Here in Puerto Viejo, life moves along at it’s own pace.  It’s one of those immutable laws of nature akin to night following day and day following night.  There’s no changing it so you just have to learn to roll with it.  Case in point: at church, we have repeatedly emphasized how important it is for us to start “on time” (meaning within at least 1/2 hour of the official start time) so that new people who are being invited, along with everyone else, can have some idea of what to expect.  

Something about the tropics though; schedules seem to be dictated more by the quality of the surf or the sunset than by a clock or watch.  No one else seems to mind... why should we, right?  Well, after five years of “learning to roll with it”, I still stress out every Sunday evening when no one is there “on time”.  It makes me start doubting our calling, my abilities, etc... everything short of my salvation.  It never ends and it never gets any easier for me having grown up in a very time oriented family.  For those of you that know my dad, you know what I’m talking about.

The Sunday evening after Christmas was the most recent example.  We had been inviting people for the past month to come celebrate Christmas with food, friends and a great message on hope.  Our “official” start time is 5:30 pm but by 6:00 there were only about 4 people there (which included Amy and me) along with a large amount of food that was getting cold.  Like every Sunday, I began to wonder if anyone was even going to show.  Suddenly, by about 6:15 people started trickling in and by 6:30 we were up to a total of 21 people (a mob by Puerto Viejo standards).

We enjoyed eating and spending time together and then got into the message.  I spoke about the reason that we, as Christians, celebrate Christmas... not because a baby was born but because of the hope that His birth brought to the human race.  Hope for today and for eternity.  Following that, we watched the second part of a video series by Louie Giglio entitled “Hope When Life Hurts Most” which led to some thought provoking discussion afterwards.

Our church is the only church in the entire community that is specifically reaching out to the third culture of foreigners that have have made Puerto Viejo home.  Because we are non-denominational, people feel more comfortable.  The fact that we don’t even have a name for the church is a plus in a town where people have fled institutions, structure and labels.  We are Christians that love Jesus and want others to come to know him as revealed by the Bible.  We have an opportunity here through the skatepark and church to share the good news of Jesus in a way that reaches out to a very non-traditional, un-churched crowd without compromising the message.  We need your help in doing this.  Pray with us as we make visits to people’s houses and places of business in an effort to build relationships with them.  After 5 years of living here, inviting people, etc... we have come to learn that there is no substitute for time.  The most effective way to share the message of Jesus is through personal relationships and that can only happen with time.

Cruce Missionary Page

4 Cruces: Time

The following comes from Shepherd's Staff Missionary Barrett Cruce. Barrett and his lovely wife, Amy, moved to Costa Rica about five years ago to live with and serve among the poor along Costa Rica's Caribbean coast. Barrett is a natural evangelist. You can't go anywhere with Barrett where he doesn't get into a conversation about the Lord. Everyone Barrett meets becomes an instant friend. 

Last night Juan (not his real name to protect his privacy) gave his life to God sitting in our living room.  It was an incredible end (and a new beginning) to a long and sometimes painful journey.  I first met Juan about two years ago when we went whitewater rafting with a visiting mission team.  Juan was one of the guides on the expedition.  Not long after, Juan and his girlfriend moved to Puerto Viejo.  I began to see them around and now and then he asked a few questions about the skate park.  One Friday evening he dropped by with his girlfriend to check things out.  As he asked questions, I told him why we were here, about the skate park, the visiting mission teams and I invited them to our church.  At the time, they didn't really seem too interested.  We would see each other around town and in the water and I always made sure to speak to him and to let him know that he was welcome to come anytime but he never seemed to want to take it beyond a surface level.

Fast-forward almost two years to this past Thanksgiving.  Juan had long since broken up with his girlfriend and was now working with a local company that runs the zip line tours, taking tourists on a flight through the jungle canopy in a harness connected to a very thin cable.  After our ride through the jungle, Juan and I began talk.  He asked a few more questions about the skate park and then asked about the church.  He wondered if we were still meeting together.  As we spoke, he asked what time we met.  I told him and invited him to join us some time.
The next Sunday he showed up, right on time (very unusual) and even though he had to leave early, he thanked us and said he'd be back.  He has come every Sunday since then and has also started to come to our mid-week bible study.  This past Sunday, I asked him if he'd like to come over to the house for dinner some evening after work.  Last night, he came over and we had a chance to sit and talk.   

