Two Capital Stories: a Headless Priest and Bubbles in Prison

We explored Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica as well as San Jose.   The Fogg family invited us along on the adventure as we walked around fun historic sites in both cities. 

At one time, Cartago was the original capital city of Costa Rica, founded in 1563.   Nearby Volcano Irazu erupted and destroyed Cartago in 1723 and earthquakes in 1841 and 1910 left little of the original architecture intact.  Although it is no longer the capital city, (San Jose took the honor in 1823), it continues to be a prestigious Roman Catholic center for the country. 

The beautiful, bone white Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles was rebuilt and many people make a pilgrimage to see “La Negrita,”  a small black rock with an impression of the virgin Mary.  When we visited the cathedral, we saw people walking toward the rock on their knees, thus ending their journey in penitence.  We respectfully avoided getting in their way, but I wanted to stop them and tell them about Jesus, the only mediator between God and man, who finished the work on the cross.  There’s nothing left to pay! 

Another place we visited was a ruin of a shrine to St. James that remains in disrepair after the earthquakes.  Beautiful gardens surround the walls, but without the roof, it feels ghostly.  The legend that a headless priest lurks there at night adds to the ambiance.

We took a bus from Cartago to San Jose and walked through the downtown shopping area to the outskirts of town.   There, we toured a prison built in 1909 that was restored and converted to a children’s museum and theater.  We didn’t know it at the time, but the theater would be where Sabrina would perform with Ballet Magnificat, a Costa Rican dance company. 

The cost to enter was only about $3 per child and well worth the cost.  The place was like a labyrinth of rooms connected to more rooms and hallways and winding staircases.  It was like a maze with each room containing new fun stuff like a control center for a space station, a mini grocery store, or flight simulators, or magnets, or a giant sand box “archeological” site. 

Outside there was a huge bubble room where you could create a bubble around your body or simply blow giant bubbles.  There was an old helicopter to climb into, a small farm, and more that I don’t remember because I was too busy playing. 

My favorite part was the bathrooms which were former cells with the original iron bars.  I don’t know why, but I laughed with wicked delight when I discovered that we could sentence the boys to life and easily lock them up in the cell while they were still washing their hands.

We still have much more to explore in the city, but this was enough for one day.  I actually prefer walking on the wild side and head for the volcanoes and rainforest if I get a free weekend.

Christmas for Orphanage: Taste and see that the Lord is good!

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

James 1:27

Julia's 4th grade class purchased this gift

The box is much more fun than the truck

He kissed the soccer ball.  The ten year old boy was just busting with excitement because he opened his Christmas present, and it was just what he wanted.  I’ve never seen an expression quite like it. 

All of the children, all 133 of them, thankfully opened their gifts at the Fiesta de Navidad, a special annual party for children from a nearby orphanage.   Some of the children have parents who work long hours and need help with child care during the week.  But others are desperately in need of a place to live and have no home to return to on the weekends.

The opening of gifts was the culminating event of the night sponsored by students at the Spanish Language Institute.  But the very first event was a dramatic retelling of Christ’s birth and a proclamation of the gospel message.  Joshua was part of a bell choir that performed several Christmas songs to accompany the story.  Then groups of children rotated through carnival style games, a magic show, and face painting. 

The energy and excitement was at a fever pitch.  After they ate dinner, the popping noise of boys jumping on empty juice boxes echoed through the gymnasium, mingled with laughter and giggles.  Four piñatas filled with candy and peanuts added to the good natured exuberance.

We had already purchased gifts for some of the children, but the real fun was volunteering at the party.  Each person in our family had a different role and was generally too busy to even see what anyone else was doing.  

Sabrina and I painted lightning bolts, Jesus “fish,” gingerbread men, snowflakes, soccer balls, rainbows, and hearts on the children’s faces and hands.  Mark and Isaiah led the children in a game where each team had to lie on the floor and create shapes or letters,  Joshua set up the soda bottle bowling pins each time, and Julia pitched in when it was time to clean up and set up for the next day’s Thanksgiving Dinner.

