Sunday was a great day to be able to proclaim the Word of Truth to many.  I had the opportunity to preach at our church Sunday morning.  Because the church we attend is bi-lingual, I could not justify me preaching in Spanish and the native pastor translating to English.  So, I preached in English and he translated.  I taught on Hebrews Ch 1-3 with the theme being that Jesus Christ is the supreme fulfillment of all that God demonstrated in the Old Testament.  Relating to the first three chapters of Hebrews, I taught about how Christ is the supreme fulfillment of the way that God has spoken to His people.  In times past, He spoke to the prophets and the forefathers in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son Jesus.  So, we don’t need a fresh new word from God…He gave us the ultimate and most supreme word when He spoke through Jesus.  I taught how Christ is supreme over the angels, that the purpose of the angels according to Scripture is to worship the Son and to serve those people who will inherit salvation.  And finally, I taught how Christ is supreme over Moses.  Moses was faithful as a servant in the house, but Jesus is faithful over the whole house.  Jesus is the builder of the house.  I used an example of a checker board; Moses was faithful as a checker…he did what God asked him to do…he was a faithful servant, just like He calls us to be faithful servants.  But Jesus is the builder of the entire game and He is the One who controls all that takes place, including the final outcome of the game.  Therefore Jesus is deserving of far more glory.  That was the basic flow of my message.  I think it went well.

Preaching the supremacy of Christ at Iglesia Comunidad Cristiana en León, Nicaragua

Then, Sunday night I was in charge of leading the teaching for our Sunday Night Missionary Fellowship.  I spoke about Palm Sunday using texts from Mat 21:21, Jn 12:12, and Rev 7.  I shared about the difference between the sincerity of the crowd that was waving Jesus into Jerusalem with their cloaks spread out and palm branches (an act of complete submission) yet would cry out to have Jesus crucified just five days later compared to the multitude gathered around the Lamb’s throne in Revelation 7 waving their palm branches and saying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty…”  I taught about the fact that the sincerity of our worship cannot just be expressed through an outward physical act, but must originate with true faith in our hearts as to who the Lord Jesus is and what He came to do for us.  So, we had a good discussion. Yesterday, I went to El Anexo to try and visit one or two of the youth that we have been trying to get to know better.  I ended up spending about two hours with this young guy named Derain and his family.  It was good just to be able to bring up Christ in the conversation and be a witness for His goodness and truth.  I invited Derain to come out to lunch with me on Thursday.  I told him to invite a friend along as well.  I pray that there is more opportunity to get to know these guys and begin to be able to speak truth into their lives.  The overall purpose of our ministry in this barrio is to share the message of Christ with these youth and families and teach them what it means to follow hard after God.  We have been praying for some time as to what the Lord would have us specifically do in this area as a means to reach people with the Gospel.  We’ll be sharing soon about our vision and plan.

Getting to know the young guys at El Anexo

Finally, there was a day last week where I had to do a lot of preaching to myself.  That day was on March 22nd, Susana’s birthday. I hadn’t even realized it was her birthday until I was just about to leave in the morning and I saw Maria looking a little sad.  I asked her what was up, and she told me that today it Susana’s birthday.  So, I had a good cry on my hour and a half trip from León to Managua.  I miss my little girl so much!  I had to fight away the thoughts of “What would she have looked like by now?”  and other thoughts like that.  Its so hard not to go there, but doing so only causes pain and confusion.  So, I had to proclaim the Word of Truth to myself, reminding me of the Scriptures that state that there is no “Could have been” or “Should have been” in the eyes of God.  What happened is what happened.  All of Susana’s days were recorded in God’s Book before one of them ever came to be (Psalm 139)  And not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the care of our Heavenly Father.  So, I had to remind myself of these things, as well as the fact that my little girl is experiencing more life than I even know at this point.  She is living in incredible joy and glory in the presence of God, the angels, and all the saints (including an untold number of children) who have already gone on ahead.  I can’t wait for that great and glorious day when I get to join such a group of people.  But until then, I press on by the grace of God and “never let go.”

My little girl was always pointing toward Heaven...She knew where she was going.

