The Hendersons ~ On a Journey 4 Him Weblog...

October Prayer Newsletter

Click the link below to access our prayer newsletter for October:

Download October (A)

Thanks to all of our prayer warriors! We love you!

Prayer Needs

We're still a week away from creating and sending our monthly prayer newsletter for October.

Currently, we are bogged down in Spanish homework and preparation for tests daily. We have several prayer requests that we need you to lift up to the Father:

• Wednesday, September 23, begins our first lesson that we will teach ESL (English as a Second Language) to the Intermediate English-speaking students at the AMCA House. There will also be several other classes (levels) being taught at the same time (4-6 PM). Please pray that MANY will come. Pray that God softens their hearts and remove any hindrances that will keep their focus from getting to know the Father. Pray that each of the teachers/leaders will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will follow His guidance in all things. Classes will meet every Wed. for 10 weeks. Pray for many relationships to be made, all which lead to the Father!
• Pray that many Ticas (Costa Rican ladies) will join us in a Tica Bible study weekly on Tuesdays, from 2 til 3. This study is done in Spanish; I joined the study today. It is challenging for me, since I have to listen VERY carefully, but I am hoping to build relationships and learn Spanish!
• Pray for Sk. to become a more independent and responsible student. We have battled this week in getting him to become more responsible for his classwork and homework. He does most of it, but he continues to not turn it in. He continues to leave books at school every afternoon (after he reads his "agenda" book with all his assignments/tests to study for written down) and gets home and does not have what he needs.
• Pray that no weapon that is formed against us will prosper!! It seems like all of our appliances have gone on the blitz the past week. First, our timer went out on our washing machine. We were without the washer for several days before it was repaired. Now, our refrigerator is on not cooling! We noticed our milk (small quart-size) have been going bad every 2-3 days. Thus, we found the refrigerator is not cooling. We had a repairman work on it today, who replaced everything but the fan. Tomorrow, he's supposed to replace it.
• Pray for our safety (walking the streets especially) and our health.

Thanks! God bless all of you prayer-warriors!  You have a special job in HIM!  May you be richly blessed!

Celebrations in Costa Rica

While we have been here, we have had the pleasure of participating in several celebrations, including Guanacaste Day (July 25), Mother's Day (Aug. 15), Children's Day (Sept. 9), a birthday party, and Independence Day (Sept. 15).

Guanacaste Day. To mark the annexation of Guanacaste from Nicaragua in 1824.

Last Friday, Sy. was invited to an Tico birthday party. Esteban is in her class and turned 6 years old. His mother and grandmother speak English. The party lasted for 3 hours. They provided us transportation to and from the party. The older sister was the hostess of the party. She dressed as a clown and led each activity, which included pin-the-nose-on-the-clown picture, throwing a ball through the clown's mouth, playing musical chairs, throwing darts at balloons, hitting a pinata, and jumping on a jump-o-line. They each received prizes after each activity and a goody bag at the end. We each received a plate of lunch, which consisted of arroz con pollo (rice and chicken), mashed black beans, and potato chips!! We also had delicious chocolate cake, popcorn, and coffee.  What a fiesta!

Esteban's Sister

Sydney hitting the pinata, with Esteban's mother cheering her on

The party-goers had a blast (Esteban is front and center)

Today is Costa Rica's Independence Day, which celebrates Costa Rica’s independence from Spain in 1821. Thus, we had our first holiday from school. Last night, the kids watched firecrackers spontaneously pop from our upstairs balcony. This morning, we heard the beat of drums. Parades, perhaps?  We heard they would pass through at 8:30, but it was 7:30 when we heard the pounding. Red, white, and blue decorations have been decorating houses, our school, and businesses.

Yesterday, we had an overall assembly in the gymnasium at Sojourn. The students paraded in, all wearing red, white, and blue (a day off from their uniform shirts), with students in grades 1 through 12 holding hand-made or store-bought lanterns. We sang some national songs, held respect to the flag, and heard  interesting historical information about C.R. from several of the students.

About to head to school in CR's patriotic colors with our lanterns

 

Sydney's Kindergarten class coming in to join the school celebration (Syd is far right)

Our next holiday will be in October, which is Columbus Day.

 

A Typical School Day for Us in C.R.

What a week!!!  We never realized we'd have the work load that we do! Let me give you a typical weekday for us here in CR:

5:00 AM  Get up for quiet time with the Lord; I'm doing "Beloved Disciple" Bible study by Beth Moore (which is FABULOUS!!!).

6:10 AM  Kids get up, and we all get ready for school. I read a Psalm, and we have family prayer before leaving.

7:15 AM  We walk to the school (3 blocks); the gates are normally open and ready for us to enter; Sk. journeys to his classroom after letting me give him a brief peck on the cheek, and we deposit Sy. into her room (usually the doors are still locked, so we wait a few min.)

7:30 AM  Our classes begin. I have Gramatica (Grammar) for 2 periods (with a 5 min. break in between), while B. has Fonetica (Phonics).

