Job!!

Hello folks,

I wanted to let you all know I've been offered a job, which I'm excited to start for this coming Tuesday.  It's with a company called ATS Engineers here in Austin, Texas who do a lot of custom homes as well as commercial projects.  And along the home front, I have been hired to process energy certifications for homes.  For their office, it's a new position, so I'm excited to be working to pioneer a new process.  It's not in structural or civil engineering, which I was looking for primarily for the reason that I already have some experience in structural and civil design.  But in being offered this job, God reminded me of my growing interest and love for green building, and this definitely is a good stepping stone into green engineering and design.

But what's cool is how I got the job.  I interviewed with ATS from a Craigslist job posting and although I would have been eager to start because it involved being on site for much of my time, I wasn't offered the position.  I came away from the interview however, knowing it went well, and the company seemed really cool and the folks seemed really nice.  Not to mention it's in the beautiful Westlake area of Austin.  So, fast forward a couple of Tuesdays later and I get a call from one of my interviewers saying that although they couldn't offer me the job I applied for, they would like me to interview for another position that recently opened up because they thought I was a good candidate, well qualified, and they liked me in the interview and wanted to give me a job anyway.  The next Thursday in the morning I felt God telling me to expect a phone call saying that I got the job, and although I totally believed it, God challenged me to share that word He gave me.  So, in faith I told Shelley, and she totally believed it, because Shelley is so faithfully supportive. Then later that night, while proclaiming God's love to strangers on the street with Jason Chin, one of the ladies from our church prophesied that I would get a job and it would be a job where I was sought out.  How about that?  She had no idea she was speaking truth that had already happened.  The next day I was offered the job and now I start on Tuesday.  God is so good.

So again, I'll be certifying homes for energy performance with energy raters such as Energy Star,  and RESNET.  It's by no means an engineering job and by no means pays engineer salary, but I'm excited to start because it's my first career job!!  Also, as energy efficiency and green building are great interests of mine, what better way to get into this by starting with the basics of what it takes to certify with all these ratings and standards.

That being said, this marks my transition from my En Costa Rica blog, (since I'm no longer in Costa Rica), to my new blog, God's Love Falls, which will chronicle my continued life mission as God walks me through it.  I'll probably be adding some new types of posts as well.  Possibly some social commentary if God permits me to open my mouth publically, and I've always enjoyed answering questions like "I'm going to [fill in city/geographic location], what should I do/see there?" so I've thought about doing a post about all the great places to see local/indie music in and around Nashville, so keep a lookout for that as well.

Anyway, thank you all readers and supporters, you can continue to follow me at
http://godslovefalls.blogspot.com/

May God's mercy and love be poured out among you like the water that falls over a mountain.
Brad Montgomery

Intermission

Hello friends,

I want to apologize for not writing any time recently, but things keep going on, and I wanted to let you all know some happenings in the last month.  

When I came back from Costa Rica, I had started a job application process with an eMi representative whose business partner runs a civil engineering firm here in Austin.  His partner was looking to hire someone to produce documents for him, which would have been a good fit for me.  However, things changed a bit, and they ended up not needing someone on the civil engineering side.  However, they did pass my resume off to a local friend who runs a civil engineering firm and may be looking to hire.  I had an interview last Tuesday, and was supposed to hear back from that on Friday.  I haven't heard from them yet, so either they're super late and swamped or they have chosen another candidate.  Obviously, not getting the job isn't necessarily what I would have asked for, but God has done a wonderful job of showing me my worth and value in the engineering field by bringing me so much interest from companies just in the Austin area, and I am confident that it's only a matter of time before I get going on an engineering career here in Austin.  (or maybe an outdoor guide career, which I'm slightly tempted to start into.  Maybe working the floor at REI?  Just a thought.)

In the mean time, I've been working temporarily with Ridge Hill Investments, owned and operated by Steve Hickerson, who is a man full of grace and integrity, and a lover of Jesus.  His company builds and rents properties, and right now, I am working on-site at a current construction project he has going on some town homes.  I'm doing mainly clean up work, small laborious handiwork, and supply pickup with another co-worker, but I'm really enjoying being on a construction site.  I've always loved to build things and simply being on a job site is exciting for me.  I'll be looking to put in a few more hours here in the near future to earn a little more cash.  

The church search is going really well.  We've settled in on a little "Spirit filled" church called True Life Fellowship in Round Rock for Sunday mornings and have met some folks from the young adult ministry and their pastors.  It's really awesome.  The Friday after we went to their young adult group for the first time, I was talking to a friend from the prayer group at Southwestern, and he told me that when he looks for a Christian community, he looks for a group of people whose passion and commitment to knowing Jesus scares him.  I confidently told him that I was slightly scared of the folks the night before, and that's about when I realized True Life would be an excellent place.  They are very filled with life, and genuine, unconditional, brotherly love for one another, which Shelley, her roommate Bekah and I have been yearning for for a while.  

Things with Shelley have been growing through joy and beginning trials.  Her mom reminded us a few weeks ago to be thankful when trials come because of the opportunity they bring to grow deeper in mature love for each other, and I can certainly say that after a while of awesome blessings from God of understanding, patience, and compassion, God finally brought us some issues to work through.  Mostly dealing with my heart, but yet in those, He has shown wonderful grace, and strengthened our relationship.  Additionally, this past Thursday night at the wave, God revealed to me that I had been idolizing Shelley, and brought me to repentance.  It is very sobering to realize you've been idolizing your girlfriend, but repentance is ten times more freeing, and the moment I asked God's forgiveness and repented, I felt a huge weight lift and I was filled with joy, I could hear God speaking clearly and specifically to me, and I've been able to enjoy Shelley much more fully and honoring.  

Thank you all for your prayers, and I'll continue to keep you all in touch

Shelley

Hello friends, supporters, and interested readers,

It's about time I let you all in on a part of my life with whom God has been growing me in awesome ways since early January when I left for Costa Rica.

You see, unbeknownst to much of the world, Shelley and I had spent the past two and a half years with a growing interest in each other, but until now, had purposely never crossed the boundary of friendship within the community group we were both closely involved with.  We hugged and said goodbye as close affectionate friends, but knew we were headed into closer relationship, finally feeling the blessing of God to start growing and fostering a relationship with each other that would add to our close friendship.  

And over Costa Rica, God did that very thing.  He has led us both into growing close with each other, and learning the roles each of us plays in God revealing His love to the other, and we've been seriously blessed simply because of God's abundant fatherly love that we simply get to experience on His merit alone.  

But there's a time for telling of histories, and I want to let you all in on the way things are going between Shelley and I today.

