2016 started. Our first year as a couple, as missionaries together, had come to a close and we were ready for the next one!

We began with a boom, 2 youth camps in Costa Rica, and bringing our 5th team member into our home, Peter Zeller. Quickly following, we welcomed our 6th team member, Keith Morgan, into our home. I finished my formal language learning process, and was officially living with 3 men. We then had 2 back-to-back weeks of Mission trips. When we first looked up, it was already March.

At the end of March, we had an opportunity to be given a property! One of our goals in Costa Rica has been to acquire property, build a camp, and provide a sustainable ministry model for the local ministries of Costa Rica. A wonderful and interesting man sat us down and told us that he was willing to give us the property! We were obviously elated with the offer, and immediately began intense research to find out if this was the place that God had set apart for this mission.

(A secret about Costa Rica: everything takes WAY more time than you think that it will. It has taught us to live in the moment, to have contentment, and patience on top of patience, on top of more patience. It is also one of the most frustrating things about ministry in Costa Rica)

So meanwhile, we continued our daily ministries, the guys were settling into life in Costa Rica and we were growing together as a team of 6. Jason’s immediate family all came to Costa Rica for the first time, including our 3 precious nieces. Bradyn and Jackie celebrated a year of marriage and ministry together and we were all finding our roles in the team. We had two couples come and do ministry team training with the 6 of us, which was awesome, and it felt like we were all settling into a routine.

We had our first intern, Reagan Jefferies, and continued our friendships and relationships locally in Costa Rica. Two of my best friends, Ali & Riley, came to visit for the first time and it meant more than they will ever know. We were finally feeling confident, and most of our closest friends and family knew and understood our life here.

P.S. I truly didn’t know how necessary  this is for a person overseas, for a missionary, or maybe it’s just me. but for all of you that have come to visit, it means the world.

Personally, it was an interesting 6 months for me, and for Jason. The newness of Costa Rica had worn off for me, we were crowded in our home, and were leading others when I didn’t feel totally comfortable in my language skills yet. I had finished language school, and knew the language, but just didn’t have my personality in Spanish figured out yet. Jason leads us all so well, and leads me so patiently, but I know that this was hard for him as well. We were offered a care-taking position for a house in Esterillos, out near the property that was looking very promising. We took the position as a step for our team and to spread the responsibilities throughout the 6 of us. Keith and Peter stayed in the house in San Jose to finish their language schooling. And Jason and I are now living in a one-bedroom apartment, about the size of my freshman dorm room, but it is all we need.

We were finishing details on our August Kenya trip, and lead an ACU COBA group here in Costa Rica. We were hopeful and probably way too attached to this land for camp.

The first 6 months of 2016 were full of exponential growth individually, as a team, and deep breaths of humility thinking about if we could truly handle all of these things. I am deeply grateful for January-July, they were full of seeds and gifts from the Lord, gifts that we couldn’t quite comprehend just yet.