A Cup of Cold Water

Teaching this crew how to pray the Stations of the Cross. Participating in the Stations of the Cross as we visit each station throughout the pueblo. Easter Vigil Mass Our Pastoral Social group.  This group gathers on Tuesdays after Mass to pass out diarios (bags of food), and respond to the needs of the poor.  They also visit the homes of those in need. Bridget was thrilled to ride horses for her birthday, she still talks about how awesome it was.  Thanks to our landlord for bringing his horses to us!   Enjoying our time with the Hagen Family. Rosa is cleaning the inners out of the fish we will be eating that evening. Cooking the fish over an open fire aka the kitchen stove. Beautiful girls enjoying each others company after Mass.   Enjoying family time in beautiful Costa Rica. It is such a gift to share our experience here with others from back home.  Susan so fully and beautifully gave and received love from all those she met during her visit here.  ...

The day we dropped Obed off at Luz y Amor Recovery Center. After a wonderful visit from friends back home, we were encouraged by them to share the stories of those we serve here in Coopevega, Costa Rica.  Taking their advice, I will share three stories with you.  I am happy to introduce you to Daraci, Obed, and Luisa.  Daraci after her first week of attending High School. Daraci is a 14 year old girl who has the dream to be a doctor.  Last year her family moved out of town to work at a farm.  Daraci couldn't continue to go to school, because they lived too far away from the nearest high school.  A year later, their work at the farm ended, and they moved closer to town where they have family and better access to schools.  The beginning of the school year came and went and Daraci was still not in school.  When I inquired as to why not, I was given two reasons.  One reason was because they did not have the money to buy her school supplies or a u...

  Women's Retreat Ladies One of my favorite things to do as a missionary is to serve with other missionaries.  It sparks a fire within me, and my light shines a little brighter with the extra kindling.  Therefore, our recent women's retreat was a highlight of my mission experience.  It might not have played out as grand as I had first envisioned it to be, but it happened and it was blessed, thanks be to God and to the support of the other missionaries who helped.   Initially, I had grand ideas for a women's retreat here in Coopevega. Such as an overnight, providing childcare, offering massages, raising up local women to lead small groups, and asking local women to give testimonies. My hope was to invite everyone in Coopevega and the surrounding area.  The more I thought about my ideal retreat, the more discouraged I became.  I decided it wasn't possible, at least not for another three or so years. Once my Spanish is better, once I teach the women more ...

  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...