Ecuador, Light, and "The Start of Something New"

Hello again, everyone.


Right now, Kevin, Dan and I are in the throes of being so prepared for leaving for Ecuador we've worked ourselves out out of work.  But I'm finding ways to spend our time, like writing long notes on women speaking in the church, praying in Jesus' name, and sneaking in some renegade skype chat time.  We're not supposed to do video or IM chat during office hours to save bandwidth and keep focused but Dan, Kevin and I are the only office staff in Atenas, and much of the time, Dan is out of the office.  That, and the fact that we're ready - I laxed a bit on that rule towards the end of this week.  But we're going to Ecuador on Saturday.  Our flight leaves at 10:20 am tomorrow and deeply excited and ready for this.  I don't know a whole lot on the trip, and most of what I do know is a lot of technical stuff, but here's a quick project overview as well as some prayer requests.  And Kevin did an excellent job making it into a cool graphic design much prettier than words on a screen.

Secondly, meet Matthew Brue, a graduate of the Oakridge Discipleship House out in Florence, Texas and he's an awesome man of God.  He just released an album two days ago, I've bought it and am listening to it as we speak.  It's really good, you can get it on I-tunes.  Here's  a little bit about him - God be praised.

Lastly, a close and dear friend of mine, Shelley Dormont, who did family portraits to fund raise for me just wrote a new post and it's really good so I wanted to share it with you all.  It's called "Beauty in Black and White" and if you want to see it in person, and you're in Georgetown, it's in Cianfrani Coffee Company downtown.  National Geographic should be jealous to have some of these.


Anyway, thanks again to all who are listening, giving, and praying, and may God rain down blessings on you all.


p.s. I'll start posting support updates as I receive them.  As far as I know, I receive updates when they change - when someone has donated.  You'll find them in the "Support" page, for information on my funds, and on how to give if the Holy Spirit nudges you to give. Thanks and blessings.  

PICTURES! Finally

This is from the bus stop near my house where my morning commute starts

Here's the view on the way into town

That's Allison and Kevin, on the way to San Jose.  30 miles = 1.25 hours on bus

And Esther on the right.

These next few are on the road down into town (~3 miles).  I walked it a couple of days for Language School.

"We receive harvesters," roughly

At the weekly 'feria' or farmers market with our Spanish professors, Adolfo and Maria

At the Spanish school after spending $16 on pounds of fruit and some tamarindo.  All the classes were outside underneath the 'ranchos' and in the wonderful CR breeze.

Being driven up the hill for ziplining, "5 Costa Rican minutes" long

On the way back from Jaco.  The river valleys here are so deep.  Some it's really hard to see the bottom of when you drive over.

Last tour; the coffee factory.  We got to see where they make the delicious coffee they grow here

I'm glad you enjoyed, God Bless

I'm Back

Both online and in health.


But much has happened since I wrote last, and I'll try to recap it well in a manner which allows you to "look at what you hear." (10 points to the person who can tell me where that quote came from.  Hint: Trey Frye only gets one point, as does Shelley Dormont and Stephen Hollabaugh, but you can ask any of them).


But I'm settling in well, and as to get to my freshest memories first, I'll walk you all back in time over the past few weeks, starting the past couple of days.  On Sunday I came home sick as a dog, with many common symptoms of heat exhaustion - I was hot, had the shivers, and had a headache.  The church had an outdoor service at a campground and training center at which lunch time and afternoon activities such as football (soccer) and swimming proceeded.  But since I had only played mostly keeper, and I do hail from Texas, I was befuddled at why I would have heat exhaustion.  After slightly recovering Monday, plunging again Tuesday afternoon, and not recovered by Wednesday morning, it was time for a doctor visit in Atenas - it was now evident I had something way worse than heat exhaustion.  The doctor here was pretty similar to a doctor visit in the States, taking vitals, temp (although with three devices I guess to get a good average, my temp - 39C).  Then I was sent to the local lab to get some tests run and the results - an infection.  Sounds bad, but it's way better than a Dangay diagnosis, which was good, and now, after about 30 hours on antibiotics, I am feeling great, eating again, and am almost ready to play in Jaco again.


Which takes me to Saturday, a day filled with much fun.  I gotta say that I have so much fun simply driving in this beautiful place.  It's sooo green and bright, and mountainous.  And to see how the clouds obscure pieces of the mountains and leave the sun to highlight the next part is glorious.  All that to say that the hour and a half drive to Jaco would have been worth the ride itself, but gladly for myself and the other interns, that awesome drive came with a canopy tour and waves taller than most of you reading this.  I only lament not having adequate time to value renting a surfboard to learn to surf, but I didn't sweat the small stuff cause I did the best body surfing I've ever done.  It's something else to be swimming atop a swirling curl of water six feet above the surface, and I got pounded pretty hard by numerous waves.  I don't know how, but at one point, I even found myself falling down into the foam from behind, kind of like riding a really short but really powerful all natural water slide.  Which is probably the thing that kept me treading water for hours on end - is that I was amidst such huge power and energy of the waves tossing me about with great force, but at the same time handled so gently by the water.  Kind of describes God, who is infinitely powerful and we can feel that power in us, and at the same time, He is so gentle, like the water the waves pound you into.  But on back in time to Saturday morning for the canopy tour.  13 unique ziplines took us in style from the top to the bottom of the hill with great birds eye views of the canopy and even of a world upside down.  Very interesting to see a mountain go by upside down.


The week before was the first week of Language School (I skipped over the second week, shadowed by my being sick), and it went great.  My professor's name is Adolfo, a man from Heredia, a northern region of CR, and our classes consists mainly of discussion on topics such as relationships, God, and culture with short grammar reviews mixed in.  I came in with a pretty good understanding of the language, so the goal for me was to brush up on some things as well as catch some local lingo, and better comprehension and fluidity.  We've had some great conversations and he's a very gentle man.

Please pray for my intimacy and closeness with God.  It's a simple prayer, but closeness with God is huge, and very important.  Also, pray for unity between the other interns and I.  We're getting along hugely well, thanks be to God, but ask Him to continue deepening our relationships with Him and each other.  


God Bless and Amen,
Brad


p.s. I have pictures coming soon.  My connector cable from my camera to my computer has been detained and I shall receive it back shortly to transfer photos.  I have many of them and will probably do a post solely devoted to pictures. Also, here's a cool video that shows about what the surf was like at Jaco.  Farther out the waves were cresting much greater, much like the one this guy caught, but you can't see cause he's surfing.