Update: April 14, 2006

Blessings to all!
The highlight of March for us was a visit from our daughter, Lisa, and her roommate, Charity. Up until then, we hadn’t really traveled around, but we took that opportunity to visit Arenal Volcano, go on a canopy tour (zip-lining at 50 MPH), and to visit Manual Antonio, a beautiful national park / wildlife preserve on the beach. The week flew by, but it was great.

We also enjoyed joining a group of fellow students for a weekend mission trip to San Carlos. There were several projects including painting and putting on a VBS program. Our job was to help put a concrete floor in a house for a family of nine that had been living with a dirt floor.

We continue to work at Los Güizaros on most Saturdays. In addition to helping cook and serve food to the children, we have also brought some music to the kids. Mark plays flute, Leith (a fellow student) plays guitar and sings, and Adrienne even leads the singing on occasion.

Our formal Spanish training is coming to a close with only one more week of classes. Looking back, we realize that we have learned a ton. Even so, our ability to communicate is very limited, and some native speakers are still almost impossible to understand. But, we feel well-equipped to survive in this environment, and we hope to continue learning in the months ahead.

Semana Santa
We are enjoying having a week of free time during Semana Santa (Holy Week). We spent part of the time visiting our friend Keith who was in hospital with an infection in his ankle. Today we walked to a neighboring city to watch the processional and reenactment of Christ’s trial and crucifixion which was performed by the Catholic church. By the way, we have seen no Easter candy, eggs or bunnies. There is no commercialism of the holiday here.

Moving Days
After living in the same house for over 20 years, it is strange to be moving so much. This year we will move (at least) five times. Our last move was about a week ago - from our little apartment above the Librería Alex, to the home of Dick and Sheila Dudney. They are missionaries who had to go to the US for a month, and we are taking care of their lovely home.

Our next move is to Fremont for a visit. We will arrive on May 2nd. We are really looking forward to seeing our family and friends. It will be a busy time, including a trip to Oregon for a wedding, and a trip to North Carolina to visit Ryan, Sandra and Calvin.

Then in June, we move again. It’s back to Costa Rica, but in a new location near La Palabra de Vida (LPDV), a Christian school in San Antonio de Belen. We were able to visit the school again earlier this week. This time we got a much better idea of what we will be doing when we return. As it turns out (nobody but God knew this in advance) one of the directors at the school is pregnant and is due in September. Our timing is perfect for being able to help her. We will be taking on some of her weekly duties, and also will probably teach several English classes and a science class.

Prayer Requests and Praises:
Safe travels to CA, OR, NC, and back to CR & good visits with family and friends
God would prepare us and the students we will be working with at LPDV
God to help us find a place to live when we return to Costa Rica the end of June
Direction for 2007 and beyond
Praise God that we have been healthy the entire time we have been here, Maureen and Kenneth both found employment as cooks, and Rocio’s blood pressure seems to be back under control. Thanks for your prayers!!

More photos are available through the following link: http://www.parcher.us/gallery/Costa-Rica

Bendiciones (Blessings),
Mark and Adrienne

Update: February 23, 2006

God is alive and active in Costa Rica!
We are grateful that on the weekends (when we aren’t studying) we have been able to get involved in some local ministries - thanks to a friend and local missionary, Keith.

One of the poorest communities here is Los Guido. There are thousands of families there living in makeshift houses. One afternoon we went along with Keith to deliver a package of diapers to a young mother named Kattia. Her house is made of scraps of corrugated tin which lean against the wall of a building. It is about 5 by 10 feet, smaller than some walk in closets. She has a dirt floor, an old couch, and a bucket with a toilet seat on it. She has no water, but somehow managed to tap into a source of electricity. (We were amazed at the number of shacks that had TV’s.). In many of the families in this area, the father has abandoned the wife and kids, but Kattia is lucky; her husband is still around, and even gets work sometimes. Still, on the day we visited, she could not afford a carton of milk for her 2 year old son. A few diapers aren’t much, but it felt good to do something for this lady, and you could tell that she really appreciated our visit.

Through Adrienne’s sister, we met a young woman named Maureen. Maureen and her family live in Los Guido. Maureen’s husband, Kenneth, was working for Coca-Cola making 27,000 colones (about $50) per week, but got laid off a couple of weeks ago. As a result they had to send their two young boys to Maureen’s parents in Limon (a poor area on the Caribbean side of the country). We enjoyed having them over for dinner one night, taking them out to a restaurant on another occasion, and visiting in their home. We hope that we can continue the relationship if they don’t move out of this area.

One of the highlight times since we have been here was a few Sunday’s back. Along with Keith, we took 13 girls and 2 boys to the movie theater. (Attached is a photo of the kids at the bus stop). They ranged from age 4 to 11 and were from the “hueco” (hole) in Los Guido. The hueco is sort of like a trash dump with a contaminated stream flowing through it. We believe that none of these kids had ever been to a movie, or even a shopping mall. Watching them (some very nervously) ride the escalator and the elevator for the first time was a joy to us. The movie was Narnia and afterward Keith tried in his broken Spanish to explain the parallel between the movie and the Gospel. We’re not sure if they understood that….but we do know they got a little sense of God’s love that day.

