Girls Adjusting to Costa Rican Life

      The girls have overwhelmed us with how well they have adjusted through all these changes. From having over 13 missionary kids here from last semester, to being the only 2 students here in CINCEL, they have shown that they can thrive in various situations. The girls miss their buddies from last semester, but they have been doing well adjusting to the change since they constantly receive so much love from the entire student body. They have gained spiritual aunts, uncles, and grandparents here at CINCEL.

      In the last 6 months, we have learned how to go to church, stores, and various places using the public transporation systems (bus and taxi),  we have learned to  interact with the locals here in Costa Rica using the Spanish that we learned so far, and we have also learned to adapt to the customs and traditions of Costa Rican life..

For instance:

1. When riding a taxi, you do not slam the door when entering and leaving the taxi because it shows disrespect.  You have to gently close the door.

2. When entering a room, it is mandatory to greet every single person in the room to show that you appreciate each person. This is sometimes hard for most Northern Americans since we are accustomed to entering a room quietly making sure we don't disturb others if they are in a middle of a conversation. 

3. Never yell at someone from across the room/street. You must always walk closer to the person that you want to speak with so that you can talk to them using a normal tone of voice.

4. Never speak to someone in English if you are in a room with other people who speak in Spanish.

5. The hardest thing was to make sure you throw all toilet paper in the trash can, and never inside the toilet to avoid having any plumbing issues.

     It takes a while to get used to all the changes, but after six months, everything becomes part of your routine. These are just a few things we all learned to adjust to living here in Central America. The kids are learning values and concepts that we would have never had a chance to teach them if we did not come here to Costa Rica, and we are so grateful for this privilege. Thank you for your prayers for smooth transitions and supernatural peace and acceptance through all the changes!

           Here are some photos of the girls :)

An Opportunity to Serve

     This February, Phil had the opportunity to serve for a few days at a health fair in Orozi, Costa Rica. He worked with a team of medical and health professionals from Canada, United States and Costa Rica representing the Global Outreach Mission Organization.  The team saw about 130 - 200 patients per day.  Phil was able to do several exams, extractions and fillings. In addition, he also had a chance to pray for the patients.  Many people had a chance to come to know Christ during this event.  The patients were so grateful for the dental care that they received.  Some people showed their appreciation by either offering  food that they grew in their own farms. Some people invited us to come to their homes to have a meal with them in the future.  Others expressed their appreciation through physical gestures such as hand shakes, hugs, kisses on the cheek, or just a simple "thank you" because they could not afford to give anything else.

   Thank you so much for all of your prayers and giving for making this possible. This ministry would not have been possible without you. Participating in this event allowed patients to receive dental care, love through community, and the message of Jesus Christ. 

     Phil and few other missionaries  have also been going out to the streets to share the message of Jesus Christ. Despite the language barrier, the Lord is still able to use this opportunity to bring healing to the sick, to plant seeds in people's hearts, and to bring new family members into the family of Christ. Last week , Phil prayed for a man named Geraldo who has been dealing with severe back pain. After several prayers, all of his back pain left and he is now feeling better. We praise God for his complete healing. We are constantly looking for  more opportunities to reach out to our local community. 

Photo with a happy patient who received
dental care and Dr. Kyle, a pediatric dentist

Another happy patient and Dr. Ronald de Paz,
a retired pediatric dentist from Costa Rica

We also had the privilege of taking
care of this young girl

Some members of the medical and dental team that we worked with

Our photo with the gardener who we witnessed
to while in a park in Costa Rica

We went out to the streets to witness about
Jesus Christ and the people have been receptive

We are thankful to have this opportunity
to share about Christ's message to the
people in the local community

                                         

Our Family Photos

    We were so excited to have had the opportunity to take some family photos here in Costa Rica. These pictures were taken by, Amber Oliver, a fellow missionary, who is very talented and creative in any form of art you can think of. She has an excellent eye when taking photos, and she is great at painting pictures, creating DIY crafts, and even baking yummy pastries! Amber, her husband Robert, and her daughter Briana have been a blessing to our family. They are currently serving as missionaries in Ecuador.  We are so happy that we got a chance to know them during their time at CINCEL, and we are so thankful for these family pictures that we will treasure forever!

