They're Home :~)

Drew and his team arrived home safe, sound, tired, and happy on Monday night / Tuesday morning (I guess that's the right description for 2am, yeah?) and they are WONDERFUL. In Drew's one word summary, the trip was AWESOME!

Drew said he was able to stay with Harrison again this year (his Tico from last year) and he shared with us that the Ticos Youth Group members brought 60 non-churched friends to the big weekend retreat and of the 60, it appears that 30 have received Christ as their savior. Please join us in celebrating the fruit of the journey as well as the deepening of relationships and the growth of character in our teens.

Thank you everyone for your support of Drew and this Costa Rica team ~ you'll be seeing faces in heaven that you were a part of harvesting!

I'm so happy I could split open!!
Smiles and love to all, Sherrie

Let's Keep Raising Them in Prayer!

Sent: 6/24/2006 4:32:33 PM

Subject: Tres Rios Costa Rica

Becky and I had to run a quick trip to town for supplies and found an internet cafe. All is going well but I can tell that the group and especially the leaders are tired.

We set up camp in Tres Rios last night. It's a beautiful place way up in the mountains of the central valley. The Ticos have done quite well and showed up after dark with a huge bus load of people. We have over 80 people staying at the camp which although a blessing, is a huge responsibility. It gets a little overwhelming to think we have this many kids, part unsaved friends, in a foreign country, with a language barrier, at a camp somewhere up in the mountains.

We've prayed alot and it seems like things are going very well from a relationship standpoint. They have had great games and other activities to get everyone to know each other and then later tonight the Tico students will talk to their friends about Christ; Tomorrow we will finish our spiritual discussions and clean up and leave at about 2 pm. to go to the training center. Ernesto was at our camp today and all is well with Wayne and Rexanne's group.

We need prayers tonight to sustain the leaders for another 24 hours and to give our kids a lift to get to the end. We also need prayers for the Tico's and that their kids would have open hearts, for safe travel and no bickering between the kids.

Please forward this on to the parents and remember that I love you. A warm, DRY bed at home with a big volume hot shower is sounding awefully good.

Mike

Are you wondering, "Where's Costa Rica?"

Orosi is a little south by the "J" of San Jose :~)
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cs.html

More Great Costa Rica Updates :~)

We are so blessed to have the internet!!
Don't These Great Updates Make it So Easy to
Remember to Raise This Team Up in Prayer??

Sent: 6/21/2006 7:20:32 PM

Subject: Fwd: Orosi update 06.19

Hello to all,

My apologies! I have just learned that Lynette is THE contact person to send any updates to. This one is from late Monday evening. Another to follow!

Praise God ... All is well in Costa Rica.

On behalf of your kids,

Les

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:31:54 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Orosi update 06.19

Hello All,

Finally, news from Central America! First, all is going very well for your children. Naturally, it has been very busy these initial days in country. Our flights went well; no delays and we arrived as planned in San Jose on Friday evening. We then had orientation before we turned in.

Saturday: More orientation and devotional time before we headed toward Orosi. On the way we stopped at a Butterly Pavillion before dinner. When we arrived in Orosi the Ticos welcomed us at the church with a very touching ceremony and many games to allow the kids to get to know one another. We then headed home to our families.

Sunday: We were treated to a wonderful spirit-filled time of worship, prayer, praise and teaching (some translated, some not!)

I'll sign off for now, we (Lisa & I) need to get back to our home for dinner before the students enjoy more time of fellowship with their Tico friends. Bear with me, I'll keep you updated as I can.

Please pray for continued safety, God has protected us perfectly. Pray for continued health, not a mention of any tummy (or heart) issues. Please pray for continued harmony and grace amongst our team. No issues thus far. Please pray for God to be glorified even more greatly, we have enjoyed a very quick and trusting bond between students, Tico and American, leaders, US and CR, hosts and families. Becky, Mike, Lisa, Ashley and myself are holding our respective own with language and cultural differences that we are experiencing.

Praise God for that and let's trust Him to bless us with more of the same!

Les

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: 6/21/2006 8:00:37 PM

Subject: Orosi update 06.21

Greetings,

Such a simple schedule yet it is quite a challenge to keep up with it. Our last 3 days have looked something like this:

* Rise and shine, shower in any of a variety of showers (I'll let the kids tell you the details!), visit in Spanish while half asleep, spend devotion time if possible, get down some breakfast and be to the church by 7:30 am (flexible of course).

