Serving Christ in Costa Rica

Time flies when you are serving the Lord! This update is going to be a little different, so bare with me. I will try to recreate what I wrote before it was hopelessly lost in the technical abyss (the wonderful world of technology!). Now I can add what I forgot, right?

A Story for Kicks: a typical weekend
This month we wanted to start off with a story...a day in the life of a 21st century missionary. While most people are getting ready to relax from a stressful week, we are just getting started. Friday consists of an hour and a half of soccer in the blistering sun. But, you will never see such passion in kids just to play on a field and not in the street with a can. It is a good day if no fights break out and no balls are "lost." Then I (Lindsay) am off to play nanny with the cute kids from La Carpio while their mothers are in the sewing class. Though there is barely any room to play, the way their faces light up when I get there because they know we are going to color or play "Goal" is priceless. Friday night is spent relaxing, getting ready for the girls’ soccer practice on Saturday (now that the girls actually get a time to themselves and the boys are not pushing them to the side).
The early morning is spent going to the feria, the farmer’s market, to pick up the fruits and veggies for the week. There is much more selection at a fraction of the cost and is a lot more fun (besides the men that try to hit on us North American women). Then we make our way to practice carrying the water, balls, cones and pennies. It is great to be able to work with the girls without them worrying about who is watching or how feminine they look. After practice we go home, eat, and rest before our own indoor soccer practice for the team we play on. We may choose to do some laundry, depending if there is space on the line (with 5 people we are very lucky to have clean underwear). I cannot say how many times we have had to go without something because we didn’t plan 2-3 days ahead with our laundry (it takes that long to dry, and longer during the "winter," the rainy season). We go to practice as normal. As of right now we are training for the national tournament, so it's no time to miss. Afterwards we may treat ourselves to a movie, either dubbed in Spanish, or if we are lucky it has subtitles.
Sunday we are up early, deciding in which community we would like to celebrate the service. Usually we go to La Carpio because that is where we work the most, but it is so much easier just to walk to our garage (yes, garage) for the service held there. It is nice to arrive at church in 3 seconds, but there are some drawbacks: 1) unexpected visitors or phone calls at odd hours looking for information, 2) the walk from the shower to the bedroom is in plain view of the church, so we have to make sure the single door separating our house from the church side is closed, 3) because the garage door blocks the regular door when opened, it is not uncommon to have to walk through the Bible study to get into the house, 4) the occasional kid wondering into the house during the service, and 5) the non-existent garden that used to be out front until it became a playground :).
After the service there is usually a celebration of a birthday or holiday or for nothing at all, and we usually participate. If not we may relax and read, but many times we clean because of the "minor" bug problem. We are currently in carpenter ant and abejon (beetle) season as we head into winter, and every season is cockroach season (which are about the size of a soup spoon). We have learned to leave the spiders and little lizards alone because they help kill the mosquitoes and other bugs that seem to only come out at night and whiz by your head. Some of us are fortunate to have mosquito netting to help. But it IS fun to wipe away the ants’ line and watch them run in circles for a while. It is the Discovery channel right in our own home.
We frequently dump the bathroom trash since we cannot flush the t.p. Aahh, how we miss the luxury of a good sewage system. The floor needs constant sweeping since it is all tile, and every once in a while we "debug" the house with Raygon spray (but only when it gets out of hand, so to speak). The trashmen come two times a week, and around here it piles up fast. We have to put it out the day of or else the multitude of stray dogs will tear it apart if left overnight. We may also go to the office to use the computer, since that is one of the only times we can get some work done and get online. There is always something to do, whether it be planning for the English class or Bible study for the week, or writing updates, or other odds and ends for the church. But, since Sunday is a day to rest, we like to go play a pickup game of soccer on the field close to our house or with our friends from the communities where we work. We have "la fiebre" (the fever).
At the end of the day it is nice to spend time in the house with all five of us there, just hanging out and seeing how the week went. We are a family. Us two may have a jam session (Liza playing the guitar and both of us singing) or read a book (a big pastime) or rent a movie (about a $1 to rent and there is no late fee). Liza goes to bed early since she has to work at Casa Abierta on Mondays with the high-enery kids. If we are lucky we talk with our moms on Sunday night, to help fill us up and get ready for the week. And THAT is just the weekend…

The future
A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting with our boss, and figured out what our futures hold in terms of the church. I will be going home on July 3rd after my contract is up. I love Costa Rica but I have a pull towards home, to my family and friends, and so I opted not to stay. Liza, on the other hand, will be continuing another year as a volunteer, working mainly with the soccer program and helping with delegations from the U.S. As a result, she will be raising funds for another year, but she will send more details about that later. She has felt a calling to stay and continue, and I know she will make a huge difference.

