God's Provision #3

Last weekend, the men at the language school went on a retreat where we learned survival skills. (We were at the world famous Royal Ranger Campground!) We had to build a shelter in the jungle and sleep in it over night. Here's a picture of me in the shelter I built with my survival buddy Nicky Ryder. We got to sleep about 1:00 AM. At 4:30 AM the rain came. There's a reason why they call it a "Rain Forest." It was a great experience. I had diarrhea for three days before we went, so I was already weak. The diarrhea continued during the weekend, but God had a provision for me that was nothing less than a miracle. I didn't have diarrhea in the jungle. I didn't have to wipe with a poisonous leaf. On Sunday morning, we ate breakfast near some cabins with bathrooms! But not only was there a pleasant, clean toilet--it had toilet paper! As I utilized the facilities, I was shouting praises.

2 Stories of God's provision

Our lives here are very full. We’re up at 6:00 AM and I frequently go to bed at Midnight—after having studied Spanish for many hours. Even though we’re having regular devotional times, I haven’t received a direct word from the Lord for what felt like a long time.

2 months ago, my family mailed me a package from the states. It didn’t arrive and we all assumed that it had been stolen. Yesterday (the day before my birthday), the package was delivered. Nobody knows where it’s been or why it’s been missing for two months. When it arrived I got two gifts, because the Lord spoke to me. God reminded me of Daniel praying for three weeks. In chapter 10 of the book of Daniel, the prophet received a vision that really disturbed him—so he prayed until the Lord gave him the interpretation of the vision. The interpretation came through a divine visitation by a person who appears to be Jesus. In 10:12-13 he says to Daniel, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”

The Lord impressed upon my heart that sometimes mature Christians accept fate with courage and sometimes God doesn’t want them to accept fate, but rather, to pray through. That was the case in this one. About two weeks ago, the Lord spoke to me about continuing to pray that the package would be delivered, so I did. Yesterday it showed up. God is revealing to me the direct connection between faith, prayer and circumstances. The package was a great birthday gift, but it became even more special getting a word from the Lord at the same time.

Es Verde! (part 2)

Shortly after my "Es Verde!" article, Lena and I attended a Spanish chapel service. One of the songs was lovely and we had the following conversation:

Bill: That was a lovely song, but I had a hard time figuring out what it was about.

Lena: It was lovely. I think I got the translation.

Bill: Really? What were we singing?

Lena: "Without you, Lord, I would be like a boiled Parrot lying dead on the street."

Es Verde!

After one month in Costa Rica, I'm trying hard to win the award for using the smallest vocabulary with the greatest gusto. Everyday, I find that I've been saying something completely wrong. Originally, the cab drivers just smiled and nodded when I made incomrehendable sounds that I thought were words. Now, the cab drivers are starting to correct me. Often, two words sound so similar, it's hard to keep them straight. For example, the word for green (verde) is really close to the word for true (verdad). When you want to say, "That's right!" in Spanish, one way is to say "Es verdad!"... unless you're me. I've made the mistake of saying "Es verde!" on a few occasions. As such, I'm turning it into a trademark. The secret is to say it with a big smile, a lot of gusto and holding one thumb up. If you're in complete agreement, then let everyone know it by saying, "It's green!"

Cuisine in Costa Rica

We love life in our temporary home in Costa Rica. We're fulfilling God's calling with some of the most dedicated people we've ever met. Consequently, we feel honored and blessed every day. That is not to say that we haven't had to adjust. There are some things you can't get down here, like our favorite breakfast cereals (e.g., Frosted Mini-Wheats). Another cereal we can't find is All-Bran Bran Buds (they're little balls of bran mixed with psilliam). I call them "tootee buds." I bought some basic bran cereal down here, so it's not like I’m all bound up. In fact, some of the products down here work in my favor. For example, we have all increased our consumption of beans by 100 fold over what we ate at home. Yesterday, Lena and I had fried eggs over beans and rice for breakfast. I would not be surprised to find frijoles (beans) flavored ice cream down here. (See the note below for the funny story behind this picture.)

Another high fiber food is oatmeal, which has the whole grain in the mix. It's like eating the shell left behind by a cicada--mixed with brown sugar and raisins. They don't sell brown sugar for baking, but they do sell it as a drink. The Ticos drink brown sugar melted in water or milk as a hot drink. So, I buy the drink mix and put it in our oatmeal. They put sugar with caramel in their baking. They love caramel down here and put the flavor in everything. It works for me.

