Taxi System in Costa Rica

For this post, I thought I would share some of our daily life. One of the most important things to learn is the taxi system. This picture shows a taxi here in Costa Rica. This is the normal color of a taxi, and it is very important that the taxi has the yellow triangle you see on the side of this one. That triangle means it is a "legal" taxi.

The most interesting part of the taxi ride is explaining where to go. THERE ARE NO ADDRESSES IN SAN JOSE. If there are no addresses, how do we get where we are going? Let me give you an example. Let's say that I need to get to the kid's school for soccer practice. The first thing I do is call the taxi company and attempt to speak Spanish. I need to tell them my telephone number in espanol, "dos-veinticuatro-veintiseis-sesenta y uno." Then, after the taxi driver arrives, I need to go through the normal greetings, "Hola! Buenos dias! (tardes, noches), Como esta usted?" Then comes the fun part! I need to know what part of town the school is in and the name of where you are going. If the taxista (taxi driver) does not know where you are going, then you need to know some landmark or building that the taxista would know. It is quite interesting sometimes. Here is what I usually say to get to the kid's school, "?Podria llevarme a San Francisco de Dos Rios?" Then, the taxista usually asks where I need to go exactly. So, I would say, "al instituto de lenguas espanol." Most of the taxistas know where it is from there.

Sometimes, there are taxistas that either do not understand me or do not know where I need to go. Improvising and knowing how to say straight, right, or left are very important to everyday life here. I enjoy, sometimes, riding in a taxi because it allows me an opportunity to think on my feet and to try to communicate in Spanish. A lot of taxista's do not speak clearly, and they use a lot of slang and shortened words. So, it really helps to hear different people speak Spanish.

I hope you understand just a part of our daily lives here in Costa Rica. If you have any questions of comments, please click on the comments link at the end of this post. You can also go to our website at: www.mattixfamilynews.com. On our website, you can look at some more photos, email us, and keep checking on our process as we continue to learn Spanish in preparation for moving to Paraguay.

Blessings to you all,

Charley

Men's Retreat

Greetings from Costa Rica. I had a very interesting weekend this past weekend. All the men from the language school went on a Men's Retreat. We went to the International Royal Rangers Campground (the same camp where we had the Campamento for the Royal Rangers). We had no idea what we were going to be doing. The leaders kept us all in the dark. So, we were kind of nervous before we got there.

It is about a 2 hour drive to the campground. After we got there, we went on a tour of the campground, and the leaders kept saying that we need to pay attention to what we see. It would be important later that night. Then, we had a class about surviving an emergency. There has been a lot of missionaries who either had an accident or were stranded somewhere. It is necessary to have an idea of how to survive a crisis. Sometimes, even here in Costa Rica, if you travel across the mountains there are mudslides, and you might be trapped on the mountain for a day or two. Jeff Cooper, an A/G missionary here, taught us how to be prepared in case of emergency. It was an eye-opening experience. Then, we had a lesson on spiritual survival. In the physical survival, we learned what we need to put in our survival kits and backpacks. In spiritual survival, we talked about what we do not need to put in our spiritual backpacks, what we need to take with us, and how we need to prepare for a spiritual crisis.

After a lunch of awesome french fries and hamburgers, we had a lesson on knot-tying and how to build a shelter. Then, we were given two hours to find a place for our shelter and to build it using a knife and some string. We were assigned a partner, and then we got to work. My partner, Bob Perez, and I built a pretty nice shelter using bamboo and several different types of small trees, palm fronds, and other leaves. After we were done, it was time for dinner. We had chili for dinner. It tasted awesome. Then, we went on a walk in the jungle. For some of it, we had to turn off our flashlights. There was moonlight, but man is it dark in the jungle at night! It was nice to be able to have other people around talking and walking together. I cannot imagine being lost in the jungle at night and alone. It would be really difficult. I remember the most important thing Jeff Cooper taught us. He said the most important thing was to NOT PANIC, just remain as calm as possible. I thought, yeah right, like I wouldn't be panicking if I was lost in the jungle. After this weekend, I think I might be able to survive and to get my family out of a crisis situation.

