Encouraged by Our Church Family

A couple weeks ago at church, some people asked us if the visitation committee could come by to get to know us better.  It didn't seem that we had an option, and we said ok.  On Tuesday, Juan Carlos called to tell me they would be here today "at 3:00 more or less."  When he said 3:00 more or less, I fully expected for them to not show utnil 3:30 or 4:00, and I also fully expected them to stay a minimum of 2 hours.  I was assured that I didn't need to prepare anything, so I didn't.  Since Matt and I were expecting them to show up late and to stay long, we were getting things ready for dinner to throw in the oven once they left.  I really needed a little bit of flour, so at 2:45 I was going to walk to the store to get what I needed.  The second I opened my gate, I saw 3 cars driving in my direction and Juan Carlos, rolled his window and said "Good afternoon, sister, where can we park."  Shocked that they showed up early (that just doesn't happen in Central America), and a little embarassed that my bathroom was still dirty, I turned around, opened the gate, and welcomed everyone to my home. 

While we joked earlier today about the welcoming committee waiting until we had been here 8 months to welcome us and if they waited much longer they could have welcomed us and told us goodbye at the same time, we ended up being very encouraged by this meeting.  Fortunately, Costa Ricans do not have the same personal space issues and we were all able to sit in the living room area.  This area in total is about 10 ft X 8 ft.  We sang a few songs, and several people told us how blessed they are to have us here in their country.  Several people mentioned how great it is that people of different cultures can come together and worship the same God.  They also commented on how much better our Spanish has gotten, which was a huge encouragement.  It was also encouraging to hear that they thought of us as a part of their family and hoped that we thought of them the same way.  A few people have heard about the frustrations we had with this church in the fall, but part of this was due to being overwhelmed by the amount of Spanish and not understanding so much that was said.  We know go to church as often as we can and feel that we are in fact a part of this church family.  Praise God for giving us brothers and sisters wherever we go in the world.