God is here in Los Anonos

I am watching the Escazu mountains being slowly covered with extremely black clouds. Each time I see this, I think of Mt. Sinai.......”On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.“ Exodus 19:16-19
I always look at those mountains, covered with clouds and think, “God is up there.” But, I know better. Yes, He is there, but He is here as well. He is here in Los Anonos. He is here in each and every poor shanty that is existing down in the barrio below our house. He is walking down the washed out path from Sandra’s house. He is living in the house of Rubin and Ruth; the house that many of us would not put our goats in. My goodness, He was born in a place like that......why wouldn’t He live there? Oh, but if only Rubin and Ruth would know that He is living there!
Moses led the people to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Los Anonos is at the foot of these mountains. And when there is a thunderstorm, the whole valley shakes. And the lightening and rain fall heavily on us all. We want these people to meet with God. We want them to experience God’s grace and love and mercy.
Our addict friend Martin experienced this. I’m not going to put his story here. It’s the same one that I put in our blog. So if you would like to read his story, you can read it on our blog at....... harvesthands.blogspot.com
Our last team was a group of 20 from Vermont. The pastor and his wife are long time friends of ours. Even though the house was filled, or we should say overflowing, it did overflow with generosity and love for the people of the communities that they worked in. It was a wonderful experience for us, as well as for them, to work together doing the Kingdom stuff, for the glory of God. We want all to know that they did an awesome job, laminating tables, painting walls, children’s programs, etc.
It has truly been a joy, yet hard, as we are new at this. We are thankful to God for the church that we are a part of, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Mechanic Falls, Maine, and for their vision to be a support to other organizations here in Costa Rica that are already at work, such as La Vina Escazu and FundaVida. Thank you all for your support, financially and prayerfully. May the Lord continue to bless you all.
Please pray for stamina for us, especially in learning the language. And please pray for traveling mercies as we return to Maine next week for a visit. And please continue to pray for the transformation of Los Anonos.

Martin

I thought that I'd add a photo that Rodney just took of Martin and our friend Luis. Martin is on the left. For his story, see the previous blog.

A Mercy Drop on Martin

Mercy Drops are falling. I once heard David Ruis speak at a conference. He spoke about God dropping His mercy like great big raindrops upon the lost and hurting people of this world, not only because we cry out, but because they cry out, “Oh God, help me!”
About two weeks ago, God dropped His mercy upon a man who we know. His name is Martin (pronounced Marteen in Spanish). Here's a photo of Martin (on left) with our friend, Luis. Martin is a crack addict, who lives here in Anonos. Martin often comes by for food. We used to give him food all of the time, but now we don’t, because we found out that he sells it for crack. Instead, we now give it to his mother, with whom he lives.
Rodney, Luis and John, our pastor friend from Vermont were walking down the dirt road in Anonos, when an addict came running to them for help. They had pulled Martin out of the river, where he had been wedged between two rocks for about an hour and a half. Martin had taken 5 hits of crack and had decided to go for a “swim in the pool”, which in reality was the river which runs through Anonos.
When Rodney and the others finally saw him, he was having a convulsion, foaming at the mouth, with his eyes rolling in his head. The other crack addicts were furiously at work, taking his wet clothes off with a large knife. Rodney and the men were praying for Martin, when the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.
For three days, he could not be located and we all thought that he had died, but God had mercy. Martin joined us at a festival that was held here in town last Saturday. He said that he’d been clean for a week. Mercy dropped on Martin. He has another chance to allow God’s love to give him strength. Please pray for him!

Yesterday, once again, I walked the muddy dirt road in Los Anonos with our friend Luis and his two children. I went up one of the washed out pathways where the sewerage runs and the rains have taken away the places where there was once sure footing. It is very steep and slippery, because of the abundance of rain. I consider it difficult, and when I think of the mothers carrying their children and their groceries, I wonder how they do it.
My sneakers are caked with mud - not much left to this pair of shoes. As I pass by the homes, most of the doors are open. And I hear the sounds of music and children and even angry voices that come from these homes. I’m also thankful that the doors are open. It think that this says something spiritually.
Many of these little tin shacks have dirt floors. And I know that many of the people are concerned if their house will wash away during this rainy season or if the house above them will slide into theirs.
Also during this rainy season, it seems like the use of drugs, alcohol and violence increases. As I look around, and as we’ve come to know some of the people here in Los Anonos, there are those who are not affected by living in poverty, because of their relationship with Christ. Then there are those who are affected by their poverty. This poverty is the lack of knowing God’s love. Many of these turn to desperation, drugs, prostitution, violence, domestic violence, alcohol, etc., much like in the States, but it seems more extreme here.
We know that God’s love is here. It just seems that they have been blinded and their ears are deafened and their minds have been bent towards hopelessness. It can be so depressing at times.
I’m reminded of several verses; Luke 6:35 & 36, where it says “He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (paraphrased).
So we ask for prayer on how to reach the blind, the deaf and the hopeless that are not able to comprehend the love of God and His ability to transform. We ask for prayer to show God’s mercy just as much as we ourselves need it. We also ask for prayer for endurance and perseverance, because at times, seeing so many hopeless victims, it can be overbearing.
Again, I’m reminded of Romans 5:1-11. Worth the read.
We rest in God’s promises. We want to bring glory to the Father. I know that I can speak for Cindy, as well, and Marsha, who lives with us.
I’m reminded of ten years ago, when the planting of the church in Mechanic Falls, Maine, happened. Isaiah 58 and Isaiah 61 were the two chapters of scripture that were given to us to remind us of the kind of church we would be. We are seeing this unfold, more and more, both in Mechanic Falls and here in Los Anonos, Costa Rica.
We want to see the last part of verse three of Isaiah 61 more and more. It says that “the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.” We know that God is the one who does the planting and in this He is glorified.
I leave my muddy shoes outside by the doorway for another day, for another walk into the community of Anonos, where God has brought us for this time in our lives.