Early Fishing In Costa Rica

One of my great hopes and longings for retirement is that successful fishing, and catching, will be standard operating experience!  This has been a common thread throughout my life and I am not eager for it to come to a close any time soon!  My earliest memories of fishing are in South Dakota where on unique occasions my father would set the Smith kids up with cane poles, hooks and bobber to catch fish in the “dams” on the ranches that surrounded our little town of White River.

I graduated to making fishing a personal experience when we moved to Moravia, Iowa.  Farm ponds dotted the countryside and you can believe that Terry Prough and I knew where we could catch bass, bluegills, bullheads and crappies on a moment’s notice.  Our best fishing days were any day (except Sunday) through the summer, but at the end and beginning of the school year our day for fishing was…Saturday!  It was nothing to roll out of bed before sunup in order to be on the bank of our targeted pond by daybreak.  It is one of life’s great mysteries, “What makes it easy for a kid to get up early to go fishing when every other day it is nearly impossible to get a kid out of bed for nearly any other reason?”

Some of my best fishing was during our five years in Alaska.  One day I fished in a city park in Soldotna during a pink salmon run.  With the Good Lord as my witness at one point I made 13 casts and 13 catches.  That’s a good day for any fisherman!  One year right after our church’s annual District Assembly, Gene Bryner and Dr. Gordon Whetmore and I fished the Cook Inlet.  We limited out on both King Salmon and Halibut.  My prize of that day was a 43 lb. King!

More recently, three years ago or so, Dean and Colleen Heath and Colleen and I enjoyed a week of luxury in Rick and Roxanne Robinson’s Hawaii home.  Rick arranged for us to have a day fishing for tuna.  We fished from daybreak until mid- afternoon before the action happened, but when it did it was like thunder and lightning combined!  It took about forty five minutes for me to land a one hundred and twenty one (121!) pound Ahi Tuna.

Just saying…I really love to fish, and, have had some success!

You may have read an earlier blog where I told of my  first Costa Rica fishing trip.  What was supposed to be a blissful one-day fishing experience turned into an amazing nightmare!  Our little boat was cast about on the gray Pacific like a cat playing with a helpless mouse.  I did something hard for me to be proud of.  I voted with the majority…to abort the trip and head for land.

My next Costa Rica fishing experience happened just down the road on a river very close to where we currently live.  This needn’t be too lengthy of an account, but in my few minutes of fishing from the bank, I had a classic encounter with…fear!  After a handful of casts, my lure got hooked on the bottom.  Lures are hard to come by down here, so I waded out knee deep and gave deeper thought to going the rest of the way to retrieve it.  Thought better and returned home to find another lure.  Upon returning I made a few more casts and then moved upstream.  The tide was coming in and what appeared to be a driftwood log surfaced maybe 15 feet in front of me.  My next thought was, “That’s not a log.  It has knarly bumps and a long nose and eyes.”  Yep.  That was my first encounter with a Costa Rican crocodile that was at least ten feet long!  The fear hit me pretty hard when my mind skipped back to wading out knee deep earlier in order to retrieve my lure.

This past Tuesday Josh and I spent an entire afternoon fishing from a charter boat.  Nothing dramatic.  I did have two great strikes, but didn’t land either.

Jamie’s parents are visiting with us and Pat really loves to fish, so we’ve been out twice.  I took him over to where the croc made his appearance.  We made several casts from a safe distance and saw two more crocodiles, one big one!

Christmas eve, we went to an area where a river dumps into the ocean.  Pat decided to fish the surf.  I was drawn upstream.  Fishing is pretty serious for me and often draws me beyond the familiar.  After a good hour of casting into the mangroves lining the shores of the river, a native Costa Rican came fishing his way back to where I was.  He could speak pretty good English and gave me some good tips about fishing for Snook.  The better advice was, “You be careful fishing back in here.  There is a very large resident croc!  Pay attention!”

Okay, so I’m alive and in good condition.  Pat and I hope to fish again this afternoon.  No fish yet, but I hope to give you a good report soon.

Ten Significant Differences...

Important Announcement...check out our new web site (after reading this blog, of course) www.nazarenesabroad.com  

Having lived abroad already for two magnificent months has created some profound responses in my psyche (not a common word with me!).  First, both Colleen and I are feeling strongly about and conversing about our commitment to this “expat” life. We love it!  I suppose that it is possible for us to change at some point in the future, but we both feel strongly that this lifestyle is what we want for the rest, the homestretch, of our lives!  That is rather amazing considering the fact that up until two years ago, retirement in our minds was totally assumed to be on our little “farm” located just outside of Castle Rock, WA. 