They have really good potato chips down here. I love potato chips that have burnt edges and that's just they way they make them here. In the states, I rarely eat potato chips (preferring peanuts and pretzels). But, chips are popular here, so it’s my form of cultural adaptation. We left some chips out over night and were able to catch this small family of bears sampling them.

Funny story about the beans and rice picture, above: In deciding to write about beans and rice (which is called Gallo Pinto), I thought a picture would help everyone have a better idea of what we are eating. So, I did a search on Google images. The picture, above, came up. When I looked at it, I got a funny feeling, noticing that whoever took the picture had the same table cloth, dishes and cups as we do. (Note the blue table cloth in the potato chip picture.) I clicked on the picture to see it's source and burst out laughing. It is from the blog of my friends Dave & Kelly Godzwa. They're missionaries to Mexico and lived in our apartment last year. Here's a link to Dave's blog, which contains a description of the Costa Rican sausage and traditional coffee brewing method that completed their Tico breakfast.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.disciplemexico.org/uploaded_images/MananaLunes%2520003-751359.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.disciplemexico.org/2006/05/happy-monday.html&h=768&w=1024&sz=175&hl=en&start=17&tbnid=q6jn5wa-8A25_M:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgallo%2Bpinto%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

Tarea is Spanish for Homework

Our school day is both short and long. We’re up by 6:00 AM. Hannah and Colton catch the bus at 7:00 AM. Lena drops Willy and Abi off at the daycare (called the Kinder) at 7:30. We start school at 7:45 AM. We begin with a short chapel service of worship, Bible Study or prayer. Then we’re in class until 12:15. It is roughly an hour of Spanish grammar, an hour of Spanish diction and two hours of guided conversation. Then we have as much as 8 hours of homework due the next day! Obviously, we don’t have that much homework every night and the amount of time that homework takes is dependent on the student. Lena knows a lot more Spanish than I do, so she finishes her homework before I do, in about 5-6 hours. There are a couple days per week when I’m doing homework until 12:00 or 1:00 AM, then I do more from 7:00-7:40 the next morning. It won’t be like this for the whole time we’re here. It’s tough now because we have so much to learn. The good news it that it is for the Lord! So, it’s like a form of devotions. Every Spanish word we learn is a gift to the Lord and a tool for speaking prophetic words to the lost. God has sent us out like surgeons to heal the wounded in the Spanish speaking world and in Costa Rica we are sharpening our scalpels. Nobody wants to be operated on with a butter knife. I say this with tears in my eyes: I thank the Lord for giving us the call and this opportunity to sharpen the tools. Every hour spent in class and on homework is our gift of love to the Lord and His gift of love to us.

You can see more pictures of us in School at http://picasaweb.google.com/BillandLenaPics/

Contact us in Costa Rica

Calling from the states is easy & cheap. We have two phone numbers—one for Cincinnati and one for Cleveland/Akron. So, from those cities it’s a local call. The numbers are:

Cincy: 513-407-5412

Cleveland/Akron: 330-294-0955

The best time is whenever the web is up. It goes down a lot in our apartment. The good news is that if you leave a voice mail, we'll get it. We're in the central time zone, an hour behind Ohio. We're out of school in the late afternoon. We're home on most evenings.

Mail in Costa Rica is reliable. Our mailing address is:

Bill & Lena Shrader

Apartado 614-2010
San Jose, Costa Rica

Family Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/BillandLenaPics/2006ChristmasShow

When my dad died last June, I put together a slide show of his life. This past Christmas Eve would have been mom and dad's 64th anniversary. It was a difficult holiday experience for all of us, especially my mom. As such, I decided to add to the show I'd done of dad's life and add pictures from my parents' marriage--remembering all the wonderful years. (I've posted the show at the link above.) My aunt Melba, who is featured in many of the pictures, is currently battling cancer. I'd like to ask all my friends to pray for Melba, my Uncle Billy and all of their family.

