was blocked by a river) to the west coast to our Language School in Samara Beach.

Samara Beach was a beautiful cove surrounded by coral reef.

 Donovan and I attended classes during the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We stayed in a homestay home with our Mama Tica Dona Jenny. 

Felicity & Dona Jenny hangin' out in the hammock.

She prepared breakfast and dinner for our family each day, helped clean the house, and wash the clothes daily. This was a huge help for us to be able to have the time to attend classes, do homework and study. 

Intercultura: Our language school

We both placed in the same level and felt that we progressed well over the course of 3 weeks. The school was literally on the beach allowing us the opportunity to visit the beach daily. 

The campus was right on the beach.

A view from the campus.

Ready for the beach!

Agua dulce (sweet water = fresh water)
from the river runs into the ocean.

Low tide was the perfect time to check out the tide pools.

We all had a blast surfing, boogie boarding, swimming, walking on the beach 

and building sand castles.

Catherine and Grace practicing for the real thing.

The girls were so good at surfing!

Donovan taking a surf lesson.

I decided to take some individual shots since we don't do school pictures. They are all getting so big. Looking at all these pictures reminds me how much God has blessed us with our children.

Hannah - 12

Catherine - 10

Grace - 7

Felicity - 5

Gabriel - 12 months (in October)

The girls being creative with a deck of cards. It's amazing what their
imagination does when they have no tv to hold them back.

We returned to Coopevega with a much larger vocabulary and the ability to speak and understand more Spanish. After language school I was able to hear different accents that I hadn’t even noticed before. We are continuing to practice with each other and our friends and community. We are thankful to be able to better communicate with the people God has sent us to serve. We still have much practice to do but we are encouraged as we press forward in this journey towards becoming bi-lingual!

The day after returning home Donovan was exhausted. We thought it was just the packing, travelling and all the learning and studying. But the next day on my birthday he started to have body aches. After another day he developed a fever and a rash. At that point we researched on the internet and “self-diagnosed” Dengue Fever. Dengue is transmitted by an infected mosquito. We went to the clinic here in town and were told to travel an hour away to Santa Rosa for a blood test. Even though there is a blood test available in the U.S. for Dengue it was not available here. Instead the doctor did a blood panel and looked at things like hemoglobin, white blood cells and platelet count. He confirmed that it was Dengue and told us we would need to return each day for 3 days for the same test. They wanted to make sure his platelet count was getting higher and not going down. For a small % of people Dengue can turn into Dengue hemorrhagic fever which turns dangerous quickly. Since Donovan was feeling very sick and the drive home was an hour away on a very bumpy road we decided to stay at a motel near the clinic and let Donovan rest. His pain, fever and rash went away and he had good readings on his blood tests. We returned home the day before Donovan’s birthday and he continued to rest. It has now been almost a month since he first came down with Dengue and he seems to be back to normal. Praise the Lord!

This experience is yet another reminder to us that we trust all things to the Lord. We are not in control. As missionaries we give everything to God and trust that He knows what we need. To trust in the Lord is a daily habit that we must practice. We are on a lifelong journey of surrender and trust. I am often reminded here in Costa Rica of the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.