After we got back from the hike, Jay Dickerson, our director at Cincel and the other leader of the retreat, asked us where our accountability partners were. During the hike, they were told they would be going on another trail then us; however, they were tricked and they were captured by the enemy. You can fill in the blanks on the spiritual meaning of this. Then, we were told that they were being held captive in the "stable" near the ampitheater of the campgrounds. There were several guards with spotlights, flashlights, water balloons (filled with paint), and paintball guns. We were give 3 chances to go in, find a key, open a lock, and get our parntner out. We could not be "killed" with paint from the paintball guns or "water" balloons. We were given almost two hours and no "rules" except one. We only had 3 lives, and we must not allow our partner to get hit. After we found the key, we must lead our partner out of the prison. We must be willing to take the "hit" for them. So, we had to stand between him and the paintball guns.

It was a fun night. It was a man's weekend. We got dirty, we worked hard, we played hard, we prayed hard, and we got to know each other better. I cannot share everything that happend, but it was a lot of fun.

After that, we had a snack. We went back to the ampitheater, and what campout would be complete without a bonfire, praise & worship, and a time to share what God is doing in our lives. It was amazing! Men were men, and we shared our hearts with each other.

Then, we went to out shelter to try and sleep out in the jungle overnight. Bob and I did sleep on the ground in our shelter until it started pouring rain. I think it was about 4 or 4:30 in the morning when it just began to rain, hard! So, we left our shelter and jumped into one of the permanent shelters at the campsight. The picture above is a picture of our shelter. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. It rained all morning long. In fact, it rained all the way back to San Jose. We made it back safe, but really tired. I am still tired tonight, but it was worth it. One more thing, on the night we had to rescue our accountability partner, I did it. They never even touched me with a paintball. (Be sure and check our website for more pictures: www.mattixfamilynews.com)

Good night and God bless,

Charley

Home

Here is a picture of the front of out apartment. In this entire house, there is 5 apartments/houses. Our door is the brown, wooden door on the bottom right. There is a white gate to help protect us. The white wall to the left of the door is actually an automatic garage door with a driveway through it to the house in the back. Another missionary couple (the Cooper') couple lives in an apartment on the other side (to the left) from our apartment. Below us (in the middle of the house) is another apartment. Then, behind the Cooper's apartment is another house. It has an entrance similar to the the white wall (garage door) house behind ours.

Our apartment is nice, and it has all tile floors. The window on the right (second floor) is the window for mine and Sherry's bedroom. The window on the left, with a small balcony and door, is Chariti & Kaylee's bedroom. We have a small dining room, living room, and a tiny kitchen. There is a small utility room with our own washer and dryer. Then, Chaz has a bedroom with a bathroom, and there is another room in the back. It is fully furnished, including kitchen supplies. It is about a five minute walk from Cincel, the language school Sherry and I are attending. On an earlier blog, I talked about how the kids got to school on the van/bus. They have about a 15-20 minute "bus" ride to school every day.

The house is in a nice neighborhood. We only know of a few robberies that occur each week. We have nice security guards that are here 24/7. I do not know how well they watch the houses, though. Because Freddie Cooper had his license plates stolen right off of his car. Anyway, we feel pretty safe, but we do not take chances. For example, Sherry does not walk anywhere by herself, we do not go out late at night, and we keep an eye out when we are going anywhere. It's all about being attentive to the people around you. Also, we have one advantage that a lot of people in Costa Rica do not have. We have the Holy Spirit protecting us. That's why we are here.

What? You thought we were here just to learn Spanish? No, we are also here to spread love, spread love, spread love (that was for all who remember some old Christian comedy). Seriously, we are here to tell people about Jesus and share what He has done in our lives with all we can. Now, for Sherry and I this is very difficult because we cannot communicate very well. So, what can we do until we can speak the language better? We show people that we care about them. We learn about their culture, and the more we understand the better we can non-verbally communicate. For Sherry and I, we try to show people how much we care about them by treating them nice, by treating them the way we would like to be treated, and by treating the way Jesus would treat them.