There is another ministry here that we are working with as time allows. It is in another poor community called Los Guizaros. A woman there named Cecilia (see attached photo) felt led by God to provide food and some spiritual education to the local kids. The ministry grew to feeding a hot meal (mostly rice and beans) to about 50 to 80 children three times each week. For many of the kids, these are the best meals they get. We are helping them expand to six days per week, and are helping with the activities and meals on Saturdays.

Many of you joined us in praying for Rocio (our landlady) recently. Thank you so much! God was so loving and faithful. Rocio had been experiencing swelling and pain in her lower legs, ankles and feet for a couple of weeks. She went to the doctor, and heard very bad news. As we were returning from la feria (the farmer's market) on Saturday morning she came out of her house to greet us. We could immediately see that something was wrong. We asked her how she was and in tears, she began to tell us about her Dr. appointment. (Keep in mind that she doesn't speak any English, so we were working hard to understand the basics.) She said that they did an ultrasound on her legs and she was losing or had lost circulation below the knees. The Dr. planed to do a procedure the following Tuesday to try to open the arteries and veins. She was told that if the procedure was not successful, they would likely have to take her legs from the knees down. We sat with her and Adrienne held her for about an hour while she cried. She has a son, Alex, who is handicapped and was very afraid that she wouldn’t be able to take care of him if she lost her legs. She asked us why God makes 'special' children if he doesn't allow the mothers to take care of them. Now, that's a tough question to try to answer in English, let alone in our limited Spanish!!

A couple of times during the next few days, Adrienne massaged Rocio’s legs and feet, we (along with some of you) prayed, and we also got some advice from Adrienne’s brother-in-law, who suggested that the problem might be related to the heart or blood pressure. Well, Rocio held off on her procedure for that Tuesday and was able to see a cardiovascular specialist the next day. (“Next day” appointments are unheard of here; God definitely orchestrated that!) The second doctor said that her veins and arteries were fine and she needs treatment for high blood pressure. What a relief! Throughout this 'adventure' she and Adrienne have become much closer. Adrienne was definitely blessed to be able to minister to her through massage, prayer, and companionship. Praise God!

Prayer Requests
Thank you all for your support. We know that God is listening to your prayers. He is very active in our lives. Please continue to pray for us and our ministry here. Following are some specific praises and requests:

· Praise God that He has kept us healthy and our minds seem to be able to make room for the Spanish language. Please pray that our language acquisition continues.
· There has been a rash of burglaries and assaults in our neighborhood. Please pray for our safety and the safety of those around us.
· The school year started here a couple weeks ago. Please pray that it will be a successful year at La Palabra de Vida – that the students would grow both academically and spiritually.
· Please pray for Rocio’s health, especially getting control of her blood pressure.
· Please ask God to bless Kenneth, Maureen and their boys, with an income, and a place of their own to live in.
· Please pray for Cecilia (in Los Guizaros) as she works to expand the number of days that children are fed in the community center.
· Please pray for God’s clear direction for 2007 and beyond.

More photos are available through the following link: http://www.parcher.us/gallery/Costa-Rica

God bless you,
Mark and Adrienne

Update: January 31, 2006

Life over the Gift Shop or “Poor” and loving it!
By US standards our standard of living has slipped down a notch or two. Our 600 square foot apartment which sits on top of the “Liberia Alex”, a small gift and stationary store, is clean, but not especially well furnished. In fact one of our new friends refuses to sit on the small sofa – she says it’s a back breaker. Our 14” TV gets lots of channels, but we can’t understand most of them. To complete our home theatre system we have a portable CD player hooked up to some computer speakers.

We have no car or cell phones. To make sure our fruits and vegetables are clean, we soak them in a little bleach water for 20 minutes. We have only cold water for washing our hands, dishes and laundry. We place toilet paper in a small trash can next to the toilet (those of you that have been on the MSCC Mexico trips are familiar with this lovely practice!)

Robberies here are so common that every person on the administrative staff at our Spanish school has been robbed at least once, sometimes at gunpoint. The property that we are on (along with the rest of the neighborhood) looks like a prison with bars on the windows and doors, and tall iron gates and fences topped with concertina wire and barbed wire. (Check out the attached photos.)

So, yes things are very different here, but we love it! Here’s some of the reasons why:
Our apartment owners (Oldemar, his wife Rocio, and son Alex) are great. They are always available to answer our questions, and also to help us practice Spanish. Rocio is especially fun to talk to because of her high energy, enthusiasm and laughter.
Our commute to school is a 2 minute walk.
We are meeting some inspirational people. Some of our fellow students gave up all they had in the states in order to serve God in some of the poorest places in Latin America. It is great to hear their testimony and see their dedication and faith. (The most amazing are those that are doing it with 3 or more children!).
We have warm water for showers. Once we figured out how to get it to work, we have come to appreciate the little heater that is mounted on the shower head.
LAM (Latin America Mission) has provided us a great support group, a small bible study group called “Shock Absorbers” to help us adjust to being here.
After a little bit of waiting, we got internet in our apartment. With Skype we are able to call Mark’s parents, and all our kids for free. Plus, we get to see them (and our grandson Calvin) on video. It’s great.
More important than anything else, we have the feeling that this is exactly where God wants us to be. It is difficult to describe why we feel this way, but we have no doubt that we made the right move in coming here.

