Our First Month in San Jose, Costa Rica from the Last Month in Ocala, Florida
We are very thankful for what God has done during the last few weeks and through this journey. After completing Orientation in Virginia, we went to Florida to finalize all pending items before we headed to Costa Rica on the 22nd of July. We give praise to God for the following during that timeframe:
Friends and Family that helped us finalize all the packing needed for Costa Rica, and setting up the crate for Guatemala. The crate ended up being 200 cubic feet at the end of the process. Pretty good after downsizing an entire home.
My sister and brother in law will be taking care of our home in Ocala. It is interesting because they have gotten goats to help them take care of the acreage’s mowing. We hear all kinds of interesting stories. Our family laughs because they are learning to be farmers.
As far as the business, God did not sell it, but God provided a management team from our church. It was amazing. Back in March our Pastor’s wife Alice and I (Noemi) started to pray for a couple in our church that looked like good candidates for the job. However, we did not approach them because I thought that God might have been leading them a different direction. Also, God kept bringing a friend of mine that works part-time for an accounting firm to my mind. So, before Orientation, the bookkeeper was in place, but the management team was not totally in place, just a temporary arrangement was in place. We were seeking God on this knowing that He would sometime reveal His will. So, when we came back our friend Tom who was helping us with the management of the business recommended them to Jeff. We approached them and they said yes. They all got trained and God did sell a home while in the training so they would be able to see that process and do it themselves. We bought our sister’s home and that became the home of the management couple. Another interesting aspect is that the my friend Lisa and Stacey were mothers who got together once a week or so the prior year to do American Girls with their daughters. So, they have a good working relationship. Mark, Stacey’s husband led a prayer walk through the property last Saturday, and this week they sold their first home in the property, which they informed me that went smoothly. Only God can do things like these specially in today’s economy. Please continue to pray for their future and all that God may have in store for them.
Another blessing that we received while in Ocala was the joy of seeing our Emeritus Pastor who has been ill with cancer and our other co-missionary Mike Damron as a speaker in our church along with our retired Pastor Ronnie and his wife Alice (they retired while we were at Orientation) on one of the Sundays we were there. It was a big reunion before Mike left for Chile, we left for Language School in Costa Rica and our retired Pastor went to church plant in Lake Yale.
A desire of mine was that I would be able to see Alice and Pastor Ronnie again before we left, our time was crazy and we did not know if we would see them again. I (Noemi) wanted them to know that the prayers from back in March had been answered with the provision of the Moores as the On-sight Managers for the business. Well, one day when we were training, they decided to stop by and the whole gang was there. It was such a joy for me to see Mrs. Alice see the product of fervent prayer, which she had been praying on a daily basis for this matter. Talk about Joy!!!
God gave us time with both of our parents in Ocala. Jeff’s parents surprised us by coming down from NY and we got to spend time with my parents in their home. They were surely blessed times. To see the peace that passes all understanding in your parents when you are going away as the called is one of the most rewarding experiences a missionary family or any family could experience. They are truly excited for us and are our prayer partners indeed.
We are thankful for our friend Ji who kept our children with her children a lot of the times and they really had that special time to bond before leaving the state. Haley and David are a sister and a brother to our children. So, as Kaila and Josiah would say, “we got to spend time with our second parents and siblings”. Ji hosted a Bible Study at her home during the time we were there. Kaila had a goal after FPO to do a Bible Study with her friends in Belleview using SPECKA and it was a really neat time. Ji has continued this Bible Study on Matthew with the rest of the teens at her home and they are doing great.
Our friends, the Gahrs, took us to the airport and there we came in contact with a luggage attendant that helped us to get our 12 pieces of luggage through. He helped us weigh every piece of luggage and gave us the time to shift things around for the ones that were a little bit off. When he saw the Student Leadership University Books and the Master Life Discipleship books, and how were trying to decide what to leave behind, he said: “Oh, no, you are not leaving any of what I have seen so far behind. Let me see what I can do.” So, we shifted things around and it all worked out. Then, he went to get our luggage tags and when he came back he told him that he spoke to his manager and his manager waived two of the bags charges for $150.00. It was incredible. Our trip was very good, we arrived early and customs was like a breeze.
We were blessed to have a Big Brother and Big Sister here in Costa Rica, which is the system that the local leadership has established to receive new students and get them acclamated to their home, show them where the grocery stores are, banks, bus routes, and many more aspects of getting settled. It was neat because our Big Brother and Sister are Korean and our kids felt right at home with them.
