Lo conocía para todo mi vida. Cuando era niña, estaba católica. Atendía los servicios cada domingo, sin falta. Atendía las clases cada martes después la escuela por doce años. Aprendía sobre las reglas. Estudiaba las tradiciones. Cantaba en el coro y era un voluntario. Cuando tuve veinte años, fue líder de una estudia de biblia para las jóvenes de mi iglesia. Pero necesité leer otros libros para comprender los sacramentos y las partes de la misa. Y me pregunte a mí mismo,– ¿Por qué Dios le parecía muy complicado? Después de doce años, ya me sientí que yo sé solo un poquito. Lo conozco, pero no lo comprendo a Dios.

Empecé atender la iglesia de mi novio hace cuatro años. Es una iglesia de la biblia. Todas las personas son amables y me sentí bienvenido. Atendía clases de la biblia antes de los servicios. Con esta familia de mi iglesia nueva, pude comprender y aprender más fácil porque que la biblia dice, es que lo es.

Pero no fue un viaje simple. Me había resistido al cambio. Era católica por veinte tres años. Mi familia era católica. Fue un elemento importante de mi niñez. Solo sabía una vida católica. Para los tres años siguientes, fue un esfuerzo. Los lucho con los principales de las dos iglesias. ¿Cuál es la correcta?

Durante este tiempo, estaba infeliz con mi trabajo. Por un año y media, estuve buscando para un nuevo. Envié muchas solicitudes. Les pedí ideas de todos mis amigos y mis conocidos pero no había oportunidades. Las puertas se cierran. Fue una lección de paciencia. A todo esto, Dios me estuve diciendo que yo necesite ser maestra. Me dijo una vez en el pasado pero no lo escuchaba. No le dí atención de Dios por un año y media. No quise ser maestra. No quise estudiar para ser maestra. No quise ganar menos dinero. No quise trabajar con niños. El problema fue que yo quería hacer que quería hacer. Jeremías 10:23 dice –Señor, yo sé que el hombre no es dueño de su destino, que no le es dado al caminante dirigir sus propios pasos.

La situación estuvo muy mala. Trabaja tres años con el negocio y mi patrona nueva tenía solo un mes. Ella fue loca y me culpaba para todos los problemas cuando ella los causaba y yo los arreglaba. ¡Y la patrona de ella la creía sus cuentos! Odié mi trabajo. Cada mañana fue una lucha para despertarme e ir al trabajo. Estaba enojada y gruñón. Fue pésima. Necesite un tiempo de prueba para poder cambiar mi vida. Mateo 15:30 dice: Se le acercaron grandes multitudes que llavaban cojos, ciegos, lisiados, mudos y muchos enfermos más, y los pusieron a sus pies; y él los sanó. Esto es que he hecho. Después de un año y medio de luchas y dolores, me escuché. Finalmente, le pone todos mis problemas y toda mi vida a los pies de Jesús y dije “es que Dios quiere.” Y me sanó.

Es un fin feliz, si. Pero no es todo. Después de mi decisión a hacer que Dios quiere, había muchos obstáculos. Creía que yo estaba loca. Empecé la escuela para los maestros. I renuncié al trabajo sin un nuevo. Tuve muchos problemas con mi certificación de maestra, pero Dios los arregló. Dios lo cumplió lo que prometió. Recibí un nuevo trabajo después de un mes. Es el mejor lugar para mí. Hay muchos cristianos que hablan mucho sobre Jesucristo. Estoy atendiendo mi segunda estudia de la biblia ahora. También, fue necesario me mude a un cuidad nueva para mi trabajo, pero Dios me acompañaba. Además, necesite pasar cuatro exámenes y dos veces me falté. Me repetí muchas veces a estos versículos: Isaías 65:24 dice: Antes que me llamen, yo les responderé; todavía estarán hablando cuando ya los habré escuchado. Y también, Ezequiel 33:33 dice: No obstante, cuando todo esto suceda—y en verdad está a punto de cumplirse–, sabrán…

Completé mi primer año por ser maestra y pasé mi examen último en junio. Estoy certificada. Mi actitud es mejor. Ahora estoy contenta y más amable. En abril, mi novio me preguntó a casarse. Yo sé que la biblia es la manera. Solo necesito las palabras de Dios. Ha asegurado muchas veces que él cumple que lo prometió. Mi vida no es sin dificultades, pero es mejor. Yo sé que Dios tiene su mejor para mi vida, solo si yo lo permito.