It is really nice to see people's reactions when you treat them with kindness. We have quickly learned the excuse me, pardon me, and I'm sorry phrases for when, not if, we make mistakes. It is amazing what a few kind words, a simple apology, or an excuse me can do. Next time you feel someone is getting angry, try an apology or an excuse me. Just take a chance and see what happens.

Good night all,

Charley

Just Another Monday

It's just another rainy Monday! I think that is in some song or something, isn't it? Anyway, we had a weird Monday. The kids didn't have school. I don't know why, but their school canceled today. So, we had a strange start to the day. I had forgotten about it until around 7 this morning, and the kids didn't get on the bus and go to school. So, it was not a routine day. They all went to school with us. Chaz hung out with David Figueroa, and the girls hung out with Priscilla Perez (two other MKs here). {They also had supervision, I just don't know how to spell their names.}

Then, throughout the entire day, it was rough. It just felt off. I couldn't speak correctly in English, so you can imagine what my Spanish was like. It was pretty interesting. I did learn some new concepts, but I felt like I couldn't say anything correctly.

My mom told me there would be days like this! Another song? Anyway, I know there will be days like this. How do I handle this? What do I do? A couple of posts ago, I talked about trials. So, I should probably do what I talked about, huh? Keep on keeping on.

When we finally got home about 5 p.m. (it was a long day), things started to turn around. I understood my homework and got it done pretty quickly. I practiced phonetics, grammar, and interaction. We had a good night at home, and we spent some quality time playing games together. The kids were all happy, and we had a friend come over and visit (her name is Monica, and she is a MA to Mexico). She has become a close family friend. The kids all call her sister.

God is good. In the midst of struggles, He gives you peace. He lets you know that He is there, and He will take care of you. Please let the Author of Peace enter your life, love you, and give you peace.

Blessings to all who read this,

Charley

Update

Hey everyone, how's it going? We are doing pretty good right now. God is good, and he is really helping us with Spanish. The kids have finally adjusted to school, and they are making a lot of new friends. Today, at church, I understood the sermon (YES)! That is an amazing breakthrough for me. The first Sunday we were here, I thought there was no way that I would ever understand the pastor. Now, I can almost understand 50% of his sermons.

Sherry is doing awesome. All of the teachers keep telling her that before we leave here, she will be speaking like a Tica (Costa Rican). She is doing amazing in her classes. She even got a 100% on her test once. Now, she just needs to get out and speak. She's like me, nervous to speak to the locals when you don't know every word to say.

The kids are doing well. No illnesses or injuries to report. Chaz is making friends with pretty much everyone. You know him, there isn't a person in the world that he doesn't like. Kaylee is doing good. She's coming out of her shell and doing a bunch of things. Her Spanish is coming along, and she is beginning to make good grades in school. Chariti is her usual self, except for one thing. She is not so shy anymore. She is really getting bold about speaking out and to people. It's awesome to see how God is working in each of their lives. They are thriving on the mission field.

We have made many new friends here. There are about 40 missionaries here at Cincel. This number includes all the children as well. They are all family, and we knew most of them before we ever came here. We have also made some Tico friends. The picture above is Pacifica. She is a neat lady who Sherry has become close to. Everyone in the family has made new friends. It is awesome to know there are people all over this world who care for us and pray for us.

It is all because of your prayers that this is happening. Please keep praying for our family. We need your prayers, and we are thankful to you for them.

Blessings to you all,

Charley

Trials

One thing I have noticed is that lately a lot of people are going through major trials in their lives. Here, at language school, some of us are going through the fire. There has been physical illnesses, family members dying, and many financial needs. We have one missionary friend of ours tell us that his nephew was seriously wounded in Iraq, and he may never walk again. Others have told us of major family problems back home. It is hard for them to keep focused on their studies when they are thinking about what is happening in their lives.