Feliz Año Nuevo

      After classes ended, we had to say goodbye to a lot of missionaries that we got to know when we first arrived here in Costa Rica. Most of them had completed their term here at CINCEL, and they were ready to leave and serve on the field that God has called them. We were sad to see them go; however, we were excited for all of them to start their journey in their own mission countries.  

Photos with our missionary friends

Saying goodbye to the graduating students' kids

      It felt almost like a ghost town here at CINCEL over the Christmas break. We thought it was going to be a long and lonely vacation, but surprisingly we were able to do a lot of things together as a family, and we were  also able to spend some good quality time with each other playing, painting, and (would you believe)... studying our previous Spanish lessons. We are eager to learn the language, so we tried to practice our vocabulary with the locals as much as possible and also practiced conjugating verbs with each other as often as we could.  We were also able to visit a few local spots here in Costa Rica, and we also got to spend a whole week with Phil's mom, dad, and sister, Isabelle. Our girls were excited to spend time with their grandparents and aunt while they were here in Costa Rica. What a blessing it was for them to be here with us. 

     Spending Christmas and New Year in Costa Rica was a great experience. The Ticos are known to be very warm and hospitable. We got to try their traditional food known as tamal which is almost similar to tamales from Mexico except that the tamal has a slightly different flavor, and it is wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. 

Costa Rican tamal!
Photo from www.caroincarolina.com

    Fireworks are also popular here during the Christmas and New Year season. You can see a few fireworks every night, and on the actual eve of Christmas and New Year, you will see and hear them everywhere in the city..unlike in the States, fireworks are only allowed in certain cities. When  we asked a few locals how they celebrate Christmas and New Year, most of them said they  either go to the beach, or go camping. Living in the States, we think about snow,  scarves, beanies,  and cold weather, but when you are a Costa Rican, you think about spending Christmas with the sun and sand. It was fun to experience Christmas in a warmer and more tropical environment.

Costa Rican New Year!
Photo from informationcostarica.weebly.com

     Now that the holidays are over, we are ready to start a new semester. We are expecting 4 new missionaries to join us this semester. It will be a smaller group since we will be 7 adults and 2 kids compared to last semester  having  over 25 students in total. It will be different for us,  but we look forward to the opportunity of having deeper connections with everybody!  

    We are thankful for the time that we have spent here, and also we are thankful for the new semester ahead of us.  We are so blessed for God's provision and also for all our partners for helping us make this dream a reality. There are 3 1/2 months left until we graduate! 

     Thank you for staying with us on this journey, and we pray that the Lord will continue to bless you and your families this year 2016.  

      Happy New Year from the Gendreaus!

Feliz Navidad!

Newsletter for the Holidays

     It is hard to believe that 2 months have already passed by! We are learning a lot of Spanish, and we are finding as many opportunities as we can to practice what we have learned with the locals also known as Ticos. All our teachers have been so kind and patient, and the entire missionary family has been like our extended family.  Not only are we learning the language, we are also learning how to live in community with different people from different backgrounds. This is a great training ground for what we can expect to encounter on the mission field. 

     In addition to being in school, we are always finding ways to immerse ourselves in the culture. We attended a class trip to Museo de Cultura Popular. This is a museum that shows a traditional Costa Rican home in the old days; a garden that  shows how we can have plants in small patio areas using recyclable items such as juice bottles and tires; a gallery of paper mache masks used for certain Costa Rican traditional holidays; and a tutorial on how to make bread using an old brick oven. 