So, you may be asking: “What is life in Costa Rica like?”
Well, let’s just say that we have been shopping for groceries in the time we have been here at 6 different locations. We went to Pricemart (like a Sam’s Club) for the month supplies. Then, we went to Hipermas (like a Walmart) for smaller scale items, then, we went to the Saturday or Sunday early markets for veggies and fruit, then, we went to Pali Pali which is the store for the poor (local looking supermarket), then, we go to Jumbo for our staples when we run out, because it is the closest in walking distance. Oh, I have not been to the meat market, but that is next in my list, since I may not get to Pricesmart very regularly.
And how do we do this?
We walk, or we take a bus and we walk back home or take a taxi if we have lots of groceries. A bus fare can range from 50 cents to $1.00 depending on how many buses you take one way. A taxi can cost about $4.00 one way. And walking of course is free.
We just completed the Bare Foot Program which lasted three weeks. A teacher came and spoke solely in Spanish about different subjects everyday and gave us “tareas” to complete to discuss the following day in class. We had some good laughs in class. For example, Jeff wanted to say that he had been married to his wife for 18 years and ended up saying that we was tired of being married to his wife for 18 years, just by adding an n to a word in his pronunciation. We about rolled over.
We have made some wonderful contacts during those weeks because for class you had to go and ask questions from people in the community.
We would like you to pray for the following contacts and our follow up with them.
1. Jose: He is a man that came to put some curtains on. His wife is Cinia and she suffers from depression. Their children are Estevan and Carolina. He lives here in town for work during the week while she lives in the country. She comes to town every so often for appointments related to her illness. I am praying for her healing.
2. Alejandro: He is the electrician that came to fix two of the stove burners. One of his daughters is getting married in December. He likes to fish and he talked to one of his friends about the possibility for us to go fishing with him in the Golfito in the future. So, we will see how that transpires.
3. Sandra: She is a lady that cleans homes and helped us get our home cleaned when we got here. Pray for Sandra, she is in need of work desperately. She informed us that there is not a Baptist Church in her town. The town is San Miguel. She would be willing to host a Bible Study in her home. She is from Nicaragua.
4. Thyron Scott: He is a Cable technician. He is from Nicaragua. He is backsliden. His wife is Melissa and they have a daughter that is 15 months old. Our leadership gave us a list of churches and their addresses and in talking we found out that there is a Baptist Church in San Cristobal which is 600 meters south of his home in San Sebastian. He is from Barrio Cuba Cristo Rey. Pray that he will get back to being active in the body.
5. Dona Daisy: She is a Nicaraguan lady that lives around the corner from us. She is open to a Bible Study but her work hours are crazy. She delivers the local newspaper and collects the money for it during the day at different times of the day.
6. Don Francisco: He is the guard on the next street from us and he is from Nicaragua. He is open to a Bible Study with Jeff at 3:00 p.m.
7. Kimberly: I met her at Jumbo. She is a single mother with three children. She is from Alajuelitas. She is bitter against men because men here in Costa Rica are not responsible and do not commit to relationships according to her experience. She is open for a Bible Study.
8. Karen: She is married and has one son. Also, from Alajuelitas.
9. Wendy: She is a single mother and she goes to “Pasion por las Almas” church in Alajuelitas. Kimberly, Karen and Wendy are friends and work at Jumbo. They are young adults.
10. Alex: He is a young man that we met at the bus on the way back from Aserri in one of our family adventures to find a Chicharrones Restaurant up in the mountains of Aserri. Alex studied in the states in Boca Raton and knew very good English. He plays in a band on Monday nights at 8 p.m. at the park in Aserri. He studied percussion. He helped us get to our bus stop in Desamparados.
11. Helen: She is a young woman who we met at the bus on the way to an assignment to the San Pedro Mall. She is a Christian and helped us get to a specific store in the mall since she worked at one of the stores of the mall.
12. Carlos: He was a young man that Jeff met at the bus on the way to San Pedro Mall. It was neat because Carlos was trying to practice his English and Jeff was trying to learn Spanish from him. Carlos is being discipled by a man in the Church of the East, a Baptist work. So, we mentioned it to our Leaders, The Grumbles and they informed us that this is their church. So, this past Sunday we went there and met Carlos again.
13. Freddy: He is a middle age man that Shawn, an IMB colleague, and I met at the Copa Park after one of our classes. Freddy is an architect that is troubled and trying to find meaning in life. We witnessed to him and hoped to meet him again the next day, but he did not show up. He is planning on moving to Nelly in a month or so due to lack of work here in San Jose and more work opportunities near the Panama border. Pray for his salvation.