As a family, we have already been through many things, as well. Strep throat, fevers, stress, financial struggles, allergies, broken toe, every time something happens, it takes our focus away from learning Spanish. It is hard to learn a new language when you are hurting physically or emotionally. As a missionary in Latin America, it is crucial to learn Spanish well. We need to learn the language for everyday living, but more importantly, we need to learn the language well in order to communicate the gospel much more effectively. So, we have to try and keep our focus on learning the language well and ministering whenever and wherever possible.

James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (NIV) I keep going back to this verse whenever we are going through something we think we cannot face. It is hard to "consider it pure joy" when we have lost a loved one, we have been hurt deeply, we are ill, or when we have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. It's hard to "consider it pure joy" when mosquitos will not stop biting you, even in the middle of the night.

I was reading a commentary on James, and it said this, "Regard it as a thing to rejoice in; a matter which should afford you happiness. You are not to consider it as a punishment, a curse, or a calamity, but as a fit subject of felicitation." (Barnes) James wrote this during a major, but necessary, struggle for the early Christian church. They were being scattered all over the world because of harsh persecution. It was necessary because they were not obeying Jesus and taking His message to the uttermost parts of the world. Trials, persecution, hardships, and struggles all help us to grow. They help us to learn patience and endurance. We need both of these to do what God has called us to do. We need patience and endurance to keep on going whenever the going gets tough. The reason we should "consider it pure joy" is that we know that God is going to work through the trial to help us grow. It is this testing of faith that helps us to learn to persevere in everything.

God has developed patience in our lives. We probably would be really struggling right now if we had not been through some of the trials in our lives. We know, because of what God has brought us through, that we can make it through language school. We know we can learn Spanish because God is helping us to learn it. We know we can go to Paraguay and tell people about Jesus because He is with us all the time.

If you are going through a major trial in your life, "regard it as a thing to rejoice in." Rejoice in the Lord, and He will give you strength. Even when it seems like the world is crashing around you, rejoice, praise the Lord, worship His holy name, and allow the Prince of Peace, the author of Peace, to bring peace into your life.

Blessings and peace to all,

Charley Mattix

A Day in the Life of the Mattix Family

A day in the life of the Mattix family begins bright and early for us. All of us get up and begin our day at 6 a.m. After showers, getting dressed, and eating breakfast, and Sherry making the kids their lunches, Chariti, Kaylee, and Chaz head off for school. They get on the bus (van) at 7:05 in the morning. They head off for a day of school at Sojourn. Later, we will have some pictures of their school posted to the web.

Sherry and I have a few minutes to finish getting ready. Then, it is our turn to walk to our school. We usually leave between 7:15 to 7:30 in the morning. The walk takes about ten minutes, and it is actually pretty good for us. In fact, I have lost a little more than forty pounds since we have been here. I think a lot of it has to do with walking to school every day. How many families can say that everyone in the family goes to school every day? Interesting, isn't it?

The top sign on this picture has the name of our school on it: Cincel. Cincel means chisel. I think the name says it all for our family. We have been here eight weeks now, and we have already been "chiseled" in many different ways: physically, emotionally, mentally, and especially spiritually.

We are learning that we can handle getting everyone up and to school on time. We can go to school every day (and learn something new). We can walk a mile or two, get groceries, and walk back home before dark. We can learn new things no matter how hard it is to understand at first. We can conjugate verbs in present and past tenses. We can trust God to help us learn a new language even though sometimes it seems impossible.

Today, in my interaction class, I had an interesting conversation with my teacher, Maria Rosa Gomez. I was very frustrated because I felt like I should be further along with my conversation abilities. I am understanding grammar. I can read Spanish. I can understand a lot of what people are saying, but I am having a tough time formulating the words to answer people when they talk to me and ask me questions. Dona Gomez helped me tremendously. She explained that the hardest thing about learning a new language was the speaking part. I wholeheartedly agreed. She also said that my expectations for myself were way too high. I needed to lower my expectations in order to allow myself to meet realistic expectations. She encouraged me by letting me know that I was where I needed to be in my new language acquisition.