Our new home (under construction) in Osa Mountain Village (www.osamountainvillage.net)

With that in mind, I wanted to invite you to share some of our two-month journey.  Colleen and I have spent time talking about the differences between the expat life and life in the United States.  Here is our current “Top Ten” list:

1.     The travel system.  In the US we never gave a second thought to traveling from point “A” to point “B.”  Signage was an assumption and road conditions were, in retrospect, fabulous.  Here, folks, travel is an, uh, adventure!  There are no, or very few, actual addresses.  My first experience in driving in Costa Rica caused me more stress than I can ever remember experiencing over one challenge.  Just saying that we have taken travel for granted.  No more!

Our Costa Rica car, purchased in the States and shipped here.  2000 Isuzu Rodeo. It stays clean for at least a few hours after I wash it, as long as it is parked in the driveway!

2.     The way people get around here.  We see five distinct modes of travel: car, motorcycle, bicycle, public transportation, and, walking.  This probably deserves an entire blog, but the motorcycle, bicycle and walkers get around with little or no regard to the weather or light conditions.  Just last evening we were coming home from a restaurant in the pitch dark.  I’d say hundreds of people were walking along the highway because of a free outdoor Christmas concert.

 

3.     Animals on the loose.  It’s just the way life is here.  “Survival of the fittest” is a good way to describe the system!  I doubt very many pet animals die of old age around here.

 

4.     Diet.  The diet here is limited for several reasons.  One way to describe it is that when Alex came home (to Longview, WA) from spending three months with Josh here in Costa Rica, I had the privilege of walking into Winco (large grocery store chain) with her.  I intentionally walked a few steps behind her.  She was truly in awe as she wandered around looking at all the varieties of various products.  She turned to me and said, “Papa, this is SO much different than Costa Rica!”  The neat thing is that we have plenty, not just the huge shopping buffet offered in the US!

 

5.     Spending.  Would you believe that I still have some of the money in my wallet that came into the country with me two months ago?!  It is honestly more difficult to spend money down here.  Outside of the few large cities, shopping, as we have known it, simply does not exist.  I consider this a good thing!

 

6.     Leisure.  Now, I’m retired so the routine I have lived by for so long is pretty much a thing of the past, but our leisure is little influenced by the traditional Hollywood entertainment media.  We pick up our news via the internet, making it easier to filter what we see and hear.  That is amazing for this news junkie who pretty much had to have his daily dose!  Much of our family time revolves around swimming, walking, eating and enjoying nature around us…together!

Alex and her friend, Eden.

Mr. & Mrs. Iguana in the palm tree on the other side of our swimming pool.

7.     Language.  It just seems plain rude to me that the folks down here have not taken the time to learn our language.  Oh, wait.  We are the couple who said in the past, “If you are going to live in the US, learn the language!”  Turnabout is fair play I’d say!  Colleen and I “shook on it” last evening, committing ourselves to spending an hour a day learning Spanish.

 

8.      Church.  It’s not different in message or in focus, but much different than what we have grown accustomed.  I have attended two all-Spanish services.  That’s tough for me at this point.  The church we have enjoyed, and become a part of, translates every part of the service.  Though this church has been in existence for about five years, we feel like we have gotten in on the ground floor some something very exciting and dynamic!

 

9.     Heat. Costa Rica is a tropical country so it just makes sense that we would have to deal with heat.  We are currently living at coast elevation and temps in the low to mid-80’s is not unusual.  The pool is ALWAYS the exact right temperature.  Colleen has developed the habit of carrying an umbrella and a fan!

 

10. Bugs. We’ve been told that our bodies will develop a resistance to the histamines of the various biting, stinging bugs within about two years!  Live and learn!  A few days ago, a yard worker was here.  His work stirred up a bumper crop of biting bugs.  I was “rewarded” with between 15 and 20 new bites.  Next time he is here I will keep myself well-sprayed!

 

My intent is to…tell the truth.  The truth is that we love this season in our lives and believe that God has gifted us with this very unique privilege!  To broaden that out a bit…our current piece of heaven is realistically interspersed with bits of hades!  This would be a good time to re-read Genesis 3!

 

Much Love,

 

Wes & Colleen (www.nazarenesabroad.com)

Living Outside The United States...

Well, it’s been just about just about six weeks since we were picked up by Chuck Dunnavant at Ron and Sherry Worthington’s home and taken to the airport for our flight to Liberia, Costa Rica.

 Now it is important for me to say a few things.

 Retirement is really settling well with me.  So far, I feel like I’m on an extended vacation.  Sometimes I feel like I should be preparing a sermon or making calls or attending meetings, but mostly I’m enjoying putting each day together without much thought being given to the following day and pretty much just doing stuff that needs to be done and investing time and energy in some shared projects with Josh.

