Habla Espanol?

I can remember what I was like when Faith and I were dating.  I must have worn people out with stories about my girlfriend.  Any one who would listen would end up knowing an interesting fact about Faith, her latest story, or what we had talked about the day before.  Whether I said it or not, everyone could tell that I was totally smitten!  

I could turn any conversation into an opportunity to talk about her!  It shouldn't be difficult to bring the object of my affection up in conversation, it just happens because I love her.  I still find myself talking about my wife in casual conversation because she means so much to me and want others to know how cool she is.  If we had only met today, it would be hard for me to last 10 minutes without saying something about Faith, Kaleb, Keziah, Annah Lucia, and/or Isabella. (Kaleb pointed out that we spelled all of our kid’s names wrong according to spell check.....)  I want others to be able to share in my joy about those I love!

Wednesday I paid a mechanic and a translator to drive to San Isidro with me in a rented car to look at vehicles as we are still searching for a good car to buy. (It’s harder than you may think to locate a reliable vehicle for a good price here!)  Long story short, we came back empty handed, but the translator needed to stay in San Isidro so I drove back with my mechanic friend Martin(MAR-teen) and a very limited vocabulary on my part.  

I hit all my normal phrases such as: “Much rain!”, “How old are you?”, “How many children have you?”, “Nice day!”, and “Isuzu Trooper no good!”.  So, after about two and a half minutes I was out of things to say even though I really like Martin and wanted to talk to him about life.... and God.  After sitting in silence and frustration for 20 minutes, I finally decided that I’d give it another try.  I think I may have asked him about what he thinks about God, and if he goes to church.  After that I am pretty sure I invited him to church and he seemed excited, but I guess time will tell if these are the things that I actually said.  

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things that we cannot see will last forever.”   

II Cor 4:17&18

I am in love with God!  I have had extra time on my hands lately and have been trying to spend extra time in his presence.  I find myself falling deeper and more hopelessly in love with him.  So, it is frustrating not to be able to talk about him with my mechanic friend and only being able to hug orphans and ask about their names and ages.  

I know that others are supposed to be able to see God’s love in our lives even when we don’t speak, and this is what I am currently praying for.   I guess we thought that we would be able to use our online lessons, save a bunch of money, and catch on pretty fast, but that doesn’t seem to be working too well at this point.  We want to be sharp tools in God’s hands, so starting next week we will be starting some spanish lessons with an instructor.  

I remember the story of Moses and how he told God that he couldn’t speak well.  God made a way for him to do what he was called to do, and I know he will make a way for us as well.  Please pray that God helps us to learn the language as quickly as possible!  In the meanwhile we will continue to love on people and try to show God’s love through our actions.

In other news we are having a great time here in Costa Rica.  Since our last blog we have gotten to again hang out with some orphans at a pool party!  Talk about a good time!  Although wishing I could understand all that was said, we found that playing and fun are universal.  My whole family loves every chance that we get to hang out with these cool little friends!  When they must leave we each feel that a part of ourselves go with them, and can’t wait to see them again.  

Some of our friends after the pool party.

Faith is going to be taking a shift at our church’s clothing shop while our pastor and his family go back to the States for a month.  She is a little nervous about the money conversion but looking forward to meeting new people and helping out where she can.

We still have not found a vehicle.  We are trying not to obsess about this, but having always had one it is a big change to borrow a car every time you need one or walk to get groceries.  

We were praying about this yesterday morning and Faith told God that sometimes we just need things to be obvious as we may not be the quickest to catch his leading.  We also asked that God would use this experience for his glory.  Later that day we found a vehicle that seemed to match all of our needs, but it was in a town on the other side of the country.  In finding the town on a map with a friend we found that Esparza is also labeled and known as Espiritu Santo.  Espiritu Santo literally means Holy Sprit!!  (Is this the obvious sign that we were looking for?)

We then had a friend call to find out more about the vehicle and it sounds like what we have been looking for.   The seller also said that he needed to head this way soon, so instead of renting a car for $220 and driving across Costa Rica to see a car, he will bring it to us for $60!  It looks like this will have to be a “to be continued.......” story, but we are excited to see how God works out even the “small” issues in our lives!  

Again thank you for all the prayer support!  There are times when nothing seems to make sense (when we are missing friends and family) and we start to doubt, but then feel lifted up somehow and at peace with it all.  We know that this is the power of prayer to our Almighty God!  

We also want to send a big thank you out to those of you who have chosen to financially support us on this journey!  You have been a huge encouragement to us and answer to prayer in this scary and transitional time while we have no financial plan.  

We love and miss each one of you! 

The Ridderings 

P.S.  If you want to support our ministry, the easiest way to do it is via www.WorldOutreach.org/donations -  you can select Aaron and Faith Riddering from the list under the donate tab.  You can also set up automatic monthly Gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option.  Or, simply mail your check to:  World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate for Aaron & Faith Riddering #239

A view not too far from Uvita.

