Rice and Beans of Life: July 2020

Delynn gave me this mug a year after we moved to Costa Rica. He had my name for our secret Santa Christmas gift exchange ... "I gave you this in hopes that you'll love CR so much you'll want to stay with us for a long time." ... I use this mug every morning as I share coffee with Jesus and the spider that inhabits my Hiding Place. As the warm, richness of this liquid pours through my body, my soul and spirit are saturated with Father's intoxicating presence. This week, a flood of tears have joined company with my beloved mug.

We are grieving hard. For those who haven't heard, we are shocked and saddened by the very sudden death of Delynn Hoover, Executive director of VidaNet, the ministry we work with here in CR. He had a heart attack Monday July 13 and his funeral and burial were held in Honduras on Tuesday morning, July 14. He and his wife, Gloria, had been living and serving on the Honduras VidaNet base since March. Due to Covid-19 restrictions were waiting for the opportunity to return to CR.

Our leadership team of 4 couples is a care group. Delynn, Gloria, Manuel, Liz, Vinny, Carmelinda, Daryl and I ... 8 different personalities, it's the way Father designed it. Our meetings would probably be cut in half if we didn't care so much about each other! We opened our hearts to one another, feasted, laughed, cried, prayed, debated decisions, shared our frustrations and we sought Father's wisdom in leading the ministry of VidaNet to glorify God. This ministry was, is and always will be God's, not Delynn's. However, it was the visionary outlook that Father planted in Delynn that was constantly pushing us forward (can we just focus on one thing ... ), out of our comfort zones (no, please don't make me do that ... ), and creating pressure to grow us closer to Father's best for us as individuals and as a ministry (a beautiful and painful process ... ). Thanks Bro, for challenging us 6 years ago, to "come see what you're doing in Costa Rica", teasing me like a sister, trusting me, and honestly loving me, "Little Jenny Diener" through the eyes of Father!

Please pray for our leadership team and staff as we regroup, refocus and run to the Father. Pray for the families of Delynn and Gloria who are grieving across borders due to Covid-19 restrictions. Pray for wisdom and direction as we still have 16 students and staff who need to return to their countries of origin. Pray for Gloria, Carmelinda & Vinny and Manuel (the son they are raising). Pray for the seeds that have been planted to grow into a harvest throughout the nations!

To donate towards VidaNet's funeral/travel expenses, please go to:

vidanet.org

Please know how grateful we are for each of you!

Your prayers, messages of comfort, care and love have covered us and carried us in the comforting arms of Father.

Staff picture, fall 2019

My happy place ...
The sacred place where they all get along!

It was almost 7:30 and dark outside before I realized I didn't hear any chatter from the Three Amigos. We were all occupied with something other than Adam's whereabouts. I began to have a faint recollection, from 10 years ago, of a dear neighbor calling me to ask if I know where my youngest (Jedidiah at the time) was at the moment ... He was standing on her front porch when he was supposed to be napping! Adam, and crew, are outside the majority of their days, their voices are constantly heard and the gate is typically closed. In the present scenario I asked, "Does anyone know where Adam is?" ... The last anyone knew, he was riding bike outside the big black gate. Realizing he wasn't in the two likely places, Santi or Mati's houses, we opened the gate and began calling for him. He was happily seated at the supper table and enjoying a fresh tamale with neighbors outside the gate! "Well, I was riding bike with Stephani, she was called in for cena and invited me to eat with her so I said sure, yeah!"

I had a conversation with our eldest mighty man about how different his child-rearing was in comparison to Adams ... wow! Micah grew up surrounded by family, friends, English and a mom who spent her days teaching him to read, write and to love Jesus. Mom knew where he was, what he was doing and if she had to work an evening, Dad and Grammie were equally attentive. With each addition of a mighty man, Mom became slightly less vigilant/overprotective due to survival mode. Adam, the last of said m.m., has a Mom that spends her days 'at work', her evenings at home, is teaching him to read and write in Spanish with his class via zoom, how to share Jesus cross-culturally and he receives Mimi's loving attention via video calls. Adam has had more candy and coffee in his first 7 years of life than Micah has had in all his 17 years combined. Adam started school 3 months before he turned 5 in his second language. Micah learned to read and write with Mom until he was 7 years old. Adam communicates his heart with Mom in Spanish, Micah shares his heart in English. Micah's close friends before he was 10 years old were his cousins and care group kids. Adam thinks he lives with his best friends, they just sleep in separate houses!

With Micah's imminent move to the States, Adam's finally going to sleep by himself, and the Corona Virus quarantine, the question Father has laid on my heart is ... "How am I investing in the lives of those I'm close to, those in my social bubble?" Am I just going through the motions of the day, trying to get the tasks or school done or am I stopping what I'm doing to listen to their heart? Am I using (have I used) this time wisely in Father's eyes? If life were to return to normal tomorrow, we'd be back to busily going here and there and missing the sweet connections we've had as a family and sharing tamales with the neighbors. What am I doing to invest in their lives that will have lasting impact on Father's Kingdom? Before you let the angry beast of anxiety rise up within you as it tried to with me, consider this ... Where is my trust? Is it in my own 'learned by experience' ability and savvy wisdom I've gained in my soon to be 48 years of life? Or is my trust in the saving grace of Jesus as I follow His lead and 'act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before Him'?

Father's heart is about taking the time to invest Jesus in them, no matter what life "was like, is like or will be like". This promise is our legacy ... From everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear Him; and His righteousness with their children's children. Psalm 103:17 ... even when they leave the big black gate!

Social bubble investment ... Trusting as I obey ... Sharing life, sharing Jesus!

Life on the Mountain
Praises ... So incredibly blessed to share life with our social bubble ... It may be a bit outside government regulations, but in my mind it includes: 13 friends who live behind the gate with us and 20 who we could potentially interact with daily at Casa VidaNet! ... Birthday bikes, celebratory dinner for good grades in the first semester ... Two weeks of vacation from school and taking a break from our relationship with routine ... A truly relaxing beach vacation complete with NO TV, NO internet and lots of monkeys! ... Celebrating with Vida220 students via a zoom Graduation ... The sweet peace of delivering necessities to 4 Mama's from El Nido, 2 of which recently delivered healthy baby girls ... Father's grace that covers our humanness ... Time to listen and hear their hearts, time to sit and fellowship, time to cry and pray together, time to invest Jesus!

Prayers
In these uncertain times to stay nestled close to Jesus listening to His heartbeat
Restrictions were slightly lifted and our virus cases soared
Heavy restrictions imposed once again ... we can only drive on Tuesday and Sunday : (
Micah's flight to the States August 6th ... Mama is choosing to trust His perfect plan
Youth group dynamics with Jedidiah joining M & J

**Urgent need** We are truly grateful for all of you who have supported us financially on this journey, truly a gift from Father! We have an urgent financial need for VidaNet, the ministry we work with ...

VidaNet and the Vida220 Discipleship School have 16 people that we need to move around Central America to get them to their home countries. It is going to cost $10,850 or approximately $680 a person to get them home. Unfortunately we are currently operating at a deficit due to not having our summer teams come through our Vida Missions program ... We need to raise this money asap! WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO HELP US? These students have had their lives changed and we want to see them get home so they can effect their communities!!

To donate: https://vidanet.org/donate/friends-vidanet/ or contact Daryl at: daryl@vidanet.org

Thank you for prayerfully considering this urgent request!