At some point, trouble comes to all of us.  The important question is, where do we turn when that trouble hits?  A couple of months ago, Juan hit a major breaking point in his life.  One day out of the blue, his new girlfriend called him to tell him that she had aborted their baby because she didn't want to quit her drug habit.  This took place even after he had told her that he was willing to take the baby and raise it himself.  His pleading fell on deaf ears.  She went ahead with her plans and more pain was brought into the world.  This was too much for him to take alone and the places he had turned in the past didn't offer anything that could help him face the unexpected sense of loss that he suddenly experienced.  He told me that he was numb... almost paralyzed.

Other than some brief conversations at the beach, I've never really had the chance to talk much with Juan.  Not for a lack of trying, it just takes time to gain people's trust and get to that level.  That all changed last night when he came over.  Juan was about to burst because he wanted to talk so badly.  He had to get the story of his lost child off his chest and he wanted to tell me.

Referring to a Louie Giglio video series called "Hope When Life Hurts Most" that we had recently watched at church, Juan explained, "That video really helped me understand.  I figured that if Jesus went through all of that suffering and pain, then he could understand what I was going through.  He could relate to me and I can relate to him.  I had never looked at it like that before.  I never really knew much about him but now I know that He's not just some religious figure that had a perfect life and never had any problems.  He actually died after he suffered and he did it for me.  I figure that he can understand what I'm going though."

We simply sat and I listened.  He told me that He believed that only God could help him and he asked me how he could turn to Jesus.  What did it really mean to follow him and how could he have God with him in his suffering?  We read through the first half of John chapter 3 and talked about what it meant to have God's forgiveness and an opportunity for a new life.  Since he's never been to church or read the Bible before, this was all new to him.  He said that he didn't totally understand it but that it felt true.  It matched with the reality of life that he had experienced.  Sitting on our couch, Juan told God in his own words that he was finished living for himself and that he wanted a new start.  He wanted to experience God's forgiveness, peace and the restoration that is made possible through Jesus.    
As he was leaving, he explained, "This didn't just happen today.  This started a few days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it."  The truth is that it started 2000 years ago and hasn't stopped since.  Over and over we have prayed that God would bring us into contact with people in whose lives he is already working.  Over and over again, He does.  I am so thankful that God has placed us here and that he is working through all of you... through your prayers and financial support... to reach out to the Juan's of this broken town. 

Please pray for Juan as he begins his walk with Jesus.  Pray that he will experience God's peace and the hope that he'll see his baby again one day.  We ask you to continue to pray for us as well.  This town is full of broken people looking for answers but it takes time to build those relationships.  For Juan, last night was the right time.  The time will come for others as well and with your prayers and support we will be here waiting and ready to share the hope that is in us.  As we continue to reach out, please ask God to give us patience.  It is a continual process of both movement and waiting.  We always want to be moving forward, doing what we can to meet new people, get the word out about church, etc... while at the same time waiting on God to move in people's lives.  The key to this is being here.  One day Juan will be able to thank you personally for making it possible for him to meet his Savior... Jesus.

Cruce Missionary Page

We made it!  After two months of traveling, visiting and speaking we are finally back in Puerto Viejo.  While we were in the states, we traveled to South Florida to visit friends and supporters in our home church, Calvary Jupiter.  We then headed up to Tallahassee to visit my family and speak at Thomasville Road Baptist Church.  The next stop was Tucson, Arizona where we spent time with Amy’s family and spoke to a group from Calvary Chapel Tucson.  During the first part of October, we drove up to Ridgway, Colorado to spend some time with our director and meet the new board of directors for Alternative Missions Costa Rica.  After a brief return to Tucson, we took off for San Diego where I spoke to over 100 students and faculty at the Horizon School of Evangelism.  Our final stop was back in Tucson where we spent the last few days with family, packing and one final speaking engagement at Calvary Chapel Sahuarita, just south of Tucson.

Fortunately, even with all of the travel and speaking, we were able to get in a few days of fun together.  We visited the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park and spent a couple of days in Durango, Colorado.  We also had the opportunity to let the girls play in the snow as we passed through the mountains.