Racing to make an "M" on the floor

Sabrina spotted the gift she had wrapped in blue Disney princess paper in the hands of a nine year old girl.  The pretty, petite girl held it close to her heart for a moment before unwrapping it.  Just as Sabrina had hoped, she was delighted each time she unzipped a glittery pink cosmetic bag and found another smaller one nestled inside.  She was still tightly clutching the lotion, body spray, and pink glittery bags as she left that evening to go sleep at the orphanage.

In the middle of the organized chaos, wrapping paper flying in every direction, a 7 year old boy opened a gift our family had chosen.  Joshua recognized the wrapping and watched from a distance as a boy his age smiled and held the boxed remote control car with both hands and raised it up in the air like a trophy. 

Many of these children are from immigrant families who have fled to Costa Rica from other parts of Central America to escape drug wars or severe poverty.   The orphanage keeps these children out of slavery or “child trafficking,” a very real problem for parents who know they don’t have food or shelter for their own children.   

I recently heard a woman in her 60’s talk of being sent away from her mother when she was 5 years old to work for the rest of her life.  That day, still vivid in her memory, was the end of her childhood and the beginning of a life of work without a chance for education or even time to play.  The orphanage near the Institute has been bringing hope for a different and better future to hundreds of children for more than 50 years.

PINATA!



It started to drizzle again as I walked home in the dark with Sabrina, Joshua, Julia and Isaiah.  I happened to look back towards the school and spotted two long dingy white buses pull out into the street.  I’m usually totally “finished” after such an event, but in that moment I wanted the buses to stop so we could love on those kids just a little bit longer.  May God bless and keep them and continue using his servants to minister the gospel to them, because I know He loves children.

School Daze Photo Collection



It's 7:15am and Isaiah is ready to walk to school!



9am  Isaiah works on a few coloring pages just for fun.



10:30am Grammar has never been this entertaining.  What a class!

 

11:30am Julia plays the recorder in a special program.



3pm  A basketball and soccer break with friends at a nearby park.

...Just chatting



5pm  Neighbors often join us after homework is finished.









Christmas Newsletter

Sabrina volunteers at a Christmas Party for 130 children from a local orphanage

Click on the link to view our Christmas Update!
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4IiS84juK3lY2U0NGUwZWQtM2JlZS00MDZlLThjYmMtNzIyNDg2ZWYwZDcy

Language Learning Expectations vs. Reality

Our first trimester classmates chat before class

While I was in our pre field training, I wrote a reflection paper on language learning and my plans to implement certain techniques. How does the reality of language school measure up with my idealistic goals?

July 2011, Pre field training at MTI:  I’ve always longed to learn a second language and hope that my passionate desire will propel me through hours of memorization, complicated grammar lessons, and lots of classroom training.  In PILAT I have learned that although dedication is essential, language is a human capability, and I should approach it as an obtainable experience, not an endless math drill. 

November 2011, Costa Rica: After 3.5 months here, I still have a strong sense of purpose propelling me through the memorization and grammar lessons.  I love my teachers and classes.  I believe it is possible to achieve a level of fluency in Spanish, not just one of basic survival.  Thank you, Lord, for perseverance!

July 2011: Like a child, I need to let my curiosity and need drive my language acquisition.  I’ll be “slow to speak and quick to listen.”  I’ll observe and listen at the same time, experiencing the entire context of conversations by jumping in with both feet.   I’ll struggle to communicate with others when trying to get on the right train, checking to make sure I’m getting off the bus at the right street, or finding out when the farmer’s market opens.  I will need to live as a curious, humble, and, at times, helpless child as I discover a new place on the planet, phrase by phrase.

November 2011:  My curiosity is still moving me to ask questions and initiate conversation.  When I need to ask permission for Sabrina to miss a ballet class, or when I want a teacher to repeat an explanation in class, and when I want the taxi driver to get us home, the Spanish emerges by necessity.  I also listen carefully to needed information.  Phrase by phrase, the language is becoming a part of my thinking and speaking. And people understand what I’m trying to communicate!  It’s exciting.