8:25 AM  B. changes classes to Lenguaje (Language).

9:15 AM  We have a break.

9:35 AM On Tues. & Thurs., we head to Capilla (Chapel) where we get to worship our LORD in song and in the WORD, or with testimonies given by others (IN ENGLISH). On Mon., Wed., and Fri., we just have an extended break, UNLESS we all have some sort of meeting in the chapel. Normally, we chat with friends, or we do homework/study.

10:20 AM  I have Lenguaje, while B. goes to Gramatica for his last 2 periods.

11:15 AM  I change to Fonetica.

12:10 PM  We get out of classes and journey home. We have lunch and begin our homework.

1:00 PM   Walk back to the school and get Sy. Walk back home. Practice her homework with her (she eats at school); we've been working on letters, #s, and letter sounds. Work some more on our homework, if time permits.

2:30 PM  Walk back to school to get Sk. Walk back home. Sk. does his homework. We check back over his work for him. He has an assignment journal/calendar which is EXCELLENT. His teacher signs off on the assignments he's written down, and I sign off to show I checked over his work.

The rest of the evening consists of dinner, spending time with the kids, getting their showers, and reading a devotional/having family praise and prayer time. We try to get them into bed by 7 PM. Some nights we go over, but normally try not to. They are exhausted by this time, and they actually sleep til 6:10 the next morning!! Sk. used to go to bed at 8:00 or 8:30, but some things have changed. :D 

7:00 or 7:30 PM We begin our homework and study time!!! This lasts until we go to shower and go to bed, which varies from 10 to 11 PM.

Continue to pray for our language learning! Pray that we will have a strong love for the language, and that it will flow from our hearts as well as our mouths!

An Eventful Weekend

We have spent Friday and Saturday night having dinner with friends that we've made here in Costa Rica. On Saturday night, we had a meeting with the Gault family about upcoming ESL classes that we are planning on helping teach. We are very excited that we get to help. The Gaults have overseen this ministry for years, and this will help us build relationships with the Tico people, as well as learn how to teach the classes ourselves, since that is one of our jobs when we hit Lima.

After the dinner on Sat., we watched the futbol game between Costa Rica and Mexico. Since we are part of the land  now, of course, we rooted for Costa Rica. Unfortunately for CR, Mexico won with the score being 3 to 0.

As I laid down to bed, around 11 PM, I felt the bed moving. It was definitely a weird sensation. At first, I thought I was imagining this, but when I looked up, I saw the strings on the ceiling fan swaying back and forth for a minute or so afterward! B. was coming out of the bathroom, and I asked him if we were having an earthquake. He giggled and thought I was nuts, because he didn't feel a thing. He saw the strings on the ceiling fan, and he said maybe so. I wasn't sure if we should grab the kids and go to open ground or what. We've been told there have been 100s of tiny tremors over the month and half that we've become native to CR, and we haven't felt any until now.

Sure enough, this morning, my friend and neighbor reported there had been a 4.5 in a town about an hour away from San Jose. My Aunt LaJune found an article from a A.M. Costa Rica . It was REAL!  Wow, we've experienced (felt) our first small earthquake. Let's pray it stays SMALL!!

At El Lugar, they've torn out the drop ceiling to make the church appear more open and bigger. All week, as we passed by to and from school, we've heard the beating and banging, and watched brothers in Christ run in and out as they were working. It's good to see people working for the Lord in His House.

Afterward, we TRIED (being the KEY word) to get Sy. to take a nap. Sometime during the night there had been a loud bang, and she, thinking it was thunder, ran like a streak of lightning and tried sleeping with us. You have to remember we sleep in a double bed, so it was very uncomfortable and not very much sleep happened. I still wonder what the loud bang was...perhaps, a car crash of some kind??  Not sure if it was thunder at all. It woke me as well before she ran in.

Then, we walked to our favorite chicken place at the end of one of our streets. I can't remember how to spell its name. Anyway, a girl usually works in there that speaks English. She was not in today, but the people there are always so friendly and the chicken is very tasty and not greasy at all, better than Church's back home! As we started to leave, B. started a conversation with them inviting them to the ESL classes. Unfortunately, we couldn't speak all of the words that we wanted to, so I wrote some of the information on a sheet of paper for them. B. tried to tell them we'd get them the information sheet/advertisement from our house and bring it back to them, but neither he nor I could say what we needed to to get them to understand. They called the English-speaking family member for us to tell her, and for her to translate to them. :D  The lady we spoke to used to be a Spanish teacher. She was very helpful. We walked back home and returned with the information. They are very sweet people. We DO wish we could speak more Spanish.

 We walked around a little more, and then we stopped by a park and let the kids play a bit. After we walked home, we took a big nap. Now, I feel like my head has been run over by a train, but all is well.  :D 

God continues to be good. He is good all of the time!!

Pray for us as we begin our second week of Spanish!