The Brazilian
Apparently we are going to have a new addition to the house starting this weekend. No, not a baby :). There is a Brazilian volunteer moving into our already crammed house, and the church is running around to get another mattress, utensils, a bigger fridge, and some other odds and ends that we need in our house. Until I leave we are going to be like the Brady bunch. We will see how it works out. Between being connected to the church and living 6 under one roof, there is a new meaning to the phrase "personal space."

CAFTA/TLC
Now onto a more serious note. When we first got here, we promised ourselves we would not get into the politics, it was just God, the people, and us. We are not serving our country, we are serving our faith. Now we realize we cannot help but get involved; we cannot plead ignorance to such a huge problem between our country and the country in which we are serving. Some of you may have heard about the Central American Free Trade Agreement/ Tratado de Libre Comercial and some may have not. I would like to offer some information about what we understand about it, because I don’t think we realize how much our government’s decisions affect the world, especially the developing world.
This agreement gives Central American companies the opportunity to relocate within the U.S., and in exchange, the U.S. will be able to relocate within their countries with little or no penalty (taxes, etc.).
There are some major problems here:
-We already have many businesses within Central America and profit from them (Dole, Chiquita, Intel, etc). Also, we will be able to bring all our materials, and so these countries will make no profit
-If we choose to use their resources, however, we will use what we don’t have access to: raw materials (a.k.a. rainforest, land, etc.)
-There are few companies that would be able to move to the U.S. Most companies do not have the technology, money or manpower to move to the U.S. Therefor the profit for the Central American companies will not amount to the profit our companies will gain, possibly less than what they make now. Is our government going to help them with all this?
-In the short term some in the developing countries will benefit because of the new jobs created. This also means that U.S. employment will go down. Also, there are a lot of little businesses that will close (probably on both ends), and the big companies will not be able to employ all of them. The supply of workers in developing counrtries will be higher than the demand, so the companies can pay them whatever they want; no such thing as minimum wage, unions, etc.
The gist is that the U.S. trans-nationals will benefit and make more money than they already have, while exploiting the developing countries. We have talked with banana workers already who work at least 12 hour days 6 days a week for popular brands in very hot, dangerous conditions. If this happens without the agreement, what will happen when our companies are free to move about and locate wherever they please? Money really is power, and our country has it.
One Costa Rican newsletter I read said it is Imperialism in the new age. I encourage you to find information for yourself; I am sure there are many benefits for both sides, but there are also drawbacks. I see only this side of it and cannot help but feel it is not right. Please check out the ELCA website www.elca.org/advocacy/action/default.asp?cavid=mim/ to get involved, receive updates and possibly talk with your statesperson. Here are some other websites: www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/cafta/background.html for a thorough breakdown, and www.pacesteelalliance.org/pacealliance/pragram/content/941.php for information and resources. There are also many good websites in Spanish, but I encourage all of you to find your own information and take a stand. The bill only has to pass in Congress and it will begin, but we have the ability to stop it. We have a lot more power than we know as North Americans. Basic human rights are at stake, all they want is a chance to live comfortably, not luxuriously, and we have the power to help. Knowledge really is power. Thanks for listening.

Prayer Requests
-for Liza: she has had a hard month, and is preparing herself for another year. Please keep her in
your prayers and she gets ready to fundraise and continue on this amazing journey
-for Lara (our North American roommate): she is going home after two full years of service, and
the reverse culture shock is innevitable. She will, however, be going to seminary in the fall in Chicago

-for the people fighting to have the basics, all over the world
-for the delegations preparing to come and work in Costa Rica over the summer and fall months
-for missionaries all over the world that do far more than we realize
-for me, that on my way home I can show God’s love and find a good church to keep me filled
up as I return to my busy life and try to find a job
-for the people in the Costa Rican church that have such a huge job, a huge role in the development of the

Lutheran church here

Thanks for your time and continued support. It means more to us than we can express, and hopefully you can get a little insight into our very different lives here in Costa Rica. I hope that no one was offended, please accept my apologies if so.

God Bless,
The L-train

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www.elca.org
www.futbolporlavida.org