July 2011: I hope that people in this new culture will also love me, because I will make many mistakes.  There will be so much that I just don’t know yet.  I already fail to communicate clearly in English and often say things that could be understood in two different ways.  From my perspective, I am perfectly clear, but the other person’s assumptions have led him to a different meaning than I intended.  If the actual spoken word is only a small percentage of what happens in communication, then I will also need to understand tone, facial expressions, body language, unique personalities, and cultural context.  These will likely be very different than the cues I’m subconsciously familiar with in English.  Communication is so much more than words, and I will learn the non verbal cues and historical context faster in the cultural setting.

November 2011:  I’m finding that much of the nonverbal communication transcends culture.  But I would need to live here for many more years before picking up the more subtle nuances.  When a tico is polite, I look for cues to see if he is sincere or not, but I don’t see anything to help me!  People here have been gracious as I have made mistakes (as far as I can tell).

July 2011: The biggest obstacle to learning a second language is within me.  I like to get things done efficiently, and yet I will have to choose to take the longer road at first.  Instead of hiding at home, keeping everything neat and tidy the way I like things done, I will have to live life at the park or market, spending time with people who do things differently than I.  I’ll have to choose to try to understand the perspective of my Costa Rican friends, laughing at all the wrong times, instead of spending the bulk of my time sharing stories with fellow missionaries.  I believe the key to learning Spanish will be living in the middle of Costa Rica and Uruguay in a manner that is deliberately uncomfortable and inefficient, but exceedingly rewarding.  

November 2011:  I am truly living in a way that is uncomfortable, but not deliberately.  I’m not looking for shortcuts to avoid Spanish speaking opportunities, but I’m not exactly going out of my way.  For example, I’ve had meaningful conversations in a hair salon, in the dance studio, and with tico friends.   So, language learning is progressing but still feels somewhat mechanical.  We are learning the difference between “perfecto” and “imperfecto” past tense verbs.  Even when I thoughtfully write a paper, I make mistakes.  I can’t imagine what I must sound like when I’m speaking.   By God’s grace I will keep learning and progressing, poco a poco.

Audrey!!!

Audrey was a special guest in our home who soon became a sister.   She lived here with us for two and a half weeks while she transitioned from missionary (In Argentina & Costa Rica) to grad student in Texas.  But we became friends long before that.  What a blessing she was to our family!  Her cheerfulness, servant’s heart, and volunteer work at an orphanage made lasting impressions on all of us.  I still remember when she walked into our house for the first time and started washing dishes so I could finish up in the kitchen and go to volleyball with her. 

Pizza nights were so much fun!  And I loved hearing her mom’s voice over Skype in the evenings.  She’s quite a story teller.

Within a week of her departure, Julia gave half of her allowance to buy a gift for child in need, washed dishes although it wasn’t an assigned chore, and let her brother choose the game he wanted to play.  “Mom, I just did it!”  What?  “I let Isaiah choose the game even though I wanted to.”  Julia’s new self awareness of sacrificial, Christ-like love was a clearly a blessing from having Audrey as a big sister. 

Weary

To be honest, I've been posting pics of the kids and cute animals instead of Mark and me in language school because I think that's what readers prefer.  But, we really are hard at work each week in twenty hours of class and even more hours studying and practicing.  We both have a heart to share the wonderful news of Jesus with the people of Uruguay and this is where we must begin.

We just had very encouraging mid term reviews with our teachers.  Mark and I are in the same classes and our grades in each class vary by only one point!  We are getting comfortable with the new routine, but the classes, especially grammar, are intensifying.  The test we took on Friday was 2 hours long.

Just living here, which is more time consuming and more physically demanding than our life in California, takes up the rest of the the time.  The greatest challenges are: living w/o a vehicle, leaks in the ceiling that lead to mold growing on the walls, carrying groceries home, keeping tile floors clean when it rains every day, staying positive despite the ever incessant rain, and helping four kids study for tests when we also have tests.

But we are also relishing the blessings: swapping kids with other families that live close by, new friends, a spanish church family, new foods, a variety of birds, fresh pineapple every week, walking and talking with our children.

Thanks so much for your love and support!  We need it!