    We also had a chance to serve with our missionary friends, the Adams family, who works at a local elementary school called Los Cuadros. This school is located in an area that is very close to where there is high occurrence of drug and gang-related activity. We had a chance to help the Adams family teach English to students who are in need to see the love of Jesus and to experience His goodness. 

Photo with all of our teachers

A class presentation about El Salvador

At the Museo de Cultura Popular

With the Adams family

Helping at Los Cuadros

PRAISE REPORTS

1. First, we would like to thank all our new and existing partners for helping us raise our monthly budget this month. We are still looking for monthly partners who would like to join our team!

2. A few weeks ago, we learned that I had two polyps in my endometrium. We suspect that these polyps were causing several symptoms in the past that caused pain and discomfort for several months. We were worried about having the surgery, but all the doctors were very skilled and attentive. The surgery was performed on November 10, and everything went well. I did not feel any pain after the surgery, and the biopsy results came back normal. God is good!

Hospital Clinica Biblica where I had my surgery

3. We had an opportunity to pray for a Christian Tica who owns a restaurant close to our apartment. She had expressed that her business was not doing so good, and was asking God if she should close down her business. After a week, we heard reports that her business is doing so good that the restaurant is always filled with customers all day, and  that they even had to hire a driver to provide delivery services. We give God all the glory for this answered prayer!

Our photo with Glenda, the restaurant owner

    As the weeks go by quickly, we are realizing that this will be our first Thanksgiving and Christmas away from family. Thankfully, we will have  Phil's parents and sister coming to visit us on Christmas day. However, we are sad that we will be far from my mom who is still in California undergoing 16 sessions of radiation. We are believing that God is with her, and that she will be covered in prayer and surrounded with other family members to encourage and support her through this difficult season.

     This coming Thanksgiving, we are remembering all the things that God has given us. What a privilege it is to be here in Costa Rica to learn Spanish. Instead of complaining about the things that we do not have, we want to set our minds on being thankful on the things God has given us. We are thankful that we are here together as one healthy family; we are thankful that we live in a safe and comfortable environment; and we are thankful that we can spend some good quality time with each other. These are things that are blessings from God that cannot be fulfilled by our own strength.

 Happy Thanksgiving and Feliz Navidad to everybody!  

Arriving at Costa Rica

     It is hard to believe that we have already been here for a whole month. This post will include details from the moment we left California; settling in our new apartment; getting to know the city, our trip to Panama, and the beginning of Spanish classes.

THE FLIGHT

     As we said our final goodbyes to Phil's parents, Phil's brother, Pierre kindly offered to drive us to the airport with 8 boxes (aka balikbayan boxes) and 2 luggages. The balikbayan boxes are typically used by Filipinos when travelling abroad due to larger space to pack things minus the heavy weight of a typical luggage.  Each baggage must be no more than 50 lbs. It was very difficult to figure out what to bring due to the limitations on weight requirements. We were so thankful that Pierre took us to the airport because it would have been hard to try to find a shuttle that would be able to carry all our bags.  When we arrived at the airport, we were concerned that we would have to pay a large fee for all our bags. The attendant that weighed our bags said typically we would have to pay $550 for all our baggage, but thankfully, he came back and said that we didn't owe anything and that he took care of it. Wow!!! A sure sign that God is showing us favor for this trip from the very start.

At the airport

     The children did very well on the flight to Costa Rica. We had the red eye flight which helped make sure the kids were asleep through the entire 5hr and 15 minute flight.

     Upon arriving, we retrieved all our bags and were greeted outside the airport by Denny Seler, Director of CINCEL, our language school.  It was about a 20 minute trip to the school, and all the missionaries welcomed us and assisted us to our new apartment.

