December events

December has been a great month in many ways.  ProMETA is going to finish the month in the black (financially), Judy finished the fall term successfully with only one second grader not returning next month, and, on the 14th we will be leaving for the States for two weeks with family in Chicago and Ft. Lauderdale.  Unfortunately we won't be able to see Kris, Hanjo, Kyla and Kiara so that visit will need to wait.  But God is good and we look forward to our time with family. 

We've had a few inquiries regarding personal support.  Honestly, we're more concerned about ProMETA's financial status, but I did notice that December has not been a good month for either ProMETA or our personal support. Because our support figures are based on 12 month averages, this month looks rather meager as we have dropped to a little over $1,000 per month in support lacking. We'll see how the month finishes, but it looks like we will probably end the year around $600 a month lacking. It's been an interesting year support-wise since we'veactually been totally supported for one month (September) and never more than $292 per month lacking until December.We pray that 2011 will be a great year for both the ministry and personal support as we press on with equipping Latin America's leaders.

Although I've not been able to confirm the report yet, I was told that we've had over 70 applications for the January term. Although most of those applications will not materialize for this next term we are always encouraged by the many leaders who do begin the application process because some of those applications are kept on file and eventually materialize as ProMETA students.

Busy November

November is setting up to be quite a busy month, as if last month wasn't busy enough.  In October we invested a great amount of time working on budgets for ProMETA, hosting a faculty rep from BIOLA University, gearing up for some promotional initiatives for the coming months, and four days of ProMETA strategic planning meetings as we look toward the next five years. And of course, Judy keeps busy with her passion: teaching missionary children at the MK school. On top of those activities, as a member of the ReachGlobal team, I have virtual meetings twice a month with the area leadership team with the concommitant responsibilities produces by those meetings, frequent meetings with various team members, etc., etc.  In November, we'll be spending nearly three full days in a team spiritual retreat with ReachGlobal veteran missionaries, George and Donna Warren.  Also, we're gearing up for presenting ProMETA to nearly 1,000 leaders at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Nov 19-20.  And, the office here in Costa Rica is getting ready for the next quarter that begins in January.

Back in Costa Rica - Sabbatical was wonderful!

We returned to Costa Rica a little over three weeks ago after having been blessed with an extraordinarily great sabbatical. Even though we did not accomplish all our sabbatical goals, we certainly accomplished the ones that were "musts" for us (re-energize, re-focus, and establish a sustainable "rhythm of life") that will help us do ministry and life in a more balanced way.

What did we learn while on sabbatical? Well, much more than we would be able to put in this blog, but certainly one of the main areas to which we gave focus was understanding how to balance our responsibilities with other needs such as rest, renewal, and similar priorities that have not been priorities. So, during these first three weeks back, we've been sensitive to what a good balance should be.  We may not be there yet, but we do sense that we have been able to do better in this area.  That has been good.

So, in the spirit of taking some meaningful time off, about two weeks ago, Dr. Enrique Fernandez and I took advantage of a national holiday and drove into the Costa Rican cloud forest, and with the help of a guide (whom we met "by chance") were able to walk into the mountainous area and take pictures of the elusive Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. Dr. Fernandez (Quique), himself a Guatemalan, commented that he had never seen a Quetzal in his own country. It truly is a beautiful bird. 

Sabbatical and family

These past six weeks of the sabbatical have been focused on family. We've spent the month of June as well as the first part of July with family in the Chicago area. The picture of our granddaughters, Kyla (right) and Kiara (left) was taken on the banks of the Mississippi river in Dubuque, IA about two weeks ago. Kris, our oldest son, and the two girls came over from Boston to spend two weeks with us along with my (Keith's) parents and siblings in Dubuque. Hanjo remained in Boston during that time to prepare for a major exam she will be taking at the end of this month (we will be going to Boston on the 16th of July for nearly three weeks, so we look forward to spending time with the whole family). Although we would love to spend more time with family, it has been so good to have some time with all members of our immediate family (parents and siblings) during the past six weeks. This afternoon we travel to Ohio to see Judy's youngest sister, her husband, and another one of Judy's sisters and her husband who are traveling back from their family vacation. It's been so good to reconnect with family members these days!

Sabbatical continues.

How boring of a title - "sabbatical continues." Yet, as we move through our sabbatical, with minimal contact with the team back in Costa Rica (yes, I have had some contact on a few issues), we need to remember that this time is designed to be rejuvenating, relaxing, refreshing, and a few other "re's" that will enable us to return ready to get back into the harness and work with the team. There have been a few things we have done that were not part of a sabbatical activity. For example, we participated in a missions conference recently at the Glenview EFC in Chicago. Next week we will be driving up to Chicago for a family wedding and then will head down to San Jose, Costa Rica for faculty meetings (training) and a greatly anticipated team spiritual retreat with Jim and Leta Van Meter of Paraclete Ministries. So, the sabbatical continues and we're thankful for this period of "not-too-many-exciting" activities.

The sabbatical begins!

Judy and I have been in the US for two weeks now and are getting settled in for what we hope will be a wonderful time to refresh, re-energize, study, and prepare for our return after Labor Day. Our itinerary is still being developed but we anticipate some travel, much time in libraries, time away from the office in Costa Rica, and a break from my ProMETA emails (one of our staff members is monitoring and filtering all my EFCA emails and forwarding only those I must receive (like sales announcements - just kidding!) . As you may have noticed by our lack of entries in this blog for nearly three months, the schedule has been incredibly full, but these next few months should be incredibly refreshing. Would certainly appreciate your prayers.