Well, the next time we write we will be in Costa Rica!  We leave tomorrow morning at 6:10AM from Columbia.  The Lord is so amazing---every detail He has orchestrated and the ways He has provided for us in such a short time.  He has made it so clear to us over and over that we are doing what He desires for our family at this time in our lives!  Thanks to all of you who have been fervently praying for us!   For those who have been asking about Daniel's medical bills, all of the bills but 1 were written off (PRAISE THE LORD!!) and we paid the last bill off about 2 weeks ago!  What joy we have had in seeing the Lord's hand at work with all of this!  It has definitely all been for His glory!  We are truly humbled at all of the love we have felt over these past few months as we have prepared to go.  God has used each of you in a mighty way to share His love with us and we are forever grateful for it.  We look forward to sharing with you weekly what the Lord is doing in Costa Rica so check our blog often.  Until then, Dios les bendiga y Feliz Ano Nuevo!  (God bless you and Happy New Year)  

The Barretts in Costa Rica: Hasta Luego

Barrett Missionary Page

We celebrated Christmas yesterday...first by opening presents in the morning. The girls really enjoyed their new Polly Pockets dolls and we all got a kick out of the new socks that Santa brought for us to wear in our boots (I'll include a photo of that soon). We are sort of at the end of our rope waiting for the house to be done. It isn't easy living in such a tiny house with no storage space, sporadic running water and rain often blowing in. We are also all sick at the moment so rather than trying to throw together a Christmas dinner, we went out for a treat to Chili Rojo and had a great Turkey dinner courtesy of Andrew (the owner) and his wife Ikuko. We took a family photo before we headed out. Here we are in our Puerto finest...ready to paint the town red...and green.

We celebrated Christmas at house church this past Sunday evening. It was almost a wash. Our plans were to have a Christmas dinner around 5:30 or so, read some of the Christmas story from the bible and then watch the movie "The Nativity Story". Well, our friend that was cooking the pork roast (smoked turkeys were the only traditional option and they were $100 each) got started cooking several hours late as he had trouble finding some of the things he needed. We ended up just waiting around, talking and hoping until almost 8:00pm when the roast was finally (mostly) done. Then, someone showed up with fireworks and created quite a side show. It was rather chaotic and hardly anyone made it through the movie, but we were able to celebrate in the end. That is sort of the way things seem to go down here. Flexibility is one of the necessary spiritual gifts...or you just break. Here's a photo from our evening.

Finally, the house. Please pray that we get through this in one piece. It is definitely a different world down here when it comes to construction. Overall, things are going well but the words "stay within budget" don't mean anything to the contractor and the laborers. We are finding ourselves in the position of either paying more or having them all walk...and there isn't much more available to pay. It is very frustrating because I have tried to plan well and stay on top of things the whole way through the process. that only works when all parties are on the same page and unfortunately, that is next to impossible. It looks now like the house will go up to $10,000 over budget and we have no control over this. Even though we have a contract, there is no ability to enforce it and the contractor has no surplus even if we could. We either come up with the additional funds or they walk away when we can no longer pay. Very frustrating, especially since we are so close to finishing. I will be glad when this is over. Anyway, here is a photo of the house taken yesterday.

Very simple...open air construction; no air conditioning; lots of ventilation; rainwater catchment system with over 2300 gallons of water storage to get us through drought periods. Definitely a different way of living. Our living area is on the second floor to increase security by limiting access to one point. Below is a storage area, homeschool area and a guest room (if you feel like visiting).
We can't tell you all how much we miss seeing you at this time of year. We have not visited the States for over a year now and it is really starting to seem like a long time. We know this is where God has us and we are comforted by Him but from time to time, we do miss home. Take care and God Bless.