Overall, it was a great trip.  We have found that it is so important for us to get away from time to time so that we can spend time with friends and family and get recharged.  It also helps to bring a fresh perspective to our work here in Puerto.  It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day tasks, especially being so short-handed, that you lose sight of the big picture.  Life becomes one fire to put out after another which begins to take a toll physically, emotionally and spiritually.  We need these times to get away so that we can recharge and come back in with fresh ideas and a fresh perspective.

I’m looking forward to changing a few things up with church in an effort to reach out to more people.  I am also planning to go deeper with several of the guys that have become the core by spending more targeted personal time with them... working with them to help them realize God’s plan for their lives.  I want to help them see beyond tomorrow and get a vision of what is possible when they truly surrender their lives to God.  Please be praying for us in this and also for new staff.

Our greatest need right now, and one of my highest priorities for the coming year is getting additional staff.  The foundation is in place and there are incredible opportunities but without the right people, we can’t really take advantage of those opportunities.  I’ve been familiar with the verse that describes the fields as being white for the harvest but the workers being few, for a long time.  It is incredibly true.  That means that we, and hopefully you, will be praying to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.  Please pray.

http://4cruces.blogspot.com/2009/11/back-in-town.html

Cruce Missionary Page

Well, we've had quite a bit going on lately. Just for kicks, I took the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale test (which rates a variety of life events such as job change, death of a family member, illness, etc...on a point scale) the other night just to see where I rated and found I was well over 300 points. Actually, I came in at 321, which places me in the "severe life crisis" area with a 79% chance of a major health change. Interesting.

Anyway, we've been working hard to get into the house. We've given up on finishing and are hoping at this point to make it livable. One of the last big items we've been struggling to complete is our septic system. Last Tuesday we finally found a backhoe to come out and dig the pit. The next day I drove to all three hardware stores trying to find the right type of rock to put in the drainfield. Non of the stores had anything. I finally tracked down a trucking company and was able to have a load delivered. Now, our house is on the other side of a very steep hill that basically requires a four wheel drive just to climb. Because of this, the truck had to drop the rocks at the bottom of the hill which meant that we had to haul around 12 cubic meters of boulders over the hill, one truck-load at a time in our pick-up. We spent three days working on this and still aren't done. The day after the back-hoe dug the hole, the sides caved in. We worked on that all day the following day and got it opened back up again only to have another day and a half of torrential downpours fill the hole with water and mud. Yesterday, we started over again. It is incredibly difficult to get anything completed here.

Thankfully, things are going well with the skatepark and with our church. We had our monthly cookout on Friday night and there were quite a few youth that showed up in spite of the rain. At one point, the winds and rain were so hard that the movie screen blew down and we were all huddled against the office door trying to keep dry. At least the food was good. Church continues to go well as we work our way through Romans. Tonight we'll be watching a movie about the events that took place in Rwanda several years back called "Beyond the Gates" Two weeks ago we studied in Romans Chapter 5 and took some time to specifically talk about Paul's words regarding sin and grace. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Tonight, we'll talk some about the existence of true evil while we watch the evidence of God's grace in the midst of horrific events. It is a great movie and truly illustrates this point.
Next week, more work trying to get moved in. We could really use some prayer in this as our next door neighbor continues to make threats towards me (which is another stressor that I don't need at the moment). Thanks for following along with us.

4 Cruces: Water and other events

Cruce Missionary Page

Please pray for the Cruces. The minister on Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast which is being pummeled by rain and floods. This has been the wettest season in years for this Central American country.

After several years of successful ministry, the Cruces have decided to quit renting and build a house. But the weather has caused several setbacks and budget over-runs.

In spite of this, the Lord continues to bless through the Cruces as they persevere. People continue to come to the Lord in Barrett's Bible studies. They follow the Lord in baptism and spread hope in their community. He is a true disciple maker.

Anything you can do to encourage the Cruces would not be energy or resources wasted.

Inclemet Weather Causes Floods, Fires and More in Costa Rica | Costa Rica Travel News

This is a cool "before and after" video posted by missionary to Costa Rica, Barrett Cruce.

Part 1

I've never experienced highs and lows in life like I have here in the field. Life is anything but even-keeled. I never know quite how we're doing...are we being effective? Is there more we can do? Does anyone even care? How much harder can daily life get? Where are the thank-you's? Some days it is enough to make me wonder what the heck I was thinking when we picked up and moved down here four years ago.

