We Got it! We Got It!

Arnold and I have recieved our resident visa's for PERU! Can you believe it? We did not have any problems whatsoever! Praise the Lord that it went so smoothly. We weren't exactly sure what to expect since we had so much trouble getting our student visas for Costa Rica so we were holding our breath to see what we would have to do next. The other great news is that the Rains has theirs too! Yeah! When we get there we will need to apply for the kids visas but it isn't possible until we get there.
Well, this really makes moving to Peru feel a little more real....(If only have 40 something days didn't make it real enough! Ha! )
Thank you all for your prayers.

****Side note****Arnold that picture is gross!

His.
Susie

Learning a new tongue

Now that we have been here 10 months learning Spanish, last month I thought it would be good to take on a new tongue. For culture day, I made a Bolivian recipe called Aji de Lengua. Aji is a spicy pepper from South America and Lengua, well, you get the picture.

Congratulations! Arnold is a BIG Brother!

Yep, you read right. Arnold is a big brother. He has a new little brother and little sister, Keith and Glenna. (from the IMB). They arrived in Costa Rica today from the states! Also, 4 other families arrived today as well! They all made it safe and sound and most of them went with us and experienced our Otero tradition tonight for their first meal her in CR.
Please pray for them as they make thier adjustments. All but one family will be living with Costa Rican families, so it is a difficult adjustment at first. When a person who knows NO spanish is dropped off in a house full of spanish speakers that know NO english, it is a little frightening. So please pray for all of them as they begin to adapt and soak in all this new information.
Love you all!
His.
Susie

Bible Study Praise

I thought I would update you on our Monday night house church bible study at our friend Juan’s house. Well, we have moved to a house of another, Don Mario and his family. Over the last few weeks we have had a few more here and there and every week we have grown. Last night we had 25 people! The whole room was full! Rebecca and Alan told the group that we were going to have a birthday party for all those with birthdays in Sept or Oct. So everyone brought something and it was a great time.

This house church experience has meant so much to our new Costa Rican friends that we are working with. Every week, at least one person gives their gratitude with tears. They are really asking some deep questions too, so how great is that! But not only has this meant so much to our new friends, it has ministered to us as a family. Alisha leaned over to me last night and said, “I am so happy that we are here. This is what we are supposed to be doing and I am so excited!” What a wonderful thing for a mother to hear! It is so exciting. We have been in the culture and immersed in the language for almost a year now and we are finally at a point in our language skills that we can begin to see what an impact we can have through us just learning the language. Please pray that we learn all we can in these last few weeks. We want to be highly effective servants of our Master!

*******New Post**********
Last night Juan's mother and 15 year old cousin accepted Christ! What a blessing!

BUSY Week!

Thank the good Lord that we got through last week. It was such a hectic week and seemed to last a month!

Since Arnold is the president of the student council at school we had to organize the yearly teachers appreciation luncheon. It was alot of work but it turned out so beautiful. Arnold had to MC the whole luncheon in front of over 70 people IN SPANISH! Alisha, Ben and Patrick also either read a poem or gave appreciation to their teachers. I was so proud of all of them! All of the teachers said that it was the best luncheon in many, many years.
To end the week off, we had Member Care from the IMB in for our mid-trimester conference. Johnny and Jo Baker led a very nice session on Friday night and Saturday morning.
This week is Spiritual Emphasis week at school. So not only do we have a special speaker every day in Chapel, but we also don't have homework or exams. In the beginning, I thought that was great till I realized that next week is the WHOLE reason for spiritual emphasis week. They get us back for no homework or exams.
Our speaker Elmer Murdoch is from Omaha and we really enjoyed his and his wifes talk this morning. I look forward to his series "Step up to Life" He will present a lesson every day at chapel and then one in the evenings.
These days are flying by and my thoughts turn toward packing and getting ready to move.
These are busy, busy days!
His.
Susie

It's somebody's Birthday

Help us celebrate as Susie turns xx today.

Her email is susie@reapsouth.org if you want to wish her well.

I took my first bath in 10 months!

No kidding! I haven't had a bath in ten months. Bathtubs are not very common in Costa Rica. We all have showers and ours is about big enough for a car to fit into. The couple of times we have been in a hotel that has had a tub, something has been wrong with it and I haven't been able to use it, but last night I took a long HOT bath. WHERE? Well, Arnold and Patrick surprised me for my birthday (both Alisha and Ben are still on their youth trip) and took me to a local hotel for the night.


Arnold traveled so much in the states that he had a free nights stay at Marriott so they went to swim and gave me a day and night of a personal spiritual retreat. The hotel was gorgeous and my time will always be a precious memory. The guys stayed in the pool most of the time that they were there and have a little sun to show for it. I really really enjoyed myself and really enjoyed taking a long hot bath! Thanks guys!

