Life of Change

Change.

Very few people actually embrace that word.

As this journey continues, we are realizing that we have signed up for a life of constant change.

Whether it is changing everything we have ever known about every day life or battling our ever-changing emotions ... change is a huge part of every single day here.

Some of the definitions of the word change:

1. to make radically different to give a different position, course, or direction toto replace with another to make a shift from one to anotherto undergo a modification of

I think that it is easy to say that our lives have been under each of these definitions of change since leaving in December.

Abandoning all we have ever known has made everything radically different 

Our dreams, hopes, and plans have all taken a different course & direction.

We have replaced all that was comfortable and familiar with the unknown.

We have shifted our desires to His desires.

And with all of that, we are undergoing a modification as we are made to be more like Him.

To be transparent & honest, there are days when the change is just too much.

We go through waves of discouragement and frustration.

But thankfully, the good outweighs the bad and we are reminded of God's great purpose for our lives.

And we are reminded that we are not alone.  He is so faithful to comfort us!

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Our first trimester is winding down. We are off this week to celebrate Semana Santa.  We will return to class next week for our final days of school before having 2 weeks of in between trimesters!

With that comes a lot of emotions ... and you guessed it ... more change.

We are encouraged by how much we have learned this trimester.

Our 4 teachers have been such a blessing to our lives this trimester.  We can see God's hand in our class placements.  It is amazing to look back over the last 4 months and see how much we have learned.  Not just Spanish but also how much we have learned about The Lord & ourselves!

We both have done great in our classes ... both received an A+ on our end of the trimester cumulative exams!  We are really doing this, y'all!

We were able to celebrate our teachers this month & all that they do for us during Teacher Appreciation Week.  It was such a blessing to be able to give in small ways for all of the huge ways that they give and sacrifice for us during this language learning process!

Chapel Service between classes

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We are sad to say "see you laters" to some of the families that we have met!

We have had a few friends that have left to head back to life in the States or begin their placements on the field in another country in Latin America.  It is amazing how quickly you become attached to people that you have only known for a short amount of time.  These are some of the hardest changes we are facing ... saying goodbye is never easy!

Olivia is back in SC & ready to take on Clemson in the Fall!   

Josie's sweet friends from school that are now back in PA!

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We are excited for new beginnings!

We will begin our second trimester on May 8th along with new students that will arrive soon to Costa Rica.  We look forward to getting to know the new families!

We are also really excited to spend the rest of our time in Costa Rica in a new (to us) home.  The space we were living in was just big enough for us to function in as a family.  We did not have any room to get away from the noise for studying or quiet time.  It was a very small space that we could have made it in the rest of the time here but we had an offer that we could not refuse!

We were given the opportunity to move into a home that better fits our family for the remainder of our time here in Costa Rica.  It was truly a blessing from the Lord and minimally increased our monthly cost of living by only $40.  We now have space to host our visitors when they come to visit, a full sized refrigerator WITH a freezer (YAY for ice cream!) & room to relax as a family.  It has already been such a blessing for us to have space to enjoy dinner & fun with friends in our home!

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Overall, we are thankful.  Thankful for the progress & also for the pain.

We have realized that our circumstances here, whether it is frustrations, personality conflicts, disappointments, or discouragements, all serve a huge purpose in our process here this year.

We are not who we were 4 months ago when we left SC.  Gracias a Dios!

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Here are some pictures of the last few weeks!

Even Macie is worn out from all of this change!

PE day at school :)

Bear sighting at the mall 

Feria in our neighborhood

Daniel on the hunt for some fruit!

Beautiful Sunset

Countdown to Ms. Carla & Papaw & Nana!

Josie's School Performance 

Beautiful trees 

Macie Girl :) 

Our iguana friend 

Sunset on the coast

Our monkey friend

Beautiful park in downtown San Jose

Teaching her babies Spanish :)

Please join us as we pray ...

• Monthly ministry partners so that we can reach 100% of our goal before December

• Progress & funds needed for our home at the camp in Honduras

• Two mission teams from the States we are leading in Honduras this summer (June & August)

• Visits with friends & family this month

We are so thankful for all of your love, support & encouragement as we embrace this adventure with The Lord!

If you feel led to partner with us & God's ministry in Honduras, please visit our secure giving site:  https://yfc.givingfuel.com/32216

po·co a po·co ... shifting our expectations!

po·co a po·co  ... Little by little.

Everything that we are doing now-a-days has that same theme.

We are settling into life away from everything & everyone that we love ... poco a poco.

We are getting used to living the city life ... poco a poco.