Over the past month since I've been back, I've been kind of in transition, awaiting employment, and left with "so much time and so little to do," as far as busy work is concerned, which has left some awesome time to explore with Shelley both the awesome activities we love to do together and the inner workings of how we interact.  We frequent things such as chasing photos, climbing, anything outdoors and exploratory, REI, the Oakridge Disciple House on Thursday nights, and dancing to her dad's band, the Hot Texas Swing Band.  But we're also learning a lot about each other, how we manage time spent with each other, how we handle and approach conflict, how we dance together, how we each relate with God, and how to best love each other and direct our hearts to our first true love, Jesus Christ.  

And yet the resounding theme in the whole relationship is the posture of our hearts, which is what our satisfaction depends entirely on.  And we've learned that that involves keeping our eyes, our hopes, our desires, keeping the source of our satisfaction, looking to the one who fills every desire in our hearts who is Jesus.  And keeping our hearts set on Jesus has been the number one most relevant and most involved work in our relationship, and that which drives everything else.  We're continually finding ourselves repenting for not abiding in Jesus, and we both see the effects in our heart of not abiding in Jesus almost immediately reflected in our relationship with each other.  Whether that be leaning on each other, selfish desires, or an unhealthy pull to want more of each other before its appointed time, they all begin to surface when we realize that God is patiently yet firmly calling our eyes back to Him.  

And that's what I personally need prayer for in our relationship.  Pray again that Jesus would be the deepest desire and motivation of my heart, and that Shelley and I's relationship would grow into its right place as a means to that end, not as a distraction to that end, as it can so easily be. 

p.s. As always, you should all go look at her blog, and like her business page on facebook

Update on Nanny!

Micah and Beth found a nanny!  Praise God.  They'll be on their way back to Costa Rica this Wednesday the 22nd.  

Here's a quick favorite from CR.  Meaning I saw it in Costa Rica.  In total honesty, I may actually do this one day, but enjoy.  

Brad

Re-Immersion

First, I want to share with you a need of our office director Micah and his wife Beth, who are looking for a nanny, so if anyone knows someone you think would be qualified and willing, please look this over and let me know or contact eMi. It says a 6 month commitment, but they would be thrilled to find someone willing to commit to a whole year.  If 6 months is all though, please don't hesitate to still contact them or myself.  Here's the notification from eMi.


Additionally this month, EMI has an unusual need for their Costa Rica office. Office directors Micah and Beth Florea are urgently searching for a new live-in nanny to join them in Costa Rica to help care for their 2-year old son Logan, who has moderate special needs. They are looking for a qualified and compassionate woman to help with Logan so they can continue to serve effectively with EMI.


Micah and Beth Florea's urgent nanny need!
Hopeful for a 6 month commitment

DESCRIPTION

EMI Costa Rica Office Director Micah and Beth Florea are urgently searching for a new live-in nanny to join them in Costa Rica and help care for their 2-year old son with moderate special needs. Logan is a social, smart, and sweet little boy, but his developmental challenges require extra effort and energy. They have come to realize that our ability to serve effectively with EMI while raising a special needs child overseas is completely dependent on receiving help. Their hope is to find a qualified, compassionate, mature woman who has a desire to help them proactively care for Logan, including helping with his in-home therapy exercises.

Preferred (but not required) Qualifications:

• Mature and compelling faith
• Humility, Patience, and Flexibility
• A Servant's heart
• Compassion for the poor
• Content with simple living
• Beginner level Spanish
• Experience with other cultures
• Experience with toddler-aged children
• Experience with special needs children - especially autism spectrum
• Cooking skills
• Upbeat and energetic personality

My first day back, I spent much of my time looking up, quietly musing over the grandness of many buildings that populate this foreign land I apparently call home.  Every car is shiny, the houses are huuuuuuuugge, everything is so spread out, the roads are very wide.  There's a lot of concrete everywhere, everything is so polished and manicured, organized and finished.  


And being welcomed home has been a great joy as well, seeing faces I haven't seen for over 6 months.  But it's different.  I've changed.  The face everyone is seeing belongs to a soul that's been reshaped and reformed to a very unique person from the man that left for Colorado on January 13.  And maybe that's part of the shock of re-immersion.  So much has  happened to me, and the majority of my friends and family won't know the half of it.  But God has definitely grown my roots in Him deeper, and stronger.  


After common "mountain top" experiences with God, returning to the normal world sometimes seems hum-drum.  Although my experience didn't necessarily feel like mountain top, it was as shaking and powerful.  And I guess as a part of any transition period, where everything from housing to transportation to job to social/spiritual associations is up in the air, it seems kind of directionless.  And even the vision for community that God has given me is so unknown that beginning to surround myself with a group of brothers and sisters to share life and ministry with arouses fears and doubts of God's assurance in all of it.  


So, reverse culture shock, coming back deeply changed, and unknowns in my immediate future have left me simply ... dull.  I'm having a hard time processing all this change and future unknowns and left feeling slightly directionless even though I sense God leading me down specific paths here in the next few months that will establish much of what my life will look like over the next few years. 


So in these times that are so critical and that God wants to establish my roots firmly in Him in specific ways here in the Austin area, pray for vision, purpose, specific confirmations of where God wants me to be, and as I've recently added to the "always" list, pray that I would grow in greater intimacy with Jesus every day through everything I do.  Here's a short list of specific areas where these requests apply:


Job - I'm waiting (last I heard) to receive an offer from a local civil engineering firm.


Housing - I'm currently living with my parents, but God may change that.


Church - Shelley and I along with some others will be praying about what church God wants us to serve in.  Our individual home churches have both served us in amazing ways, but we're looking to start going together somewhere. 


Friends - The small group I was a part of in the fall has dispersed in some ways to serve God in other places/ways, and my current friend group is Shelley and (by default) her roommates.  May God bring brothers on whom I can lean and depend in addition to Shelley and other sisters.  


Also, if you have any information, connections, links, etc that will help me get to a few of these any sooner, most of you know how to get in contact with me, and I would greatly appreciate any help.  


I bless you all for prayers and your generous donations.  I'll check again sometime this week, but my last fundraising update is I'm still lacking about $2400.  Now that I'm post internship I will arrange a payment plan with eMi once I have secure employment, and once my account is paid off eMi will close it.  Until then, you can still give money on the donate section of their website.  I pray and trust God will provide, but He does so through you.  You all have already been so generous and I thank you for that.  


Now that I'm back in the States things will look different, but re-adjusting and re-establishing myself here is still a part of the internship experience with eMi, so I will certainly keep you updated on me getting settled in for the next season.  Then I may see about starting another blog, so any ideas/suggestions will be welcomed.  


