An update and some musings....

Hello -

It has been a crazy last few weeks. The homework has increased. I went out of town, as well last weekend and will be going to Panama this upcoming weekend to renew my visa. All of the students at Cincel are going. We leave tomorrow in a bus. It is a lovely ten hour drive on a curvy road. I bought my motion sickness medicine last week and my ginger ale today. I did a little snack shopping today, as well. It is important to be prepared for these long bus rides =). It will be nice to have a day off from school and to be able to relax at the pool or beach. Last weekend a group of us went to Manuel Antonio for the weekend. This was nice. It makes the week a little more busy, but definetly worth it! I have posted some pictures.

I just want to leave you with these few thoughts that I have gathered from readings and different chapels over the last few weeks:

1. Today in Spanish Chapel the pastor talked about how in crisis there is opportunity. In that opportunity we are allowed to grow in God. He talked about how in crisis we can smile and find peace because God is in control. He used the story of Joseph and the crisises he went through to show how crisis can become opportunity.

2. We have a lot of chapels about perserving and pushing through the toughness of language learning, culture learning and missions work in general. These messages are important because at times it can be hard and difficult. It is good to be reminded to fight the good fight. But, I think that it is important to remember the joy of serving the Lord. The joy of remembering how God provided to get you where he has you, the joy of learning a new word, the joy of being able to minister to so many more people because you now know their heart language, the joy of experiencing a new culture and finding things you like just as much or more as something in your own culture, the joy of being able to go to school and worshipping at chapel in the morning and so on. Where ever you are in life, where ever you are in the world, please don't forget the joy of knowing the Lord, the joy of forgiveness and mercy and the joy of living in His love and freedom.

3. Lastly, I am reading this book The Signature of Jesus by Brennan Manning. The last chapter I read was about the courage to risk and the importance of risk in the Christian life. Their are two quotes I want to leave with you: "Tom Minifie, an associate pastor in Seattle: 'To be at ease is to be unsafe.' The church of the Lord Jesus starts to decay when the members who compromise it forfeit their willingness to risk"(pg. 189). Manning also quotes Winston Churchill, "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts"(pg. 193). So, have courage and live boldly the life God ask of us!

Here are the promised pictures...

Dawn, Krystal, Aimee, Karolyn and Myself at the national park in Manuel Antonio

Me at the beach a little before sunset. The sky was beautiful!

Some volcanic rocks in the ocean

The sunset - this was one of many pictures I took.