No sooner does that thought enter my mind than God begins to provide encouragement...
We recently went to a New Year's Day pig roast, which is really a gathering of missionaries throughout Costa Rica at the house of our friend Bob Wilmarth, owner of the infamous Goat Farm (one smell and you know why it's "infamous"). We often feel somewhat isolated down here in Puerto because we don't have much contact with other missionaries and their families...people that understand what it's like. It was great to spend a day hanging out and talking with people that can identify with the different issues we face on a daily basis. To hear a seasoned missionary say..."Don't worry about things...it takes at least four years for most missionaries to even begin being effective where they are because there is so much to learn and so many hurdles to overcome" is so encouraging. To have someone else that has been working in country for many years tell us, "Wow, you guys picked the hardest place in the entire country to start a ministry" speaks volumes. To watch our kids play for hours with all of the other missionary kids was priceless. All in all, it was very encouraging.

Other encouragements...we were invited by a friend we met at the pig roast, to speak to a group of college students from Messiah College this past Tuesday. I hope they were blessed, but I know that we certainly were as we not only had an opportunity to meet some neat people and to share with them what God had done in our lives, we also had the opportunity to listen to a man that grew up in the jungle here in Costa Rica as the son of missionaries to the Cabecar Indians, an indigenous group that lives in the mountains behind Puerto. His story was very inspiring. He has gone through a lot in his life and has put up with things we can't even imagine in order to share the love of Christ with others. We felt priveledged to be a part of the evening.

Reality quickly destroys the romantic idea of "missions"...whatever that is. There is only one thing that matters in the end...the call of God. Were you called? You had better go. If you weren't called...if you're not sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has put a calling on your life you better stay home because without the surety of a calling, there are better, simpler and easier ways to pass time. Don't do it because it sounds cool...like a good thing to do. It will destroy you. Living here has helped me in some small way to identify with the subjects of Hebrews Chapter 11. I don't know if we will ever see the results we hope to see in our lifetime, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has placed us here. Case in point? Barring something unforseen, after having to wait a full year since she accepted Christ, we'll baptize Anastasia tomorrow night before house church. One small drop in a very deep bucket but another huge source of encouragement.

4 Cruces: The opposite of discouragement

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Pray for Barrett and Amy and the girls if you think about it and click over to their blog and leave a comment to let them know... thanks... bryon

Well, it seems to get harder and harder to put together an update. In trying to get the house finished, we're falling way behind on our communications. Please forgive us. We don't have a phone line out where we live and it can sometimes be pretty difficult to get online at all.

It is now Tuesday and I am trying to get caught up on administrative duties, communication with potential staff members, etc... We are also working like crazy to finish the house. Our goal at this point is to make it livable so that we can move in. Our contractor is doing good work but I have decided that he is terrible at math. We are now so over our contract amount that we are close to having to shut down. Third world calculating finally catches up with us. Anyway, I am spending as much time as possible working on-site myself both to make sure that workers continue going strong and so that I can get as much done myself as possible. The roof is 98% complete, the flooring is 80% complete and hopefully we'll have a functioning water system and bathroom in the next week or so. We could definitely use prayer in this. We want to finish and move so that our living situation is stable and we can put all of our energies into our work rather than being so distracted. I keep reminding myself that this is a short time which will increase our long-term effectiveness.

As for church, things really seemed to go well this past Sunday night. We had a pretty large crowd...the largest in quite some time, and everyone really seemed to connect and enjoy the night. I took a slight detour from our ongoing study through Romans to talk about faith. We have just finished Chapter 4 where Paul spoke about Abraham being made righteous because of his faith. There's a lot of talk in our culture about faith, but all too often, faith is an end unto itself. We spent a couple of hours Sunday night looking at faith from a biblical perspective before we head through the rest of the letter to the Romans. I really enjoyed teaching and everyone seemed to enjoy listening and discussing as we went through the study. My hope is that we will continue to grow closer as a body and that we will also begin to grow. Please pray for us and for our effectiveness. Please pray for the new Christians as God molds them into new creations.
Finally, we'll also be celebrating a baptism this next Sunday afternoon. If all goes according to plan, Sebas (who has been part of our church since the beginning) will baptize Anastasia whom he shared Christ with early last year. It will be an exciting time.

4 Cruces: life

Cruce 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

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