El ciego ve, el sordo oirá, los muertos se levantarán… y tú mi Dios por siempre reinará.  Which means…”The blind see, the deaf will hear, the dead will be raised to life, and you my God will reign forever.  This is one of my (Cody) favorite spanish worship songs.  It is by Hillsong.  The name of the song is “Dios Sobre Todo” (God over all)  I love this song because it makes me think of Susana and it reminds me of the incredible hope that we have in Jesus.  That one day, one great and glorious day, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the dead will be raised to life.  I am so thankful that those who have already been called home to glory have experienced this amazing truth.  They are living.  They are not dead.  They see God more than ever.  They hear Him perfectly.  They are no longer sick.  They no longer have cancer.  They no longer struggle with sin.  They have been perfected. They are living with the God who reigns forever over all.

And this is the most great and glorious hope that is given to those who trust in Him with their lives.  Can there really be any hope greater than this?  Absolutely not!  This is what we as Christians should be living for every single day of our lives.  This is what we should be proclaiming from the rooftops.  This is where lies our reward. I love the verse in 1Tim:6:17-19  ”In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”  Yes, my friends, those who reside in Heaven are the ones who are really living.  Pity the one who spends his days trying to suck all the marrow out of this life while ignoring the life to come.

These words comfort my heart so much as I still miss my little girl more than any of you can imagine.  I think about her every single day.  Every day I feel the ache in my heart.  My quiet times alone with the Lord each day often involve the shedding of tears as I pour out my heart to the God who holds her close.  It is a struggle which words cannot describe.  It is a place that really only the Lord Himself can meet me and bring me comfort.  And He does.  I fully understand now the verse that says “O death, where is your sting?”  Because, by far, there is no greater sting than the sting of death.  When I allow my mind to dwell on the natural, simply what’s in front of me, that is where I lose the struggle and become overwhelmed with sorrow.  But when I fix my eyes on the unseen (2 Cor.4:18) and reflect on the promises of God for those who hope in Him, then… I still have sorrow because truth doesn’t magically take away pain, but He enables me to bear up under the sorrow and to find my hope in His perfect plan.  It is here that my tears can often be turned to joy as I think about the incredible life that my little Susana is living in the very presence of God and the thought that one day, one great and glorious day, I too will share in that life with her.  O how my heart yearns within me for the day when Jesus returns.

So, this song just turns my eyes to fix on the hope that we have in Christ.  That the blind will one day see, the deaf will one day hear, and the dead will be raised to life.  And we shall all live in the very presence of the living God forever.

And this is what I was able to share last night with a guy I had the opportunity to talk with for about 45 minutes.  The guy was blind.  And as I first sat next to him and started talking to him, I was praying that the Lord would give me an opportunity to share the Gospel with him, the Gospel of hope.  And so, even though it was so hard to understand his spanish because I think he may have also had some speech problems, I was able to share with him the Gospel and the hope that we can have in Christ.

I shared with him about how Christ overcame the grave, and that through trusting in Him and surrendering our lives to His will, that we can have the promise of eternal life.  I shared with him how Christ already bore the wrath of God on the sins of everybody who will trust in Him, therefore as Christians we can be confident that we will not suffer God’s wrath.  I shared with him that the Bible tells us that our only hope is in Christ and His coming kingdom.  I shared with him that, for those who hope in Christ, that one day the blind will see.  We spoke some about suffering and I shared with him about my own sufferings of losing my four year old daughter to cancer, but I shared most about the hope that we have in Christ that enables us to bear up under the current sufferings we may experience here on this earth.

I encouraged him to read God’s Word and find strength, comfort, and hope in God’s Word and the promises given to those who trust in Him.  I shared about the justice of God and that, contrary to many that would say that God is unjust to send people to eternal hell, that He is perfectly just because, like any righteous judge, He must punish sin.  A judge that would not condemn the guilty criminal is no righteous judge at all, Just the same, for God to be God, to be righteous, just, powerful, and true, He has to punish the condemned.  And I shared that we are all condemned because we have been law breakers according to His Word.  And I shared that God, in His incredible mercy, provided a way for us to be free, and that way was through the cross.  I shared about how God did not just ignore our sin and decide to give us the promise of eternal life anyway, but rather that He did punish our sin and release His righteous anger upon it, but amazingly it was all poured out on Jesus so that we would not have to suffer it.  And to those who believe this, who trust in what God has done and surrender their lives to this God of love, those are the ones who will receive the promise of eternal life.  This is the amazing love that I was able to share with this blind guy named Alejandro.