May God fill your life with vision and purpose,
Brad

El Final

I'm coming home tomorrow.


This season of life is slowly and swiftly passing into the immediate past.  I remember times when I've woken up the day after a season marked by instant change and being shocked to not wake up in the same environment, and being stirred through so many instant emotions I was literally jolted.  And yet in each one of those times, I've probably never been shaped, changed, and chiseled at so powerfully as I have been here.  And for that Costa Rica, eMi-AL, the Chaves Family, Esther, Kevin, Allison, Christine, and Carlin, and our Tico friends José Pablo, Alvaro, Alvaro, and Juan-Carlos, will forever remain a part of an immensely powerful work of God in my life and will hold a unique and special place for me.  And because of that I will miss them deeply, longing to see them again, whether it be on this earth or the next.


Brad.
p.s. To eliminate confusion, I wrote this Monday, and am back in the states today.  Reflections and pondering, updates about future plans, and possible future blog coming soon.  I'll keep you all informed.

Our Constant Potter

As the end nears here in Costa Rica, I'm am much more in tune to my surroundings here.  I notice how the light passes through a low lying cloud, or reflects off the mountains just North East of my house.  I've been contemplating many events that happens here, whether it be a two hour talk with a staff member, or simply strolling down the street with the interns.  And I'm reflecting a lot on some specific events and situations here.


Looking back, I've had many new experiences here, many of which have been so foreign to me, and some still familiar.  But it´s been every bit of exciting, adventurous, challenging, and rough.  I've felt deeply the presence of God here, and so dry at times; I've dealt with spiritual warfare and attack.  I've experienced things that impassioned me greatly, and suffered through rough boredom and numbness.  In some ways, I've fit in here and in some I've felt like Smalls first stepping onto the Sandlot.  I've gone between feeling deeply loved by those around me, to feeling so solitary and alone.  And probably the hugest blessing is that I'm learning with joy how sweet it is to experience the love God has for Shelley, and growing in a romance that draws us together in Him.


God is showing me the mountain of clay in me that He wants to craft.  Each thing I do, every way I react to a situation, or when someone speaks to me, is a direct reflection of my heart, and God is the potter conducting every bit of refinement that purifies my love for Him and my brothers.  God spends thousands of hours working out every bit of detail on us, picking, pulling, crushing, re crushing, breaking apart, and spinning until He has us just the right shape.  And we go through a variety of tools, some of which are smooth and gentle, and some we cringe even when we hear it rustled out of the drawer.  But some times the hardest thing is that we don't start to see our progress for a long while.  And we don't yet see the end until we emerge from the furnace.  And I've definitely wrestled in this process with my own worth, failures, joys, and triumphs.  


Anyone who spent any time in chemistry, physics, or another science in high school, college, or professionally knows how the lab technician works.   He works meticulously going through every one of his carefully planned procedures, passes the substance through his beakers, burners, flasks, centrifuges takes us under the hood, but the results from all this testing don't come until the end.  But with love like a Father, God keeps us going through our process until we get to the end and see how our tests came back.  And they come out just like He expects, not what we expect.  We may look at the results or look at the end of our trials and not be pleased with what we see.  Someone will always look better, have responded with more grace, stood with much more perseverance through rejection, been much more fervent in prayer than we were.  But God knows exactly how He wants us to emerge from each process, and he's pleased with the results, so long as we've drawn nearer to Him.  And the thing is that each new process won't leave us complete.  He shows His approval toward us by getting us ready for the next process, the next molding table, or the next measuring tool.  And although we don't always grasp everything He is doing, He keeps it all in mind, and reveals to us our progress as His affirmation and encouragement.  


So, as I reflect on my internship here in Costa Rica, it hasn't been at least in my eyes the greatest success story.  However, I'm beginning to understand how affirmed and honored I am that God would see me fit to come here to Costa Rica and pass through His testing and His handiwork.  He's also starting to make clear the amazing work He's done in me here.  It's like the dust stirred up by God stepping in my life here in Costa Rica is beginning to settle and open up a clearer view of His handiwork in my heart and my life.  I'm beginning to see ways God has delivered me from bitterness, resentment, lack of grace, and opening up my heart to receive Him and purely Him.  He's clearly molding and forming my heart to want the things He wants, even if my understanding of this is currently so weak.


And God is also opening my heart to receive love and affection from brothers, family, and from God himself.  And He's using Shelley to help move me into that.  


So my prayer now is that I would glean the works of His hand throughout my time in Costa Rica, and that He would give me specific revelation of His hand in every part of my work here in Atenas.  I've passed through another of many crucibles He will put me through, and I want to come out with understanding of His work, and reflect on the results of His work and praise Him.


Speaking of Shelley, she and her mom, Grace, came to visit last week, and God taught us amazing things through our adventures in Costa Rica together.  Praise God.  When we said goodbye in January, we didn't know if we'd even be able to talk to each other, but over these few months, God has begun to bloom a relationship He's been growing and feeding for about three years now, and It's such a beautiful experience.  And it's cool to think back on each season we've gone through in our relationship and talk about all the ways God kept us totally in His will, and anticipate the work God will do in the season to come.  And in Her visit here, God definitely gave us a glimpse into this next season as I return to Austin, as well as gave us an awesome time together here in Costa Rica.  


I don't mention it often, but I still lack about $2500 to pay for my internship, and I really want to highlight the opportunity to invest in this work that I've done with eMi and what God has done here.  I haven't been the best about lovingly asking for funds, or talking to God about it, but I know that God loves providing for those who ask for it.  So I want to really encourage each of you that if God has blessed your heart through His testimony in my life here, or even if He hasn't, please search and see if God wants you to give. 


I bless you all for your prayers and your support.  
Brad 

Jericho Ministries

Hello everyone,


Early June eMi-AL received two new interns, Christine and Carlin, to work on Josh's project in Honduras with Jericho Ministries.  Kevin also jumped on board for the project and went on the project trip, as our project has been completed (except for the report, which I am currently translating into Spanish), and together they filmed a video of their experience with the ministry.  Christine did the fantastic editing, and the video tells a beautiful story of the ministry, and the life that the Holy Spirit is bringing to those they minister to in Honduras.