We are having deeper & longer conversations in Spanish ... poco a poco.

This mindset (along with Pura Vida, of course!) has helped us to adjust to life here in Costa Rica.

We learned very quickly that we have to leave our "normal" & "comfortable" mindset behind us.

To be honest, it is the complete opposite of how we functioned in every day life before in the States. 

We were constantly busy, always adding more to our plates, striving to fill our days with as much as we could accomplish, and driven to complete task after task.

Here, we are realizing how much life we have missed out on along the way just by being so task- driven.  

God is showing us that there is little to no room for that mentality on the field.  

He desires for us to be driven by love.

He does not want us to be so driven by completing a task that we miss the opportunities to love those around us here & now.

We can not expect to master anything.  

We can no longer live this life task-driven.

Part of dying to ourselves in this journey is realizing that apart from Him, we truly can do nothing.
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We can not carry out our days here without there being some sort of interruptions, disappointments, frustrations, or struggles.

But, because of that, we are shifting our expectations!

We don't expect to go to school everyday without some sort of struggle.

But we do expect for the Lord to give us the wisdom & discernment we need each day to speak truth & life into each other as the struggles arise.

We don't expect to go throughout our week without facing frustrations in our classes.

But we do expect the Lord to sustain us, encourage us, & comfort us exactly when we need it most.

We don't expect to run errands without stumbling through the language and cultural differences.

But we do expect the Lord to protect & provide for us as we give our best each day to love the people that surround us as we navigate our new life in Central America.

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We are continuously reminded that the Lord has much bigger plans for our hearts to change this year than He has for us to learn Spanish.

Every day, we are thankful for new mercies, joy that comes in the morning, & grace that we do not deserve.

Learning to shift our expectations has been the most humbling experience.  We realize how much we tend to dread situations, expect the worst outcomes, and fail to recognize the Lord's hand in our daily interruptions.  We are realizing that in the interruptions, God is inviting us into His plans!

We are thankful to have this year to shift our perspective in so many ways.
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There's a peek into the work that the Lord has been doing in our hearts.

Here is a peek into what we have been up to over the last month or so!

Josie turned 4!  2-16-17

Zoo with the birthday girl! 

Culture Day at School 3-2-17

Cooking Tico Style at Culture Day

Dancing Tico Style at Culture Day 

Helping to launch a plarn ministry
(crocheting sleeping mats out of plastic shopping bags for the homeless in San Jose!)

Josie made a new friend :) 

Visa Renewal Trip to Guatemala 3-9-17

She's a pro :)

Cerro de la Cruz

Central Park :) 

Still daddy's baby :)

Growing every day!

UBER time!

La Cruz de Alajuelita in San Jose, Costa Rica

Overlooking San Jose

First Ferry Ride to the Peninsula 3-16-17

Best view in the world :) 

Beautiful sunset 

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We are praying for the Lord to give us the strength & desire to finish strong for our first trimester!  Daniel is learning past tense now & I (Laura) moved on to the second trimeter book today. We are so thankful for all that we have learned & retained since December.  God is so faithful!

We have a busy month ahead of us.  The first week of April, we will have our final exams for first trimester.  After we finish up our first trimester, we have a two week break before starting our second trimester on May 8th.

We also have three visits during the month of April ... what a treat!  We are counting down!

Josie's countdown chain for "Ms. Carwa" & Papaw and Nana!

Our friend Carla is coming to stay a week with us while we are on break for Holy Week.  We could NOT be more excited to share a week of our life with her here.  God has really used her in huge ways to speak encouragement into our hearts during this journey ... we can't wait to show her around & watch the Lord continue to work in her heart as she experiences more of Him here!

Papaw & Nana (Daniel's parents) are coming on April 26th!  We both get super emotional every time we talk about them coming to see us.  It will be so exciting to have them here & for them to see how much Josie has grown.  We can't wait to spend time with them!

After Papaw & Nana head back to SC, we will be spending several days with our Youth For Christ pastor & his wife.  John & Karen have spoken so much truth & love into our lives.  We are forever grateful for the way that the Lord has gone before us and prepared a way of encouragement through this precious couple.  We will be joining them & the Fowler family (another family here at our school that will be serving with YFC) for a few days away in the northern part of the Costa Rica.  We are excited for this time of renewal & fellowship!

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Please join us in prayer as we finish these last few weeks of our first trimester!  We will be 1/3 of the way finished with our time in Costa Rica.  It is so hard to believe!