A Typical Day
At 5:30 AM it begins to get light, and the alarm goes off. On most mornings we get up and run, (when lazy, we snooze until 6). After prayers, showers, and breakfast we make the brief walk to school. Being in school again, after all these years is challenging for our old brains, but it is fun to be learning something new. We are in school for four hours per day; two hours of grammar, one for conversation, and one for phonics. All the classes are conducted in Spanish (the first few days were a little difficult). Outside of school we typically spend 3 or 4 hours on homework, studying, and practicing conversation.

We walk to a store at least three times each week. They seem to have everything we need here, but the names (of course) are in Spanish, and the packaging is often quite different (for example, catsup and mayonnaise in squeeze bags, which by the way, works great).

On Saturday we usually go to “la feria” (farmer’s market) about five blocks from our apartment. There is a wide variety of fruits and vegetables here, and we can walk away with several bags for just a few dollars. Each week, we are trying to buy at least one new fruit or vegetable to try. Last week it was camote – a potato type vegetable that has a slight sweet potato taste. This week, we are trying carambola (starfruit) juice. Electrical appliances are not cheap here (they are made cheap, not priced cheap). However, despite our rather tight budget, we decided to buy a blender when we heard about the wonderful fruit shakes and juices that people make in their homes. The blender sounds like it is going to self-destruct when we use it, but the drinks taste great.

On Tuesday’s and Thursday’s we go to chapel at the school. Mark plays piano, flute and sings with one of the worship teams. It is nice to have services in English to attend. On Sundays we have been going to Spanish-speaking churches. We can’t follow all the words of the songs, but we love the worship. Adrienne has been brought to tears a couple of times feeling overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. During the message, we scramble to keep up using our bilingual bibles, dictionaries, and a lot of guessing. We think we are getting the general ideas.

Hopefully this gives you some idea of what life is like for us down here. We have also had some opportunity to see some of the poverty in this area, and to do a little ministry work -- we will tell you more about that in our next letter.

Thanks to each of you that have prayed for us, or given financially. We really appreciate your support. We are also praying for God’s blessing on each of you.

Please continue to pray for us:
Praise God for getting us here safely, our living conditions and location, and especially for giving us this opportunity.
For our children. (Even though they are adults and spread out in three states, we still worry about them and miss them since we are so far away).
Success, energy and patience for learning Spanish.
Protection against sickness, homesickness, culture shock and self-doubts.
That we’d seek God’s guidance in both the big and little decisions.

Blessings,

Mark and Adrienne

PS: We would love to hear from you…
ladyadie@comcast.net or mark.parcher@comcast.net

Also: Check out some of our photos at http://www.parcher.us/gallery/Costa-Rica

Update: December 28, 2005

December 28, 2005

Dear Friends & Family:

Hi -
Here’s a brief update before we leave the country….

We have enjoyed the last few weeks, with a visit from Mark’s parents, and all of our children (plus Calvin!) here for Christmas. We had a long list of things to do and take care of before we leave. It’s down from three pages to about a half a page, with packing for four months probably the biggest task.

Our “big brother” (current students at the language institute in San Jose, CR) found us a place to live. A local family who runs a small gift shop out of their home has an apartment on their second floor that we will rent. We heard that the woman was so grateful that her apartment would be rented she said “Gracias a Dios” (thanks to God) and had tears in her eyes. I wondered why someone would be that happy about getting a mere $350/month in rent, but then a friend pointed out that the average income is very low compared to our standards (Costa Rican’s average less than $3000/year) so our rent money may be very significant for this family.

Our first few days will probably be a little hectic. The cheapest airline tickets that we could get turned out to be a flight on January 3rd that arrives in Costa Rica at 10PM. So, we will get in late, and have to get up early the next day for the orientation at the language school. (Not to mention dealing with the two hour time zone change.).

We feel really blessed and encouraged by both the financial and prayer support that people have pledged to us after getting our support letter. The financial support has really increased our desire to be good stewards of God’s provision. And knowing that many people will be praying increases our confidence that God will use us for His purpose.

Once we get settled in CR, we will write again. We’d love to hear from you too. Our contact info is below.

God bless you.

Mark and Adrienne

Contact info:
Email: mark.parcher@comcast.net or ladyadie@comcast.net
Mail (January through April only):
C/o Instituto de Lengua Española
Apartado 100 – 2350
San Jose, Costa Rica

P.S. We are sending this to those who have requested updates (and a few who did not request it, but we think might enjoy it). If you prefer to receive these occasional updates via email, please let us know. Also feel free to pass it on to others.