Recently, God has been growing in my heart a tenderness towards those who have been abused and cast out into the streets either by their own mistakes, human trafficking, or by other factors that brought them there.  Jericho began with restoring the life of Jesus into the lives of women in prostitution and the streets, and has developed into a ministry who rescues and restores children from the streets, or children of people forced onto the streets in prostitution or crime, and it was amazing to see from the video the power of restoration God is bringing into lives so young and so corrupted, and bringing them into such depth of love from and for Him.  I will say no more, as the video will tell you the rest, but I wanted to share it with y'all because God really blessed me through  seeing this.



eMi Jericho Ministries from Christine Parks on Vimeo.



Also, Allison wrote an article for The Association of Christian Design Professionals.  


May God's peace rest upon you all.  
Brad

"Jesus, You're Beautiful"

This blog's title comes from an awesome song by Jon Thurlow from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.

It's about Jesus' heavenly beauty (but also, it's a compilation mix of "Strong Love" and "Your Faithfulness"), but I chose it because lately, I've been able to experience much of Jesus' beauty in his creation here in Costa Rica, so as promised, I'd love to share some of that with you.


I just realized that it's been more than a month since we left for Bocas Del Toro, and I couldn't believe it.  But at 4:30 a.m. we began our trek to Bocas, and 11 hours, 2 bus rides, 2 taxi rides, crossing the border, and a water taxi ride later, we finally arrived in Bocas Town, the main business hub and town of the archipelago.  A number of awesome things in Bocas


1.  Our hostel was over the water, overlooking the vast bay dressed with clouds, storms, sail boats, and water that let you look all the way to the starfish on the floor.
2.  La Mama Loca, the hostel's restaurant served awesome, thick patty burgers, on which I have yet to see in Costa Rica
3.  You take a boat everywhere
4.  The hostel had live music every night - from an African style drum ensemble to open mic night, to a Chilean Jazz duo, and the greatest band in the world "The Cartoon Hamburgers".  It was great.


But the coolest thing to do in Bocas was definitely snorkeling.  On Sunday, we snorkeled near a reef just off some small islands known as "Zapatillas," and it was pretty sweet.  Think "Pirates of the Caribbean" style desert island with nothing but tourists on its shores


By far though, the coolest thing we did was rent kayaks and snorkel gear, and go out exploring our own snorkeling spots, as well as having fun exploring the ocean via kayak.  And it was the cheapest thing we did too, which was sweet.  We were told of this sunken boat that was starting to grow coral so we went out to see it, and it had some coral which was awesome, but we were much more interested in the shallower coral and sea life near the set of mangrove trees closer to home.  We also lost a paddle, which we saw the next day on the water taxi back to the main land.  Oops.


Now to Arenal, and the hike up Cerro Chato, which was gorgeous.  It starts out in kind of high open fields that has an excellent view over La Fortuna, which is the town below the volcano, and about half way up, it turns into this gorgeous and thick jungle for the rest of the way up, and really steep.  When we got to the top, you could see the big volcano, Arenal, but only as it peeked through the clouds.  Which I forgot to mention that most of the day, Arenal was hidden behind the clouds.  So when it peeked its cone out of the clouds it was absolutely gorgeous, especially when the sun was on it as well.  Then we hiked down almost a ladder-like slope it was so steep, and then swam in the wonderfully cold, green waters of the laguna in the volcano.  We swam out to the middle and yelled, and the echo was so awesome.  On our way back down, we heard a beautiful bird that sounded like it should have come from Rivendell, and sang the beauty of heaven along with the gorgeous trees and vegetation surrounding us.  When we came out of the jungle, you could see 400m below over La Fortuna, and look level with the storm of rain beginning to wash over the town like a curtain, and then come right after us.  The thunder was pretty spectacular as well, and it his us about half way down.


Since I gave the teaser, I had a gorgeous ride to work one morning.  So as I walk up the Hill Westward toward my bus stop, the sun is beginning to rise over the volcanoes to the East, and this morning was an especially cloudy morning, with a break in the clouds enough for 20-30 minutes of sunshine, and the morning was misty.  As I get to the bus stop, I recognize a rainbow spanning my entire view of the cloudy canvas behind it.  When the bus came, and we started riding down the Hill to the East, I could look over the valley to the North (my left) and the darkness of the clouds and the golden light of the sun gave the trees this awesome contrast that made them glow brilliantly among the dark and misty morning.  I was so enamored by God's beauty I couldn't take my eyes off it.


Thanks for reading, an update will come soon, and Shelley comes tomorrow for a week of soaking in the beautiful Costa Rican country side, Costa Rican and eMi culture!!!  I'm super excited.


Thanks so much, and keep praying that I would take the most joy in Jesus.
Brad


p.s. As a quick shameless plug, I recommend any music that comes from this place, and they have a prayer room that streams worship music 24/7 from their website ihop.org.  They also have a ton of resources with excellent solid teaching, so I encourage any of you reading to go check them out - it's really good.

Jesus

"What are you looking forward to when God brings about the 'Great and Glorious Day of the LORD'?"


You don't encounter many questions in the context of Biblical study that have one right right answer, but I can't think of any answer we as believers should consider before Jesus himself.  Our heart's first response to this question reveals much about who we are and how we relate with God, and if our first thought is not Jesus we're missing the point.


God cut to my heart with this question last night when Dan asked it in Bible study.  My answer had something to do with the new earth and how beautiful it would be, and how our glorified bodies would be really cool.  Which is not bad - God has granted those and it's good to look forward to those because they're a gift from God.  But I was convicted deeply as God made it so clear in my heart that Jesus' answer is undoubtedly and whole heartedly me.  


God also showed me how a lack of this vision of Jesus as the one who is our eternal prize is like death to us as followers, because He is the only thing that matters.  Nothing else is as glorious, as fulfilling, as powerfully redemptive, nor magnificently valuable as Jesus, the man and living God.  Nothing!  And to forget this glorious Jesus, whom we love is to lose our purpose for even breathing.  Everything God ever did in relation to us was for the purpose of being near us - his beloved creation.  God has glory.  He was never interested in making sure everyone knew He was the most glorious, as if He was insecure about His glory.  No.  Acts 17 states that God is the one who made the Earth and everything in it, and nothing we can give him even compares, but "God did this so that men would seek him and  perhaps reach out for him and find him."  That's the whole point of why God made us and redeemed us, because He loves us and wants to be near us.  That's why our works are like filthy rags to Him - He wants us.  So it is fitting that to even come close to being able to please Him is to want Him back - to return the love He has for us.  And this is why living our lives for serving Him will leave us sorely disillusioned like Martha was.  We weren't made for the purpose of serving Him - that's an excellent and necessary result of our purpose by the way -  we were made to be loved by Him, and to be near Him.  