Our apartment in Costa Rica

      We do not regret packing the 8 boxes and 2 suitcases that I filled with things that we owned such as familar toys, comforters, favorite cups and plates, products and toiletries to help the kids feel at home in a place that is very far away from home...Having uncertainty of what to expect about our living situation, I was pleased to know that our apartments were well stocked with food (thanks to the Ewing Family); fully furnished; no mosquitoes as of yet; weather is cool and pleasant; consistent supply of electricity and water, and most important of all...a clean and secured gated living area! This was an answered prayer where our needs were met and where the conditions far exceeded above and beyond my expectations. As our director,  Denny, says "We are in a CINCEL bubble. Their goal is to make sure the missionaries are comfortable so that all they need to focus on is learning the language. Being able to speak Spanish is highly essential for our ministry in El Salvador." 

We had a comfortable and cozy space inside

     The kids go to school from Monday to Friday, and they love their teacher Cindy, who is also a worship leader at a church that we go to called Dimension Cristiana. This Spanish local church is accustomed to having missionaries attend their services,  and we could really feel the presence of God moving through their worship team and through the pastoral staff. It was comforting to know that even if we only understood 50% of the messages (for now), we still leave the service energized and refreshed.

Celebrating Day for kids at school during the national holiday

Walking around Costa Rica Mall on a rainy day

Shopping at the organic market in Ferria Verde

OUR TRIP TO PANAMA

     After only being in Costa Rica for two weeks, we needed to take a 3 day trip to Panama with the rest of the missionaries to renew our visas. We have scheduled trips every 3 months in the school year to make sure that our visas stay current. The  trip involves a 5 hour bus ride, with 3 separate stops for immigration, baggage checks, and an actual officer that goes on a bus to check each passenger. Each stop could mean long hours waiting in lines in the heat and humidity of Panama.  As a mom with two restless girls, this could have been a nightmare. However, we prayed that the girls would get through this trip without too much complaining. We were so blessed on this trip that the process went by faster than normal. We reached Panama and stayed at the Grand Nacional Hotel. We took advantage of this time to fellowship with the rest of the missionaries and to also spend quality time with Selah and Shiloh. We knew that when we get back to Costa Rica, language school would officially begin!

Immigration and Luggage Check in Panama

At our hotel

Some quality time with the family

LANGUAGE SCHOOL HAS BEGUN

     Phil and I are classmates and the only students in our class. We jokingly call it a "love class". The rest of the missionaries have already been here for either 1 or 2 semesters, and are in more advanced classes. We have 3 classes: Fonetica, Gramatica, and 2 classes of Conversacion. We have amazing and gifted teachers: Señora Yolanda, Señora Libia, and Señorita Mecbel. The funny thing aboout our first day is that I noticed everything I learned in my entire life with regards to Spanish, was all taught in the first day at CINCEL. This meant that the next days were all going to be a whole new ball game!  So much for all those Spanish classes we took in The United States and the Philippines.  In addition, the Spanish here is taught a little different compared to other Spanish speaking countries. For instance, they commonly use the word Ustedes to address most people and they do not use the word Vosotros. Another difference is that they pronounce the letter "Y" and double "ll" as "ja" instead of "ya". For example: a word like quesadilla would sound like que-sa-di-ja..instead of que-sa-deal-liya.

At our love class :)

     The kids are learning phrases, colors, and songs each day. They are doing so great, and we are so excited to see how fast they will pick up the language...maybe even better than Phil and I.

Selah and Shiloh during the first day of school

    We are taking each day one day at a time, and we feel so privileged to have this opportunity to learn Spanish and immerse ourselves in the Spanish culture. Thank you to all our partners for making this possible.

Here is an Important Update of our Ministry Status:

      On the financial side, we are currently 75% funded for our ministry. We have lost a few partners due to health and financial reasons. We are currently seeking new partners who would like to be a part of this ministry to help spread the love of God and give away free dental care to the people of El Salvador. We are asking specifically for 20 people who are willing to commit to $50/month to help us complete our budget. If you have a heart for missions, please consider joining us to make this vision a reality!

        Kindly go to this link to give and support our missions. 

        Many many thanks!!!

        - Phil and Mia Gendreau