Further, my health is much better than I expect or deserve.  Either Josh or Colleen and I take a demanding walk nearly every morning.  My weight is down from 206 when we arrived to a pretty trim 198 this morning! (3 more lbs. and I’ll try to maintain!)  Overall, my sleep habits have made some good adjustments.  Those of you who know me well know that I have not historically been a good sleeper.  Last night was an example of a positive change that has come over me.  Colleen and I had our prayer together at about 9:30 PM.  Within seconds I was asleep and don’t remember moving a muscle until 4:39 AM this morning.  Frankly, I would prefer to sleep until 6:00 AM, but, hey, I’m not complaining.  “Refreshment!” is a good word to describe the effect of this season on my life.  By 6:30 AM, Josh and I were on the road for that 3 mile walk.  Fabulous!

The main “extra-curricular” activity that has occupied lots of my time is bird and nature watching.  I’m sure other more spiritual foci will come to me in due time, but for this particular season, I am thoroughly enjoying the “nature circus” that Costa Rica provides.  I would say the word “kaleidoscope” somewhat describes each day here.  At this moment the butterflies and hummingbirds are working the flowers on the perimeter of our property.  Yesterday was an amazing visitation of parrots and toucans!  As a sidelight, a couple of unusual iguanas were, ahem, occupying the same limb of a majestic palm tree just on the other side of our pool.  This morning as Josh and I came up the lane on our way home, a drop-dead, gorgeous, blue morpho butterfly emerged from the jungle on our right and flew up the trail ahead of us.  I’m still trying to get my mind around the fact that a little body can flap those wings and determine direction.  The wingspan of a blue morpho is easily the size of my hand!

And, let me address the spiritual side of this before I hit on the main focus of this blog.  I’ll be up front with you and tell you that my spiritual energy and supply had hit somewhat of a low point entering in to this retirement time.  It’s a strange thing, but maybe the best way to say it is that there was a pretty big gap between what I wanted to see happen in and through my ministry and the actual, especially in the last ten years.  So, I was more than happy to see a major shift in my life happening with retirement, but not so happy that many of my hopes and dream were not realized. 

Would you like to know what has saved my spiritual bacon during this time of transition?  Sit down.  Fasten your seatbelts.  This is going to be heavy.  Heavy!  The Gospel According to Mark has been an amazing and thrilling re-introduction to the life of our precious and powerful Jesus Christ!  My habit in the past six weeks has been to read each chapter in the various versions on eSword (by the way, a valuable tool that every Christian with a computer and internet should, at least, check out! www.esword.com ) and just try to let it soak in.  This morning I am deeply affected by the impact Jesus had upon every person that came into contact with Him.  He truly was a people lover!  And, I am deeply impacted by the effect He continues to have on, well, anyone that will give Him half a chance!  He, still, is a people lover!

The other thing that has impacted my spiritual restoration during these six weeks…praise, worship, gospel music.  I’m a Southern Gospel aficionado, but pretty eclectic in my personal music tastes.  The lyrics of Phillips, Craig and Dean songs never fail to grip my mind and heart.  Janet Paschal songs are tender and thoughtful.  Hey, don’t leave out Mariah Carey’s Christmas album.  She has a beautiful voice for Christmas songs and I love praying for her at the same time I’m listening.  Michael W. Smith (many of you do not know this…my brother!) has a true gift for helping people like me put aside distractions and worship Jesus.  For me, this early part of retirement has been re-connecting with True North and beginning to strategize about what to do regarding the energy and other resources I have for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.

Okay…drum roll, please.  Here is the main purpose of this blog today.

It is possible that just about everyone reading this should give some consideration to spending time in a different country and different culture before they pack it in, buy the farm.  Hey, don’t tune me out here.  Give me just a few paragraphs to make my point.  If you can get past the next paragraph, I promise to be more inspirational for the entire rest of this writing!

Just my opinion, but I believe Christianity has become rather predictable in North America.  Please don’t be defensive.  I don’t have an ax to grind, just a point to make.  Somewhere along the line, many churches in North America have become primarily focused on making Sunday gatherings palatable and attractive to the most believers possible.  Thus, typical church has become a gathering of people who are set on having their needs met with little or no thought given to people who have not yet had the awesome experience of meeting Jesus personally.  Now, chew on that. 

This is not meant to “close the case” on my thoughts in the previous paragraph, but the church we are attending here in Costa Rica is a classic example.  Imagine a large typical Sunday School classroom.  That’s our church now.  We enter at the front, just off to the right of the pastor.   Ha!  Better not come in late!  The chairs are plastic deck-type chairs.  On our first Sunday at the Church of the Coast, we were well into the service when I felt the legs of my chair begin to spread-eagle.  Right there in front of God, the pastor, and everyone, your friend, Wes, went down.  Immediately I was surrounded by people exclaiming, “Are you alright?  Can I help you up?”  Of course I’m alright and I can get up on my own.  What do you think?  I’m an old man and need help, or something?  Ha!

