Language School

Hey folks! Sorry its been so long since we've posted anything. We've been a little out of touch since we've moved to San Jose to begin language school. Our host family doesn't have internet, so we can't check email all that often, much less post a blog. The first week or so of language school has been good....tiring, but good. Since it is an intensive course, they're moving at a break-neck speed. It seems like there are so many words floating around in our heads that we'll never make sense of them all. As our "mama tica" says, "Poco a poco" or "little by little". The family is great. Flora and Orlando are the wife and husband and they have two sons, Joshua and Orlando, Jr. The boys are both our age or older. Culturally, kids typically live with their mother and father until they get married. For some, that means till they're 20, for others 40! Flora serves us typical tico food: rice & beans, eggs, bell peppers, fruits and veggies, and fresco (typically a blended up fruit drink). We've also had the pleasure of having "gallo pinto" for breakfast. Gallo pinto (pronounced "guy-oh peen-toe") is a typical tico dish made of onions, black beans, rice, garlic, a little bit of Lizano (Costa Rica's version of Tabasco) and peppers and fried together into a blackish mixture. Yum! All in all, things are going pretty well. We figured out why the 4-wheel drive on the car was always engaged. The sensor that tells the car that it needs to go into 4-wheel drive had gone bad. Since we're still under the 30-day guarantee, they're going to fix it for free! However, the part will take 8 days to arrive. Just another chapter in the get-used-to-things-taking-more-time-here saga!

I'd like to make it a habit of listing prayer requests at the bottom of each blog posting. So, here's the first installment:

(1) Pray that our minds would continue to be open to the language. Concentrating on every word everyone says to you all day long can be pretty tiring. By 7pm, my brain begins shutting down.

(2) Pray that we would continue to form relationships with the locals here and that our ministry while in language school would be fruitful.

(3) Pray for my (Josh's) grandmother. She is now in hospice care and they are having to administer morphine to aleviate the pain she's feeling in her neck and head. It doesn't sound like things are going very well and she could pass away soon. Pray that we would have wisdom in decisions to come home and be there during this time.

(4) We are constantly in the process of support raising. We've had supporters fall off recently and we need to be vigilant in our efforts to raise support. It's hard not having access to communication to do this.

(5) Please pray for the families of EMI's staff here in Atenas. Pray that they're ministry would be fruitful and honoring to the Lord.

We look forward to hearing from you all!