Lovin it!

Surf lesson!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (minus the trains)

It’s not every day that you get a hug from the lady behind the ticket counter of an airport, but that’s what happened to us!  Here is that story as well as a few others to let you in on the latest happenings on our crazy journey.

It took a full minivan and a loaded truck to get there, but we arrived safely at the Latrobe Airport on June 21.  There we stood at the ticket counter with enough luggage to fill the available cargo space on any normal jet as well as most of the overhead bins.  (I recommend that all of you try this sometime just to see the looks on people’s faces!)  We had prepaid for all the extra luggage, but had not paid for the overweight fees as this could only be determined at the airport, so we were expecting to pay an extra $400 to $500 in fees.  

While checking in, and after praying that God would use us to glorify himself on this trip, we explained to Tina (the lady behind the counter) that in one tote there was what may have looked like a bomb as we were bringing a water filter to Costa Rica, but that she need not worry.  Upon hearing this I expected to be involved in some sort of intrusive cavity search, but instead she said, “You guys are on a mission trip aren’t you?”  We told her that we were, and she proceeded to put “Heavy!” stickers on all the bags and not charge us anything for the added weight!  

After the bags had all been loaded on the conveyor belt she simply said, “God bless you guys!”  We all got a little teared up and I told her that if she were on our side of the counter I would give her a hug, so she stepped over and hugged me!  We were on our way!  

Making the best of a very long layover!

The rest of our day was not quite so good with a 10 hour delay on the layover which ended up being a cancelled flight in the end.  So, at 4:00 am on June 22 we arrived at the Holiday Inn in Fort Lauderdale rather than our rented house in Bahia, Costa Rica.  All in all we were in no hurry and the kids got an unexpected day of swimming in between flights, and we arrived safely on June 23 in the afternoon.  

Our luggage had gotten to San Jose a day before we did, but God even had a guy there, (who spoke no english) who found us looking lost.  He knew where our bags were and helped us move our stuff all the way to our shuttle!  

Starting a life here in Costa Rica has been fun and challenging at the same time.  I wish I could report that after a good nights sleep I woke up on Monday morning and God told me why we are here and what we are to be doing.  It seems however, that he will either show us his plan bit by bit or in his own time, so we are trying to spend each day looking for ways to help take part in ministries that are already here.  

Faith was able to help some ladies from our church here (Inglesia De la Costa) with a weekend that had been planned for some older girls from an orphanage.  The purpose of the weekend was to help them get away, hear about God’s plan for their futures, and have a good time.  The kids and I got to join in a little and meet the girls on a trip to the beach.  Faith learned about how the girls are turned out of the orphanages here at 18 and how some end up on the streets as they have no means to start out.  Please keep these young ladies in your prayers as this is really heavy on most of their hearts!

We also got to help out at a VBS this past week where over 100 kids came and heard about God’s love and plan for their lives.  Our kids were able to join in and Faith and I got to help out with serving lunch.  I even got to play a little extreme dodge ball! 

Tomorrow we get to take the whole family to the orphanage that we visited last time we were here and see our friends there!  Our kids were so excited when they found out, you would have thought that we had just announced that we were heading to Disney World!

Hanging out with some old friends.

We feel very blessed to be here and to have the opportunity to look for ways each day to bring glory to our God.  At the same time, Satan uses our weaknesses to cause doubts.  When I am trying to talk to kids at VBS and can’t convey a thought in their language he says, “This was a mistake.”  When we look for a car and can’t find one in our price range that will be reliable he says, “You are a fool to be here at all.  What about the future?”  I would be lying if I said that I never let it get to me, but then I read these verses.

“Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.  Instead, God chose things the world considered foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.  And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.  As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God........Therefore, as the Scriptures say, ‘If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.’”  1 Cor. 1:26-29 & 31

I know that we are not powerful or wealthy and I know that the world looks at us and these latest decisions and sees foolishness, and that’s cool!  It’s cool because when God does something through us, no one will be able to say that it was because of our power or wealth or our well thought out plan.  It’s cool because it will be understood that God did something in spite of us, in spite of the language barrier, and in spite of no organized funding and that he did it for HIS glory!  I hope you can see that we are boasting in the Lord, and my prayer is that you are as well!

Please keep the prayers coming!  I had several people say that they had been praying for peace that passes understanding, and that is exactly what we had during our travels!  Please continue to pray for peace, for direction, and that God provides a vehicle for our family!

We love and miss you guys!,

The Costa Rica Ridderings

P.S.  A big thank you to those of you who have sent some gifts our way!  You’ll never know how much these have meant to us and how God has used these gifts as answers to prayer!  If you want to support our ministry, the easiest way to do it is via www.WorldOutreach.org/donations -  you can select Aaron and Faith Riddering from the list under the donate tab.  You can also set up automatic monthly Gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option.  Or, simply mail your check to:  World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate for Aaron & Faith Riddering #239.