The front of the church is store-front glass and at about the time the message begins, the glare off the windows of the cars parked outside hits people like crazy.  We sing from song lyrics printed on regular white paper and folded in half.  There are no musicians.  We sing along with recorded music. The pastor does not use a microphone.  The children sit in with the adults for half the service and then make a noisy, noticeable exit. 

I think it’s worth noting that people seem to develop expectations that correspond with what they’ve learned to expect.  Consumerism is both a blessing and a curse, isn’t it?  One of the things I love about settling into a small congregation meeting in a store front is the nearly total lack of presumptions.  Since we are pretty new to the scene, and they don’t know much about us, we get the privilege of kicking back and seeing what the Church looks like away from North America.

Mo and his wife, Vilma, are part of the congregation.  Mo is maybe five foot two, but one of the most delightful, loving Christian men that I have ever met.  He is a significant part of the church as he serves as one of the major translators in the services.  When we share our Sunday morning hug, the contrast in height is great, but there is no contrast in spirit, unless, of course, you include that he is teaching me much about lack of presumptions.

One of the neat, funny, things about the Church of the Coast is their total comfort with the nuances of translating.  Every Sunday the person who is translating the message into Spanish from English will pause, at which time people in the congregation will jump in to help getting the right word or phrase.  They cannot know it, but their friendly participation in helping everyone understand, is speaking to my spirit!

Two Sundays ago, Pastor Payton was waxing eloquent regarding our need to share what we have with the people God brings into our lives.  I can quote what he said, nearly exactly, “But folks we must be careful about giving everything away.  If word gets around town that we are giving everything away, we would likely come to church next week naked!”  Then there was the appropriate pause for the translation and then another pause as people absorbed what was a bit of a clumsy statement.  In that silent pause, a young man a couple rows ahead of us, no doubt entertaining his own thought process, erupted with slow and meaningful, “Hal-le-lu-jah!”  What a great light-hearted moment!  Fortunately, Pastor was close to the end of his message!

Alrina Alvarez graduated recently from Purdue University with a degree in Chemistry.  She recently gave her testimony about how God called her to minister in Uvita, Costa Rica.  Alrina is doing her dead-level best to advocate for the children of Costa Rica.  She told me that most of the kids who start school here will not finish.  Her goal is to be a piece the turnaround, not just for the church, but for the very future of this country.  Talk about dedication.  That lady could, no doubt, be in a high-paying job in the States.  Instead, she is in Costa Rica, living on nearly nothing and touching the lives of the next generation in ways that only God really knows about.

I’ll have more to say about this as we go along, but there is also a large and growing population of expats (people who have left their native country) down here.  My ministry participation down here has been slow, but I can tell you that God has placed it in my heart to do my best to reach out to and care for the expats.  We live in a thriving community of them and there is not one church in the entire community. (Ojochal)

What to do?  That is a good/great question.  For now, the answer for me is simply to be filled and still.  Does that make sense?  I desperately need to be so close to God that when the opportunity to love and care and share comes up that I am ready to step to the plate!!!

I hope you will give deep consideration to what I’m trying to say.  God wants to use YOU for the advancement of His Kingdom.  I know it is not impossible for you to be fruitful and productive right where you are, but I’m trying to speak to the hearts of people who need a change of setting and a change of associations for a time or for a life-time.  I can tell you that for us, something is happening.  We have a new and fresh awareness of the awesome possibilities of sharing Jesus with the world.

Pretty sure that it would be good to talk about finances for a paragraph before wrapping this up.  Our situation is skewed a little bit because we are living with and sharing expenses with Josh and his family.  However, what we are experiencing is, as far as living conditions is concerned, definitely upscale and we are staying well within our Social Security budget.   Additionally, we are currently looking into situations in other countries in order to be able to share the word with people who are considering the world of the expats.

Folks, this is a different world than any of us and, really, anyone in history, has ever experienced.  Things are changing, big time.  In my humble opinion, all of us should be learning all we can about this world in order to prepare for an interesting and uncertain future.

If, by any chance, the thoughts expressed in this blog have given you some thoughts about serving Jesus outside North America, please be in touch.  You can respond to this blog in the appropriate response setting, or, contact me on Facebook. 

One of my first memorized Scriptures was Acts 1:8, where Jesus says, “But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and throughout all the world!”

Want to hear (read) something crazy?  One of my prayers back in College was, “Lord, I will do anything and go anywhere for You.  You know I will.  However, let me interrupt this prayer to say that I’d surely prefer NOT to serve you outside the United States!”  Isn’t God’s sense of humor something else?!  Here I am a retired guy serving the Lord outside the United States and loving it like crazy.