Our girls pajama party was so much fun! There were 10 of us there for the party and then 7 of us spent the night. We started off with a get to know you better game that was so much fun and boy do we know some stuff about each other now! Then we ate and we had soooooo much food. We almost felt bad for not inviting the boys but we got over it really quickly. Then we played yahtzee and then watched a movie and some of us fell asleep ten minutes into the movie but I am not naming any names. During the evening we talked and watched some movies. I think the last of them went to bed around 3:30. (I konked out around 2:30) I woke up around 5:30 to put a casserole in the oven and then some of the ladies got up with me, by 7:00 we were all having breakfast casserole, fruit, juice and coffee as a group. What a special time. What a great idea. Now it is the guy's turn!

Praise the Lord for times of refreshing and renewing. Dios Los Bendiga!

His.
Susie

NO Boys allowed!!!

Ticos sure do love thier holidays! Monday is a holiday for Dia de Culturas. (Day of Cultures) actually it used to be a Columbus Day holiday but it has been changed. So you know what that means....We have a 3 day weekend here so we all have plans!

Susie: About a month ago, we came up with an idea for a girls night out. Just a time to bond, have some fun and make some memories before we all part for our different countries. So, tonight we are having a slumber party for the IMB ladies here in CostaRica. We have lots of chocolate and chick flicks! AND NO BOYS ALLOWED! I am so excited!!! I am gonna bring my camera so I'll post some pics later.

Alisha and Ben are headed to a camp in the mountains with their international youth group. Please pray for thier safety and that they will have a time of spiritual refreshment with the Lord.

Arnold and Patrick are batchelors tonight. They aren't exactly sure what they will do with their time but they don't intend to waste a moment. Please pray that they have some great times and make some memories. (And that they won't play any jokes on us girls! Arnold I do remember the pranks you and the boys played on us at Feminar! And I will get you back!)

Hope you all have a great weekend.
God Bless!
His.
Susie

Radio Costa Rica

If you want to feel a little closer to us here in Costa Rica, you can listen to a local Christian Radio Station. The tower is actually two blocks from my house.

CLick Here

Video Adrenaline 4

Ben's take.

I promise I don't need glasses!

You know you are living in Costa Rica when each night when you go to bed, your ritual includes bringing a wet washcloth to bed to wash your filthy feet and not just putting on lotion but slathering it on. Our feet are so dry here!
Well, when Arnold's mom came for the month, she brought me my Christmas present which was a goodie assortment of lotions and things from Victoria's Secret. So part of my bedtime ritual became rubbing one of the lotions on my feet after washing them and on my legs and arms also. I had run out of one of the lotions so I began using another. I noticed it was alot thicker but I liked that. About 2 weeks later, Arnold was going to turn out the light a little while later after I got in bed, so I did my nightly ritual with the lights on. When I began applying my "lotion" I realized that I had been putting "Shaving cream" on my feet, legs and arms for almost 2 weeks! Really I don't need glasses, I just need to keep the lights on when putting on lotion! OOPS!!
His.
Susie

House Church

Arnold and I are very excited because last night we got to be a part of a first meeting of a house church. We had the first meeting at our maintenance guy's house, Juan. He and his family ( His wife, 3 daughters a son and a granddaughter) were all there and we studied in the book of Mark. We sang songs and talked about the passage. We along with our new neighbors downstairs have a standing appointment on Monday evenings to attend house church at Juan's. The really neat thing is, the land that he and his family live on has many "houses" (not like what you and I think of when we think of houses) but they are filled with his and her relatives. Please pray that God brings a revival to this patch of land and that their lives will spill over into many many others in order to share the gospel with many many people in Costa Rica.

Tonight we had session 2 of our ESL classes. I have already started forming relationships with these precious people and are learning about them and their backgrounds. Hey, we even have a baptist minister in the bunch! What a blessing. We had 3 new students tonight so I ask for you to add them to your prayer list. Their names are: Jose Daniel, Ana Maria and Fredi. Please pray that their hearts will be open to hear the good good news!

We have a little over 70 days and our days are very full. At times it is a little overwhelming. Please pray that we don't busy ourselves so much that we neglect our precious time with our Father. Pray that we finish this race well!

Love you all! Que Dios les Bendiga!

His.
Susie

Happy 15th birthday again!

Well this past Friday we finally had Alisha's 15th birthday party. Her birthday fell right in the middle of old friends leaving and new friends arriving so we figured we would wait until school was in full swing and then have the 1st official party of the new school year.
She had a wonderful time. The whole high school came and we had prepared to have a hawaiian luau outside but as expected it rained so we had to turn to plan B and have the party indoors. We moved all the furniture out of the livingroom/dining room area and placed 30 or so chairs around. After we were done decorating it looked so nice.
All the guests had a great time. They played tons of games, killed a Nemo pinata and made lots of noise! The funny thing is, that with as many boys that were here, they really didn't eat a whole lot so we had lots of left overs. Our neighbor Erica made a delicious pineapple upside-down cake and Alisha and I made a Devils food cake decorated in the shape of a Hawaiian shirt and also a big cookie cake plus hot dogs, chips, fruit kabobs and punch.
Alisha really enjoyed her time and not only recieved some thoughtful gifts but most importantly made some memories that will stay with her forever. And just think, if God had not called us here, she would have never met all these wonderful new friends.
Wish you could have been here to help celebrate!
Que Dios los Bendiga!
His.
Susie