A mi iglesia, hay un grupo de los adultos jóvenes, que tienen veinte o treinta años. Eso grupo fue un luz de mi tiempo oscuro. El líder del grupo, se llama Ralph, envía un mensaje semanal que Dios puso en su corazón y ayer, recibí el mensaje nuevo. Con eso mensaje, supe que debo hablar hoy. Lo escribí sobre este versículo: dice Apocalipsis 16:15 –¡Cuidado! ¡Vengo como un ladrón! Dichoso el que se mantenga despierto, con su ropa a la mano, no sea que ande desnudo y sufra vergüenza por su desnudez. Para mí, significa… Dios no se anuncia cuando vendrá. Estará incómodo si no esté listo. Puedo decirlo de mis experiencias. Tendrá bendiciones si esté listo. No espera para mañana. No dice, Sí, yo puedo, Jesucristo pero… Estén listos ahora. Es la razón que estoy aquí hoy. Dios lo dijo y me fui. Ahora, estoy lista….lista para mandos y lista para sus bendiciones que sigue.

From: Patricia Talecki
Subject: Costa Rica Vol. II

Hola everyone!

The week has flown by, and here I sit with only 5 days left in Grecia.  I have been welcomed by all in the church.  I’ve lunched with several of my students & learned about their families and lives here in CR.  I have met countless wonderful people.  I now have a second home in Costa Rica.

The first week of English classes & Bible Study went extremely well.  The ladies are speaking like naturals!  Today, my class doubled in size.  This is the first week of vacation for the kids, so several school-aged children have joined the class.  Imagine going to English classes on your summer vacation!  What a blessing to have children this diligent!  We are up to 15 students, plus a few youngin’s that stay for a bit & then go off to play outside.  We’ve already completed 12 lessons & we learned 2 songs, Breathe (This is the air I breathe) and Take My Hands (Toma Mis Manos,) both of which we sang in English & Spanish.   Our Bible Study is discussing how to be a mature Christian.  It uses a lot of encouraging verses from Paul’s letters.

Yesterday, I attended Sunday’s service.  We sang, prayed and listened to a message from Pastor.  I spent some time with the children’s classes, too.  The kids & I learned about King David & the sin of covetousness.  I also gave my testimony during the service.  I was pretty nervous, especially to say the whole thing in Spanish, which meant I was pretty sweaty & red in the face!  However, it went well.  I hope that all Christians can have a chance to worship like this…without the fancy buildings and sound equipment, without the noise of the outside world.  Just you, some fellow christians, God and a spectacular view of His creations.  At the end of the service, we gave immunizations to ten of the children, ages 1 to 11.

I ask for prayer for the ministry, that they may be sent funds for the other 25 or 30 children that did not receive the immunizations yet.  I also ask for prayer for members of the church, that they continue to be hungry for His word.  Lastly, I ask for encourgement from God because, here too, the economy is suffering and several folks are looking for jobs.  I have been so lucky in my life…I’ve never worried about money for my next meal.  What a serious weight to give unto the Lord!

Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement!  The Lord had blessed me as much as He has blessed the people of the Promised Land church.

Blessings y Abrazos,
Patricia

P.S.  I’ve included at the bottom my first email, in case I missed anyone the last week.  Also, I’ve included my testimony for those who can speak Spanish

Hello all,

I am having a fabulous time in Costa Rica!  I arrived yesterday and, with exception of one of my suitcases going to Aruba, the trip was easy.  I arrived yesterday with Suzi & Daniel there to greet me at the airport.  The ride to Grecia from San Jose was gorgeous.  We wound around the mountain roads surrounded by green vegetation.  Sugar cane and coffee farms are everywhere & farmers sell there fruit by the side of the road.  La Quinta Mindy, where I am staying is quaint & home-y.  My host family has impeccable manners and refuse to let me do any work, even though I try several times a day.  They tell me to make myself at home and treat me like a princess.  Hopefully they’ll let me help as the week progresses.  The food is delicious and I’ve already asked for cooking lessons from Daniel and Keren, so I can make Costa Rican food when I return.

This morning I taught my first English class with 8 ladies of all ages from the church.  I am so proud of them!  They are trying so hard!  I hope they can remember it for when the next mission group comes to visit in January.  We learned how to exchange greetings and talk about how people are, like ”I am happy” & ”He is sad.”  We also had our first Bible Study after English class.  It was a test of my Spanish to keep up with them and I said “What?” & “Could you repeat that?” a bunch of times, but I got the jist of what they are saying.  They are so thirsty for the word and are excited to talk about it.  I hope I can live up to His expectations in teaching them.  Thankfully there are several ladies in the group who are very helpful and re-explain slowly for me when Aide & Noemi talk really fast :)  We will be studying English from 8:30 to 12:30 and Bible Study from 12:30 until 1:30 for the rest of the week.  Please pray for us during that time!

After classes, I tried to work on lesson preparations for later in the week, but was too distracted by the beauty of the land from my spot in the porch rocking chair.  The kitchen table is much more productive!   Suzi & Marcela gave me a tour of the land around the house and I got to try a couple new fruits right off the trees.  I love manzanas de agua (water apples?) but am not such a fan of guyaba.  I don’t know how to explain it, other than it’s pretty bitter!  There is also a fruit called “nanci” & it was funny to them when I said that I had an aunt named Nancy :)  Maybe Gweneth Paltrow knew something we did not when she named her daughter Apple!