Enriching Ourselves in Spanish and its Surrounding Culture

I felt terrible on Saturday. I woke up with a splitting sinus headache. I managed to get up, carefully make my way down the stairs, and take some Panadol (equivalent to Tylenol Sinus & Allergy, but NOT non-drowsy). My head began to ease, but I still felt lowsy, and before I knew it, I was asleep again. B. went to the feria (outdoor fruit and veggies market) and let me sleep. It was a nice, peaceful sleep. It's amazing because I slept on and off ALL day long.

B. took Sk. to the El Lugar for a kids' Bible study, but it had been changed in time and location due to a wedding at the church. He was invited to bring him to a member's house at 11, because it would be held there instead. Sk. was anxious to go. B. dropped him off, and he was the only Gringo (North American) there. When he arrived back home, he said he couldn't understand what they were telling him. However, he had a good time. I asked him if he'd like to go again, and he said yes. It makes me smile when he makes the most out of the moment, no matter what the circumstances are!

 B. walked to a pharmacy to look for some non-drowsy medicine for me. The doctor (pharmacist) spoke English and helped him find me something to take. Although my head and behind my eyes hurt, my nose seemed clear. It seemed to have settled in my head and my ears felt funny.

On Sunday, thankfully, I felt much better, so we attended El Lugar (church) again. This time, we did grasp understanding most of the page numbers for hymns and for following along in our Bilingual Bible (everything is in espanol). Both Sk. and Sy. went to Sunday School. There are quite a few other missionary couples attending the services because of the church's location. We were invited to go back at 6 PM for an event for the children. The children and youth gave a presentation called, "Circo 6020 Eterno." We attended and enjoyed it very much! Brightly colored fabric draped the ceiling (circus tent style), the children/youth wore makeup, clown noses, and other circus-type costumes.  Sk. sat with the other Costa Rican kids, and we sat close by. The program began with circus-type performances, and then, a play, songs, and a Gospel presentation were given with the largest Evangi-cube I've ever seen! We thoroughly enjoyed the program. Although we stood out as being very "different" from the crowd, everyone was very kind to us. I even got to hold a sweet little Latina baby girl, who wanted to share her stickers with Sy.  Sometimes it feels uncomfortable standing out as "different." Sometimes it doesn't. I hope that you will remember to be kind and helpful to those foreigners that you see around you by acknowledging their presence, speaking to them, and offering your help to them, even it it takes feeling silly and acting out what you are trying to tell/ask them. Perhaps they would like to be invited to a church, but no one has been thoughtful enough to invite them.

Sy. and Sk. started their regular school classes on Monday. Sy. is in kindergarten, while Sk. is in fourth grade. Sy. was a little apprehensive, but she shed absolutely NO tears. Praise God! We had more meetings for orientation. We picked Sy. up at 1:10 (that's when her day ends), and she absolutely LOVED school. She has 2 teachers who share her classroom. One teaches in English for half the day, and the other is a Tica (Costa Rican) and teaches in Espanol. Sk.'s day ends at 2:30. He seems to fit himself into the cracks anywhere. He is happy-go-lucky, and enjoys wherever he goes, which is truly a blessing. He made a friend with a boy named Mason, who is from Michigan. They have a lot in common, liking Nintendo, reading, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, dinosaurs, and dragons. The classes at Sojourn are small. Not only are academics taught, but it is a Christian school and environment as well. Sk.'s class is taught in English, but he leaves his classroom daily to go to Espanol class for 50 minutes. He also has music, etc.

B. and I received our schedules mid-day on Monday. According to an oral "test" and a written exam, we all were placed according to our levels. Our levels were only off by 2, but we were placed in all different classes with all different teachers. We started our classes on Tuesday. I was so excited to go, but when I got to class, I felt VERY nervous. Another student stood outside of my first class, and he and I were afraid to go in because we were afraid we'd be expected to speak lots of Spanish (that we didn't feel very confident in doing). All 1st trimester students have grammar, phonetics, and language classes. Both B. and I really like all of our teachers. The majority of the teachers are very laid-back and all are very helpful. I still feel the stress creeping up my shoulders when we are called on to pronounce words aloud, which is very often. My Southern drawl (accent) seems to be getting in the way. In phonetics, I tend to be corrected OFTEN. Hopefully, I will learn to work around it.

B. and I both had our first test today on the Spanish alphabet. He was pulled outside the classroom to give the test orally, while I was shown the letters and had to write each letter and how it is spelled (for example, h=hache), as well as the entire alphabet in totallity. B. is waiting on his grade. Gracias a Dios (thanks to God) I made a 100 on my test!! After 3 days, we are already so tired. Our brains feel like mush, and our bodies are tense. Both B. and I catch ourselves translating words that we know into Spanish in our heads ALL of the time. As I laid down to go to sleep last night, I was saying the Spanish alphabet in my head.  Funny, B. says he did the same thing!!

DO keep us in your prayers!! Although we miss you all, we love it here in our new culture. God is good. He's good ALL of the TIME!!