You know, it got me to thinking about our relationship with the Lord. We have a lot of expectations when it comes to serving the Lord. We want to do great and mighty things for him. Sometimes, we get impatient with how long it is taking to do what God has called us to do. We want to know more about how it is all going to happen: what we are going to do, where we are going to go, how we are going to get there, how many people will give their lives to Jesus, and how long the ministry is going to be.

I don't know if we need to lower our expectations, but I do know we need to learn patience. For me, I am afraid to talk a lot in Spanish because I do not know everything about Spanish that I need to know to effectively communicate. Do I stop trying? I can't. I have to break through the wall of fear and try to talk with people as much as possible. In our service to God, we cannot let fear stand in our way. We must push through the barrier of fear and continue to talk to people about Him. Each day, we are given the opportunity to show this world the true Jesus Christ. Let's all grasp the opportunity and give this world a dose of Jesus Christ. Love them all into His kingdom. After all, what else is more important, and why else would we be on this earth?

Blessing to all of you world changers,

Charley

Stress Relief

God has blessed me with a beautiful, smart, and hilarious wife. Sherry is amazing. This week has been very stressful for me. In our Spanish Phonetics class, I am struggling with pronunciation of several different combinations of consonants and vowels. I have three major exams in the next two days, and I was focused on that. It was really beginning to stress me out.

Today, we went to a restaurant called Granes de Oro, Grains of Gold. In Costa Rica, the Grains of Gold are coffee beans. This restaurant was recommended to us by another missionary. It was a very nice place, but it wasn't too expensive. It was nice to go with another couple to celebrate Valentine's Day.

While we were there eating, Sherry had us laughing with her quick wit. The way she sees things is amazing. My stress just melted away. I am truly blessed to have such a great wife by my side. She is a blessing to our family.

Who in your life is a blessing? Maybe you know someone who can help lighten the mood in a room full of stress or anxiety. Is there a friend or family member that is hilarious? I know that God has a sense of humor. He put a UPS driver with a history teaching degree together with an E.R. nurse and is sending them to the jungles of Paraguay to reach the Guarani Indians. What can be funnier than that!?

Jesus had to have a sense of humor. He brought together 12 of the most unlikely people to start the Christian church. These twelve included fishermen, tax collectors, and rebels. Can you imagine the jokes or stories told around the dinner table and on the long walks between ministry opportunities. Peter probably told Matthew, "I once caught a fish THIS big!"

As I mentioned before, this week has been difficult. Yet during all of this, Sherry was able to unknowingly help relieve some of my stress. I am still nervous about the exams, but I do know that everything will be okay. Her sense of humor and comedic timing has helped lighten my load. I thank God for her and people like her in my life. Take some time today and thank the people in your life who make you laugh.

Blessings to all,

Charley

A Trip to the Canopy

Part of the language school experience is to go on "field trips" or Paseo's together. Yesterday, we went on our first trip to the canopy. It really was a lot of fun. We went to a place to go zip-lining. It was near the volcano called Barva. It was beautiful and amazing. On our website, there are some pictures from the trip.

The purpose of Paseo's are not just for fun. It is a chance for all of us students to get out and see some of Costa Rica, learn more about Latin American culture, and a chance to get to know the teachers outside of school. It was a great time of fun and learning. We were able to use some of our newly acquired vocabulary and phrases with our teachers and the people who work at the canopy.

The scenery was beautiful. There is nothing like flying through the air at 30, 40, or even 55 miles per hour across rivers, lakes, and through the trees. Then, you climb up to the next platform, hook up, and do it again. The things you see from 75 or 100 feet in the air is amazing. The pictures do not really tell the story.

