God's Timing is Perfect

The month of February was a little bit of a struggle for us. One of the main reasons for this struggle was that we had planned to be moved by February 1st and we were wondering why we had to wait one more month before we could get started in the new area that God had called us to. However, God's timing is always perfect so we had to just wait and trust Him. At first we figured that he was given us more time to say "haste Luego" (see you later) to our friends in the San Jose area but then as usual God showed us that He had something bigger planned and HIs plan would involve our friend Darwin.

We meet our friend Darwin about a year ago. He has been living on the streets  of Tibas for many years. During the day he watches  peoples cars as they eat in a local restaurant. He does this in hopes that people will give him some change and then will earn enough to go buy his drugs for the day. After a night of partying, he returns to the restaurant where he will sleep out front on the concrete.

Towards the end of February we ran into Darwin again and he was asking us many questions about God. In all of the time that we had known Darwin we had never heard him ask questions about God. However, this day proved to be different and we spent over 4 hours with him. We talked about God and showed him some things in the Bible. (Thank God for technology as we have the Bible downloaded on our phones in both English and Spanish so it is much easier to carry.) Darwin talked about how he was tired of living on the streets and tired of doing drugs. He asked us if we know of a place that could help him get off of drugs and off of the streets. We were so excited to hear how Darwin had changed and we told him that we knew of a couple of places and would check into them to see if they could help. However, the best part of this time was when we asked Darwin if he wanted to accept Jesus into his life and he said yes, so right there in the grocery store we lead Darwin to the Lord. We would say that this was (vale la pena) worth the wait in our move. 

After we left Darwin that day we went home to make some phone calls and see if we could find a center for Darwin. Most of the centers that we heard about were for only 30 days and this just did not seem like enough time. We then remembered about a man form the states who ran a  Christian rehab center for men and went to check it out. His program was for 8 months and was on a little farm. After praying and talking to him we felt that this would be the right place for Darwin. Not only would he be able to get off of drugs, have a place to live for the nest 8 months, but he would also get daily discipleship. We also found out that he had one bed left and that Darwin could have it if he wanted to. After we talked to Keith (the man who runs the center) we went to find Darwin to tell him that we had found him a place and that we would take him the next morning. Darwin was very happy, excited, and nervous about this opportunity given to him and he said that he was willing to change his life. 

Unfortunately,  Darwin only made it at the center for 3 days. He was just not ready to surrender all of his old ways. When a person comes from living on the streets where there are no rules or boundaries to a place that has structure it can prove to be too much for the person. The freedom that they feel from living on the streets has a big pull on them and they can't seem to break away from that. We are saddened that he chose to go back to a  living on the streets, but we know that we did everything that we could for him and more importantly we did what God was asking us to do. We wondered if God would give us an opportunity to see Darwin again before we moved and asked God to give us that opportunity. Well, God allowed us to see Darwin right before we moved, and  he had so many excuses of why he left and why this center was not good for him. We were able to confront him in LOVE and tell him that when he was ready to change he would change. We were able to tell him that these were excuses and that only he could make the decision to change. We also told him hat we would continue to pray for him. 

Even though we are saddened that he chose to go back to a  living on the streets, we know that we did everything that we could for him. God showed us during this time that this will most likely happen again, but He asked us one very important question and that was "Would you do it all over again?" and the answer is YES we do not regret for one minute the opportunity that we gave Darwin and know that seeds were planted. 

We also had a chance to say "hasta luego" or see you later to our friends that we had made during our time in San Jose. This proved to be harder than we thought as our friends took it like we were moving back to America instead of only 4 hours away. We have asked our friends to come and visit us here but since many of them only travel by bus it will take them even longer to get here. Even though public transportation is very reasonable here it is still a lot to them as they live on very small amounts of money.. John would you please pray for our friends and that God will provide a way for them to come and visit us. 

We Have Moved

On March 1st we said our last Hasta Luegos and moved to Sardinal, Costa Rica. SInce we have arrived we have faced many challenges. First, our apartment was not quite as we remembered it and it didn't have nearly the stuff as our last one did. So we were off to find places to buy some basic necessities. When we got back in the car, we found out that our air conditioner had gone out in the car. (It is about 12-15 degrees hotter here than in San Jose.) All we could say was thank you Papa that we had it on the way here. A few days later John dislocated his shoulder so that meant that his honey do list was on hold. John never realized how much he used his arm until he had to keep it in a sling for 10 days. He now has it out of the sling and is doing better, but he still has pain when he tries to move it a certain way, but every day is a better day. A couple of days after John dislocated his shoulder the car overheated and we were stuck on the side of the road. John keeps water in the car so we put water in the radiator and slowly made it home. We are so thankful to God that we were able to make it home and that the problem wasn't anything worse. As of right now it seems that we have a very slow leak but are not sure where so we will keep an eye on it. We have also found that we really have to watch the prices of things here as they can be quite expensive. One of the biggest things we found was when we went to buy a trash can for the kitchen and they wanted $160. When John had them check the price they said yes that was the right price, though the looks on their faces said that they wouldn't pay that. So we are now looking for all of the places where the locals shop as they are usually much more reasonable. We have found that sometimes struggles are placed in your path to see if you will give up, but for us struggles show us that we are in the right place and that we need to just take them one at a time and take one day at a time.

WIth God ALL things are possible. Matt 19:26.

Lots of love and Blessings,
John & Cindy