March 28, 2001

Classes

School progresses well - as you would expect, each topic builds on previous topics.  So the problem becomes remembering all the stuff from before!  I guess that is why we have to keep practicing.  We can also see why each trimester is only 4 months - we NEED a break!  It is hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks left - and one of those is Easter week (Semana Santa) when we have a 3 day holiday.  We are doing well on our grades, and continue to improve our Spanish every day.

At the end of this semester (April 16th) we have our oral proficiency exams.  It takes about 30 minutes with one of the teachers asking a set of questions to test our skill in various areas.  This test is used for placement next semester, as well as to determine our level of language expertise.  Please pray for us - these tests are very important and we are quite nervous.  Our teachers tell us not to tense up, stay calm, etc., but it is always hard to not to get nervous about "finals".

Personal Notes

 It seems like the student body here at the school is "under attack" from the Evil One.  We have had several health problems ranging from skin cancer, breast cancer to uterine tumors.  Luckily, health care in Costa Rica is very good and most of the problems can be dealt with here.  Petty theft is also on the rise.  One student had some things stolen out of his backpack one week (he was wearing it - the local pick-pockets are very adept), and the following week his entire backpack was snatched out of his hand by a thief in a passing car.  Yesterday a teacher's purse was stolen - the thief used a knife to cut the strap.  She was hanging onto it, but realized that she was about to lose a finger so decided to let it go.  It is hard not to get discouraged, but as Paul said "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).  We all must keep pressing ahead.

A note of celebration - we are being commissioned at our home church, Cannon United Methodist on Sunday, April 22 in Snellville, Georgia.  We are very excited and invite everyone to attend.  For more information call the church at 770-972-5463.

Lastly, we want to thank the Lord for answered prayer.  To do our water well ministry in Paraguay we will need a drill rig - at a total cost of well over $10,000, plus shipping, spare parts, etc.  The Decatur, Georgia Rotary Club took this on as a project and has raised double the amount needed!  Praise God!  The extra money can be used to buy supplies for several wells ($2,000 to $4,000 each depending on depth).  Houston Smith the project sponsor, and Jimmy Smith, the Club President really got behind the project and they both deserve a special "thank you".

Prayer Requests

We ask for your prayers for language acquisition.

We ask for your prayers that we will BOLDLY proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ at all opportunities.

Please pray that we will each have a national friend when we get to Paraguay.  We ask that God will make ready the hearts a two special nationals.

Pray for the health and safety of all the students here at the Institute.

Side Notes

Last month we mentioned that we had found a Methodist church to attend - El Redentor (the Redeemer) in downtown San Jose.  Linda took some pictures and we finally got them scanned and here they are! The last photo is a shot that a friend took with his digital camera for Rev. Walter Jones at our home church - Cannon United Methodist.  Linda's vest is one that she bought in an open air flea market and is from Guatemala.  It has some really pretty needlework on it.

El Redentor Methodist Church in downtown San Jose

Inside of El Redentor Methodist Church

Yours truly in a photo that we took for our home church, Cannon Methodist