And, I love you all.  Be in touch.

Friend,

Wes

My Most Memorable Fishing Trip!

I've had a lot of fishing trips in my life, because I love to fish.  In Alaska, I caught a 46 lb. King Salmon.  He was actually 43 pounds when I originally caught him, but he has grown over the years.  Hoping to live long enough that he will weigh in at 75 pounds.  Takes time!  Ha!  In Hawaii, thanks to Rick Robinson, I landed a 121 lb. (actual weight) yellow-finned tuna.  The day was long and the fight was hard, but I landed him and helped get him into the boat.  One glorious Alaska day, I caught a 90 lb. halibut while on a charter fishing trip.  Amazing!

Yesterday morning (Wednesday, 16th) I awakened at 4:00 AM knowing that another charter fishing trip was planned for my day.  I needed to be at the appointed location at 5:00 AM.  Actually, the alarm was set for 4:15 AM, but the old internal "fishing alarm" went off early. Call it pre-fishmatic functionality!  This was possibly going to be the trip of a life-time.  The dorados are biting off an island, I'd say 10 miles off the coast.  Can hardly wait.

Colleen had taken care of the food issues the night before and had it all in the fridge.   We also packed an extra pair of clothes, some mosquito/bug repellant and some sun block.  The food consisted of two tuna sandwiches (prepared in advance, but the bread and tuna mix were in different containers), two Snickers, and, two bananas.  All signals...go!

For some reason the first thing that came to my mind as I awakened was a church song from back in the 60's, "He [Jesus] is my everything.  He is my all.  He is my everything, both great and small.  He gave his life for me, made everything new.  He is my everything, now how about you?"  Little did I know that my faith would be tested and I would have a close encounter with everything I've said I believed for all these year, since giving my life to Jesus Christ at age eighteen.

We met at the appointed place and the appointed time for the beginning of our adventure.  Christian was there.  He runs the zip line tour for Osa Mountain Village.  Bob was there.  Bob is the biker dude and is developing a world class bike course at OMV.  Jeff was there.  That was my first time to meet Jeff.  Not sure that he has a connection with OMV, but he is a bike racer and just won a major bike race here in Costa Rica last week.  Mitch and Charlene were there.  They own property in OMV, are currently living in a tent on their property, but have plans to construct an upscale "container home" made from two forty foot containers with a covered courtyard in between.  Lisa was there, but I don't have much information on her.  I know she was with Bob and I know that she serves as a spokesperson for OMV.  Two deckhands were on the boat as well as was Jim, who is the President and CEO of OMV.

The first thing you need to know about this trip is that it started very pleasantly.  We motored down the Sierpe river.  Scores of exotic birds escorted us on both sides of the boat.  The sky was dark, but not threatening.  I was seeing a major display of nature that few people ever see.  Mangrove forests lined the river.  The exposed roots are called the "nursery" for a variety of species of fish.

The first deposit of distraction came when a gentle mist began.  Off to the west the clouds were dark, but who cares?  It's warm and surely a warm drenching would not harm any of us.  The way the weather works here in Costa Rica, the clouds would come upon us and then pass over.  The mist quickly turned to rain and it was a hard rain.  Finally, at the mouth of the river when things began to get a bit rough, Jim spoke up and querried us with "How do you all feel about continuing this trip?  We could turn around now and re-schedule for some future date."  There were various responses, but it came down to Lisa's response and she was firm in her desire to fish.  I could not have agreed more!  I came to fish.  Bring on the storm!

Crossing over the bar was rough but tolerable.  With a few miles to go on the open sea to reach our happy fishing ground, no one yet seemed worried or put off by the obvious discontent and turbulence of the ocean.  As we continued our westwardly progression, the winds picked up significantly, even severely, to the point where we were literally lifted off our seats and slammed back down when the boat hit the bottom of the trough.  Bob commented on one of the slams that it was a "Chiropractic slam!"  I'd had previous experience of being in storms in the Cook Inlet in Alaska.  Back then I was young and had serious confidence in the Zodiac boat in which Gene Bryner and I were being tossed about.  This time was different.  Our boat was fiberglass and not the kind that seemed constructed to take such a beating.

At the end of our trip (yes, we did survive!), the skipper said that we encountered 15 foot waves, very unusual for this area of the ocean at this time of the year.  We were surrounded by strikes of lightning and could hear claps of thunder.  I'd say that for awhile, we were in the midst of the storm!  The rain, hard rain, came sideways and drenched every thread of clothing on the entire boat.  The skipper stood at the steering wheel in the middle of the boat and was completely soaked!

