Thanksgiving 2006

Seven people didn't show to our team Thanksgiving Dinner. So, we had only 41 people on Friday! I'll try to attach a photo later. The two huge turkeys were more than enough, and we are still enjoying leftovers. I also had almost two whole leftover pumpkin pies! Thanks to Reynold's Turkey Roasting Bags, the job was a breeze. We had wonderful conversations with many of our Tico friends. The day was a huge success! Several stayed after just to talk about how precious the day was for them and how grateful they were to celebrate the day with us. :)

Emotional Limitations

In yesterday's blog I spoke of being weary. In that weariness, I have chosen to pour out my heart to Him.

Today, my reading from A Journey to Praying Victoriously dove-tailed with yesterday's thoughts on weariness. Bill Thrasher comments, "In Jesus' humanity, He had emotional limitations."

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." Mark 1:35

Evidently, the term used here for "prayed" does not refer primarily to intercession, but to the outpouring of His own soul to the Father for renewal and refreshment. It's refreshing to know that Jesus Himself had to pour out His thoughts and emotions to the Father!

Weary!

Lately I have felt weary. Between the intensity of investing our lives in the Formation missionaries, having surgery, other health issues, insomnia, and Woody’s travels, I have simply felt needy and weary.

Yesterday I had a very full day after very little sleep. I started out my day just after 4AM, enjoying a long time with my Lord. Even though I felt my heart would burst with emotions and thoughts, I decided to not give in to the temptation to look for a friend to pour out my heart, but to depend totally on Him. Throughout the day I cried out to Him. As I did market shopping for next week’s Formation meals, my eyelids were heavy, but I cried out to Him. As I struggled through reimbursement requests and budget calculations with a splitting headache, I cried out to Him. As I made phone calls and juggled menus for next week’s Thanksgiving Bash, I cried out to Him.

It was wonderful to spend my day leaning SO hard on Him. It made me think of our Great Dane, Celeste. She is such a people-dog! She will stand next to me and affectionately lean into me – with all 115 pounds of bone and muscle! That’s how I want to lean into God.

Yesterday evening, after a “leaning day,” my friend and team mate, Michelle, showed up at my door to talk to me. Oh, what a blessing as we had a heart-to-heart share time! I felt like God honored my choice to depend only on Him, rewarding me with a flesh-and-blood friend to encourage me.

The morning dawned bright and clear after a night of tropical rainstorms. My Celestial prayer walk this morning definitely had a Spirit-led theme. Let me share with you two passages– one from my prayer book and one from my Scripture memorization review.

Phrases from Is. 40:28-31 “He does not become weary;” He gives strength to the weary; though youths grow weary; they will walk and not become weary.”

Isaiah 50:4 “The Sovereign Lord [gives the word] that sustains the weary.”

Photos of Woody in Spain

Woody at La Alhambra

Flyweight Wrestling

This morning I had a round of tag-team flyweight wrestling. I actually looked up the old wrestling terms to see what weight category Celeste fits into! The frog and I combined probably outweighed Celeste, but the frog really didn’t throw his weight into the match. Let me explain. This morning on my Celestial walk, Celeste spotted a frog on the road and lunged for it. I sensed we were in for big trouble, and I didn’t want to let her loose to get in trouble alone. Within a second, I realized it was a frog she was after. The frogs we have on campus are deadly for dogs. (We think that’s how Chester died.) So, I literally wrestled Celeste to the ground with a move I learned from “The Crusher.” I held her in a choke grip around the neck. It took us a few minutes – all three of us on the ground before the match was called.

The frog and I won!

Actually, Celeste won, whether she realizes it or not. The frog may be featherweight, but his poison would have knocked out a Super-Heavyweight!

Blah, Blah, Blah...

Some of you may recall an amazing story of one of my elderly friends from the Albernia Home for the Elderly. Dona Clemencia has some sort of dementia and spends much of her day mumbling sounds that make no sense. When I visited her with a group of women from Barrington, Illinois, I had a very lucid conversation with her and a time of prayer.

Today I spoke again with Clemencia. She had been blabbering, "Blah, blah, blah," and the nursing home staff had been trying to get her to repeat some kind of meaningful sound instead. I walked over to her, looked lovingly in her eyes and asked if she remembered me.