The picture above is of my parents when they were dating. It's one of my favorite shots. The 2nd picture is from our trip to Mexico in 2000. We spent a day in San Diego on the way back home. The hotel was remodeling, so they had all their new toilets lined up in the parking lot. I thought it was a great opportunity for a family photo. That trip was very instrumental in our call to Peru. Nonetheless, when we took this photo, we couldn't have dreamt that we'd be in Costa Rica now with two more Shraders in the bunch. God's plan is good and there's no better place to be than held tightly in His grace.

Life in San Jose, Costa Rica

We're enjoying life in Central America and language school with so many committed missionaries. I recently wrote a friend about our life here and thought I'd share part of that letter with everyone:

Costa Rica is excellent. We're in San Jose, which is in the middle of the country about 5000' above sea level. So, the weather is like a beautiful spring day, every day. The temps are probably in the low 70's during the day. I'm not sure, since they do temps here in centigrade. At night it is cool, often requiring a jacket. Since our house has not heat or air conditioning, I often feel like we're camping. Of course, we're camping in a really nice camper. Our apartment is very large and very beautiful. Our kitchen window is huge and looks right at the language school. So, we can see everyone who comes and goes. As for life in San Jose, we're just getting into it. This week, Lena and I, respectively, took cabs to get groceries or the kids at school. As such, we had to actually talk in Spanish to strangers. It was exciting. The Costa Rican people (called Ticos) are very kind, so they're helpful when I butcher their language.

One of the missionaries went to the beach this weekend. I thought it was too cold to swim. He explained that the beach is 4000' below us. There, the temps are in the 90's and the water is in the 80's. There's also a volcano region. It is higher in the mountains, so it's cooler. Both the volcano region and the beaches offer the jungle. There's a third region, which I think is usually part of the volcano region in most people's trips, it is the coffee region. Really good coffee is grown at higher altitudes. For example, most Starbucks coffee is grown at 5000' or higher, mostly in Costa Rica. I haven't had a bad cup of coffee since I got here.

The cost of living is about the same as at home. We visited the Mall, today. It was our first visit to a non-food store. A nice pair of Columbia hiking shoes were about $52.00. We bought shorts for Hannah at a store like Kohls. The shorts were about $11 a piece. Taxis are fairly cheap. We can get one for about $3.00 to go to the Mall or to a warehouse club.

My understanding of Spanish has grown. My joke is that my vocabulary has doubled in one week. At this rate, I'll be fluent in a month. I'm in the same class as Lena, which is a stretch for me. She's studied much more than I (in school) and has a vocabulary that is 4x mine. I'm guessing that in three months, I'll be able to begin conversations without having to say, "Please forgive me, I only speak a little Spanish." I've made friends with our next door neighbor. He's a divorced father who recently started attending an evangelical church. He hasn't had any discipleship, so I'm looking forward to deepening our friendship.

Kids & Spanish

Abi has been walking around going, “Si, blah, blah, blah.” Tonight, at dinner, Willy said, “Como esta?” I don’t think he knew what it meant, but he knew it was Spanish. He calls Spanish English. The apartment we rent comes with cable TV—which is also our internet connection. I was going through the cable channels looking for English stations. We hit a Cartoon channel (in Spanish) and Willy said, “Dad, that’s in English and we should watch it so that we can learn English.” When I paused on CNN; Hannah, Colton, and Willy all argued for the Spanish cartoons, instead. We haven’t heard any news since we left home. Eventually, the kids will let me watch a little CNN. Ironically, they are not yet eager to watch the Spanish version of Animal Planet.

First Day in Costa Rica

We arrived in Costa Rica for language study yesterday (1-3-07). We got two hours of sleep over a two day period, which is a common experience for people moving to a new country. Here's the run-down on our first day in Costa Rica.

Today we had our Spanish interview and placement test. My interview went great. My placement test was more difficult. The professor told me not to guess. That just about put a stop to anything except the part where I filled out my name. He told Lena that she had Latin in her blood, so she'd do great. (He seemed to ignore my Irish blood.) After the test, a friend (Efrain) took us grocery shopping at PriceMart (a latin version of Sam's Club). They're not owned by Sam's, but there are rumors that Sam's is trying to buy them out. It wasn't as large and it didn't have clothing. It had food, a small electronics area, a pharmacy and a food area (just like at Sam's club) where they sell pizza, TCBY Yogurt and Cappuccino. It was a good experience and it's nice to know that we can still shop at something somewhat familiar. Getting there was a trip. We walked about three blocks, then caught a taxi. It was a little Hyundai...a very little Hyundai. Abi and Willy stayed behind to play with Efrain's kids. That left Efrain, me, Lena, Hannah & Colton. Efrain sat in the front with the driver and the rest of us filled the back seat. It was cozy.