Not everyone on the boat shared my faith in Christ.  A funny level of humor pervaded the conversation during the entire storm.  Profanity was the order of the day, with some exceptions.  One of the guys ventured, "What a time for me to have forgotten my [necklace] cross."  And at one point Jim did his best to get the skipper to call home base on an emergency phone to, at least, let them know to come and look for us if we did not call back in an hour.

That song just wouldn't leave me, "He is my everything!"  I don't want to over-dramatize this, but it ran through my mind several times that I'd not make it home.  Perhaps the kiss and "I love you!" I gave Colleen at about 4:30 AM would be my last.  Maybe Josh would have to go through the details of searching, identifying and making arrangements for the disposal of my remains, if found.  I know that sounds morbid, but it really was that bad.  We were all holding onto our seats and the sides of the boat doing our best to not get thrown out.

Just as the storm began to slacken, a cool breeze from the west delivered goosebumps to all of us.  I began to shivver and was overcome with nausea.  Hanging over the side of the boat I delivered the entire orange I had consumed on the way down the river.  I've never been one to get sea sick.  What an exception, but I was not the only one! 

I couldn't stop shivvering and then I remembered about the rain pauncho stored in my backpack.  The seriousness of the situation now turned from the turbulance of the ocean to the trembling in my body and it occurred to me that maybe the pauncho (thin plastic blast "jacket") could be helpful.  So, I stood up, removed my shirt, wrung it out, put it back on and pulled the plastic over and around me.  Folks it would be hard for me to believe that a thin silly millimeter of plastic could make such a difference.  I went from being very cool to being very, very comfortable.

It wasn't that we were out of trouble or that the waters grew calm and we  caught our limit.  No!  The water continued with a nasty churning and made it very difficult for us to have much enjoyment.  At about 10:00 AM, we conducted another vote.  Believe me, I was enthusiastic in my vote to head for the barn!  Actually, the vote was unanimous.  I should say that the ocean was far more cooperative on the way home.  The skipper revved the big Honda engine and had us on plane most of the way back to the river's mouth.

The trip back up the Sierpe was as entertaining as the trip down!  One major "Oooh, Aaah" moment was the sighting of a gigantic crocodile sunning himself on a sandy shore.  I did notice there weren't many swimmers in that area!

That's my story.

I rode back to the meeting place with Jim.  One thing I said to him was, "Lots of people watch 'Survivor.'  I definintely feel like I've been on one of their shows today!"  He agreed.  Reminded me of an insight I had a year and a half ago when I hiked the Grand Canyon with Dave & Linda McClung, "Lot's of people stand at the rim of the Grand Canyon and say they've been to the Grand Canyon.  I now say, 'No way!'  You haven't been to the Grand Canyon until you have walked to the bottom (Bright Angel Campground) and climbed back up!"  Dave and Linda would probably say, "You haven't been to the Grand Canyon until you've walked from the South Rim to the North Rim...and back!"

Anyway, just saying, adventure is where it's at.  But adventure with Jesus in your heart brings lots of love, joy and peace.  Peace in the midst of the storm.  As we headed back up the river, I honestly thought, "What an amazing parallel to life!  People go through perils and storms and trials and testing, but in the end...it's good to go home!  My dad is home.  My mom is home.  Colleen's parents are home.  And, it's good to live so that when our summons comes to 'go home' that we do so with this One Who is...our Everything!"

God bless you all!

Much Love,

Wes

PS.  No pics this time.  Am pretty glad I chose not to take my camera with me.  It, no doubt, would have taken a major bath and that would have put an end to picture taking!

Why Costa Rica?

Dear Family & Friends,

This blog is going to  jump around quite a bit, but I would like to primarily deal with the issue of why lots of people are choosing Costa Rica as a place to settle in retirement or as a home away from the United States.

First just let me say...Costa Rica is one beautiful place.  In my limited travel around CR I have found it to be a place of amazing beauty.  The easy part about writing of CR's beauty revolves around the fact that I am writing this from a table on our patio.  I simply have to lift my  eyes from the computer screen and I see an amazing array of jungle in front of me.  Here is my exact view.

Taken this morning while I was writing this blog.  That's my pool girl (Jamie) on the other side of the pool.

People pay huge bucks to vacation in such a spot as this!  Here is some information about our expenses so far.  Since we are splitting the cost of this home & setting with Josh and Jamie, our costs are very low.  Let me give you some specifics.  Our (Wes & Colleen's) monthly expenses: Rent ($600); Food ($200); Utilities ($125); Car Gas ($200); Taxes/Insur/Med ($300).  And, we have set aside a certain amount for tithes/giving.  I will keep you posted on this as I suspect the amounts will change as time goes by.