"Si," she replied.

Once again, I had a lucid conversation with her and told her about Jesus' love. She assured me that she understood me and kept looking lovingly into my eyes. Her words were few, but deliberate.

As I walked away, she resumed her earlier talk, "Blah, blah, blah."

Next, I pulled out a magic marker and huge pad of paper to try to communicate with Don Carlos, my friend who is deaf and almost blind. With great effort he was able to read my words. I held a Reader's Digest version of a Bible study on Luke 22 with him. He was thrilled! Day after day he lives isolated in his own dark, soundless world. But God's light shone on him today!

(The photo is of Don Carlos as I visited him today.)

All Over Town

Last week I put together a number of our extra t-shirts and gave them to “Colli Loco.” Colli is a young man who has some handicaps. The town people call him “loco” because he is a bit off in the head and slow on the uptake. Over the years we’ve made friends with Colli and have even had opportunities to share the gospel with him. He earns a little bit of money by guarding cars near our old apartment in downtown San Isidro.

Yesterday I had to laugh when I went into town to do errands!!

First, as I parked our car, I ran into Colli. He was wearing a t-shirt from the Bolivian Youth Leaders Convention we spoke at two years ago. He grinned as he showed off his new clothes to me.

Then, I went into the vegetable stand. The young man who waited on me was wearing a t-shirt that came from someone we’d met from a short-term team from California.

As I drove away, I saw another needy man from town. He was wearing another one of Woody’s t-shirts!

I commented to our gardener about seeing our clothes all over town. He laughed as he told me about a trip he’d taken to a poor community on the Sarapiqui River. He’d taken a couple of bags of clothes we’d donated for the poor. He said, “I’ve seen people wearing your clothes in at least three other towns!”

Let’s pray that the light of Christ might spread across this country – just like our old t-shirts!

Little Known Facts About Costa Rica

-Mother’s Day is August 15th and is a national holiday.

-On August 2nd up to 2,000,000 people will be making a pilgrimage by foot to honor the Virgen of Los Angeles. That’s almost half the population of the country!)

-McDonalds here “McPinto” for breakfast… beans and rice.

-Also, McDonalds have “McInternet” which gives you a free half hour on line with the purchase of a combo meal.

-There is no self-serve gas in the country.

-If you want to install a phone line in your house, the wait for a line can be up to two years.

-All bars and liquor stores in the country are closed on Election Day and Good Friday.

-Just a few miles from here, the average annual rainfall is 312 inches.

-On the hottest day of the year we have temps around 88 degrees. Our coldest night of the year - about 59 degrees.

-For obvious reasons, homes do not have furnaces or air conditioners.

-We have very few mosquitoes. We don’t even have screens on our windows!

-On Wednesdays the movie theaters in the country all offer 2 for 1 tickets.

-Some movie theaters have VIP seating – leather recliners with waiters who serve almost anything you want, including sushi!

-Costa Rica has the third highest per capita accident rate in the world.

When we pulled the moving van up to our house in September of 2005 there was a four month old Harlequin Great Dane sitting on the doorstep awaiting us. She hung around with us all day. It was obvious she had an owner, but she was wearing no tags and seemed delighted to just be with us. She was just about the sweetest, gentlest puppy I'd ever met.

As we took a coffee break and sat with her at our feet, Woody casually asked me, "What do you think her name is?"

I took a look into her sky blue eyes and answered, "Celeste."

He thought that was pretty funny. A huge dog like that with such a gentle name! The puppy must have found its own way home that evening and didn't reappear for another week or so. This time she had tags on. Guess what? Her name was CELESTE!!

Celeste kept appearing on and off. Because we had to call them so often, we eventually got to know her owners. We enjoyed the dog so much that we told Daniel and Andrea, "If you ever need to find her another home, we'll take her!"

In late April, we got a phone call. "We are moving to Canada and can't take Celeste with us. Could you take her?"

So, we now are the proud owners of an eleven month old "PUPPY!" She must weigh about 100 pounds. She looks very intimidating. But, don't tell potential thieves that she has a tender heart. The biggest risk she poses is leaning into you too hard for affection.

(By the way, since that first day I discovered that Celeste has only one sky blue eye. The other is green!)

Thirty-One-Derful Years!

