CGC Costa Rica

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

April

Cailene, Cornelo, Bonnie and Mekhi

Thank you for your prayers and support

Mekhi can now walk! He and Cornelio enjoy going many places together.

Cornelio is designing and welding a new wood stove for his mom to cook with. It is nice to have the tools to be able to help others out. Cornelio really enjoys the process and discipline of creating new things from scratch.

For Easter Cailene made “Resurrection Rolls.” The hollow rolls represent an empty tomb and that Jesus is ALIVE!!! Easter is a fantastic time to share family traditions and enjoy friendship. Jesus is the reason why we take time to celebrate Easter. He brings joy to this day and throughout the year!

Our family tradition that we

started this year was to all

make an Easter Resolution

to improve our personal

relationship with Jesus. We

mainly focused on improving

how we act, think and

respond to others. We also

made a decision to daily live

with an attitude of

thanksgiving.

After the resolution we all took time to really determine what that meant for us personally. Sometimes we need to refocus and realize that our wonderful gift of salvation is just that, a gift. It isn't for us to hold in our hearts and stay there, rather we need to share it with others. We can't be selfish in the blessing of being free in Christ. We need to make a purposeful effort to share what we know so others can experience Jesus personally too!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

March 2016

Cailene's girls group has been meeting for about a year. They are eager to talk about the things in their life that matter and to have others they can trust to ask some of the hard questions they are dealing with. Costa Rica tends to be male dominate and many women do not have a voice or feel they can do anything but stay at home and take care of the family. Few women pursue and education beyond high school. In the girls group they were saying how unfair things are at their houses. From two different homes two of girls have to get up at 6:00am on Saturday to help their mom with chores while their brothers can sleep until noon. Cailene said they need to respect their moms but find a time when they are not rushed, when they can talk alone and express how they don't mind helping and it is part of being a family but that the unfairness of brothers not helping at all is hard for them.

This time of being a teen and needing a voice and learning how to approach things and how to keep peace is very important. Both moms received the words and each one is trying to come to a happy balance. The girls said they have lots they want to talk about and said they would take turns helping lead the group. So next week starts the rotation of leadership. Cailene will be the lead and they will co lead the group and discussions. The trust level is high and the subjects are relevant to where they are and how they can deal with school and family life.

In Costa Rica they do not have writing classes so the kids hold their pencils in many unusual ways. here is a picture of how one person was holding his pencil. Bonnie is showing him how to hold h is pencil correctly. To not make them feel bad they call this the English pencil grip and in this class try to hold the pencil like this.

Ed is an architect from the United States who came down to help us with permit process, get soil samples, and meet with the Costa Rican architect. We are reviewing building plans and deciding where the best location for septic system will be.

We met with the contractor and his son to review school drawings and set up a building plan.

We are looking forward to keeping you updated with what we are doing in Costa Rica.

ONE TIME DONATION

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Febuary 2016

While in the states Bonnie went to see the movie War Room it is all about prayer and going to God in prayer to fight all our battles. The move ends with the actress "Miss Clara" telling God to send her someone new to mentor. Bonnie took this to heart as she went home that night, and asked God to send her someone. She was staying at her mom’s house, and not really knowing anyone new to reach out to but she bagged up some snacks and prayed about sending some people to see the War room movie and was going to go to church to see if anyone might want to go see the movie. The next day there was a knock on the door. A lady Bonnie had never seen before came to get a recite from the swimming lessons her granddaughter took that summer. Bonnie gathered the information the lady needed then looked at her tears and asked if she was ok. The tears welled up and then she cried in Bonnies arms. Bonnie asked if she could pray for her. The lady's name is Christine. They prayed. Here is Christine’s explanation of the day they met. That day both ladies had prayers answered. To God be the glory we are all part of the bigger plan.Christine NicholsI had been trying to deal with a painful situation for some time regarding my precious 8-year-old granddaughter. I had put her through the Marlin swimming class that Bonnie's family owns. I went to their home to get a receipt to show the courts one of the many things I've done with and for my grandchild. In my mind I was preoccupied with many things when I went there. Bonnie opened the door and after speaking to her for a short time I broke down in tears. She offered to pray for my grandchild. I didn't even have the strength to stand up. Bonnie invited me in and began talking to me and helping me calm down. We sat and talked on her mom’s couch for a long time. I asked her for a Bible, and she gave me one.I will never forget her kindness that day. She told me she had prayed for the Lord to bring her someone to help and there I was, needing help. She had several bags of yummy snacks already put together for people to take with them to see the movie The War Room. She gave me a bag of snacks, and I went that evening to see the movie. I really enjoyed it. I consider Bonnie a very important friend. She's a blessing in my life. She's given me wonderful books to read about our Lord and she showed me a church to go to that I really love. She's my inspiration along with the Lord. I'm thankful for that day and I want Bonnie in my life forever.
Cornelio started teaching at the University this semester. He is loving working with the students. He is also coaching Soccer and Martial Arts. Stacie Mande captured this quote from Cornelio:"I am a coach because of the team and the passion I have for the sport itself. There is no other feeling quite like helping young athletes further develop their natural persistence, determination, discipline, resilience, work ethic, heart, and leadership skills. To connect with and respect for others not only in completion but in life."
Cailene's lady soccer team ranges in age from 16-39. They have different backgrounds and levels of maturity. Teaching respect and sportsmanship is important, and using words of encouragement is something that they are working on. This is a new concept to some. Cornelio is also coaching this team. They have a game each week for the next 3 months.