Back to the beauty subject.  It is difficult to view any area of CR and not see beauty.  One disclaimer...on our trip to the Panamanian border last week, we did see lots of potholes.  They were not pretty.  But, in general, this is an amazing place.  Costa Ricans and their government have a reputation for preserving natural beauty.  In the development of our property, we had to get permission to remove a specified number of trees!

Blue Morpho Butterfly picture...Taken by Josh this past Saturday.

We've seen howler monkeys in the wild, lots of parrots, lots of hummingbirds and lots of butterflies.  As a sidenote...and, lots of biting bugs. A few days ago, 21 scarlet macaws flew across the view I showed you above.  They were gorgeous.  We've seen lots of yellow-billed toucans and one white-billed.  This morning on our walk, Josh and I saw two blue morpho butterflys and one that was as big, but the wings were black except for a splotch of bright blue on both wings.  Every day brings some new discovery!

This just happened this afternoon as I was choosing pics to insert in this blog.  These two Yellow-billed Toucans showed up for their photo session!  Hard to know which pic to post!  One toucan has now flown away.  The one on the left is still up there by him/herself!  Like I say...always someting going on!

We've had time near and in the Pacific Ocean.  The water is simply amazing.  Both beaches we have visited were clean and the water was very warm.  I'm hoping to learn some things about fishing from the various jetties.  They tell me that the ocean offers a few different kinds of lobsters.  There is some annual festival down here where the lobster is served up in a variety of ways, but during the rest of the year people don't seem to pay any attention to it.  I would like to pay attention to it!!!

Mind you, I've only been here for just about three weeks, so consider this blog an installment.  I will have more and better information as we go along.  But, it's safe to say that lots of people come here for the beauty.  Other people come here for the the reduced cost of living.  And, I need to say pretty early on that the cost of living here is in many regards the same as it is in the United States. 

With conservation, we expect our utility bill this month to be in the $250.00 range.  Food prices seem to be about what they are in the States.  There are some exceptions, but in general, everything that has to be imported is as expensive, or more expensive, than it is in the States.  Gas at this point is about $5.00 per gallon.  We haven't looked much at clothing prices, but I'm told that quality is generally lower and prices are generally higher.  If you are tall and/or large, you (we!) are petty much out of luck  And no shoes in our size, at least for Josh and me.

These are just some things I'm learning as I settle in.

Another motivation I'm finding for people moving to CR is they simply want to get out of the rat race.  That is a good one.  It is nearly impossible to spend a day in the States without multiple reminders of the perilous times and the frailty of the system.  Life is just different here.  People tend to live their day to day lives without the hoopla of politics.  The information is available, but it just isn't given a high priority.  We spent some time last evening checking in on a recent edition of Survivor and the X-Factor.  It was fun, but not anywhere near the high point of our day.  The high point here revolves around relationships and the surrounding beauty.

One more thing.  Several people asked us if our motivation for moving to Costa Rica had anything to do with "end times."  The straight answer is...not really, but kind of.  We are not big on "end time" studies and scenarios.  On the other hand, something is obviously going on in this world that is different than anything I've ever seen or experienced.  It seems rational to give some thought to what to do in case of some world wide crisis, doesn't it?  My neighbor in Castle Rock was a Mormon and he was clear that they had an area of their home dedicated to emergency supplies.  Our family has and is giving consideration to being more prepared in this regard.

I've wondered what it would be like to be in a large population center and have a crisis hit.  Just think about it.  This isn't the main point of this blog, but it just seems to me to be something thoughtful people should consider.  If you have any control over where you would live in a time of national crisis, you may want to take some time to think about a...better location.  In some ways I think it is good to at least consider having some emergency supplies.

In future blogs, my promise is to keep you up-to-date on my thoughts as well as with what I'm hearing from other people.  My plan is to share information about opportunities here and in other locations that you may want to take a look at.

Have a great day.  As Hannity says, "Let not your heart be troubled!"  Oh, wait, that wasn't Hannity, that was Jesus.!
Peace,

Wes

Monday Update On Wes's Adventures!

Dear Friends,

Alexandria's 10th Birthday Dinner

It is good to report again from SW Costa Rica with an update of what is going on in our lives!  The good news is that we are having a great time, overall.  The “fly in the ointment” is the challenge of having to adjust to the changes.  We have some heat issues.  Colleen, especially, is sensitive to the hot temperatures.  Ceiling fans throughout the home are lifesavers!  Bugs are distractive, to say the least.  A good word came from a guy at church yesterday.  He said that this was the worst time of the year for the bugs.  I’d say that I have somewhere around 12 bites.  This is paradise in many ways, but there are some reminders that…we’ve been thrown out of the garden! (Genesis 3:23)

But, speaking of paradise…Josh, Jamie, Alex and I enjoyed a wonderful Sunday yesterday.  Colleen was a bit exhausted due to a bad sleep.  She spent the day relaxing at home.  But for the rest of us, we went to church and enjoyed a wonderful service.  Pastor Payton (his first name) is a wonderful Missionary and Pastor.  He shared a significant message yesterday about reaching the community.  My goal and intent is to encourage him and boost him as long as we are a part of his congregation!

