The Lions

 First off it has been way to long since our last post.  On the other hand I can't believe that it has been a month and a half since the end of December. We have felt the rush of the new year and it has been good.  God is doing many things through us and for us.  We feel so blessed and overwhelmed at the same time.

  As many of you know we raised enough money to start our residency application.  However, for various reasons we have to wait 3-6 months longer before we apply.  Like typical Costa Rica, things are always changing!  We can't wait to have our application in the system so we don't have to go on a visa run every 90 days.  However, God has seen it fit that we needed to go on at least one more visa run (with at least one more to happen in April).

This last time we went to Panama and decided to drive across the boarder.  So two weeks before we left I registered the van to leave the country.  This was surprisingly easy. A week before we left I was out at the Children's ranch with an awesome team from New York.  Alli and Mema stayed home with the kids while I was gone for the week.  The plan was to come home on Friday and then leave for Panama on Sunday.  After a long week at the ranch  I was excited to have my family come pick me up from our base in the city.  I said my goodbyes to the team and got in the van and that's where the fun began.  I turned on the car and something was very wrong.  The van was miss-firing and wasn't going anywhere.  My anxiety began to kick in because I knew we need to leave in one day to drive to Panama.  My van is not common here in Costa Rica so finding parts is very hard.

The first thing on Saturday I took it to the mechanics and he said that there is nothing they could do.  He asked me to take the car out of his shop but it was not going to happen because things were getting worse.  Finally after 30 minutes of just sitting in my car and trying to figure out things Alli called me and had great news "Josh we don't actually have to leave the country until next Friday!" Praise God. This gave us some time to figure out what to do.  After that good news the owner came out and said I could leave the van there until we could get the parts.  Even better news the director of the ministry was flying in on Wednesday.  So I ordered the part on amazon and had it sent to him.  So one day before He came in I got a call from the mechanics, "Great news I was able to fix the part that was broken."  What?!  Seriously?  Awesome!  I picked up the car and it worked great.  The crazy part was that Amazon never got my car part to the director on time, so if he couldn't repair the part we would have been very stranded. 

So we loaded up the car first thing on Friday morning and headed to Panama.  One of our dear friends had sent a care package down for us.  In the package were 2 CDs with scripture put to song. They were actually pretty good.  I was telling Alli that I am enjoying this... plus this is a great way to memorize scripture.  Then a song came on that really had me thinking.  It used Psalm 34:10 "Though the lions may grow weak and hungry, those who seek the Lord lack no good thing," and Romans 8:28 "All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and have been called according to His purpose."  As I sat in the car meditating on those words I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the love of God.  Even in my troubles in preparing to leave for Panama God was using all of those moments to train me up into the man he wants me to be.  I thought how liberating it is to know that everything that happens to me in my life is for my good.  Whether seminally negative or positive.  God's word never fails nor changes.  There is so much freedom in following Christ. God is so good!

Do you feel free?  Do you think that God works all things out for your good?  If not maybe you don't fully trust God's word or better yet trust God.  Be freed brothers and sisters and know if you love the Lord that all things work together for your good.

Traveling through the border is always tricky and going to Panama was a new experience for us. We were given trouble at the border from a boarder patrol agent who trying to extort us. Between getting paperwork for the car and trying to find all the different immigration stations, it ended up being a very long time. The boys did incredible! Such a blessing.  After two hours at the Panama border we were finally free! And then began the next adventure of finding our way to the hotel.

Our phones only work within Costa Rica and so we had to find a place to buy a phone card. We stopped at the first store we saw and bought a new phone card with minutes but unlike Costa Rica your minutes do not recharge your internet.  We were planning to use our phone GPS but it needed internet.  So in the midst of me trying to figure out why the phone weren't working the boys ended up falling asleep as we drove around looking for someone to help us. We were driving around a new country and just praying for a miracle. We pulled over at a restaurant with a young gal serving tables. In my best Spanish I asked for help!  She was able to get her friend to help us charge my phone with internet!  Now that the stress was gone it was time to eat.  This experience was stressful but really amazing! God is so good. Here we were praying, asking God to show us where to get help, and on the side of the road at a small little restaurant there were two kind people eager to help us. After dinner we pulled out and made an immediate left. We were on the right track and with a fully working phone!

The rest of the trip was uneventful. What a relief. The next morning at the hotel we talked about how good God is and all the time. We saw how God went before us in every circumstance. We saw His hand in helping us get all the paperwork for Panama, the car troubles, the injustice at the border, meeting the people at the restaurant, and great kids the whole way. It was relaxing but oh do we love when we make it back into Costa Rica.

These visa runs are stressful, a lot of work and extremely tiring for the whole family. However the good, the easy, the hard, the frustrating, all of it works together for our good.

We often ask ourselves do we see hardships and blessing as for our good from the Lord? Not only does the answer YES bring us peace but understanding. 

May God be glorified in all of our lives.

Panama is a beautiful country.

Caleb and Micah have been asking to play at a park for so long.  The hotel in Panama had one!  It helped to have some new friends to play with.

Judah playing Mr. Flirt.  Oh does he turn some heads.