Surf's Up! Catch Up!

We have had quite the adventerous two weeks off from school! First, my mom came for her first visit to Costa Rica. We had SO MUCH fun. It was so great to have her here! We went to a beautiful resort for a few days and saw more wildlife up close than I ever imagined possible. At one point we were counting, and had over 20 different kinds of animals that we had come in contact with on our trip. The monkeys at breakfast had to have been the highlight. Now that I think about it, there are to many highlights to even list! Mom was able to stay for a week. So after we spent some time at the resort, she also got to hang out with us at our home and see our new world. It truly was a great family time together.

After mom went home, we spent a few days on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica in a small beach village. While it was not anything close to "resort" like, it was lots of fun and we had a blast! Again, the scenery here was amazingly beautiful and we saw tons of wild life. Our good friend Janna, who is here in school with us, joined us for our trip. We also got to hang out with a mutual friend of ours that we trained with in Virginia. Stacy is currently in a small village in Mexico. She had the opportunity to come and visit with us for a few days. We all had a great time relaxing and catching up.

Now that we are refreshed and relaxed, we are looking forward to starting our last semester of language school. The kids go back to school this week also, so we are going to get back in to school routine. Please pray with us that God would give us endurance and perseverance as we get back to language learning.

Louderback Summer Newsletter

Louderback Summer Newsletter

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Goodbyes

For the past 8 months, I have been in class each and every day with two wonderful ladies. Katie, Amanda, and I have shared victories, defeats, laughed, and cried together while trying to adjust to a new culture and learn this thing called Spanish. We all came to Costa Rica at the same time and not one of us could speak more than a few words in Spanish. Actually, a few words might be exaggerating, more like one or two. :) Our language school is made up of families from a large number of mission agencies. All three of us work for different agencies, but we share the same goal. We have all left the comforts of the world we knew and have been obedient to the call that God has for our families. It has not always been easy, but I am blessed to have shared this time with these new friends. They have made learning Spanish so much more fun. I am going to miss them so much! Katie and her family will leave this week to go to Nicaragua. Amanda and her crew will head out to Columbia.
Tim and I are in school for a full year. We are going to enjoy a two week break, and then hit the books for one more semester of Spanish.
The missionary life is full of goodbyes. Amazing people come into your life for seasons of time and then, they are gone. While it is sad, it is also amazingly cool to see how God is working in the lives of so many people all over the world.

The only thing constant is change......

When we arrived in Costa Rica we planned to be here for one year studying Spanish and then to head to Panama to begin our work there in December 2009. Well, small detour in plans. You all know how much I just love changes to plans. :)
Several weeks ago, Tim and I were asked to pray about serving on a new team in Panama City. After praying and talking with the kids we decided to accept the new position. So far so good. Just a change in jobs....at least we are headed to the same country. Eventually.
As part of our training for the new team, we will remain here in Costa Rica until June of 2010. That is six months longer than we were anticipating but there are some great perks to our extended stay! The kids will be able to complete an entire year of school at Sojourn Academy. They have attended this school since we arrived and have all really had a great experience. Instead of having to leave mid way through the year, they will get to finish up the whole school year and move in the summer time. They are very excited about that. :) Tim and I will still complete our language schooling in December and we will participate in hands on training from January through June. The great part is that the two families who we will work alongside in Panama will also be in Costa Rica and train with us. We are very excited to go through the training and the move to Panama as a team. If you have time you can visit the Cawthon family over at their blog. They are one of the families that we will be working with. Derek and Audrey are the other team members but they do not have a blog. So, you will have to take my word that they are cool, fun folks. :)
So, here we are. Here we will be until June. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and we are excited to be able to enjoy it a little longer than anticipated.