And my lack of luster recently is so clear now - I've lost my vision. My passion for Jesus has grown tranquil, and I've been racking my heart and my head over small things, losing sight of the one who will make all things right, and who satisfies all my heart's insecurities.  Many Christians, even myself, dream of serving God, making an impact in the Kingdom, and doing mission work abroad.  But that isn't the dream at all - it's not even close.  God  is teaching me now that He is the dream, and He is the point.  Missions is necessary, and spreading the gospel is our work here on earth, but it isn't our purpose for living.  Intimacy and relationship with God is our purpose, that's why God ever created us in the first place.  So many believers do and do and do so much - good stuff by the way - and at the end of the day, they find that as good as it is, there is so much more that they're missing out on.  What they (and myself) still lack is a fulfillment of our created need for intimacy with God and without the right fulfilling of that need, we're still left longing and un-satisfied.


So my prayer request this week is simple (especially as I've really been thirsty and dry for God's nearness).  Pray that Jesus would be the sole object of my focus for now and forever, and that every good thing that I do flow out as a result, a side effect of my pursuit of Jesus.  Pray that every time I think of eternity, Jesus and His presence will be my first and most cherished thought.  And pray that I think of Him often.  


God Bless and I love you all,
Brad

"And After the Storm"

I still have around $3000 to raise for my internship here, so there's plenty of opportunity to sow finances into this wonderful thing God is doing in my life.  Thanks so much for the support you've already shown.

Listening to this song by Mumford and Sons, is a prerequisite for reading this blog.  It's been a theme for these past few weeks as God has been slowly walking me from a place of trial and error, to a place where He is bringing victory in my heart.  I've been putting off this post for a while cause I've been tired of writing melancholy posts.  What God is doing is awesome in times of trial, and no doubt His light permeates everything, but I've felt like such a downer recently.  But I can also sense that while things may come up regarding my time here in Costa Rica that may want to tear me down, God has given me small victories in approaching trial with confidence in Him that will be such a foundation for following the Spirit in victory and joy in future trials


Much of my life I've trained myself to handle conflict by putting it off - get over it and put it behind you - kind of stuff.  But as of recent, God has been really highlighting this kind of conflict resolution.  He has taught me that God never forgets until He forgives.  This is one way He manifests His perfect justice and His perfect mercy.  Until things are settled, and conflict has been brought to unity, things cannot be forgotten, gotten over, or shoved under the bed and put out of mind.  They have to be approached or else small wounds will be infected, and in my life I have perfected this art of bottling up my hurts.  But praise God He is saying no more.  He has led me, and will continue to lead me to face my emotions and hurts, and grow me in facing those with "grace in my heart" and beautiful resolution.  


Although I have never heard Marcus Mumford openly confess Christ, his father is a leader in the Church of England, and themes of God's grace and beauty are evident in many of His songs.  This is one of those songs which in many ways speaks to God's faithful encouragement, spurring us on toward perseverance through the storm, and to come over the hill into His light, full of beauty and grace.  It also speaks to our expectant hope for God to come and wipe away every tear.  And God is definitely doing that here in Costa Rica.


I wanted to give yall a quick update and teaser on my most recent adventures.  Costa Rica only lets you stay here 90 days on a tourist visa, so to renew our visa, we took a trip to the sparkling clear waters of Bocas del Toro  (mouths of the bull) just on the other side of the Panama border and it was absolutely gorgeous. Then, last Monday, with Kevin's mom Marnette and Esther's friend Ana in town, we all went to see Costa Rica's most famous volcano - Arenal.  Kevin, Allison and Marnette went to a hot springs, while Esther, Ana and I climbed Arenal's shorter but much older brother Cerro Chato.  Chato has been inactive for thousands of years, and has a collapsed crater on top with a lake in it.  So ... I swam in a lake in the middle of a crater of an old volcano in Costa Rica.  It was pretty surreal, as well as was God's beauty.  There's such a variety in God's creation its awesome!


Lastly, I for those of you not on facebook, I have a girlfriend!  She is the beautiful Shelley Dormont.  I've introduced her to you all before, and now I want to share with you the joys that God has brought to each of us through each other, and will continue to do.  But that doesn't happen without absolute devotion and clinging to Him as my satisfaction, so I ask that yall would pray for that.  I hate to be a teaser, but I'll have to tell you more about her in another time, but she has a blog of her photography business, and personally its my favorite blog, no bias intended.  Not only because her photography is gorgeous, but in her photography and words, she reflects God's own beauty in such a radiant way, and you wont be disappointed.  As always, if any of you know anyone looking for a photographer for a wedding, senior portraits, or anything, look her up.  She's an excellent photographer.
Her business is Shelley Elena Photography


Thanks again for reading, and thanks for your patience as this post has been a long time coming.  It's short this time in hopes that I start a habit of shorter, more frequent posts.  I'll follow up with some stories of adventures here pretty soon.  


God is good,
Brad

Hard Times and Survival in CR and Latin America

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in Heaven and on Earth derives its name.  I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."


Two beloved sisters have shared that set of verses with me this past week and as things have gone this week, it's proved more and more true, helpful and prophetic in relation to recent events.  Over the past couple of weeks, I've been wrestling my own heart in relating to my host family with whom I live and interact daily.  I've found that expectations about something that do not come from an expectation to see God move prove futile and wrong, and so were my expectations about Latin America.  Or perhaps not.


To help you understand, moving from one culture to another, there are general atmospheric tendencies that hang over a culture and drive many aspects of the people as a whole, and to some extent that filters down to daily decisions and attitude of the Tico in his or her workplace, marketplace, church, social gathering, or in their home.  Some of that general culture certainly filters down to this microscopic level into how each individual acts and reacts in his or her surroundings.  But there are numbers of different sub-cultural layers such as the community, the neighborhood, the school environment, church or social scene, and even the home that factor into how each person behaves in the context of his or her cultures.  Although I came in with a pretty good idea of Latin American culture, what my expectations didn't consider is how each family and each person can be radically different, and even "counter-cultural" (remember that phrase from when you were a teenager?) almost to the point that the overall, general atmosphere that is the Latin Culture may not even apply in so many situations.  In addition to this, my idea of Latin Culture, although it was a good one of the general population, wasn't complete by any means, which is how things go when entering a cultural group completely new to you.


