by jeannie | Nov 9, 2014 | Videos |
Vidas Jovenes girls were at our house for a great time of worship and sharing.
by jimmy | Sep 28, 2014 | Blog |
I’m sitting here on my porch going through some of the things we have to get done this coming week. One of those things includes the car we need to pick up. We recently bought a second car for $1000 and let’s just say it came with some personality and was ‘named’ by its previous owners. More on the Vladi later. But as I sit here pondering how much more we will be able to do now, and how Jeannie and I can be in two places at once, I started to think about whether that meant we were settling in here in Costa Rica. Then I started to wonder, “Is that a good thing?” Is the goal to find some settled feeling that then allows life to move forward as normal again? I thought I wanted that. To be settled into a life where we are moving forward in progress and things are happening with the ministry and kids are meeting Jesus and we are building a camp and friends and family are coming to visit. I want to see club on the East side of San Jose at all these international schools. I want to spend the night at a camp with 100 kids hearing the gospel. I want people to come here and meet people that will change their lives forever. But why? Why do I want these things? To prove that this was all worth it? Or because I get to be part of seeing people get freed? There is nothing settled about being here if I really think about it. I mean, we know...
by jimmy | Sep 14, 2014 | Blog, Videos |
Kids gave us some advice as we headed back to school to learn Spanish.
by jeannie | Aug 21, 2014 | Blog |
Hello Family and Friends! It’s been such a journey already, and hard to believe we’ve been here almost 2 months, and that our kids are already back in school. Here’s a rundown of life here, and what God’s teaching us. LIFE HERE: We are adjusting, and it’s really different here, but the confidence of God’s purpose for us here grows every day. Our children seem to be walking testimonies of our answered prayer of peace, and joy and confidence in who they are in Christ through such a big transition. Some hard conversations with our kids, and some tears from grieving the loss of our incredible community, but we have more laugher than tears, and deeper joy in the trusting of his provision for us here. We live at Finca Alzahar, what used to be a strawberry farm only 5 minutes from the kids’ school, and only 10 minutes from the nearest grocery store. We are getting settled and are driving, grocery shopping and cooking almost every meal. We experienced our first consistently hot shower last Sunday since arriving, and have experienced 4-5 power outages, have cooked dinner by candlelight, and actually been wakened at night by 2 earthquakes. We are even becoming experts at sharing the road with giant trucks and many cars on tiny roads that are filled with people, bikes, dogs, cows, horses and many potholes. 🙂 We begin language school August 26th! Kids started school and like it so far, and have made a few friends after the awkward first day. Each of our kids have one other American in their class, and then a...
by jimmy | Jul 8, 2014 | Blog, Videos |
A look at the first day until we arrived home to a new chapter of our lives.
by jimmy | Jul 5, 2014 | Blog |
Pina for miles…literally. We went to the Corsicana Pina farm today for a day trip and it was amazing. There is couple here staying with us on the last three days of their honeymoon and it was a great surprise to the kids. Jordan and Ellen are two very special people in our lives. Jordan is like a big brother to Beck and when they booked their honeymoon to Costa Rica and asked if we could surprise the kids with a visit we said OK not knowing what state we would be in. It was a great thing for them to show up yesterday. Here is a clip of the surprise: IMG_4228 Ellen’s dad went to school with Mr McNutt and they just so happen to run the largest organic pineapple farm in the world here in Costa Rica. It is 3200 acres of PINA, that is 5 square miles of pina. We got a private tour from Maikil (Michael) and he was awesome, funny funny guy. He would ask you a question then when you answered he would say great job, then pause and say “NO”. He took us out into the fields on a huge tractor buggy thing and we learned how to pick pineapple the correct way. And by the way, you are doing it wrong. I was. We were taken back into the conveyer room and packaging where they refrigerate for four hours to stop the fermentation process. Then they load up in trucks and ship to you. Yep, this farm produces 70% of their crop for Whole Foods. After our Pina lesson we were...