As I sat, trying to come up with a creative card idea for our 31st wedding anniversary, I suddenly remembered that Baskin Robbins boasts “31 flavors.” My card to Woody said, “Life with you has had more variety than 31 flavors of ice cream; sweeter than Cadbury chocolate milk (see photo); and more satisfying than a pound of Oreos.” Thanks, Woody, for being the joy of my life!

A Fellow Hiker

On Good Friday we took two new team mates, Brian and Sara Weyandt, for a hike in the Braulio Carillo National Forest - just a five minute drive from our house. Walking along the trail we encountered a "fellow-hiker." I've learned a lot about tarantulas since we got to observe this one close-up. There are over 800 species of tarantula, so it shouldn't surprise you that we aren't sure of the name of this one! We think it might be a "Costa Rican Red-legged Tarantula." It's legspan was about 6 inches. The body was very black and velvety and the "knees" were bright red.

Here are some of the interesting facts I learned about tarantulas. The male usually lives from 2 months to 3 1/2 years. The female can live over 20! They feed on insects and baby rodents. They have very small brains and are fragile - can be killed by a fall. They are venomous, but there are no recorded deaths of humans caused by a tarantula. They have itch-causing hairs, particularly on their abdomens, and some can kick these hairs into the air to defend themselves. They grow by molting. During the molting process they lay upside down. Rarely does the female kill the male, but just in case, once the mating is done, the male makes a quick dash to avoid possibile demise at the "hands" of his lover. During mating, he grasps her fangs to keep her from attacking him. They have poor eyesight, but their hairs are sensors for temperature changes, smell, and detecting vibrations in the air. The largest tarantula recorded had a 13 inch legspan!

That's probably more than you wanted to know about tarantulas. So far, we have never seen one near our house, so don't let the photo of this one keep you from visiting!

Don't Worry, This is UNUSUAL for Costa Rica!

I got bit up by something on Sunday and had an allergic reaction to the bites. Several of the seventeen bites formed huge blisters. Let me assure you, THEY ITCHED! They are finally starting to heal.

Nasty Bite!

NosePods Will Never Catch On!

In the photo below you might barely be able to tell I have a small tube taped to my face which goes down my nose into my esophagus. It's attached to something that looks a bit like a Walkman. One of our fellow missionaries asked if it was a Nose Pod. It didn't play music, and the tube down the throat would never catch on in popularity, let me assure you!

Yesterday was a day that I will unfortunately probably never forget. My esophagus has rarely caused me so much grief. Woody had told me before traveling that probably I’d have no reflux problems while the tube was in, since I seem to always be better for tests or doctor appointments. Well, that prediction didn’t come true. It will be interesting to see the outcome of the testing. When they pulled the tube yesterday afternoon, I went directly to the pharmacy, bought a bottle of Mylanta, and before even stepping out of the pharmacy, told a fellow customer, "Cheers!" and proceded to gulp several swallows straight from the bottle! Though there was some immediate relief, I am sure it will be challenging to get the inflammation under control, since it was bad even before the test.

I was able to rest fairly well last night, and am so thankful for that!

Su's Miserable Day

Our New House

Thoughts on Healing

Last week was a tough week for me in the area of health issues. I’ll be brief about the problems. (If you want to know more, just write and ask.) I’ve recently had an endoscopy as well as an esophogram. I also had to have needle biopsies on both breasts – five needle sticks with no anesthesia! Now I am facing two more tests on my esophagus because it has been so irritated that it has been hard to eat or sleep.

This morning I read the story of Jesus healing the leper in Luke 5. The leper approached Jesus with absolute belief.

“You can make me clean.”

He had no doubt Jesus could heal him. He just didn’t know if Jesus would heal him.

The leper also approached Jesus by saying, “Lord, if You are willing…”

He seemed to be saying, “If You, in Your wisdom and plan, see purpose in it, please do it.”

Beth Moore comments, “Although I don’t pretend to understand how or why, some illnesses may serve more eternal purpose than healing, while other healings serve more purpose than illness.”

I feel for Christians who are chronically ill. You would not believe all the solutions I’ve been offered – from the reasonable to the wacky! Others think they know exactly what I’m experiencing, but when they proceed to explain their own symptoms, I realize they don’t understand at all. But it does little good to point that out.