So, interacting with my host family has been a great trial for me as I am navigating the difference in expectations between a family in rural Evangelical Costa and a young man molded within kind of a 'remnant' of Jesus lovers in a largely post-evangelical American generation.  The social culture, both Christian and social culture, in many ways is a latin version of 1950's rural America.  Small town, everyone knows eachother, everyone goes to the same high school, guys and girls don't really interact in non-romantic settings, interstate highways, supermarkets, technology, pesticides and cheap mass produced food are largely a thing of the future.  And the kids stay in town.  Small detail it may seem, but a gigantic one when it comes to expectations that I have of my host family and those of my host family to me.  The kids being in town, it makes more economical sense to live at home, share rent and resources, and be together with family.  When the children stay in the house until they have a family of their own, the transition a son or daughter makes from receiving responsibility and discipline primarily from the instruction of his or her parents to taking on his or own personal responsibility and discipline is much longer and drawn out than what we experience in the States - mom and dad are always there, and you're in their house, so their authority stays.  In the States, we leave home for college at 18, which they think is strange, and largely undesirable, where you can almost draw a line at a date of when we transition from being under the rule of our parents and when we make our own decisions.  Can you see where "honoring your parents" looks vastly different between me, and MaryFernanda, my fellow 23 year old host sibling?


Even as I'm writing this, it hurts because this has been a growing seed of tension between my host family and I that has begun to recently open up and cause wounds as we start trying to resolve the differences in these expectations.  Even though I gladly honor their house and their house rules, my host family and I must come to an agreement on who has authority over my life, and how far that authority extends into my life as a young American adult.  And how I navigate and deal with my hurts from the situation is a direct reflection of my relationship to God.  Over the past week, I've gone from hurt, to angst, to sheer anger at my host family, disappointment, resentment, bitterness, grumbling, almost the whole range of emotions associated with dispair in a relationship both with my host family and with myself, and God so gently reminded me recently that the reasons I am feeling this way in response to things going on with my host family is because I don't feel taken care of by God.  But he is still, always right there.


I was reminded of how we did accountability in the Prayer Group last fall and that was never to try to get jumbled up into the fuzziness of the conflict, but to orient our hearts before God so that we are finding all our satisfaction, protection, care, fulfillment, provision, and justification from God the Father.  As I'm re-thinking that long list of emotions I mentioned above, those emotions are not mere results of an external conflict between two people - they are symptoms of an internal straying from the provision of the Father, and expecting that provision to come from humans, which will always disappoint, and whom we will always disappoint.  Consider the times when you get so frustrated or angry with someone for things that at other times you're able to handle them with grace, or your un-righteous reaction with clear discernment.  The difference is where your satisfaction derives its source, and how you interact with God.  Each one of my emotional reactions is a direct manifestation of where my relationship with God is right or lacking.  If I am finding my security, provision and love primarily from my host family, it becomes a need and when it is a need I cannot fully delight in their love, nor can I accept it or appreciate it if it isnt' what I am used to or like.  If I depend wholly on God for my security, love, and provision, then that opens my heart up to receive the love of others not out of selfish necessity, but out of unconditional love, and it opens me up to love them rightly.  I am so thankful to God and his training me last fall amongst such loving brothers and sisters who live by God's love so wholly that they love others out of its overflow.  I was surrounded and immersed in that and I bless God for teaching me that last fall, but as of recent, that's been put to the test as conflict comes and wounds get opened, and I let that vision of God as my provider slide away.  Thats when the Father so lovingly breathed that truth back into me yesterday after I had already vented my frustrations.  And I can tell you that it's been a supernatural turnaround from such the bitter string of emotions I described earlier to peace knowing that God amazingly despite my shortcomings is pleased with me, and will hear my case and make things right.  And that's all the peace I need when I face conflicts with my brothers and sisters in this house.


I know it's been a whole month and it seems like things are going terrible, but I guarantee that although my struggles recently have taken front attention to my joys, they are things that God wants to deal wih and heal my heart on.  And I promise He is working, and I can so confidently say that now that He has turned my bitterness into joy over these conflicts.  Not that they're no longer hard, but I know now with so much more certainty that God hears me and will defend me against this bitterness and sourness toward those I love.


But tonight, I'm going to see a guy named Jesus Adrian Romero in the National Stadium, which was donated completely by China.  Interesting useless fact there.  I've never knowingly listened to him or his music, but apparantly His stuff gets around to churches and college worship sessions like Chris Tomlin's music gets around American Christianity, so we'll see what all of his I've heard.


I would envy your petitions to God that He would continue in the stuff He's done more recently and that He would continue to grow me in the strength and power of His love and His Spirit.


God bless,
Brad


p.s.  Yep, I've definitely heard this one

Translation, by yours truly from the spanish on mp3 lyrics.org

Although my eyes can't see you

I can feel you, you are here

although my hands can't touch your face Lord,

I know you're here

My heart can feel your presence

You are here, you are here

I can feel your majesty, 

You are here, you are here

I can feel your great love,

You are here, you are here

Although My eyes can't see you

I can feel you, I know you are here

Although my hands can't touch your face,

I know you're here

Mi heart can feel your presence

You are here, you are here

I can feel your majesty

You are here, you are here

My heart can view your beauty

You are here, you are here

I can feel your great love,

You are here, you are here

You are here

Reality of Missions

Hello again readers, beloved brothers and sisters, and supporters,


Much of what God has done here in Costa Rica and Ecuador has been a celebration of His beauty and His faithful love manifest in the people and the events that have happened so far.  So when a couple of weeks passed in which I haven't been so encouraged by great spiritual revelations, or grand adventures that God has blessed, I get nervous to share what's really going on in my heart on a platform that is supposed to be a reflection of Him.  I have doubts, shortcomings, and aches that hinder me many times, and it seems kind of out of place.  I'm supposed to be winning people to Jesus, building relationships, and being just like Jesus right?  Well, the purpose of this blog is to lead to that through providing a platform to communicate my needs of prayer and grace to accomplish everything Jesus wants to accomplish in and through me.  And my part is transparency, so I wish to share with you some of my heart struggles this past week, and leading up to now.


Monday and Tuesday mornings during prayer time, when the staff and interns get together to pray for  one another and praise God, God really highlighted for me a taste of the struggles mission work brings.  You live your life reveling in the sweetness of God, read books that inspire you to be an insanely radical follower of Jesus the Messiah and want to follow Him to the far reaches of the world so that people would know Him like you do.  Then you arrive and everything is new, exciting, and the people you meet are excited to see you, and you're in a beautiful country where you're surrounded by the presence of Yahweh's original work, and you can easily forget your purpose for being here.


