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There is a family of semi-retired missionaries who has taken us under their proverbial wing to make sure that we can get to church.
The first time that we went to the Nazarene church in Tibás, it was because David Webb was going to be the special speaker there that Sunday morning. David is the Evangelism Coordinator for Costa Rica, and he also lives here at the Seminary. About a week later, Liz met up with one of the members of the church there, who told us that her husband and she could bring us to their church if we ever wanted to go back. I told Liz to please tell her "Yes, please!"
When we went to that church the first time, I stayed in the Older-Adult-But-Younger-Than-The-Senior-Adults Sunday School class, because that's the class that David was in, and his family were the only people that we knew at the church. But I loved it like crazy. The people in the class have interesting discussions, and really know their Bible, but even more important than that, the teachers (they rotate who their teacher is) write the main points on a white board. So even if I don't understand a single word that people have said, I can still get a lot from the classes, because reading Spanish is sometimes easier than understanding it spoken out loud.
This family, who took us to church that week, has either brought us to church or found another family that could bring us every week since then. We've now been to that church for the last four or five Sundays and we really love it there. Each week, we get opportunities to talk to more and more people, and almost every time, someone that we don't know approaches us and talks to us. They're a very welcoming church, and very patient with our sometimes faulty pronunciation when we're reading out loud in Sunday School. The pastor and wife at that church are very nice, but the congregation has been awesome. We really feel like a part of things there. Today, they put our names on their attendance roster, so they knew we're there long term.
Today, I was thinking about how my prayer has recently been that I would really like a good Costa Rican guy friend. I know a lot of people, and talk to a lot of people, and there are lots of people who are very nice to us, but I was just praying for a close friend. And I was thinking about how God has given us more than that. He has given us an entire community to be a part of. A community on campus, a Costa Rican church family, and opportunities to interact with the community that surrounds the campus -- for instance, our chances to teach English to members of the public.
We're up to a total of TWO English students now. Again, we've been told that more are likely to join us on Monday, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. Two has worked out for us this past week. I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening, when we'll get to see what happens in our next class. At the end of our last class, our first student told us that she always looks forward to Mondays and Thursdays, because she loves the class. That really made us feel good. And, she's bringing cookies tomorrow. :-)
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