Also, please continue to pray with us for our monthly support.  We are in need of more monthly partners to join our ministry team before we can head to Honduras full-time.  If you feel led to join our team with a donation, please visit our secure giving site:

https://yfc.givingfuel.com/32216

Thank you for all of your encouraging messages!  We really do sense the Lord's hand on our family in this journey.  It is amazing to see Him prompting hearts on our behalf when we need the encouragement, comfort, and prayer the most.  We are so thankful!

Weekend of Renewal

According to Merriam- Webster Dictionary, renew means:

to make like new :  restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection

Last weekend, we took off to Guatemala for a "visa renewal trip".  Because we are here in Costa Rica on tourist visas, we have to leave the country every 90 days and have our visas renewed.  We came earlier than the other families in our trimester so we had to go on our visa run a week before everyone else that is going this coming weekend!

What we thought was a trip for renewing our visas ended up being more about renewing ourselves.

We had NO idea how much we needed a few days to unplug from life as a student in a capital city of well over a million people.

Little did we know when we planned this trip to Guatemala that this visa run would be the exact moment when we needed it most!

We are so thankful we had a that time to step back from it all, reflect on what God has shown us in the last 3 months, celebrate all we have accomplished through HIM, and spend time as a family.

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We can honestly say that the last 3 months of our life as a family has been the hardest 3 months that we have ever faced.

That may come as a complete shock to some of you who are reading this or have been following our journey.

You're probably thinking ...

Wait ... you guys seem to be really enjoying Costa Rica & language school?

But you always say you know without a doubt that you are doing God's will?

Weren't you called by God to the mission field?

Yes, yes & yes.

But it's hard.

Life as a missionary family has been a combination of days that have been amazing along with some days that are just flat out ugly.

It is so hard to live in the balance of waling in obedience but also being transparent sand real enough to share about the struggles, too.

When people from the States ask how are are doing, it is so much easier to talk about the praises of that particular day or week than it is to share how extremely difficult every day tasks are here.

Even when someone here at school asks how things are going for us, it is easier for us to answer quickly & change the subject rather than being honest about how hard it really is on us.

But God has really been convicting my heart lately about the importance of being honest.

If we aren't honest, how will anyone know how to specifically pray for us?

If we aren't transparent, how will anyone minister to our hearts in a way that redirects us towards Christ?

We are forever thankful for the way that you are praying us through this season and look forward to continuing our journey with the Lord knowing that you are with us! 

Home Sweet Home!

We are excited to share with you the progress on our home at the YFC Camp in Honduras!

Home Sweet Home!

Words can not express the feeling that we get each time that we receive pictures of the progress on our home at the camp.  After years of dreaming about what life would be like living at the camp, we are beyond ready to get there full time in 2018!

Our home will be on the second floor above a set of family rooms.  The family rooms will be used to host couples/small families that come to the camp to serve to offer them a little more privacy.   

We will have two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, & a laundry area in our living space & enjoy the beautiful view of the field at the camp!

Wild Horses :) 

Here's a peek at the progress on our house over the last 5 months!

November 2016

November 2016

February 2017

February 2017

The walls have been finished as well as the floors.  As you can see in the pictures, we are still in need of a roof, doors & windows to finish enclosing the house.  

Unfortunately, the construction of our home is now at a stand-still.  Although there are laborers in Honduras willing to continue working, the building fund has been used up completely.  This is a major concern because of the rain & weather conditions in Honduras.  It is important that the house is enclosed as soon as possible.  

Will you please pray with us?

We are praying for more financial gifts to be given to Youth For Christ towards the final phase of construction of our home.  

If you feel The Lord leading you to partner with us & give a gift as an investment into the final phase of construction of our home, please visit our secure giving site:

https://yfc.givingfuel.com/32216

We are also praying for the Lord to lead individuals & churches to sacrifice a week of their time & make an investment into finishing the construction of our home.  If the house is finished in 2017, we will be able to transition there quickly after completing language school in December.

As of right now, we know that there are four different teams planning to serve at the YFC Camp at two different times this summer.   These teams will be doing a number of different things while serving at the camp including hosting VBS, school outreach, Teen Purity Camp, Construction on our home, projects around the grounds at the camp & more.

Team Devotions

VBS at the Camp

If you are interested in more information about the teams that will be serving in June & August, please contact us.  We would love to see more of our friends & supporters join the teams that are coming to serve.  There is still time to join a team!

If you or your church are interested in serving in Honduras at any other time this year, we would be more than happy to help organize & plan a trip for that as well!

Thank you so much for your prayers & encouragement!  

We are so excited to see things falling in place & can't wait to watch God answer our prayers.  

We know that He has great plans in store & we are expecting BIG things!