Sure my expressed and primary purpose for being here specifically is to contribute to designs that will be utilized for spreading the name of Jesus.  But my expressed and primary purpose for living is bringing change, spiritual change to the atmosphere of every county, city and building I enter.  Let me make a note and a request for prayer that I am a weak evangelizer.  That weakness is rooted deeply within who I am, and is mainly in the area of initiating gospel conversation, so I ask that each one of you will pray for me to overcome fears and initiate the gospel with the people, and God will follow through faithfully.  That does not however, diminish my growing (and fresh) desire to see people changed for Jesus in this city, and the atmosphere shifted and radically changed here in Atenas.  This is why it is both refreshing and heartbreaking to have settled down enough to be reminded of my mission here through being confronted with the reality of abuse in Costa Rica.


Through the conversation Monday, God struck me with a strength of burden for the abused women and children here in Costa Rica and it, along with other things has really been a place of bitterness of my heart over this issue, and God has definitely been walking me along through it with grace.  It's not that this has struck close to home here in Costa Rica, but rather the injustice of abuse, and how God hates it, He has highlighted that in my heart over this past week through being made aware of it, and I want to do something about it.


And this doesn't just happen in Costa Rica but all over the world, wherever this earth still belongs to the evil one but God is really digging deep into my heart to instill a burden for this situation here.


But one begins to ask so many questions.  How does this happen?  Why, God?  How has Satan gotten a hold of so many men to entice them to beat, abuse and molest their children and wives.  I don't know if I want to scream or cry, and I do neither because this depth of feeling is new for me and it's hard for me to do either.  It's a blessing God has opened up in me recently to feel deeply and have both profound concern and deep joy.  But as I ask these cultural questions of why and how does Satan stir up this abuse, and what cultural things does he use to do so, my mind is not always obedient, nor am I by my own self capable at discerning what is going on apart from abiding in Jesus, and communing with the Holy Spirit.  And so as I'm trying to wrap my head around this issue that is rooted so differently in each culture, and to try and discern how this issue is rooted in the culture here, it is hard sometimes, in the zeal for righteousness, to discern what is true assessment about the situation, and what is false and premature conclusions.  And my posture of heart, the grace with which I see Costa Rican culture, for both the good and bad, and the necessity for me to have a right and Godly view on this takes on a new level of gravity when I see my own church and host family within that culture.  This is where it really hits home, and where there's a great potential both for graceful change, and for drastic bitterness and divisiveness to develop between me and the church community I'm in.  I have full hope and assurance that with my obedience, God will bring the former, and direct me away from the latter.


But I don't want to stop.  I don't want to forfeit having a true revelation and Godly instruction about the issue of abuse as it relates in this culture, nor forfeit bringing a better vision of Jesus to the church here in Atenas for sake of being too careful against offense, judgmentalism, or a sense of self-righteousness.  I detest all of those things, but I'm also beginning to detest equally the fear of sinning in these ways, and I know that God is faithful.  He will guide me and lead me in the ways of righteousness and the fruit of the Spirit along the way.  But above all else, I don't want this burden to pass, nor do I want it to just sit and develop bitterness.  I want to do something about it because Jesus wants it to change, and he has shared that desire with me.


At the end of prayer time yesterday, after me sharing some of this with the office, there was a present reality of the not-so-glamorous side of foreign missions.  It is hard, not only to share the message of conviction with people, not only to relate with people whose values and Christian worldview are distinctly different with yours, but also to keep an adequate reign on your heart, to keep it from turning sour, embittered, and escaping from the conflicts that arise when Jesus enters a culture.  And I'm not even in the thick of dealing with these missionary struggles -  this is only the beginning.  I'm reading Peace Child an autobiography on Don and Carol Richardson's mission to cannabilistic head-hunter societies in New Guinea, and comparatively, God's presence is strong here in Costa Rica.  But it's not at its full strength, and I want to hasten the increase of God's presence and the ousting of evil here in this culture so that the people here may be more fully engulfed in the love of Jesus.  And it is this burden which has brushed upon me recently, and a burden I want God to develop in me to lead to fruitful action against the evils of abuse, and to draw the church here more closely to Jesus.  Pray that God would increase this in me, and lead me to participate in His movement here, and to be an effective contributor to the progress He is making here in Atenas.


Anywhere you see a 'want,' that is a prayer request, and I hope you find this helpful in following the Spirit's lead to pray for me.  I love you all, and I look forward to sharing with you the tasty fruit God will bring to this.


Thank you so much for your prayers.  Take a look at Kevin's blog.  He posted some info on our latest adventure.  Aparrantly there's a 200 footer somewhere north of here.
http://awinnersjourney.blogspot.com/2012/04/waterfall.html


May God fill you with His presence,
Brad

Welcome to Daily Living Blogs

Hello beloved


Thank you so much for reading.  I can hardly express the support and love I feel when you show me by affirmation how faithfully you follow my blog, ask for updates, or even 'confess stalking.'  I am encouraged by God every time I see even a comment, a like on Facebook, or even a request for an update.  God affirms me through every small thing you say, so I bless Him and thank Him for you, and the time and interest you give, cause it is a direct show of His love, and His love is sweet. 


As per request, I have buckled down now and consciously made myself sit down and blog.  That may sound strange but I promise, as I've just expressed, I love sharing my time here in Costa Rica and I love sharing God's good news in my life with loving friends and family.  But you see lately, I've been lacking the big-travel items to discuss about.  I've been traveling so much lately that a couple weeks of ordinary has settled down and I've been kind of at a loss about what to write.  But anyway, even now, I have no idea where this blog post is going to go, but I trust in the Holy Spirit and His wisdom which so powerfully guides all who will be led by Him.  


But all that to say, welcome to daily life here in Atenas.  Manuel Antonio, Ecuador, getting to Costa Rica, and Jacó are all great, but I am reminded by the lesson God taught me at Manuel Antonio that traveling and big event things are not what truly satisfies and therefore in themselves are not the substance of an awesome blog or a life well lived.  And that applies directly to missions and overseas work for God.  And I bless God for giving me some consistency and regularity here in Atenas.  In the past couple of weeks, since I have been home more, I've realized I have a host family, and my interest in my host sisters' and my host parents lives has grown through the monotony, and their interest and care for me as well.  We've made excellent progress on our project.  I've almost filled a whole sheet with details, and am filling more space every day, and the project folder is starting to really come together.  My relationships with the interns and office staff have had time to develop really well in our regular environments, and not in a 'camp' or 'missionary travel' environment.  We're more becoming more comfortable with eachother and no longer on our 'best behavior' like people are during travel or short term times.  We're discovering our complements and our conflicts, which can sometimes be rough, but so necessary in growing in intimacy and bringing breakthrough in how we'll start to encourage and admonish each other.  