This afternoon, the kids wanted to watch TV. Willy yelled at Hannah to press the speaking button on the remote so that the people on TV would speak English. After Sponge Bob came on, he didn't care. It was interesting because he laughed throughout the cartoon. I'm now wondering how much he understood in English. Hannah's favorite Disney shows came on, all with Spanish dubbing. I usually hate those shows. I told her she's now allowed to watch as much Disney Channel as she wants--in Spanish. I told her that following the show and listening to them speak would be a boon to her Spanish acquisition. She started to bulk at the notion, then started to get excited to learn Spanish. I suspect that the worse that could happen is that she'd become fluent, though shallow.

Tonight we ate our first real meal here. We got the roasted chicken at PriceMart. It was nice. Our apartment is large and attractive. We come into a very large great-room that contains an eat in kitchen, a formal dinning room and a living room. There is a covered patio that is part of a small private courtyard. It's the prettiest part of the house. Most of the rooms have windows looking out into the courtyard. That's very common in latin culture. I'll send some pictures when I get the chance. For now, I'm mega-pooped.

Thanks to everyone who helped us through prayer, financial support and during the move. We are grateful beyond words ... especially if they're Spanish words.

$2,200 = Rich. Half the world lives on less than $2

After giving and receiving some lovely gifts. It's important to also remember the poor on Christmas day. MSN.Com ran a Marketwatch article today that was really interesting. Here's the opening paragraphs:

The richest 2% of the world's population owns more than half of the world's household wealth.
You may believe you've heard this statistic before, but you haven't: For the first time, personal wealth -- not income -- has been measured around the world. The findings may be surprising, for what makes people "wealthy" across the world spectrum is a relatively low bar.
The research indicates that assets of just $2,200 per adult place a household in the top half of the world's wealthiest. To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world, just $61,000 in assets is needed. If you have more than $500,000, you're part of the richest 1%, the United Nations study says. Indeed, 37 million people now belong in that category.
Half live on less than $2 a day

Sure, you can now be proud that you're rich. But take a moment to think about it, and you'll probably come to realize that the meaning behind these numbers is harrowing. For if it takes just a couple of thousand dollars to qualify as rich in this world, imagine what it means to be poor. Half the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day. The three richest people in the world –- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffett and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú -- have more money than the poorest 48 nations combined.
Even relatively developed nations have low thresholds of per person capital. For example, people in India have per capita assets of $1,100. In Indonesia, capital amounts to $1,400 per person.

Here's a link to the full article: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/StudyRevealsOverwhelmingWealthGap.aspx


They don't list the per capita income of Peru. I know that 25% of Peru (roughly 8 million people) live on less than $1 per day. That's poor! People ask me what the cause is. I don't know enough about the country to answer conclusively, but I do think that dishonesty in the culture is a big contributor. A lack of natural resources and education are other factors. Natural resources is an ironic thing to list, since Peru has a lot of gold and silver. Unfortunately, only 3% of the land is farmable. Gold is pretty, but it's hard to eat.

Willy said...

Willy loves the old Keith Green worship song, "You put this love in my heart." He was singing it this morning.

Lena asked, "Who put the love in your heart?"

Willy said, "Jesus!"

"Yes, but how did he put the love in your heart?"

Willy replied, "Because he's MAGIC!"

Lena and I burst out laughing--mostly because of the way he said, "MAGIC!" As conservative Christians we tend to avoid the word magic, preferring the word supernatural (which doesn't have the same occultic overtones). Ironically, we get the English word magic from the word "magi"--as in the three wise men. The main difference for us is who or what is the source of power. If Jesus is the one putting the love in your heart, then it doesn't matter if you call it magic, supernatural or miraculous. If Jesus is the source, it's good.

Nearly 2000 years ago, a virgin became pregnant. It was a miraculous sign, promised long before by our heavenly Father. He gave us the promise so that we would know that the one who miraculously put Jesus into Mary, would be the same One who would put love in our hearts.

