James

This year in SI, we are studying the book of James, which is one of my favorites!  Both Jeff and I have had the privilege of leading different days of the study with our short-term teams this summer, and it has been great to see the wheels turning as the Holy Spirit works in each of our hearts.

While there are MANY wonderful themes that James writes about (poverty and wealth, faith and deeds, taming the tongue, trials, etc.), one that keeps popping out to me is WISDOM.  In James 1 it says that God gives wisdom "generously to all without finding fault."  In the New Living it says to ask for wisdom "expecting an answer," and I love that because I seem to need a lot of wisdom.  I need wisdom in parenting, in marriage, in friendships, in cross-cultural interactions, in teaching, etc. etc.

As I've reflected on wisdom, a couple of questions have come to my mind.  One is: What IS wisdom?  How do I recognize wisdom?  And the other is: Why does God love to give wisdom so much?  I can't say that I have discovered all the answers to these questions, but I have found a few.

First of all, I was delighted to discover in James 3:17 a list of wisdom's characteristics.  "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."  Naturally, I had to ask myself, "How often do I evaluate my moment-by-moment decisions based on these things. . .?"  Not.often.enough.  The opposite of these things are impure, conflictive, inconsiderate, rebellious/non-yielding, judging, bad fruit, showing favoritism (prejudice, unfair), insincere.  These are the "world's wisdom," and I can recognize these things in the motivations of many decisions I've made.  But, I am inspired to use the positive characteristics as a filter for future decisions.

The other question that occurred to me about why God likes to give out wisdom doesn't have a specific verse attached to it, but more something that he's been showing me over time:  He wants me to be dependent on him.  Correction: I AM dependent on him and it's silly to ever think I'm not.  The Bible talks about God opposing the proud, but lifting the humble.  When I think I don't need wisdom because I already know everything, I am being prideful. . . and foolish.  When I admit that I have a need for wisdom (or anything else!), I am telling the truth about the way things are; I am not self-sufficient, I have not arrived, and I need God in my life.  He loves that!  

In our bible studies with the groups, we reflected on the fact that we come from a culture of independence and self-sufficiency and how contrary those things are to our dependence on God.  In fact, if we believe our culture's message about those things, it could make it difficult to ever realize that we need God for anything.  My tendency is to look out for, and depend on "Number 1."  But, I have seen men, women and children with nowhere to turn except God because of their desperate circumstances, and have recognized in them a richness of faith that I may never know.  While I am praying that my child will please eat her fruits and veggies, another mom I know is praying that her child will have the option to eat at all today.  Rather sobering.

So, Lord, give me WISDOM from heaven, please!  Show me how to live, how to depend on you, how to hear you when you speak, and how to recognize your voice!  Help me to filter my choices, words, and interactions with peace, mercy, consideration, and sincerity.  Please, because on my own I am nothing.

Online Giving!

Students International now offers onling giving.  So if you would like to give toward our support simply click here!  (Or past this link in the address bar of your browser: https://www.stint.com/donate.php?id=s45)

Spring Newsletter

This past season has been a bit hectic and our blog neglected.  Here is a link to our latest newsletter:
Spring 2012 Newsletter.  If that doesn't open just paste this in your browser: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=07e585fce0a834383b0c55622&id=fe2e660286

There has been much more going on than we could possibly cram into a newsletter, so we will try to blog soon with more of an update.

Almost Normal

For the most part yesterday was a normal day. I spent the day doing many normal things such as: running errands, making phone calls, planning an outreach, paying bills, talking with our staff, various logistical tasks, picking Sawyer up after soccer, picking Olivia up from ballet etc. However there was about a half hour of my day that was a bit abnormal and also indicative of the season we currently find ourselves in. Yesterday morning at a little before six I pulled into the bus station with one of our staff members, Maria. Maria has been in Costa Rica for a little under two years. She, along with Cindy, launched a women's social work/micro-business ministry site that has been (and continues to be) tremendous. Maria is Nicaraguan and came with the idea of learning more about Students International and ministry in Costa Rica and then one day returning to help Students International get started in Nicaragua. The "one day" turned out to be yesterday. So yesterday morning at about six we said, "Hasta Luego" in the TransNica bus terminal and she returned to Nicaragua. Maria thank you for all your hard work and friendship. You will be missed.

Maria hanging out with Olivia and Sawyer

I then got in the car to drive to the airport to pick up Tara Frantz, a new staff member who arrived yesterday. There is nothing abnormal about picking up someone at the airport, but it is not often I get to pick up a new staff member. Tara was hired last August with the hopes that all the fundraising and training could be completed and that she could arrive sometime this spring. Well that sometime was yesterday! Tara will be working on fine-tuning her Spanish over the next couple of months and then will be working at the tutoring center in Los Guido. Yesterday morning at a little after six I said, "Welcome to Costa Rica." Tara, welcome to Costa Rica and to our staff family! We are excited you are here!

