Poco a Poco

This is a phrase that the mom of the Tico family we lived with would say to us very regularly. It means literally "little by little" and gives the meaning of taking each day at a time. This is something that God has been continually teaching us as we live here longer and longer. Not only do things such as language learning come little by little (although at times we´d like to just wake up one morning and be able to speak Spanish fluently), but also this rule applies to things in general in this culture. Life is meant, not to be rushed through, but to be lived each day....taking each day at a time. It´s been somewhat of a hard lesson to learn. We are so used to speeding from one activity to another and trying to fit as much into one day as we can. We´re learning that here, that´s just impossible.

This week Allison is having the opportunity to participate in a seminar called Peace-Makers. She has been praying about opportunities to be used by God once we get to Atenas, and looks at being able to be used in the area of member care as a possibility. Member care involves encouragement and development of interpersonal relationships among the Latin American team. She sees this as a useful preparation tool that God could use down the road. Although we have a great team in our office, we´ve heard that the number one reason missionaries leave the field is due to interpersonal conflicts.

A big praise is that we´ve been getting more rain this week. It has rained almost every afternoon this week. This is a huge praise because Costa Rica´s power comes mostly from hydroelectric sources. So, if there has not been alot of rain during the rainy season, come March or April, the power will have to be rationed. Due to the fact that we actually LIKE taking hot showers and being able to cook our food, we´re very glad that it seems to be getting back to a normal rainfall pattern for the "rainy season".

Please be in prayer for the teams that are going out this week and next week. There are two different project trips that are happenning this month, both to Haiti to work with various ministries. One is a children´s home that is needing to expand their facilities and are in desperate need of our expertise so they can serve the poor and abandoned children of their community. Pray for safety for the team and efficient and effective us of the time on site as this is a very crucial time of gathering information and building relationships with the ministry so we know better what they need and how we can serve them best.