Meet Adela, a sweet woman with dreams of a new home for her and her grandchildren.

With financial donations and Short- term teams from the States and many donated hours of work, her Dream became a Reality!  Thank you Jesus for allowing us to see this beautiful woman be blessed by your children.

A few months ago, Conexion, the organization we work with, was contacted by a lady in California that wanted to know if we could help her by building a house for someone in Costa Rica.

This lady had been here on a mission trip here and met a sweet grandmother, Adela, who was living with her grandchildren in a shack that her son had built 30 years ago. Seeing the condition of the grandmothers shack, the love this grandmother had and having a huge heart herself, she wanted to have a new home built for her.

There are a few issues with this.  Adela is living in a town called La Carpio.  This is an extremely dangerous area of Costa Rica, where you would not enter without a local Pastor with you.  Also, monies had to be raised, blue prints made, and skilled hands hired.  God provided abundantly for the finances, a local Methodist Church pastor cooperated and assisted !

 It was difficult to get “before” photos because her house was so small and dark.  I do not remember seeing windows. The roof was made of scraps of metal and a Papa John’s Pizza Banner. The bathroom was outside of the house.  Now, she has a bright colored house, both inside and outside, indoor bathroom and plenty of doors and windows.

 We had a Young Life team from Texas take the house apart piece by piece. We were trying to  salvage everything, except the nails!

 Walls were built, doors and windows were added; keys were handed over to Adela.  A Church team from Texas paint the exterior and interior of the  house. The only thing left for us to do is place a kitchen counter into the house. 

                       Adela was thrilled. It was overwhelming for all of us to see her smile and to see her grandsons working alongside us to complete the house. 

When the constructions workers heard that the house was being donated on a limited budget, they accepted less pay and gave more of their time to see it finished.

It was fun the last day, when they arrived to see the Texas team putting the finishing coats of paint on the house. I think they were impressed!

 We also had the Pastor of the Methodist church help take the house apart and open his home for our bathroom breaks.

We prayed over this house and family before the project was started. We prayed for safety and finances. We prayed for God to be glorified and we prayed for the house to be used as God saw fit! Each step has been planned and prayed over.  Thanks be to God!

Here is a list of random things that I never thought I would have said, but yep, I said all of them and many of them I repeat daily!

• Hey, come look at the size of this … (it could be an ant, a beetle, or other weird insect)
• Oh, I like that graffiti on the wall.
• Let’s go to the Soda to eat and then we can get something to drink at the Puperia
• Feria!  (Farmer’s market- open every weekend)
• Can you hear me?  Can you hear me?  Can you hear me now?  Aw, bad signal, call me later
• There is a lizard in my _____ bathroom, kitchen counter, den, in the pantry, ect…
• How many more people can you fit into your car?
• There is a possum in the cat garden
• We have more people showing up, can you stretch dinner for more?
• Our dog is an indoor/outdoor dog… we just never close our back door
• How do you say____ in Spanish?
• Look at this beautiful spider
• I love seeing the mountains and big leaves
• It’s raining again
• Kirsten has a baby lizard living in her room
• Drew has doctor appointment
• Is there a hill?  (I don’t like driving our stick shift up hills because people always stop and we have Big hills)
• Remember to pack your towel and pillow (I say this at least twice a month for our medical missions weekends).  I have still forgotten them twice!
• Can you please stick your hand out the car window so I can pull in front of the speeding car (less words said, but you get the point)
• You saw me coming! (this one is screamed at the car that wouldn’t let me pass or honked when I pulled out in front of them)
• There has been a change of plans!!!!  Short term teams hear this one A LOT!
• Do you want a cafecito? (This means it’s time for a coffee break)
• I’m not sure, but I think this is the right way to get to ______
• Roll ‘em up!
• Let’s skype soon!
• Yep, it’s Rice and Beans….again!
• Can we drink the water here?
• There is another cockroach in the kitchen (pretty much can change the last word to any room in the house)
• We need to buy another umbrella, this one is broken
• When we go to the States, we need to buy ___________ (food, electronics, clothing, medicines, dog toy, make up, ect, ect, ect.)
• Hey Bryan, a motorcycle just slid under my car! (Thank goodness, I only had to say this one once!)
• Oops, I missed my turn! 
• How deep is the river?

I became a Christian at a young age and learned about God's love for me throughout my whole life.

I have fond memories of being a kid and going to VBS.  VBS was full of making brown paper bag puppets, eating great snacks and singing songs about God's love. “Jesus loves me” and “He's got the whole world in his hands”, those songs were engrained in my mind. It wasn’t only during VBS that I learned about His love for me.  It had been reinforced by my sister and Sunday school teachers.

Through my childhood and into my teenage years, there was never a doubt of His love for me; even though there was many times that I was less than lovable. He saved me numerous times through some questionable decisions I made.

Many years later, I switched places and became the Sunday school and VBS teacher. It became my time to teach the children about this awesome God we have. I as given the opportunity to walk many children through the Salvation prayer and explain to them that He lives in us, if we will just invite Him. 

I got this… He’s our best friend and He is always with us!

Recently, I ended up in the emergency room and for the next 12 days, I stumped the doctors each day when a new symptom appeared. I would go from having pain, to getting better, to my blood counts dropping and almost being admitted into Intensive Care, to swelling and thank God, to finally improving.

It was during my time in the hospital that one of ministry partners and good friend reminded me that:

God is in Me and God is with Me!

For over forty years, I've been taught and I have taught others about his love and that he will never forsake us.  So, why was I so surprised to hear those words spoken to me?

Being reminded of His love through those words was like hearing about God’s love for me, for the first time.  It should have been obvious.  Like I said earlier, I knew God’s love for me and I knew he would never forsake me…. Yet, for some reason, hearing those words gave me comfort every time they stuck me for blood (twice a day, every day), for the four IV’s or when I was in pain and could not sleep.

That short phrase hit me over the head and became my “go to phrase”.  I have also had the opportunity to share it with another friend who is going through some trials. 

Life isn’t always easy; we often get a curve ball thrown in our path!

So where is God during those times?

Yeah, He’s around us, but He’s also in Us and with Us, every step of the way!