* Drive through the mountains of CR to pick up all kids not in Orosi. Make our way through Palomo to Cachi to meet at El Chilito for quick prep for the day.

* Go to the high school where we have been spending time. Speaking to English classes, skits and dances performed, testimony shared, lots of time conversing in 2 languages and all the while allowing the love of Christ to shine through our interactions. Some of these activities have been in classes of different sizes; yesterday there was an assembly for many students that included the posting of the Costa Rican colors, the national anthem, performances and many presentations by school officials.

* Today our work time involved painting of the restrooms which they did a great job at.

***** By the way, each of you would be very proud of how your kids are handling
these situations in front of many people who speak varying degrees of English. *****

* We then head back to El Chilito for lunch and some debrief time.

* Yesterday after lunch we had a "futbol" tournament with the Tico students. 5 boys v. 5 boys and 5 girls v. 5 girls. Side note: Costa Rica has not been doing well in the World Cup (which is being played now). Therefore the Costa Rican kids did, ahem, quite well against our kids who held there own.

* We typically have returned home for some off time to spend with our Tico friends, had dinner and have been back at church by 6:30. There is then an evening of training for the Youth Retreat that will be conducted by the students; ours and the Ticos. The kids are typically home by 10-ish and report being exhausted. We leaders would concur!

Know that your prayers have been consistently answered. All are safe, in good health, smiling!, and from where I stand, bringing glory to our Father. We leaders are proud to serve alongside of these kids. Keep praying, now more then ever. These kids ARE kids and as we all get more comfortable it will be important to keep our protection strong, our minds clear and our spirits filled with that of Christ.

Les

A Note from Britt in Costa Rica :)

Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 5:23 PM

Hey! Its good to hear from you! Oh my gosh I´m having so much fun! Drew is too (i´m at the internet cafe but he had to go back to his house) This is seriously such an amazing experience I am loving it!

That whole thing at Red Rocks sounds like so much fun! I wish I hadn´t missed it! Are they every gonna do it again? Cuz that would be awesome!

Well I gotta run or I´m probably gonna be late for dinner... I still have to walk all the way home! haha! but it doesn´t take to long, only like 10 or 15 minutes, I´ll email again if I can!

Lots of Love! Chiao!

Brittany

Great Costa Rica Update from Ashley :-)

----- Original Message -----

Sent: 6/20/2006 5:11:03 PM

Subject: Hola de Orosi :D (update)

Hola a todos!

It takes SO long to write an e-mail here, Becky and I have been so frustrated.

We have to pretty much check on all the open computers to see which one will load pages in 10 minutes or less, then go from there, whoevers email works. And we dont really use punctuation, apart from commas and periods, because even though the keyboards are the exact same as ours, they are completely different.

This, you will be happy to know, is about the most of our worries :D.

Everyone has been doing GREAT in the schools, in the church, and in the homes with their Tico families. Everyone is participating, learning to be leaders, and stepping up to the plate as far as being open to being instruments for God's kingdom. They are encouraging one another, being there for one another, praying for one another, and really making us proud -- give or a take a soccer game or two.

Yesterday was our first day in the schools, as most of you know, and today was our second. Virginia, Matt and Natalie have been in charge of doing the English games. They had 4 or 5 LOONG classes to share everything they had prepared, and they did great. They had our whole team in the classroom sharing their picture books, and cultivating relationships. Virginia stepped up to the plate in explaining all the games, and moving things along smoothly. So did Matt -- he even learned some spanish phrases and did his best to communicate well with the classes. He is doing great.

Melanie led the dance team -- Nathan, David, Lyndsey, Laura, Meghan and Maggie -- in doing a 'cultural' dance for the team, a rock-n-roll themed jive.

Then the skit team did a great job in doing three skits -- Drew, Courtney, Allison, Brittany, Joanie and Tyler. They were amazing, even though they had to improvise with the music because it was forgotten at home! They are always being flexible and performing for the Lord to the best of their abilities.

We were joking that if the Tico boys in the school had to learn anything, they would want to learn it from Joanie -- she got a LOT of attention when sharing her book, and really makes us laugh with her innocence. The kids were all invited to do an assembly in front of most of the school, where both the dance team and the skit team performed with a lot of courage, sharing the story of Christ, and Nathan, having very clearly grown TONS since last year, shared his testimony through Felix.