14. Carlos: A Nicaraguan young man that we met on the bus stop as Tammy, Shawn, Corey, Kaila and I were going to a Theater production that our teacher had invited us to attend. I got to share the gospel with Carlos and gave him the Cristo Vive track by Billy Graham and told him that we would go to church in his area (Sabanilla) within 15 days from this Sunday and would want to meet him then. He was very receptive. So, we hope to meet him on the 29th.
15. Johny: On the same trip on the way back we met this young man who works at one of the call centers here in Costa Rica. He goes to a Pentecostal church here in town. It was a good visit. We made sure that we let him know that his salvation in Christ was secured by God and not by the display of gifts. He was encouraged in knowing and being reminded that nothing can separate him from the love of Christ. He lives close to our neighborhood.
The next set of teens we met on our hike with Tony Llorens, another colleague, this past Saturday, to the Three Crosses. The hike was strenuous but good. When we finally arrived at the third cross, two teenagers arrived and one of them proceeded to climb the third cross. While he was doing that Tony and I proceeded to witness to the one at the bottom. Then, the rest of the group arrived and we all sat down and they sat down and Tony recommended that he would sing a song and we would witness to the whole group. It was an incredible experience. We felt like when Jesus would go to the top of the mountains and address some of the crowds. The majority of the group made profession of faith, but we will be following that up this coming Saturday. One of the teens offered his home for the Bible Study and they want to study the book of John. This group is from Alajuelitas. There is a Baptist work there. So we are meeting with this group this coming Saturday at 5:00 p.m. The interesting part is that our Mentors The Alexanders had shared with us about witnessing and giving us two tools to use in our witness in the following weeks. One of the tools was the track “Puente hacia la Vida” which is a great visual track that kept them interested. They all got one.
The names of this group are: Eduardo, the climber; Pedro Pablo, the boy visiting from Bridgeport, CT and the one we witnessed to while Eduardo climbed; Esterlin, did not make it public if he accepted Christ; Ana Catalina, Diana Isabel, Andrea, David and another David. We will be meeting 500 meters after the “Salon La Cima in the Street Chinchilla, in the town El Llano at David’s house which is next to a church. We will see how we do at arriving there after a couple of buses trip.
After that, we parted and went on the back of the mountain to have lunch. Talk about a different kind of lunch experience! While we were eating lunch, a group of young lads led by an older boy that knew English approached us. One had his knife out and two others had cell phones. If they were real. We have learned that some kids in order to appear cool, have fake cell phones. The one that spoke zeroed on Tony and Tony was talking with him exclusively. In the meantime, I started to witness to the others. Not knowing the situation and their intentions, I thought that addressing them with the Word of God would be our best offense. They were very distracted and we, the whole group sensed such demonic activity. It reminded us ofthe passage in Luke 23: 26 - 43 when Jesus addressed the demon possessed and how the demons found a home else where. So, our team began to pray while Bobby Paul and I team tagged and witnessed to them. Bobby Paul made sure to stress the fact that they must bear good fruit as a result of their salvation. At the end when we asked if they wanted to receive Christ, one of them said we would like to, but how can we, can you show us. So, they repeated after me. They were from Alajuelita too and they allowed us to take their picture, except the English speaking one. They do want to study the book of John also and we are meeting them on Saturday in front of the church at the park at 3:00 p.m. Please pray for this. Their names are: Gabriel Borbon, English Speaker, Elvin Morales, Edison Josue Suarez, Alexander Quesada, and Jerry Michael Torres.
Pray for these students, pray that they may reflect on what took place on Saturday and for the seed not to be stolen or fallen by the way side. Pray that they may bear fruit and that we are effective in discipling them. Three of the young lads did not have Bibles and one of our missionary couples named Steve and Kathy Dewbre (formerly from South Africa and great friends of Allan Duncan’s family) that was leaving to Chile today gave me three Bibles yesterday that he could not take to Chile. Guess where they are going?
Well, friends this is it for now. We will be going for a couple of days to the coast to rest and minister as opportunity comes and should be coming back to town on Friday. Pray for time alone with God alone in this time away. We are going with another missionary family, The LLorens.
Blessings and Love,
Jeff, Noemi, Kaila and Josiah Macumber
Instituto de Lengua Espanola
Apartado 100-2350
San Jose, Costa Rica
Email: MacumbersonMission@gmail.com
Blog: macumbersonmission.blogspot.com
USA Phone Number: 352-553-1316