Cornelio has a new group of students at the university. He enjoys the challenge of college students and their many questions. He challenges the students to do more than just take the class, but to actively participate with enthusiasm. Several people in this English class want to be teachers so they discuss how to motivate others in the classroom and in life. How can each person help others to be better in life? To be the teacher that changes lives is why he loves this job. He wants others to consider their passion and let that drive them to be the best they can be.

Baby Mekhi got his first haircut as well this month! Cailene and Bonnie sit on the sidelines while Cornelio coaches the men's team. So for the next 3 months he has two teams he coaches. Both teams needed a coach to participate in this league. They have to register with their Costa Rican number (like our social security number) and each player has to show their card each week to play. It is a very organized and well managed league. Mekhi just likes playing with Grandma and whoever else wants to come over and play. Being active in the community gives us so many opportunities so be available and have conversations of hope and encouragement.

Please don't forget to donate! Also, next month will be the start of the school fundraising campaign, so keep your eyes open for that! We are so excited to finally get to build the school! See you next month!

Thursday, January 28, 2016

January 2016

Welcome to 2016 everyone!

Bonnie has been meeting with a ministry who helps to design and build schools and churches in rural areas. This team specializes in buildings built in other countries made from cinder block. They are offering their architects and engineers to draw up plans for the school with all the requirements by the Costa Rican government at no cost to us.

These plans are detailed and drawn to scale, and will be presented to the city planner in Costa Rica and to begin the permit process for building the school. This team has helped complete a list of things that needed to be done to make the permit process move along smoothly. God knew what we needed and has provided for our every need. We are so excited and are praising God for His provision and continued favor.

Cailene and Cornelio felt like going into 2016 was a bit of a hiccup, but a much needed one to refocus and reanalyze their lives.

As of 2016 we now have reached a new record for our youngest and oldest students! We have from age 2 to 65 and everywhere in between. We are excited to have opened new younger children’s groups and are expecting more growth in the school!

Cornelio was in a martial arts competition and had a hard fall. The other person landed on him snapping his collar bone. He was taken to the hospital. Praise God the bone missed his lung by half an inch. The hard part was he was in the hospital for 8 days with pain pills and waiting for there to be room for him to get the break operated on. Costa Rican hospitals are different. You can only visit for 1 hour in the evening then the rest of the time you and a room full of others are just waiting. Everyone has their own bed but there were 8 in Cornelio’s room all sharing the same bathroom. There was lots of time to think and pray. Through this three week process Cailene continued to teach at the university and the school. It truly was through prayer, family support and pain medication that we headed into 2016.

The things Cornelio come away with was that he learned that a person can have his or her own plans and think that everything is going just fine, but God still changes things for the better. When a person depends on his or her own physical strength to get through the day in and day out stuff our bodies just get weaker and we will eventually fail. Sometimes it takes a bad situation for us to analyze our lives and refocus on God’s plans and that our own personal strength doesn’t make a difference! We all need to learn from our tough experiences in life and choose to grow from them!