Others bring into question my faith, my walk with God, or my beliefs. Many have challenged me, saying I simply have not accepted the healing God already has for me.

There have been many times people have prayed and fasted and laid hands on me. We have all believed at times that I would be healed. But, it simply hasn’t happened yet.

I try to accept people’s suggestions, commiserations, and criticisms in a spirit of love. I’ve decided for now, not to seek healing. Instead, I will seek Him. If He reveals Himself through healing, I will praise Him. If He reveals Himself through suffering, I will choose to praise Him.

My faith is not perfect. My trust is not complete. My understanding is inadequate.

But I, along with the leper, truly believe that if He sees in His wise plan that there is a greater purpose to heal me, I will be the first in line for that touch! But, above all, I trust who He is, even when I have no idea of what He’s doing.

What it Takes to Get a Phone Line

What does it take to get a phone line in Costa Rica?

You don’t want to know the whole story. Blog entries shouldn’t be that long!

Let me relate to you just a couple of the chapters.

Remember that I was called by the phone company and told to stay home all day on Friday, November 4th? When they didn’t show up, I called them back and was told to stay home all day the next Monday so they could install our phone line. When they didn’t show again, I called and called and called on Tuesday, only to be reprimanded; saying they never intended to come any of those days.

I’ll skip a few interesting chapters and say that we finally learned that a technician would call sometime this week, telling me what day to stay home again, awaiting their visit. On Tuesday afternoon, since I’d not received a call, I went to run errands. Of course, they came unannounced while I was absent. They told a neighbor they’d be back first thing the next morning.

The next morning I waited on them again, but by mid-morning they hadn’t showed up. Most phone company workers had taken the day off to protest the free trade agreement (20,000 protestors!), so I decided to run to the office. I left my cell phone number with a workman across the road, in case he saw them.

Sure enough, they showed up! I ran down to the house from the office and watched them connect the lines. They took two bare wires just inside the house and connected them to a trial phone, and it worked! Then, they left those two lines hanging and said I needed to connect that somehow to the jacks in the house. I had no clue! (That’s another chapter I’ll skip.)

I thanked the workmen, but also asked them why they never called me to tell me what day to expect them. They replied, “We have no obligation to call the customer. If we are supposed to come a certain week, you just need to be home.”

“So, I must sit home all week and wait, hoping someone will come?”

“Yes.”

“And if I work, I either will not get a phone line or I must take an unspecified leave of absence from my job until the phone company shows?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

I couldn’t resist one jab.

“While your companions are out protesting the Free Trade Agreement, you are proving exactly why it is necessary. The government monopoly phone business makes your work convenient at the expense of providing a service for the client.”

Give them credit. They seemed to happily agree that their job is very convenient and they intend to keep it that way!

Si, Carlos! Si!

Two weeks ago I left my friends at the Albernia nursing home with a heavy heart. I had spent time talking with Edgar, one of the wheelchair bound residents. He wants so much to study the Bible, but expressed that if he listens to Christian radio or music that there are negative repercussions from the staff. He also expressed a deep sense of loneliness. He told me that the only other Christian in the small home is Carlos - who is quite blind and nearly deaf.

Since that visit, I've been prayerfully considering how I might be able to minister to lonely people like Edgar and Carlos. Yesterday I visited my friends in the Albernia home again. I often shake Carlos' hand, but rarely have we been able to communicate because of his disabilities. Yesterday he was holding a small Gideon New Testament, open to Matthew chapter 4. I took his hand and gave him a big smile, pointing to the Bible.

He looked up and asked me, "Do you read the Bible?"

"Si, Carlos! Si!" I shouted, nodding my head enthusiastically and smiling.

Then, God answered my prayer. Carlos pointed at the bold letters at the top of the page and read carefully, "Mateo cuatro." He was able to read the bold, large print! He proceded to tell me about the temptation of Christ in Matthew chapter four. I was so, so happy, I hugged him and kissed him!

As I prayed this morning, the answer came to me. I am currently studying the temptation of Christ in my study of the life of Christ. I decided that each morning as I study, I will type up my notes and observations in Spanish in BOLD, LARGE TYPE.

I can't wait to print two copies of my notes - one for Edgar and one for Carlos! Meanwhile, my own personal study has taken on all that much more meaning, since I can share it with my elderly friends.