It reminded us of many things. It is amazing what God has created in this world. The beauty, variety, and the way it all works is amazing and wonderful. How can someone not believe in God when they are confronted by the very beauty of nature. In the canopy, we saw many wonderful things. We were also confronted with the danger of nature. One of our classmates was injured when she failed to put stop herself before hitting a tree. The workers at the canopy gave us instructions about how to stop before we hit the tree. Our classmate just simple did not do it in time. Even though she did not do it on purpose, it still happened. It is a reminder of how we need to keep focus.

We are beginning a new chapter in our lives and ministry. We want to begin well. Even though everything looks beautiful, and we feel like we are having fun, we need to be careful of the dangers. We need to not only begin well, but we need to keep on our guard that we will finish well.

There are many things in our life that can keep us from finishing the race we have started. Things like: pride, jealousy, anger, not completely trusting in God, to name just a few. We must keep up our guard and follow the instructions laid out before us. Sometimes, people fail. They may not have meant for it to happen, but they did not follow the direction and leading of the Lord. As a result, they failed. What is sad is that no matter how successful their ministry was, after they failed, it did not matter. All people will remember is that they failed.

What is even more amazing is that God still loves us. We continue to fail Him, time and time again, but He continues to love us. In fact, He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us in order that we would be able to have eternal life. When we think about His love for us, it should be humbling. We do not deserve it, but we still get an opportunity to receive it. WOW!

Blessings to all of you,

Charley & Sherry

Our first ministry opportunity!

We had our first real ministry opportunity this weekend at the Costa Rican National Royal Rangers (Exploradores del Rey) campgrounds. It was the Campomento Nacional, National Campout. It was in the jungles of Costa Rica. Man, it was beautiful, hot, humid, gorgeous, hot, humid, fun, hot, humid, and amazing. The coolest part was that 43 royal rangers received Jesus Christ into their lives for the first time. WOW!

Jeff and Danette Cooper are the missionaries who head up the Royal Ranger International ministry in Costa Rica. They have three children: Zach, 14; Lucas, 7; and Maddie, 4. They are a really neat family, and they have a big heart for all the children here in Costa Rica. Several churches from San Jose came to the campgrounds and set up their tents, campsite, and entrances. Each campount, Jeff adds another thing the campers need to do to get points toward winning the trophy. It was impressive to see the creativity of over 300 boys and girls at the camp. It was the first time they made entrances to their camps and roped them off. They used a lot of the knots that are taught in the Royal Ranger handbook. It was fun to be a judge and photographer/videographer at the Campomento Nacional.

There are many wonderful and strange things in the jungle. Our first morning there, we were woken up by Howler Monkeys. They call them Congo Monkeys here (pronounced with a K and long O's). They started howling at 4 in the morning. Sherry said they howled all night long, but 4 a.m. was the first I heard from them. I guess I was tired. Then, Freddy Cooper (Jeff's dad) and I went at 6 a.m. to judge the campsites. It was fun and a lot of walking. Man, it was hot that early in the morning. I sweated through my clothes by 6:30. To see some of what went on at the campgrounds, please check out our website. We have put many new pictures on the website: www.mattixfamilynews.com.

God is good, and He was there in the middle of the jungle in Costa Rica. We could feel His presence (even while sweating a gallon or two of water an hour). The theme of the camp had to do with super heroes. Superman and Spiderman were tempted by the Joker, two Cat-girls, and the Riddler to drink the Toxic Potion. They were promised extra powers if they drank this potion and served the Joker and his minions. Then, Batman came in and reminded Superman and Spiderman that if they prayed and confessed their sins to God, He would come and save them from the evil ones. The kids at the camp really got into it. They were yelling for Batman to come and save the day when Superman and Spiderman drank the potion. Then, they cheered really loudly for Batman when he showed up. It reminded me of what Jesus did for us. He is the ultimate superhero for everyone. When we need Him, He is there. When we think we don't need Him, He is there. No matter how we treat Him, He still love us. No matter how others treat us, He is there for them. In fact, HE DIED FOR THEM. Isn't that an amazing thought? He died for everyone, not just us! Everyone should have the opportunity to hear about this amazing, more than super, hero.

Blessing to you all,

Charley