And I'm so thankful for it all, especially cause we're finding that God is so loving and so passionately pursues us that he wants to be involved in our daily lives.  He wants to know our every thought, He wants to be involved in our every decision, and He wants to show us how He can make our lives a steady stream of regular awesomeness.  And when God gets involved, especially in our daily lives, He shows so powerfully and lovingly that He is not mundane, or normal, or ordinary.  He shows us how extraordinary he is in our regular lives, and how each day is a new adventure to see what He is going to do in our lives.  God is so extraordinary that none of us have to live ordinarily, even amidst the regularness of your daily activities.


So I thank God so much for giving me a regularity here in Costa Rica, within which He has time to develop some really awesome and purposeful things.  In addition to this, God is speaking directly to life off the foreign mission field, and right in our own neighborhoods.  I am learning more and more the reality of our mission field being right where we are, that we need not go, but as we go, to make disciples, and I want to encourage yall in that.  Your life in the states is no less meaningful or has no less potential than my overseas-ness here in Costa Rica because it is our powerful God who ignites fires everywhere.  In fact, potential to see Gods greatness has nothing to do with location, or location in relation to your home, but everything to do with how big your view of God is, and what you expect God to be capable and willing to do.  I've found that those who expect the most from God, in a way that is loving and trusts in His faithfulness, see the most from God and I pray that over all of you.  


Thank you so much for reading, God really blessed me in writing that (it was new to me too as I was writing it as God spoke it to me).


I'm sure you remember my post about Playa Jacó  (Playa is spanish for beach), but the interns and I finally got to return with surfboards and it was so much fun, and so much good enjoyment of God´s power and beauty manifest in the beauty and the power of the waves.  I enjoyed it so much that I got pulled out by a small current, way beyond where the big waves were crashing.  When I finally was able to start paddling inward, using the waves to boost my momentum, I realized that I was going to catch a huge wave, and sure enough I did.  I actually rode it and didnt crash!!  I got up to one knee and a foot, but next time I go, I really wanna get a full standing ride on a big wave.  Enjoy the pictures and


May God show you his miraculous works in your daily lives,
Brad


p.s. I stole these from Kevins camera, so I hope he doesnt mind.  Thanks to Allison for taking them all.

I still can hardly believe I got to play in all that.  


God Bless,
Brad

Manuel Antonio and the Vespers

God's Blessings on all of you this morning,


We went to a national park last weekend called Manuel Antonio National Park.  Is anyone aware of any national parks in the US named after a person?  I know Davy Crockett is a national forest, but I had never heard of a national park named after a person.  But whoever Manuel Antonio was, his park is gorgeous and the wildlife was a blast.  The animals there are so used to humans they'll walk right up to you, and I even fed a monkey by hand.  

But along with all the animals come tourists taking pictures.  Okay I admit, I wasn't much different, but I tried to stay out of obviously touristy situations like this one

But onto what God did during the weekend and kind of the week before.  We planned the Manuel Antonio trip expecting Allsion's boyfriend Amos and Kevin's mom to be joining us, but Kevin's brother had to have major surgery in the US.  It went miraculously, but that left us without two of our companions, and when Allison fell sick when we got to the Hotel, we were all really discouraged.  Amos, Esther and I spent a half day at the beach on Friday and that's all, but what God revealed to me was great.  


Working overseas is awesome, and to see God's beauty in another place, with new faces, new wildlife and landscape where you work to better the lives of men is wonderful.  But even in missions, it's easy to get the travel bug and that's exactly what hit us.  As I was walking on the beach, I was struck by how purposeless this trip seemed to me.  We were on a beach in Costa Rica, and didn't even care to stick around for the sun to set cause we had put in our hopes in something so fleeting.  It was really convicting actually.  In the midst of a short getaway, I wanted to be back in the office doing something productive, and here I was at the beach not to retreat with God but to 'vacation.'  And I tell you, you'll go from one mission to the next, one 'vacation with a purpose' and never be fulfilled if you are not already filled by God's Spirit and His presence.  When you go vacation, and do your mission trips, wait till God has something very special waiting for you when you get there.  I certainly have found that in working with eMi, and thank the Lord that he works to cleanse me still from the sight-seeing-do-everything-possible chasing after the wind.  


But things picked up.  Saturday Allison jumped out of bed ready to go, and this is what we saw.  We saw a bundle of monkeys jumping the trees and trying to snag a snack from an unaware tourist.  I gotta admit, as slick as they are, they can't seem to get away from the cameras, which 
really puts them at a 


disadvantage. This guy came down twice from his tree to see if he could snag my granola from my bag.  He was pretty ambitious, given the fact that I was standing within easy reach of it myself.  We had a couple of swipe wars, and 

afterward he ran away.  He gave me an awesome picture though, and he took it really well, so he should be proud.  We first ran into the perezosos though, which is both the spanish for lazy and sloth.  But it's even more fitting because perezoso ends in oso, which is bear, and the sloth is kind of like a lazy bear.

While Amos and Allison rested on the beach, Esther and I took off on a trail called "El Mirador," which literally means "The Looker," but in Manuel Antonio, it means the lookout trail, and this is why

This was a short, 10 meter offshoot before the crowded official lookout.  We saw the main lookout and came back here cause it was a lot quieter and much more peaceful.

 There was a troop of these guys about 5 strong, and they all came out of the woodwork when I pulled out my croissant sandwich, which they all wanted.  I had to deny them though cause I was hungry and it's not good to feed animals baked goods.  This guy was grandaddy, about a half a meter long.

 I had to stake these crabs out cause they'll go back into their holes if you get anywhere near them, or if you flinch.  I sat very still for about 5 minutes about 4 feet away to get these guys on camera

 Hermit crabs are always fun

 I thought these rock formations were really cool

 And the sunset finished the day.  I told Esther how sunsets are all the same, but you still can't stop looking at them because they're such a display of God's awesome glory.  And the clouds dress them so differently every time as well.

To make things even better, there was this awesome sailboat anchored in the perfect spot for the sunset. 

A couple of things more then I'll say goodbye till next time.  An awesome new bluegrass/folk group called the Vespers is about to release their second album on April 3rd and it's called "The Fourth Wall."  They're new so they're definitely influenced by and sound like a mix of the Avett Brothers and Mumford and sons, but with female vocals, and a ukelele sound to it.  They're super good and they also love Jesus.  I've seen a couple of their shows and have even gotten to talk to them some, but they're for real.  They told a bar audience that Jesus and spreading the gospel is the reason they play.  It was pretty cool, so if you like bluegrass, you should definitely check them out and buy their current and up-coming album.  Here's a bit more about their story. 

Keep an eye on my fundraising section.  I may have mentioned this before, but I still have $3000 to raise.

Blessings,

Brad