Here, Swallow This Garden Hose!

I first started having trouble way back in 1980, after over a year in Bolivia. Pain in my upper chest, loss of appetite, nausea, and trouble swallowing were among my symptoms. Back in those days it wasn’t that easy to catch a plane and run back to the US to see a doctor.

So, when the doctor said I needed to have a tube put into my stomach to see what was going on, I accepted. Woody and I reported to the dark, dusty office of the gastroenterologist. He picked up a tube that looked to be the size of a garden hose, handed it to me and said nonchalantly, “Swallow!”

Looking back on it, I can’t believe I did it! But, somehow I managed to gag and choke and swallow repeatedly until that garden hose reached my stomach.

Don’t ever tell me I’m not a brave woman!

The ironic thing is that they found nothing. Maybe they needed a more powerful flashlight to shine down the hose, who knows? (Just kidding about the flashlight!)

Over the years since then I have had seven more experiences of swallowing the hose. Fortunately, that was the only time I had to do it while fully conscious. And the tubes have become narrower since then, so it’s hard to mistake them now for a garden hose!

It really wasn’t until my experience in Louisiana that they found my troubles. Up until then I’d been told a number of things, including that my nausea was all in my head. I never believed that one for one minute! When I finally got treatment for severe acid reflux and esophagitis, I experienced an appetite for the first time in years! (Though that doctor helped me immensely, we learned later that he was convicted of injecting his lover with AIDS tainted blood! We saw his photo in TIME magazine!)

Among my worst gastroscopies was the first of several in Minnesota. That time I was given a drug to make me just unconscious enough to not be able to cooperate, but to recall every second of the procedure. I decided I’d rather do it fully conscious!

In 1997 my doctor in Illinois discovered that I had precancerous changes in my esophagus. Because of that, plus heartburn and other symptoms that could not be controlled, I underwent surgery to literally tie a knot between my stomach and esophagus, using a piece of my stomach as the loop of the knot.

A gastroscopy shortly after that surgery was another one of my worst. Keep in mind that my new knot not only kept acid from refluxing, but it prevented air from coming up easily, i.e. burping. During the endoscopy they filled my stomach with air to better visualize the stomach lining. Upon waking up, I had a tight balloon in my gut that would not deflate. I was miserable! My body was doing all it could to relieve the distress. Finally, after continually vomiting up air for a half hour, they gave me something to control my vomiting. That medicine, combined with the anesthesia, made it impossible to stay awake for more than 3 minute intervals. During those brief intervals of consciousness I could only think, “Oh, man! I feel horrible!”

They finally thought I was awake enough to send me home. Woody went for the car and they sat me in a wheel chair. I promptly fell asleep and awoke to find them catching me while I slid unconscious out of the chair!

I won’t go into the others that were miserable. I’ll just tell you that it doesn’t have to be that bad! I’ve learned a number of tricks and have given doctors a number of suggestions to make life easier.

I also have to give credit to my most recent gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He is the one who has figured out why all of this has been happening to me over the past 25 years. Most of my troubles are a result of the serious gastrointestinal illnesses I’ve suffered, especially during our first years in Bolivia. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to offer me much of a solution for the ailment he’s diagnosed, but at least he is a very caring, compassionate physician. That goes a long way!

I thank God also for my loving, persevering husband, and the good physicians and clinic here in Costa Rica that made my last endoscopic experience a good one!

The results of this gastroscopy were not so bad, but not so good, either. They found no evidence of cancer or ulceration, which is good news. However, the “wrap” that they did in the surgical procedure to my stomach eight years ago now has loosened slightly and is allowing reflux of acid once again. Despite strong acid blockers, I also have some “superficial gastritis.” It looks like the “Barrett’s esophagus” (precancerous area) is slightly larger as well. The doctor feels that the chronic cough I have had this year is related to the reflux, since he observed acid refluxing up to my mouth during the procedure. L They also removed a small polyp from my stomach, but feel that will prove to be benign and of no consequence. (Biopsies are still pending.) I also have developed another small hiatal hernia. (They fixed a hiatal hernia during my surgery 8 years ago.)

By the way, if you still think I’m not a brave woman, ask me sometime about putting in my own IV before the latest endoscopy!