This is the amazing love that we as Christians should be shouting from the rooftops.  There is no greater hope that we have.  In Christ, all will be made well when His kingdom comes.  This is our great hope.  The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will be raised to life, and we will live with our God who will reign forever!  That, my friends, is what I am most thankful for every day.  What about you?

Here is the song.  Disfrútala.

And I also translated the lyrics so you know what the song is about:

Todo pasa, mas tú no pasarás. All passes, but you will never pass

En gracia Tú siempre reinarás, In grace you will reign forever

La injusticia cargaste en la cruz. You carried injustice on the cross

Exaltado en gloria eres Jesús…Jesus, you are exalted in glory

Dios sobre todo Tú cerca estás, God over all, you are near

Toda rodilla se postrará… Every knee will bow down…

El ciego ve, el sordo oirá, los muertos se levantarán y tú mi Dios por siempre reinarás…The blind see, the deaf will hear, the dead will rise, and you my God will reign forever.

Cody

It is hard to believe that our time in Costa Rica is coming to a close. Last night, we went to the home of some friends to enjoy a time of food and games. We had lots of fun, but it was a realization that I (Maria) would be saying good-bye to these friends soon. Soon, like in two weeks and two days. We are moving. Again. It seems to me that we went around and around just to get to where we first thought we were going to go.

Bulevar del Bosque. A view of the street where we live. San Francisco de dos Ríos, San Jose, Costa Rica.

You see, when I first met Cody, he was getting ready to go to Spain as a missionary. He was in the beginning stages of learning Spanish. He already owned a stack of index cards filled with Spanish words. Maybe he thought that I would be of great help in his missionary journey to Spain. But, shortly after we got married, his dreams were killed by his new wife who didn’t think moving across the world to Spain was such a great idea. I wanted to go to Africa. Isn’t that where all missionaries go anyway? So, we let the missionary idea go for a time knowing that one day the Lord would show us where He would want us to go.

San Francisco de dos Ríos in San José, Costa Rica.

It was in 2004, after Isabela was born, that we told the Lord that we were willing and eager to go. We were living in Florida at the time. We remember telling Him in prayer one day that if He wanted us to go to Spain, to please open the door for us to go. That was the beginning of our missionary journey. It was shortly after this that we went to visit a friend who had moved to Asheville, NC and after spending a few days with her in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and falling in love with the place, we decided to load our car and move there. This lead us to our church, Biltmore Baptist Church. Read more »

Well, I just had a great opportunity to share some Gospel truth with a handful of teenagers in the park.  They picked the wrong right guy.  I’m sure they did not know what they were getting themselves into when they approached me and quietly handed me this flyer:

This is the type of gospel message that runs rampant in Latin America

It means, “The time has come for your miracle.”  And of course, with a picture of an empty wheel chair, it signifies the miracle of healing.

I was just getting ready to leave after spending some time with a young American missionary guy who I have been getting together with each week to encourage him in his walk with the Lord, when these youth came up and handed me the flyer.  As soon as I saw it, my heart was burdened to speak the truth to these guys.  At first there were also two women who were with them, but in the course of conversation, they left.

So, with my best spanish possible, I started out by saying this:  ”I believe that the greatest miracle God has ever given is the miracle of salvation that came through the blood of Jesus on the cross.”  That certainly grabbed Read more »

The time is approaching fast.  Less than two more months and we will be leaving Costa Rica and moving directly to Leon, Nicaragua.  Lord willing, we will be there by December 9th.  We are so excited that we wish we could move tomorrow.  Our hearts are being stirred more and more as we connect with our ministry partners in Nicaragua and begin to discuss future ministry plans and strategies.  But our desire is to finish strong here in Costa Rica as we know that there is still much that the Lord is doing in our lives during this preparation time.  And I am thankful that I still have two more months of further language training.  But…these next two months will probably fly by.

We praise the Lord that we found a house to rent in Nicaragua!  We have already signed the contract…so…its ours!  It is a nice little house in a decent neighborhood.  As a matter of fact, it is right down the street from the McEwans (our ministry partners), so that is a huge bonus. We are so looking forward to moving there, setting up our home, and beginning our labors for the Gospel.  The Lord is definitely showing us that He is preparing the way.