4 Cruces: Christmas

Cruce Missionary Page

Wouldn't you know it...right as I'm getting ready to get online, pay some bills and take care of a few other important things, the motherboard on my laptop fried. I haven't been able to get online for almost a week, which is really bad when I don't get that many opportunities anyway. Thanks to Dell's warranty, the computer is running again and we're back in business.
We are in San Jose right now, getting ready to head back to Puerto. We brought the girls in for a couple of days to do a few fun things for Christmas (beats hanging out in our 250 square foot house). We also met up with the builder to buy a few items so that they can continue working. Please pray that the house gets finished on time and close to the budget we had originally worked out in the contract. I am discovering that contracts in Costa Rica are more of a guideline than an actual figure you can hold someone to. In the end, you pay the additional amount (whether you have it or not) or the builder walks away when there's no more money for him to spend. There are no reserves for him to pull from if he goes over budget. If he goes over, you go over.
We are also going to pick up a turkey today for our Christmas feast at house church. Everyone is looking forward to that. We're going to eat, read a little bit of the Christmas story from the bible and then watch the movie "The Nativity". I hope everyone reading this has a great Christmas. Enjoy being with your friends and families. Take time to thank God for all of his blessings and for sending Jesus to spend some time with us and for taking the heat so that we don't have to.

4 Cruces: Craziness and Christmas

Cruce Missionary Page

Well, this week has been very busy for us as we have been packing and moving in order to be out of our home by the morning of December 15th.  We will stay with friends for the rest of the week before moving in with my mom in Sumter.  We will live there (or have our home base there while we travel over Christmas :) ) before flying out on January 2nd. 

I have to admit it has been a crazy week scheduling people to come by and pick up furniture they are getting from us and packing up box after box to go to different people.   We have piles all over the house that are going 10 different directions but in my mind it is "organized" chaos!!!  But God showed me something so clearly this morning and it was so beautiful....this morning I was dropping Thomas off at his school and I had to walk him in because we were a little late.  I was talking with another parent and she asked how things were going and when we were leaving.  I shared with her a bit and told her about us needing to be out of the house by next Tuesday.  She said over and over how she did not envy me a bit and how overwhelming it must be, etc.  And at that very moment the Lord spoke to my heart so clearly about what a BLESSING it is that we have to be out of our house next Tuesday and how clearly it was His timing...He wants us to have all of the moving done so that we can enjoy our last 2 1/2 weeks here with family and friends over the holidays!!!  He doesn't want us to be stressed out about moving during Christmas so He chose to bless us by providing us with renters that have to be in by the 17th. 

I was so blown away and yet so humbled at our precious Lord and His desire to orchestrate every little detail of our lives.  EVERYTHING matters to Him and as we let Him lead in EVERYTHING He will bless and direct it all!!  I feel so honored that He chose to reveal Himself to me this way this morning and I truly have no burden about packing and moving because I know it will all get done since He's in control of it all!!  Again, He gave me 2 Cor. 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  When I feel weak, He is strong....My God is so amazing!!!

The Barretts in Costa Rica: Packing and Moving

Barrett Missionary Page

Weather... Actually, that's not totally true that the rain won't stop...it just won't stop for long. It did stop for about five days...enough to begin drying out. We had about five days of dry weather which ended with a bang earlier yesterday morning. The sky opened...again. It's been raining most of the day today and we're looking at another four days, unfortunately. Already, Limon is cut off from San Jose by flooding and I believe the road is closed between Puerto and Limon again. Right now, it's raining so hard on the zinc roof of the skatepark that I can barely think. The good side is this...for us it is an inconvenience but for many others it has been devastating. Many people have lost their homes and belongings in areas close to us. Thank God we are in good shape...we can deal with mold...but many others have not been as fortunate. We were able to help a little by taking clothing and food to our local grocery store which was collecting for the relief effort. Please pray that the rain will stop so that people get a chance to get their lives back together. This is the rainy season, but we have just experienced the most rain this part of the country has had since 1941.

The House... As for us, things are going alright. We had a great Thanksgiving with Amy cooking up a storm (with help from the girls) and Whit joining us for the meal.

