We had set up a time to meet everyone at the park in Atenas. We were the first ones there, and while we waited I walked over to the bank to restock on colones. When I got back to the car I discovered that Kalina and Keith had ventured into the park to observe some kind of children's activity that was going on. They were doing some kind of presentation about nutrition. He had started up a conversation with a man and wife that was watching the children and had their phone numbers and names. I was so glad that Keith was able to come with us, he has so much that he can teach us about spreading the gospel. He was constantly talking to people we came across and he made contacts and connections with people and made it look so easy.
Once everyone was ready to go we made the 30 minute drive to Cacao. This was a bit of a challenge since I had a little trouble remembering how to get there. We got to one point and I was not sure which way to go so we asked directions from a local that was walking down the road. Keith talked to him and in no time he just jumped in the car with us. Now the problem with trying to tell someone where you are going is that you need to know where you want to go. While I knew where I wanted to go I did not have any good way to explain it to him. I knew it was by Cacao so I asked him to get us to Cacao and I hoped that things would look more familiar once we got there. Praise the lord, everything started looking very familiar and before long we dropped off our guide and I was able to get us the rest of the way there based on my memory from the last trip.
Getting ready to walk across the bridge to the left.
We parked the cars and walked across the rickety bridge, it all looked mostly the same. There was a house now where there had only been a wood frame before. One or two of the lower lying homes were not there anymore, probably victims of the fast rising river. The older couple that had been here before was no longer around; they may have found a better place to live. Overall not much had changed but there were a few people that we remembered from the last trip that did not live there anymore. We slowly worked our way from house to house, talking to everyone that was willing. Everyone seemed to remember us and it was nice to see how the children had all grown in the last 10 months. We had heard that the electric company had sold this land and it was not clear what would happen to these people and their homes. So it was nice to see that they still had places to live and had not been kicked out.
We had a few things with us for the children that we had brought along with us and we handed out little toys, crayons, and coloring books as we visited with everyone. As we worked our way to each house we came to Karen's house. Karen is the mother of Jaxsonia, the 13 year old girl that stuck in the hearts of John and Heather on the last trip. John and Heather have a daughter that is the same age and it really touched their hearts to see this girl and how she and her family lived. Well, Karen remembered us and she asked me where our daughter was? She remembered our youngest daughter Leia that had come with us on the last trip. We told her she was doing well and that she was staying with her grandparents. She was delighted to meet our oldest two, Olivia and Logan. I think she was a little surprised that we had 4 children all together. One thing that I have really noticed is that our children have helped us connect with several of these people. There is something about a child that brings us all together. Anyone that has children, rich, poor, or anywhere in between has stories to share that we all deal with. We all have the same stories of fun, frustration, struggles, and joys that is part of raising children. It is just another example that no matter where we live or how much money we have, we all deal with the same problems and joys in life.
Roman 2:10-12 says, But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.
After we all spent quite a bit of time talking to Karen, she invited us back at 2:00 for homemade tortillas. We gladly accepted the invitation and then it was time to go eat lunch at Bohemia's house. Bohemia is Kathia's sister, and she lives right up the hill from the river. In case you don't remember you can read about the first time we visited her on the last trip by going back and reading the older posts from last year. She made all of us a very good casado, but she made way too much and stuffed us all. Logan was exhausted and he just leaned over against my leg and took a nap during lunch. Then once we were done with lunch it was time to go back to Karen's house and eat tortillas!!
Jeremy and Sarah playing with the kids
Karen making tortillas
As everyone walked down the road to Karen's house, I realized I had forgotten something at the car so I went back while everyone else continued on. As I was walking back I noticed that someone had come home while we had been eating lunch. This was the woman that had asked us to pray for her husband the last time we were here. I recognized her two sons, I could see them through the open door. I called to them and asked if their parents were home. The oldest son jumped up and called to his mother as I stood waiting by the door. As she came to the door, I could tell by her expression that she remembered me. It was a good feeling to know that these people remembered us from a short visit almost a year ago. Well we talked and I made sure and got her name burned in my brain this time. I am bad about forgetting names so I made sure to do better this time about remembering everyone's name. Her name was Lisseth and her oldest son was Julio (9) and younger son Jorge jr. (7). Her husband Jorge was at work and thankfully we were able to meet him eventually. Lisseth invited me into her modest home and we talked some more. After a little while, Kalina came looking for me and found me talking to Lisseth. Well Lisette evidently remembered my wife even more because she greeted her with a hug and kiss on the cheek, she was very happy to see her. One thing that I loved about Kalina is that she was not scared to try talking to people in Spanish even though she had not progressed as far as I had. She had a very limited vocabulary but it was amazing to see how she was still able to communicate with a little bit of Spanish and some creative use of her hands and expressions. Kalina and I talked to her for a couple hours and we ended up looking at pictures of her and her family and listening to all the stories about each picture.
From left: Jorge, Lisseth, Logan, Kalina, Olivia, and Julio
We also ended up talking about her Bible, she had showed it to us last year and it was in bad shape. Thanks to a generous donation from a Church in the US we had brought a lot of bibles with us. So I brought her a new bible to replace her extremely water damaged one. I also gave one to each of her boys and you should have seen how excited they were. Lisseth had told us how her boys loved to read and they would read their Bibles all the time. She showed us the little Gideon New Testament Bibles that they had protected with a small leather wallet. I gave the Bibles to Lisseth and she called the boys in and gave them the Bibles. They just looked at them with a confused look on their face until she explained to them that it was a new Bible just for them. Julio literally started jumping up and down with excitement, I could not help but laugh with joy to see how happy he was. Keith eventually made his way there and we finished up by setting up a Bible study with her for the next day. We ended up completely missing Karen's tortillas but spent valuable time strengthening a relationship with a woman with a good heart. Lord willing that relationship will bear spiritual fruit in the future. It turns out that we also had a study date set up with Karen and her family for the next day as well. I was not present to know how that came about but I will see if John can post something about it.
Language barriers did not stop Jonah, Olivia and Logan from making friends
It was another great trip and we were able to strengthen relationships that look very promising and willing to learn the Gospel. I will talk about the Bible studies that we had in the next post. Stay tuned and God bless.
-David
No comments:
Post a Comment