This Christmas don't forget to take time to enjoy the MAGIC!

A Merry Little Christmas

We're moving on Dec 26--the day after Christmas. As such, our decorating has been kept to a minimum. Our tree is a 2' tall sprig in a pot. It is very reminiscent of Charlie Brown's tree on that classic Christmas show. We've added to the festive atmosphere with window sticker snowflakes. The house now looks like a shell and most of the boxes are marked with phrases like "Bill's books--theology, leadership & Far Side." In spite of the decorating dearth, our spirits are high as we anticipate a wonderful adventure in Costa Rica and Peru. We're also very grateful to the Son of God, who became a missionary to earth so that we could live forever! So...

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

That which was lost...

Today, I was looking for some receipts that I needed to close out some important financial reports. I was shuffling papers around my desk in frustration. Exasperated, I said, "O God, I need your help!" At that moment, I realized that the receipts were in my left hand! Did I have them in my hand all along or did they appear there when I prayed? I don't know. But I do know one thing--I have often found something that was lost, only after I prayed. I don't know how people live without the Lord. He has bailed me out thousands of times. I am well aware of how I stumble through life like an accident waiting to happen. But the Lord doesn't let the accident happen. He lifts me up, lest I trip (Psalm 91:11-12).

Like the widow is Luke 15:9, I say, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost ... receipts!"

Willy said...

The other day, Willy said, "Dad, I'm sorry for all the bad things I did. I promise, I'm not going to do any more bad things ... right now."

He likes the "Bob the Builder" TV show, even though he's only seen it twice. He goes around shouting Bob's theme, which is "Can we build it? Yes we can!" Sometimes Bob says, "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" Willy's version is more philosophical. Willy shouts, "Should we build it? Yes we can!" It reminds me of scientists who are involved in ethically questionable work (like stem cell research). Just because you can build it, doesn't mean you should. I'm not about to tell Willy that ... right now.

Pain is Good Garlic Hotsauce

There is a company that makes a garlic hot sauce called "Pain is Good." Their labels picture a guy screaming in pain. Ironically, he looks so much like me that I was fooled. When my friend JQ Robinson sent me a bottle, I thought he made the label as a joke. It's no joke. The guy is my twin! I showed it to my mom and she was fooled. Hannah and I tried to replicate the label, but we're novices in Photoshop. As such, this is as close as we could get. Let me know what you think.

Thanksgiving

We went to Cleveland to have Thanksgiving with Lena's family. It was wonderful. The weather was great, the food was plentiful and everyone was in a good mood. Of course, the shadow of our departure was looming close-by, but it didn't succeed in dampening the experience. Lena's family threw a going-away party for us, attended by many of her aunts, uncles and cousins. We felt very honored. I also appreciated how Lena's parents and sisters were pro-active and positive in their response to our soon departure. Rather than sulk, they made positive decisions. My mom did the same. We have always alternated Thanksgiving and Christmas between Cleveland and Cincinnati. As such, this year we did Thanksgiving in Cleveland and we'll do Christmas in Cincinnati. This works well for us, since we're planning on moving out of our house on Dec. 26th--which would be hard to do in another city. But, it left my mom feeling a little left out, spending her first Thanksgiving without my dad. So, she made a healthy decision and had Thanksgiving with my sister in Atlanta. It worked out well for everyone.

The nice weather enabled us to go to the park while Grandma and Lena were working on Thanksgiving dinner. I took the kids to a park that Lena spent a lot of time at when she was a kid. We enjoyed it so much, we went back the next day. It was a blessing from the Lord for Lena--sort of a chance to connect to her childhood roots before uprooting herself for the sake of the Gospel.

Wake up call!

We'll be flying to language school in Costa Rica on January 3. There is more than a little anxiety regarding being prepared for that date. How close is it? Let's just say that it's a real wake up call when you see the date every time you get a cup of coffee.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn is the most beautiful time of year. I've often failed to enjoy the full beauty of Autumn, because I really don't enjoy Winter. I had a hard time enjoying Autumn, because it was a precursor of Winter. I've grown up since then and am now able to enjoy Autumn fully--the color of the sky, the crispness of the air, the sights and smells of the leaves. God is good.


I took these shots of the tree across the street from my office in our house.