On the housing front, we lost almost two weeks of work but were able to get a few things done last week. Unfortunately, two things happened that slowed us down considerably. The styrofoam roofing insulation that was supposed to have arrived almost two weeks ago never showed. In addition, three of the additional workers that had arrived to speed things up went home due to the bad weather...the day before the rain stopped for five days. That meant that we weren't able to get the roof on when it was dry and now everyone is back and it's raining. Pura Vida!

Church... Our house church went well on Sunday. We finished going through the second chapter of Romans. It was a real hoot discussing the finer spiritual details of circumcision...not your everyday bible study topic. My goal each week is to simply and clearly, without a lot of "christianese", explain the scripture in a way that is interesting and applicable. I think this happens most of the time. Anyway, it went well Sunday and everyone seemed to go away with a clear understanding that we're not saved by what's on the outside...and hopefully a deeper devotion to Jesus. It is really cool to see people beginning to see themselves as the church. We are talking about starting some type of mid-week meeting that would be different from Sundays and we're talking about how we as a church might be able to begin reaching out to others. Please pray for us in this...although we've been at this for a couple of years now, we're still starting from scratch.

We would also appreciate your prayers for our safety and the safety of people in town. For a variety of reasons, crime has increased dramatically here lately with armed holdups, car-jackings, etc... This is the type of thing that won't really affect the safety of a visiting mission team but is a concern for those of us living here on a more permanent basis. I won't go into details but we would definitely appreciate your prayers.

End of the year giving:
As you consider your end of the year giving please consider the following...

Support for us as a family...your support of our family as missionaries enables us to do what we do. Prayerfully consider joining the Cruce Family Support team. We continue to need people to join our support team on a monthly basis. For options, click on this link to Shepherd's Staff or to donate electronically, click here.

Support for the ministry...your support of our ministry enable us to maintain the skatepark, purchase new skateboards and sponsor local youth as they compete on the national surf circuit. You can donate to our ministry through Alternative Missions by clicking here. Then, click on "Other Designation" and fill out the information making sure to indicate that your donation is for Puerto Viejo.

Sometimes it can get pretty lonely down here as the holidays approach and we want to be with friends and family. Thankfully, we have a very large extended family in all of you. We want you all to know how much we appreciate your continued interest and prayers as we do our best to be faithful to God's calling.

4 Cruces: it won't stop!!!

Cruce Missionary Page

So many things have happened over the past week and we praise the Lord for all of them!  Our house is officially rented as of December 17th so we have to be out of it on the 16th (which means we are working feverishly to pack and clean!!!!)  We are so thankful that the Lord has rented it and we are already praying for the family that will move in--that the home will be a blessing to them.  Also, our Big Brother/Big Sister at language school have found us an apartment to live in while we are in San Jose.  They sent us a video tour of the place and it is actually very spacious compared to typical homes there.  It also has a washer and dryer (dryers are very rare) so I am excited about that.  My favorite part of the house is that we actually have a backyard for the boys to play in.  Most homes have NO yard so we feel so blessed to have a yard and not just any yard--our yard has a mango tree and a papaya tree!!! I prayed for fruit trees in our yard (what silly things we pray for yet the Lord hears all of our prayers and blesses in such sweet ways!!!)  I am so thankful for this home that the Lord has given us.  It is a 15 minute walk to school and there is a park nearby where the "farmer's market" comes each Saturday!  I am so excited about this as well!!!  We are about 5 weeks away from leaving.  Time is so short and we have much left to do--the most important being spending time with family and friends as much as we can before going....please pray for us that this is truly our priority and we don't get caught up in the busyness of the details that need to be done!!!  Thanks for all of your prayers....we feel so blessed!!!