We were asked to play a soccer game this afternoon -- Ticos vs. Gringos, then Ticas vs. Gringas... and WE WON! Psych... Just kidding.

Natalie tore up the field and led the girl team in playing a wonderful game along with Meghan, Maggie, Natalie, Laura, Brittany, Joanie, Melanie, Lyndsey and Allison, and Courtney -- way to go girls! David, Tyler, Matt, Nathan and Drew -- our only 5 boys -- made a HUGE impact, even though both Gringo teams lost by well more than 5 goals.

The training on Sunday afternoon was led by Melanie, Natalie, Matt and Meghan. Matt and Meghan highlighted some key verses and points about listening to your friends, and Melanie and Natalie led us in a game of listening to a story and acting when certain words were said. It was a fun time full of learning, and I think we started to get through to the Ticos.

The training yesterday was led by Lyndsey, Allison, Courtney and Drew, with Felix, our translator. Drew and Lyndsey read some very important verses about how to care for your non-christian friends. Courtney led us in a time of listening (gringos with ticos and vice versa), then she and Allison led the group to do a skit about bible-thumping Christians and how NOT to treat your non-christian friends. We saw a lot of maturity and love coming from our gringo team in their training last night. They then got into groups and started planning the retreat that we will be going on in a few days.

The students have ALL been doing their devotionals with their Ticos, praying for them, adjusting to the cold water, bugs, humidity, and food (like that's hard...), and we are very proud of what they are doing here in Costa Rica.
Thank you for all of your prayers, and know that everyone is doing GREAT.

Pray for Laura, Tyler, Virginia and Nathan tonight as they will be leading the group in learning how to share their personal story with their friends. Tyler will take the ticos through a process in how to share their stories, Laura will provide verses, Virginia will tell them what NOT to do, and Nathan, once again, will share HIS testimony for the group.

Besides this, we wont be able to write for awhile. We are going to the Fiesta on Thursday, for our free day, and then we will be at the camp for the weekend. It may not be until Sunday until we write again. Pray for strength for the students as they are working hard to fulfill God's purpose in Costa Rica.

We love you all and miss you dearly!

Ashley and Becky

I still can't believe, the same voice that spoke the stars into space
says he loves me and he made me nothing less than what I'm meant to be.
The things I believe have been misconceived by this heart that cant understand love.
Help me to see what you see in me.

ashley

An E.Mail from One of the GringoTeens

Here's an e.mail from a member of the Costa Rica team ~ it was sent to me by Tyler's mom Deana this morning ... I'm sure you'll join us in laughs and praises. Please continue to lift them all up ... Oh, and for a visual, here is a picture I took of this dear family in September 2001 at our Homebuilders Camping Trip at Winding River ~ Tyler is in the grey t-shirt ...

From: Tyler
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 6:14 PM
Subject: costa rica

hola papa y mama,

im writing you from an internet cafe right down the street from my house. i love it here, andrew and i are in the same house and it is the best house, the family i sooo nice, and they treat us really well. the last to days we have been at the schools teaching english, and all the girls think that andrew and i are cute. today we counted 47!!! we are having alot of fun and having a great time with all the ticos. hey mom, if sue, the hair cutter has an oppointment open, i need one asap, melline s had to cut my hair for the school, and i think only sue can fix it, it is horible y muy feo. im learing alot of new spanish and am becoming alot better at speeking it. i will come back to this cafe in a few days so write me an e-mail back as soon as u get this one asking any questions you have and i will answere them. well i have to go, we are hanging out with all the ticos tonight, but i love u guys, write me back

tyler

p.s. ernesto says hi to logan
adios

Top Gun Has NEVER Been So Good

So like, huge thanks to Ryan & Kelli, Austin & Kendall, and friend for the invitation to join you all at Red Rocks for Top Gun ~ Man! What a great movie and I would have never guessed that it would be even better in the beautiful summer night with a huge screen, incredible sound system, audience participation, and great teens!

You've lost that loving feeling, whoa that loving feeling ... Take my breath away!!

