Niemann Family: Costa Rica Missions Trip Wrap-Up

July 3

Well, we are on our way home! What a amazing 2 weeks. Every day brought something new and different, from new words or phrases in Spanish, to different foods to try or God's hands at work, we experienced it all. When we were turning out the light last night Hillary commented, "we've seen so many miracles in the past 2 weeks!"

Like what you might be asking? Well, let me share just a few.

Brenda. This girl was run over by an ox cart filled with over 2,000 lbs. of gravel. She has no broken bones, no internal damage and her soreness quickly became manageable. Penny fell at the site of the accident trying to help Brenda and did not get caught under the wheels. Brenda's travel insurance has covered the crazy costs of treatment. Karen was able to easily handle a night of no sleep.

Karen. Karen has dealt with insomnia for some time and she slept very well during the trip, in spite of the humidity and a top bunk. She also had a potential charge of over $550 on her cell phone because of an oversight on the part of an AT&T service representative get significantly adjusted. Anytime things go well with AT&T, I consider God's hand was seriously involved.

2 young men from Parrita. We'll call them M & T...not long ago these teens walked away from the clubhouse and people who have loved on and cared for them for a long time. They gave in to peer pressure and allowed drugs to enter their lives. We gathered together as a big group on June 25 for fellowship, and we spent a lot of time praying for them. Last night the group gathered again, and afterwards I asked Diego how those two were doing and if he had heard from them. He lit up and said "Did you see those two boys who joined our fellowship tonight? That's them!" One of the boys, who had essentially lived with Diego most days every week before he walked away, showed up at Diego's house, went to church & spend the day with him and then came to fellowship. Both M & T told Diego they had been off drugs for a week, and agreed to go with Diego to San Jose the next day, along with some other teens, for drug testing and to start a rehab program.

Josh. Josh was stung by a black wasp and his arm had some serious swelling and color change. Within a day of minor treatment from nurse Karen, it was almost completely gone.

There were so many other little things...no major illness, safety when balancing on stepladders to paint, protection when driving at night in strange places, provision of an incredibly kind car rental manager just to name a few.

Things we learned in Costa Rica: 1) cold showers are great when it's hot and humid; 2) when the entire country loses power for over 2 hours you are left wishing for those fans that didn't seem to be helping much before; 3) you really should buy two more jugs of water instead of just one; 4) I need to keep working on my Spanish...a lot; 5) we are really spoiled if for no other reason than that we can throw our toilet paper in the toilet and not in a trash can; 6) Seeds of Hope has some absolute ROCK STARS on staff; 7) God is ALWAYS working. Seriously. I knew that before I went to CR, but it hit me so hard yesterday. Even though I was praying for M & T all week & they were on my mind, God really was working in their lives, even though I wasn't deep in prayer every day. When we pray, He listens. And He doesn't get distracted.

As we sit in the Houston airport waiting on our flight back to Wichita, I am getting choked up just thinking about all this. Thank you Mountain View for agreeing to let Hillary and I tag along on this mission. Thank you Seeds of Hope for making us feel part of your family. Y'all are awesome and you haven't seen the last of us!

So now what? Well, glad you asked. When we return we will be meeting with our church and friends about how we want to support SOH. We have some ideas that will help us not forget...help us stay connected...help us remember how important it is that people everywhere know Jesus. Stay tuned!