The Barretts in Costa Rica: Housing Update

Barrett Missionary Page

We've had an interesting couple of days here... Last night, there was a 6.2 earthquake across the border in Panama. We were woken up just after midnight last night with the entire house rolling and shaking. As groggy as I was, it was a surreal experience. Maili (if she had been awake) would have felt like she was in the crow's nest of a sailing ship. Her bedroom is in the very top of the house, about 20 feet off the ground, level with the canopies of the surrounding trees. This was the first real earthquake we have experienced here and it was something else. Back in 1992, a huge quake hit the area cutting Puerto Viejo off from the nearest city (Limon) for around two months. Food, etc... had to be brought in by boat. When I think about these kinds of things, I realize that we're only a step away from being in the middle of a third world disaster. That's when I have to remember that we are in God's hands. Definitely exciting.

It rained hard all night and has been raining non-stop today. The rivers and creeks are full and we have a small river running across the yard of our house. Now that we are living back in the hills, transportation is an issue and we have been without our quad for three weeks now which has made life a little more challenging. Getting Makena to school, taking care of other errands and simply getting back and forth from the skatepark come with a whole new level of difficulty. I can't wait to get the quad back because biking to work several miles in heavy rain on a single speed bicycle, up and down hills, is not the easiest thing in the world. It's not the worst either, but I'll be glad to have my transport back. Life here in the jungle comes with a whole new set of challenges and some days simply consist of taking care of things just so that we can continue to be here.

Later this afternoon I'll be opening the skate park if the rain lets up a little. The entire park is covered but when a big storm like this blows in, the rain gets on everything and skating can get a little dangerous. We'll see how it goes but I'm not holding out too much hope since squalls keep blowing through. The rain is also putting a damper on the house construction. They are a little behind on getting the roof finished and can't really work up that high when things are so wet. Hopefully, they will get it done during the next dry spell and then can work every day un-impeded by the wetness. They're supposed to be done by the middle of next month and we're wondering how they'll make it. Another day in our lives... At least I didn't get peed on by the bat again.

4 Cruces: Firsts...

Cruce Missionary Page

This is a great post from Barret Cruce down in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Barrett gives us a great snap shot into what it takes to live and do ministry on the field and in the jungle.

Ever been woken up in the middle of the night because a bat peed on you? If not, well I've got one up on you. A few weeks back, we heard our nightly visitor fly into our bedroom. All of a sudden, I felt a spray of liquid on my legs. I told Amy, "I think that bat just peed on me." She wasn't impressed and immediately went back to sleep. I thought about it for a few minutes and decided there was no alternative but to roll over and go back to sleep as well. What are you going to do at 2:00 in the morning? Just another one of the unique experiences we've had here in the jungle.
I'm in San Jose right now. I met with the builder this morning to purchase such necessary items as toilets, sinks, door knobs, etc... for the house. We are getting closer and should have the roof in place by the end of next week. He tells me that we're only a month away from being done and although they are working fast, I have a hard time believing it. We'll see. We're hoping to be in by Christmas. Also, our water problems may be solved soon. Rather than trying to come up with another $10,000 dollars to drill a deep well to the aquifer, we are going green. We have decided to begin harvesting our rain-water by installing a system of large storage tanks and a filtration system. With Whit's help, I calculated that we can capture enough water from our roof alone to satisfy the majority of our needs for the year. We'll still have to watch it during the dry periods but with our surface well for back-up, we should be in pretty good shape. Just don't plan to visit us in September or October or you may find out what it means to "fetch the water".

Here's a recent picture of the house.
It is amazing to me sometimes how much time and energy you can expend here just trying to live. Some times we spend a good part of our week just taking care of things that enable us to continue with life. Add to that the homeschooling, ministry and construction and life is full.
Speaking of "ministry"... everyone seems to be enjoying Romans. What a great letter. We are well into chapter 2 right now and will continue on next week.

Since I am stuck in San Jose right now, Amy, a very brave, talented and flexible woman, is leading house church. She is leading a discussion and prayer evening which should be a great time for everyone. We lost a few people earlier in the year as they made decisions which took them out of fellowship. It was pretty discouraging but as we've been faithful to keep meeting, teaching and caring for each other, the group that remained has gone deeper. Several that were coming previously have even returned. That has been encouraging.