This evening, I went with Suzi to the church for the exercise class.  Angelica, one of the students in my English, is the teacher.  She is like the Energizer Bunny!  We did Taebo & dance moves and focused on the core for the second half of the class.  I haven’t sweated that much in a while.  I’m sure I’ll hurt tomorrow!  It was amazing how many of the neighboring ladies come to the class.  There were probably 60 of us in the church!  Young, old, big, small.  Many of them do not know Jesus and they use the cool down time to read a Scripture to the ladies and pray at the end.  Angelica also announced my class tomorrow so I hope more people will come to learn English and His word.

It is amazing to see what God is doing with these ladies & this church.  Please pray for the ministry, as they are trying to raise money for immunizations for the children in the church, as well as an addition onto the building for bathrooms and 2 classrooms.  Pray for me as I haven’t had to go out the coffee field yet to use the “restroom.”  HAHAHAH!  (Just kidding…I hope my latrine experiences from Girl Scouts serve me well.)

Blessings & Abrazos (Hugs)!
Patricia

Ralph,  could you pass this along to the young adults group?  thanks.

We have made some minor changes and will send a final draft. Looks like Indy will need to travel to Grecia at the end of July so we can continue with our permits. Continue to pray for workers and resources. Join in Serving God & Serving Others.
Be blessed,

Indy & Dana

After church we went to the new mall to get KFC at the food court. First time I have been to the mall and it was really nice. Kinda small but nice. We ordered two buckets of chicken with all the trimmings. To our surprise, the lady who took our order says, “Is this to go or will you eat this here?” HUM!!!! I was feeling pretty good about my weight loss until this lady thought that Indy and I could consume a bucket of chicken each. Or hopefully it meant that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work at KFC!!!!!! I don’t think I could ever eat a bucket of chicken so rocket scientist she is not.

Stay tuned,
Indy & Dana

God does all things well!

The bad news is the architect we hired who was suppose to provide us with some plans has not been seen or heard from. The $300.00 deposit is gone as well. OUCH!! I know that most of you know how hard we all work for financial donations and to see $300.00 be lost hurts.

The good news is that we contacted yet another architect, who we just met with. He will be drafting our plans and obtaining permits for us to proceed in January. To date, the ministry has raised $2,500 from the sale of the cookbooks, the garage sale, and private donations. The architect’s fee will be $2,526.00. This will not include the cost of the permits. But when he showed us the figure on the calculator, Indy and I just looked at each other in disbelief. God is sooooooo unbelievably good. The miracle of it all is that instead of charging us the customary fee of 10.8 %, he is only charging us 5%, which happens to be the amount we have raised.

It is incredible to see God’s hand move in this ministry. So many of you have been a part of this vision, so join us in lavishing in God’s provision, love, and abundance.

Be Blessed,
Stay tuned,
Indy & Dana

God does all things well!

We meet with the architect Friday. Then order supplies…as far as the money takes us.

I was able to get two large bags and Indy got one bag of donated items. We brought Bibles, Spanish Christian books, medicine for children, women’s ministry items and clothing. They will be distributed as the local pastor sees fit. A UNBELIEVABLE BLESSING!!!!!! Thank you!!!!

Keren has found that we can have 5 children immunized for $200.00. That includes the medicine, the nurse and supplies. We immunized just a few children two years ago. We have between 30 & 40 kids attending the church now. If any of our supporters would like to help raise funds to get these kid’s immunized then have donations sent to U.S. AMEN Ministry, 10601 Grant Rd., Suite #113, Houston, Texas 77070.

We have a young lady, named Patricia, donating her time and talent this summer to teach Spanish and lead a Bible Study. Since we will not be here when she comes, we are trying to get everything arranged and scheduled so when we meet with her back in Houston she will know “what she signed up for”. If the locals had their way, she would teach all day every day she is here. Please pray for Patricia and ask God to bless her for her willingness to serve.

I will keep in touch, STAY TUNED!!!!
Indy & Dana

God does all things well!

We are still raising money for the bathrooms, and Sunday School classes. We really need $12,000 more to go full tilt but we will go as far as the money we raise takes us. Thus far we have raised $2,500 and have another Garage Sale planned for early June.

The land portion cost is $650.00. That does not include fun day activity (usually about $100) and departure cost ($26.00) The $650.00 includes food, lodging, transporation, construction and VBS) I was just so excited that the flight cost was soooooo cheap that I was hurrying to get you all an e-mail off.

Let us know as soon as you know you are on board with us in January.

Love to all,
Indy & Dana

God does all things well!