Thanks guys for including me in this 20th anniversary screening of my favorite movie ~ it was suberb going down the highway to the danger zone with you :~)

Hey ~ did you know that Top Gun won the 1987 People's Choice Awards for favorite motion picture? That explains why everyone in the audience knew the words to all the songs, when to cheer, and when to get pumped! Very cool!! And did you know that ol' Tom Cruise and I are the same age? Another of my movie star contemporaries (ha!) along with Jodie Foster. Who, by the way, I really did enjoy in Flight Plan a few weeks ago. Also Demi Moore, Jim Carrey, Jon Stewart ... Ahh, '62 was a very good year :~)

Drew & Brit's Team is in Costa Rica :-)

Sent: 6/17/2006 11:34:42 AM

Subject: we are here

We made it here safely. Travel went well and the students are already having a great time. We will leave very soon for Orosi where the Tico students have a big party planned for us.

I have to go right now...internet is very expensive here at the hotel. I will write an update as soon as I can.

God Bless,

Becky

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: 6/18/2006 5:14:25 PM

Good Afternoon

We arrived in Orosi last night and received a warm welcome. The group was very excited for us to return. It sounds like each student really enjoys their Tico home, and feels comfortable there.

We attended church this morning and just finished our first training with the Tico youth group. They are very excited to reach their non-Christian friends for Christ. We are expecting 30 non-christian friends at the retreat this weekend. God is really working here in Orosi and in our team. It is a blessing to be a part of this team. The students are doing great and have such great attitudes. They were challenged to reflect Jesus in all they do this week and so far they have really risen to the challenge.

Please pray specifically for our time in the school tomorrow. We will spend all our time with two classes of seniors who's english is advanced. There are many opportunities to engage these students and share Christ with them.

As I can I will send you updates. We appreciate all your prayers for our team and the Ticos here in Orosi.

God Bless,

Becky

End of Year is COOL!

END OF YEAR IS COOL!!

But there is so much going on I don't know where to start!

Drew had his four impacted wisdom teeth out this morning and is recovering well. Man! He wanted to be curled up like a baby afterward, it was soooo funny! (In a sick sort of way I guess :) He doesn't even remember this part of his post-surgery...

I've been to the eye doc today. The pain/pressure has been concluded to be a result of a torn and rough cornea probably from studying too late, getting up too early, not using enough eye lubricant drops, and my lid adhering to my cornea over night and tearing it off this morning. Good news is that recovery is about 24 hours and healing full. Using drops every hour now and then 4 times a day forever :)

Trey's at his first all nighter at church with the JUNIOR HIGH GROUP... Okay, now that is freaky! I was expecting Ryan to graduate from High School but Trey graduating from 6th grade caught me by surprise ~ this picture is from right after Trey's graduation ... He had made Ryan an art project of Chuck Norris because Ry loves Chuck Norris jokes ~ now that was funny!

Sean's waiting for one of his great buddy's in the neighborhood to get home so we can have a sleepover. This next picture is from 5 years ago of Ryan and Sean but it is soooo cute!!

Ryan and Kelli are working hard cleaning Ryan's room as I type this ~ closet, drawers, full thing ... thank heaven's for girlfriends!

Kelli found out today that she's been accepted to CU Boulder, so the love birds are happy. Her grades were great but there had been a transcript delay so they thought she'd have to wait a semester. She's already got lots of credits (AP in high school plus this past year at community college). Kelli's such a sweet girl ~ aren't they just the cutest couple?


Today post-op, Drew's hanging out with his girlfriend Brittany and has been visited by many of his buddies, too. Lots of movies and halo on X-Box (video games), as he is just laying low in the basement. Brittany's such an awesome girl as well.

I'm so happy with both Kelli & Britt ~ they are great to my guys, my guys are awesome to them, and they are both so very pleasant and enjoyable to have around. Just superb! I feel very fortunate when they are around as they bring joy and smiles to our home and all of lives.

I'm still letting my hair grow out ~ no bangs. I used headbands a lot in the early stages. I've used lots of barrettes, some combs, and claw clips. Anything to keep it pulled back out of my face!! Here's a pretty good picture of how I wear it a lot these days ~ just one clip on side. It's a great picture that Pastor Ken took at the graduation party of me and Sean swinging on the dance floor!

Dave and I have been dieting ~ he's down 40 pounds (!!) and I'm down 5 ~ We both want to lose another 5. It seems like we are hardly eating anything and that's been tough, but we're liking being a bit more slender. We sure do match our kids better now :)

At the grad party, the three dad's did a great dance and then gave tributes to their sons. Each of the Dad's talks were so special in their unique way ~ Pastor Ken's on memories, Jim's with wisdom, and Dave brought a tear to everyone's eye ~ it was soooo sweet and soooo cool ...

Life is Good ~ God is Wonderful

Love, Sherrie