Tara Working at the Tutoring Center during an outreach last year.

As you may have guessed we have some transition going on among our staff. Part of it is due to most of the North Americans arriving at almost the same time a few years ago, and thus the initial commitments to be here are coming to an end at about the same time. Part of it is due to growth (We hired José and Jehudi last fall as new national staff members. They are incredible additions!) and some appears to be the reality of life and ministry. Throughout the course of this year we will have at least one other staff member who will be leaving, there are two ladies currently raising support who we hope will be here in the next several months, there are three North Americans who will be coming to interview in the next month or so, and we would like to hire another national staff member or two.

Part of our role here is to care for our staff family and to foster a healthy, unified community to carry out what we have been called to do. After all Jesus' missional strategy was for people to know him because of our love for each other (John 13:34). Will you please pray for us and our staff family through this season of transition. As people come and go it affects what goes on at the ministry sites and it affects the dynamics among our staff family. Please pray that we will be able to love people well as they come and go and that God will continue to form just the team and family that he desires for Students International Costa Rica. Pray that through us and the other ministries and churches here that God's kingdom would continue to invade Costa Rica.

-- Jeff

After almost 4 months of silence, this is how I re-enter the blogging world. . .

So, yes, it's been, ahem, a while since our last blog post. And, while I have a multitude of things to catch up on here (like our trip to the States, the beginning of the first SI-CR semester program, the men's trip, the kids starting school, the Girl's Club that I have inherited, changes that are, or will be, taking place, etc. etc. etc.) I choose to offer this simple slice of our Sunday afternoon at home: the kids playing "outside." We may not have a yard, but we have a killer sidewalk for scooters! (Grandmas, please, close your eyes.)




P.S. Sawyer may or may not have suffered a cut and goose egg on his forehead sometime during the last 2 weeks doing this very same thing. . .

Um, so the videos I'm trying to post are having technical difficulties. Aka, I apparently have no idea how to upload them here. Stay tuned!

-- Tracey

Transformation

Trasformation is a buzz word that we use a lot in Students International. We say that we are about seeing people's lives transformed into the likeness of Christ. We want to see this in the lives of the people in the communities we serve, among the outreach participants that come to work with us, and we even say that we need and want this for ourselves. We want to be transformed by Jesus and be like him. We want to be and live like Jesus. We want to love the way he loves and act the way he acts.

But how, exactly?

Yesterday, José brought a song for the worship time at our staff meeting. I can't get the images out of my head.

Déjame hoy besar las heridas de tus manos y tus pies,
las heridas que pecando provoqué.
Déjame reclinar mi mejilla en tus espaldas y llorar
por haberlas lacerado en mi maldad.

No merecía tanto amor.

Translation:
Let me today kiss the wounds on your hands and feet,
the wounds that my sin provoked.
Let me lay my cheek against your back and cry
for having caused the lacerations (in my badness)

I didn't deserve that much love.

I know the crucifixion story, and the Easter story. I've seen the Passion (in oh-so-many forms). It's not like Jesus' woundedness hasn't struck me before in a personal way. But how many times have I had the courage to ask the Lord's permission to kiss the wounds that I caused? Or rub my face in the cuts on his back? That's. . . gross. And weird. And, it would require me to really examine myself and really face my sin, my weakness, my brokenness. Maybe even ask God to tell me the truth about myself. So vulnerable and so, so intimate. And really, very scary, potentially painful.

But, I'm learning more and more that that's where transformation happens. In moments of intimacy with Jesus. Knowing Jesus. Because it isn't just that we wallow in our horridness, or know about God's love. If I really get that close to Jesus, and truly, honestly, grieve my part in those wounds, grieve my inadequacies and my failures, I experience, experience, Jesus' love and grace that I don't deserve. He never turns away a broken heart. And knowing him that way changes me. It transforms me. And I start to become more like him. More able to give grace and love to others who don't deserve it because I have been humbled and healed and have experienced it myself as someone who doesn't deserve it.

Like I said, I can't stop thinking about those images. God, give me the courage to come close to you and let you transform me. I want to know you more. I want to know you more that way, that closely.

Sunday School

Yesterday we woke up and there was no water in the house. So, Jeff went with Olivia to buy a 5-gallon jug of water at the store. However, the car wouldn't start. Anyway, to make a long story short, by the time Jeff got the car started and got back from the store, it was a little late to try and get ready for church. So we decided to have our own Sunday School.

Here's a cute picture of Jeff reading "You Are Special" to the kids. This is such a great book!

From Sept.-Nov.2011