Showers of Blessing

The view driving up to the
Volcano Rincon

It is amazing to think we have already been here in Costa Rica for two months!  Christmas is by far the busiest time of year for Tamarindo.  The main street, which normally is a two lane road allowing people to enter and exit town at will, is suddenly lined with parked cars and delivery trucks leaving it to drivers to sort out who’s turn it is on the single lane that remains… We have been so blessed!  When we last wrote we had just finished a week and a half of sickness, which represented more than half our stay at that point.  It was such a discouraging time (and thank you for all your encouraging notes;  it meant so much to know you were praying and thinking of us!) but shortly after posting, it was as though the Lord began sending waves of blessing. 

Liam loved the slide! By the end of the day he was going
down head first by himself!

 Probably one of the most exciting developments over the past couple weeks is that we have finally settled on an English speaking church to attend.  We met Lyle and Stacy who are working on planting the first English speaking church in Tamarindo.  We are attending and trying to help where we can. We spent last weekend at a hot springs resort with Lyle and Stacy and their two kids.  It was a great time and we enjoyed chasing the kids together as they swam and attempted to wear out the resort’s water slide.  In the evenings we played cards and were able to get hours of visiting after the kids fell asleep.  We are so thankful for the fellowship God has brought us, when just a few weeks ago we were feeling so alone.             

Colson and Liam are attending Educarte, a bilingual preschool where they have half their classes in English and half in Spanish.  We have enjoyed watching them start picking up Spanish little by little.  The other day we walked out of our condo and Colson yelled “hola” to someone outside.  For the remainder of our walk Liam yelled “hola” to everyone we passed including construction workers who were working on an open second floor and a cab driver whose window happened to be down.  It is so cute to hear them counting and steadily picking up words and responding to more and more commands in Spanish (something that is still a challenge in English J). 

 Lyle and Stacy were able to refer us to a condo which we will be renting starting April 1^st.  The price was amazing, and it had most all we hoped for, God is so good!  We have several moves remaining over the next couple months, but this was one major step!   We also were able to secure a place in San Jose CR for the month of February.  The hospital where Lyd will be having the baby is in San Jose, so this was another big answer to prayer.

Christmas Eve service at Tamarindo Church

feeling very pregnant
these days:)

We are so excited to see how the Lord has worked in these past weeks.  It is quite clear that He is taking care of us and preparing some amazing opportunities for us.  Some of the greatest downsides to cross-cultural ministry include the fact that language learning takes years, and does relationship building in a new community.  We feel so blessed to be able to work under Lyle and Stacy in planting an English speaking church in a community that desperately needs one.  People from all around the world come through Tamarindo, and many of them speak English.  In many ways, we couldn’t ask for a better way to begin international ministry.  We are working on Spanish, but we are able to be effectively loving people and building relationships with our first language!  Even though we are new to the community, we are able to support people who are already known and loved here.

Casa Vida's baptism...
Pastor Pano is on the right

Looking forward, we still aren’t sure what we will be doing exactly, but we will be serving where is needed and where we can over these next months.  Lyd will be participating in the children's ministry at church and I will be getting involved in some teaching and will probably be participating in the Children's program also.  Lyd and I began Spanish classes this week, and absolutely plan to work hard on our language learning over the next year.  We will continue to attend Casa Vida, Tamarindo’s Spanish speaking church on Wednesday evenings and look for opportunities to get more and more involved as our Spanish improves.  Thank you for your prayers and encouraging notes! Please be praying for the launch of Tamarindo Church this Sunday, January 13th and that God will be working in the hearts of the people in this community.  Also, for Lydia and the very rapidly approaching birth of our little girl next month!

Love in Christ,

Andy, Lydia, Colson and Liam

Our Spanish tutor Marcela!

A different way to spend Christmas this year:)

more of Tamarindo

our favorite market to get fresh produce!

there's always room for another sunset picture:)