A Cup of Cold Water

  This Christmas was the first Christmas I can remember not spending in Minnesota. It was good to get a new perspective but also hard to see a culture where Christmas is not highly looked forward too and celebrated by everyone. For example, the store was open on Christmas Day and I doubt some people even knew it was Christmas, both facts that astonished me. This year instead of only celebrating as a family, we hosted a Christmas program for about 55 poor kids who might not have had any other party to look forward to. Every single family that we invited came. To be truthful, this makes me a little sad because when we invite them to Mass or something at the church the turn out is much, much worse. Sometimes their excuse for not coming is that it is too far to walk, but if they can walk miles to our house with all their kids to get some food and Christmas gifts then they can certainly walk miles to go to mass, a far greater gift than we could ever give them. Even so, I was glad they c...

  Local boys enjoying the track. There’s not much for the youth to do in our town.  There is a soccer field that’s occasionally used, but beyond that the main outdoor activity, at least for the boys, is to ride their bikes up and down the streets.  We started pondering how to help provide healthy outlets for the kids in town as well as our own kids.   In a particular way we wanted to help encourage our twelve-year-old son to get outside and burn off some energy.  That’s where the idea of building a bike course evolved.  How would we do this?  Where could we build it?  Our landlord has lots of connections in town, so we thought we’d start with him.  He liked the idea, and said he’d ask around.  A short time later he got back to us and said he’d found the spot for us to build the bike track.  I have to admit, when I first saw the land, I felt a bit discouraged.  It was very overgrown with trees, bushes, tall grass, brush eve...

  Something important was missing.  Home after home, I could not find it- not a crucifix, not a cross, not an image of Jesus was to be found.   This is something we take so for granted, that every Christian home has some holy image on their wall.  Not here.  Thus, a ministry was born- installing prayer altars, teaching family prayer, promoting the Domestic Church.  Every family is called to be a place of prayer, service and love- a little church of the home. The pandemic challenged us to get creative in how we were going to minister to the people.  The church closed not allowing us to do any formal ministries there.  We decided that if we cannot invite them to church, then we will bring the church to them.  Poco-o-poco (little by little), we are hoping to visit the homes of those interested in learning how to pray as a family. The idea is not to try to evangelize the entire town all at once, but rather to focus in on a few families, teac...

Aviana visiting her friend Juni where her family cares for a tilapia farm. All the girls love Gemma! She is full of fun ideas! Victoria is getting a new toilet.  Her old one is too far away, down a slippery  hill preventing her from getting there when it rains, at night, or when she is sick. Andrea is learning how to pray.  She is hoping that her son will help her practice the Our Father prayer. These three students are very motivated to learn English.  Alexander is hoping to get a job in tourism once he can speak English. 18 year old Cristian (on right), has suffered health issues his entire life. Thanks to Sister Ana, he will be able to receive catechism classes at his home and soon receive the Sacrament of Baptism! An interactive rosary is the best way for this group of kids to learn how to pray it. It is such a blessing to have other missionary families near by to share this crazy life with. It is always a joy to welcome a new baby into the world!  Mama Mari...

After a year in waiting, we have finally been able to welcome more visitors to Costa Rica!  We have been blessed with several so far and there are more to come.  We have a desire within us to share our life with others and to provide people with an experience of mission life.  We are renting a guest house right across from us that has been providing our guests a place to stay.  It is a simple home, yet clean and safe.  We have really enjoyed sharing prayer time, meals, times of recreation, service opportunities, and the joys and struggles of our life here in mission with others.  Rest, healing, service and Christian community are things we strive for our visitors to experience while they are here. "It was beautiful to be welcomed into the Becker family's daily prayer life and to see how they opened the door of their home and of their hearts to the families in Coopevega."  -Ellie My cousin, Ellie, spent two weeks with our family.  She shared a room...

Returning to the same mission post is a great experience!  We are on our second year in Costa Rica.  After visiting family and friends in Minnesota for the holidays, we were ready to return to our home in Costa Rica.  How good it was to have a home waiting for us, equipped with beds, pots, towels, and even some extra's.  Familiar faces (even names) and existing ministries are all blessings that we do not take for granted.   Immediately, we had interactions with people we know!  Rosa brought us a gift of seven fish from her husband's successful outing, Arnovid and Mercedes were happy to continue our Thursday afternoon prayer times together, Isaac's chess students were ready to progress, Gemma's girls were interested to discover what new crafts were brought back from the United States, Obed introduced us to another family wanting to learn how to pray, Beto followed up on pursuing his desire to learn English, and the missionary kids were so happy to be re...

It all started with Maria.  We began our relationship with Maria by helping her pay her electric bill. This was followed by a conversation where we inquired how this single mother could earn an income.  She expressed the desire to raise and sell chickens.  Yet, without the upfront money to purchase them first, she was unable to get started.  We took this idea to prayer. In doing a little research we came across an article written by Bill Gates of all people making the case that raising and selling chickens can really help women in developing countries.  He mentions that chickens are   easy and inexpensive to take care of, they're a good investment, they help keep children healthy, and empower women.  He went on to write that " Because chickens are small and typically stay close to home, many cultures regard them as a woman’s animal, in contrast to larger livestock like goats or cows. Women who sell chickens are likely to reinvest the profits in their ...