Our partnership with the Nehemiah Center is official.  We are looking forward to working along side of them and learning about the country, its people, and how we can effectively bring them the Gospel message.  Feel free to check out their website at www.nehemiahcenter.net  They have been doing an awesome job in ministering to the people of Nicaragua for almost 13 years.  This is their mission statement:  ”The Nehemiah Center is a community of service and learning which trains lay and pastoral leaders in an integral, biblical worldview and encourages local, national and international collaboration for a Christ-centered, transformational development of communities and nations.”  We are thrilled to become a part of this community.  Our desire in partnering with them is that we will be able to connect with pastors and leaders, build relationships with them, and develop a ministry that will help train and equip them in their ministry to the Nicaraguan people.  In addition to our partnership with them, we will also be partnering with the McEwans in various Bible based discipleship/mentoring ministries, some of which will include working with at-risk youth and families.  We look forward to seeing what the Lord unfolds before us.  We only want to honor Him and reach people with the message of life and hope that is only found in Jesus Christ.

No, Maria is not pregnant.   I’m talking about the birth pains that Jesus mentions in Matthew 24.  You see, this week during our family devotions we have been studying Matthew 24 and discussing how Jesus prepared His disciples for His return.  His disciples asked a key question, “Lord, when will these things take place and what will be the sign of your coming?” And then Jesus began to give them some specific answers that would let them know the question of “when.” He tells us first that there will be wars, rumors of wars, nations rising up against nations, famines, and earthquakes.  But He lets us know very clear that this is not the end, but it is the beginning of the birth pains.

But we all know that birth pains signify that there is an end in sight.  A mother giving birth knows that the birth pains mean that she is definitely going to be giving birth soon.  And so we too, thanks to the words of Jesus, can know that the beginning of birth pains signify that He is indeed coming soon.

The reason I mention this is because today here in Costa Rica, there was a very strong earthquake that was felt within a hundred miles from the epicenter.

It was scary for many of us.  I was in the middle of my grammar class and all of a sudden the room just started shaking slowly.  At first, many of us were fascinated by it, but as the shaking became stronger, we all fled out of the building in a mad rush.  There was a lot of craziness.  Nobody really knew what to do.  So, we all gathered Read more »

We are often asked what kinds of food do we eat in other countries so I thought it would be pretty cool if I just showed you. Here are some things that we get to see and eat here in Costa Rica.

In Puerto Rico, we call this one pomarosa, but the ticos (the name for the native Costa Ricans) call it manzana which means apple. This is one of the favorite fruits in our home. It tastes great, especially when is very red in color and eaten cold. Jake seems to really love this one.

This is guanabana. This is another one of our favorites. Isabela loves the guanabana. The guanabana juice is probably one of our favorite fruit juices. This might not be the prettiest fruit in the garden, but it certainly is delicious!

Read more »

I (Maria) had the privilege of being invited to speak to a group of young ladies at a local orphanage. The group was formed of teenage girls with a very hard past. I was blessed to share my testimony with them and spend a few moments getting to know some of them. The girls are very sweet and they really could use your prayers. I intend on going back to visit with the girls and I am hoping that the Lord will open up the doors to minister the gospel to these precious girls.

I was given permission by them to post their pictures. Please pray for these girls. Pray specifically that the wounds they carry in their hearts would be healed by the precious hand of Jesus. May they scars they bear never go to waste.

Me with some of the girls (our friend's daughter is on the picture too. She is the fourth one from left to right). Some of the them have powder sugar on their faces from their cupcake decorating activity.

Two of the girls in the home working on decorating cupcakes provided by another ILE student.

Sweet new friend.

Here is a picture of Cody sharing during the 70th year anniversary of the Instituto de la Lengua Española. Our friend, John Darnell, who happens to be a fellow Global Outreach missionary translated for Cody in Spanish. The majority of the people who attended the service were locals.

Our friends and neighbors Jim and Suzy Olsen were part of the worship team during the service. They are a very sweet missionary couple headed to Ecuador to serve with International Teams. Jim played the drums and Suzy played the guitar.

Isabela and I (Maria) went to Walmart to buy some groceries and we happen to take a shortcut through the beer aisle and lo and behold this is what we found…

Dr. Pepper!!!! YAY!!! Now, why do they keep Dr. Pepper in the beer aisle? I am not sure. All I know is that now I know where to find it.

I bought 3 cans for us to enjoy with our dinner last night. I couldn’t justify spending $6.00 for a whole six pack.

And here is Isabela and Cody having a toast to Dr. Pepper! Now, if they only had Virgil’s Cream Soda…sigh.