A typical "service" looks like this: most everyone begins showing up between 5 and 6pm. We share a meal each week and many times the guys bring lobster and fish that they have caught right offshore on the local reefs. We start cleaning and cooking and end up eating between 6:30 and 7:00. Then, we fill up our coffee mugs and open the study in prayer and worship. After 5-6 songs, we begin the bible study and end with discussion and prayer. Afterwards, everyone pitches in to clean up and hang out a little more. What I love about this is that it is so all-encompassing. It isn't just showing up for an hour and then rushing off to the next thing...our service lasts for 3-4 hours.

People are really connecting and are enjoying spending time together. It makes me think that this must be similar to what it was like in the early church. A cool thing to think about as we work our way through Romans.

4 Cruces: Happenings

Cruce Missionary Page

Share this post :

Well, we have had a busy few months as we prepare to leave!  We have had more wonderful opportunities to share God's vision for our family in several churches in Georgia and here in Lexington, SC.  We have been so blessed by the love and support we have felt by each church body and have begun relationships that we know will grow in years to come.  Here are a few pictures of the churches we have visited.  In October we shared at Lexington Church of Christ, Calvary Chapel Lexington (our home church), and Calvary Chapel Heartland (Fort Valley, GA).  The first weekend of November we shared at Flintstone Baptist Church in Flintstone, GA.

To date, we have 100% of our outgoing expenses and 75% of our monthly support raised...PRAISE THE LORD!!!  We prayed about when to order our plane tickets and we felt all along that once we reach 75% of our monthly support we would order them so this past Friday we made it official--our tickets are ordered...we leave January 2nd at 6:00AM...wow--I admit I cried as I was booking them.  It was very emotional--a definite reality check in a much more "concrete" way if ya know what I mean!  Now we just continue to work at all of the details that need to happen before we go.  

We did have an awesome opportunity to rent our patio home to some friends in need of a place to live.  We were planning on selling it and it has been on the market since July with no buyer.  Well, our friends, David and Eva Daniel had 3 weeks to find a place to live (as of last week) and the Lord told them to approach us about renting and He gave us a peace about renting to them---what a blessing for both of us!  They needed a place they could afford and wanted it close to the church.  Well, it is within their means and it is literally 3 minutes from the church--God is so faithful even in the little details of our lives if we will just surrender even those places to Him!!  It has been obvious in the past week that the Lord has saved this place for them and their 3 beautiful children!!!  

Please pray for us and for all the little details--that we would trust the Lord with them as He leads...as I was studying this week I came across this verse and it has been my prayer this week and will be for a long time--- Psalm 26:2-3 "Test me, O Lord, and try me. Examine my heart and my mind.  For Your love is ever before me and I walk continually in Your truth."  May you walk in His truth as He leads you...

The Barretts in Costa Rica: Traveling the Southeast

Barrett Missionary Page

Yesterday I was praying and meditating on the Lord and kept thinking wow--daily God shows us His faithfulness...not always in things that He does or ways that He intervenes, but just for being who He is in our lives!  His Word says He loves us with an everlasting love.  His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  We are so thankful for a God who loves us in spite of ourselves.   So today, I went to the mailbox and we received another letter regarding the anesthesia bill from Daniel's surgery.  At this point we have 3 bills left.  The Lord has totally cleared all of the others (in the amount of $26,000)!!!  This bill was originally for $1800 and I paid $40 on it to show "good faith" that we do desire to pay it.  Anyway, the letter today informed us that they decided to write this bill of totally!!!  Yes, another miracle from the Lord--only the Lord could provide in this way as we prepare to go!  I can't believe we only have 2 bills left that total about $4,000.  AMAZING!!!  Thanks to all who are fervently praying...we are so blessed by all He continues to do!  May God be the glory!!! 

The Barretts in Costa Rica: Praise the Lord!!!

Barrett Missionary Page