by jeannie | Jun 27, 2014 | Blog |
We made it! Hola Familia y Amigos! As we write on our 7th day in Costa Rica, we have had an exciting time already. Some good, some challenging, but we have an overwhelming confidence of God’s goodness in it all. Our Arrival: We were picked up by our friends holding a welcome posterboard! They took us to lunch, and then to a special place to get snow cones and watch the planes fly overhead. This is a place Randall’s mother brought him as a child. It felt special to us for him to share this with us. Randall is the National Director here. We began moving into our house the very next day after our arrival at 6 a.m.! We hear this is impossible here in Costa Rica, but with the World Cup playing at 10 a.m., we think the movers were in a hurry to be done in time for the game. The spirit in the streets is wonderful: Red shirts everywhere, flags and excitement for the Costa Rica team. New Things for us: As some know, the house we moved into is on a farm, and has sat empty for months. We were greeted with many large spiders, bugs and mice upon our arrival. Yesterday is the first day we have not battled many critters, as we are winning back the house slowly. We have already endured a long power outage of about 18 hours, and we are overcoming problems with hot water, no oven/stove, dryer and internet. It’s cold here in the mornings and overnight, and rains daily in the afternoons. Sun is up at 5...
by jeannie | Apr 14, 2014 | Blog, buildingaboat, missions, push to costarica site |
“How does this make any sense?” I asked over and over sitting on the edge of the bed one day a few summers ago in Nicaragua. I kept asking God how he could possibly use a family of Americans in a different culture. So clearly seeing how irrelevant we seemed there, and how stripped of everything familiar. And after all the wrestling with Him, we came home to the same questions from family and friends. But his answer is always the same. He is enough. He is sufficient for our weak faith and lack of vision. We have been asked about why we would leave the comforts of the United States. Why Costa Rica? Why wouldn’t we stay closer to home and serve those here instead? We love that people care, and are authentic enough to ask. We love that they love us so much, that they wonder why we would go and need to question us. So much need here, so much going on presently in our own culture. And while the reality of our leaving sets in, we are still convinced this is what God has next for us. We haven’t deserted our own, and chosen others as more valuable. We are just doing the next thing. The next ‘yes.’ Because when God invites you to something, no matter how impossible, the only answer is yes. Need is everywhere, it always has been. But need doesn’t determine our call; God determines our call. It’s his work, not ours. We know that God continues and desires to grow and build up the amazing community of people we are...
by jimmy | Apr 7, 2014 | Blog |
He is Alive. God determines how those of us that follow him will be used. He raises up communities like ours in spite of all our failures and weaknesses. He certainly did with ours. We did not start WyldLife at Murchison. God did it. We got to see it. I did not gain His favor by going on mission trips to Mexico, or serving on mobile loaves. I did see Him use me. He’s invited us to pray and be involved in His work here, and because of our relationship with him, we have seen him do so much. Changed hearts, healed bodies, one answered prayer after another. He invites each of us into those types events. The things He is doing on this earth. Not just those that move your family to Costa Rica. Or Timbuktu. But downtown. In our schools. Our neighborhoods. Right here, right now. Through each of us, if we let Him. I saw God move when I visited Mexico and we see him alive everywhere in the world today. It is his glory on display every day right here in this city and around the world. He is constantly doing things big and small to draw people to himself. In Ephesians it starts out with what God has done for all of us. Then he invites us into what he is doing. His word at the beginning of Ephesians 4 is “in your vocation” Your vocation now. It does not say you need a new one. It is a YES, a response to his invitation. Then as you respond, watch him move. The last...
by jeannie | Feb 27, 2014 | Blog, buildingaboat, missions, push to costarica site |
We leave for Costa Rica in 4 months. Sometimes people that don’t know us very well seem to think we’ve figured something out that they haven’t. I don’t think that’s true, but if it’s anything, it’s this. We are weak, and God is strong. And at the end of each day, it’s about what team you’re on not whether you’re always getting it right. And the reality is none of us are capable of such a life, regardless of how much we try. At some point, we all face our own brokenness, lack of faith, or lose hope. I imagine for simplicity I could just write about why Jesus is the answer to all of that. And He is. But really, what I think is more important, is that we all have a shared narrative. I don’t think God really needs me to tell anyone how I’ve figured it out, since I haven’t. But maybe He wants me to share more about how I never really ever got it right. About how grateful we all should be that it’s not up to us. About how it’s all about his mercy. I think he wants me to share how much we’re all really the same. For those that just don’t see how living for Jesus makes sense, maybe we have more in common than you’d think. There are so many different perceptions of freedom. Some are true and some aren’t. But I think we’re all trying to get more of it. Sometimes I think about the darkest parts of my own story, and I grieve it again. I don’t need...