LOTS of these green parrots around, especially in the evenings.  They are noisy birds, but gorgeous!

After church we came home, changed into swimwear and headed for the beach.  Folks, talk about being out of my “symbolic universe!”  Swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean on a Sunday afternoon is unlike anything in my historic past.  The beach we went to is associated with a very Costa Rican upscale restaurant.  So, there we were enjoying pork ribs, chicken fingers and pollo tropical chicken, getting ready to enjoy the surf.

When all of the sudden in the jungle between the restaurant and the beach there came this guttural, booming call of what sounded like a seal to me.  Our server quickly told us that a lone howler monkey was in the area.  Well, I’d never seen a monkey or monkeys in the wild, so I set my mind to following the sound in the trees and devising my plan to make my best attempt at seeing the critter!

What became apparent immediately after lunch was that there wasn’t just some long howler monkey, but (sorry about putting those two words together!) a troop of them.  One of the momma monkeys was actually carrying a baby on her back!  What fun!!!

Okay, then we continued on our trek to the beach.  Alex and Josh and Jamie were somewhat ahead of me.  All of the sudden Josh exclaimed, “Look, an alligator.”  He called Alex back when all of the sudden the alligator made a whip spin splash and disappeared into the bottom of a pool.  I’d (kinda) like to report it was a 10 footer, but it was more like a…3 footer.  Still, it was in the wild!

Lots of Hummingbirds down here.  You know why hummingbirds are called hummingbirds, don't you?  It's because they do not know the words!

Then, on this morning’s walk.  Josh and I have been taking a very demanding walk each morning.  It seems like after the wakeup calls of the parrots at about 5:30 AM, or so, everything quiets down until mid-afternoon until dark.  So our walks have been rather uneventful save for the pristine beauty of the surrounding jungle.  This morning had a couple exceptions.  On our way out, an amazing blue morpho butterfly came whispering by us, turned around and came back to within 5 feet of us, hovered a bit and then darted off into wherever it was going.  Then, as we arrived back home, another one did basically the same thing.

The blue morpho is a stunning butterfly, iridescent and huge, big enough to make you wonder how they are able to control their huge wings in order to cover so much territory so fast.  Josh’s café is named, “The Blue Morpho.”

God is SO good!

Okay, So It's A Buzzard.  It's Still Pretty Good Photography.

Inside Thoughts:

I’ll be honest with you, retirement has some puzzling pieces to it.  On one hand it is apparent to me that I don’t really need retirement.  I’m in pretty good physical shape, my mind is pretty keen and as near as I can tell I have a good attitude about…getting things done.  But on the other hand, in 10 days of being spread away in our home here, being in a setting that comes with minimal demands, I’m experiencing some healing or renewal or something like that.  It makes me think that the wear and tear of life had some downer-type effect on me.

It would be just fine with me if this particular “season” in my life was a sort of fluffing up, of sorts, to prepare me for what some call the “fourth quarter.”  I’m thinking this morning that it would be super special to have a retirement that is filled with vistas of enjoying God and significant participation in helping people in whatever ways I can.

Interesting how things change, isn’t it!  This thought is going to be way out of left field.  Josh and I were chatting this morning about how the whole face of ministry and missions is changing.  Us moving out of the United States has opened our eyes to things we simply hadn’t thought before.  A good example is this…I’m here and available to work for the Lord…for free.  Unless something catastrophic happens, we have what we need to take care of our needs, setting me free to minster for free.  That’s just an amazing thought to me and I wonder how many other people are in the same boat.

The world has shrunk to the extent that it is now possible to do life radically differently than we ever have.  A good “for instance” is that in church yesterday, we participated in the worship experience with around 50 other people gathered to worship the Lord.  This church is made up of “Gringos & Ticos” (North Americans and Costa Ricans).  The service is conducted in both Spanish and English.  In this case, I’m guessing that the financial ministry of the church is largely supported by the Gringos.  We’ve met several couples and individuals who have answered an inner call to break with life-as-usual and are living their lives for Jesus here in Costa Rica.  Just saying that lots of other Christians are finding ways and places to minister for Jesus...free!!!

It just raises an issue, a question…is there some possibility that a new worldwide window for relationships and ministry and life is evolving where we are beginning to participate in a super-Spirit Filled-passion to live out the life of Jesus wherever we are? Much of this thought process is very new to me.  Just wondering if the outcomes of Martin Luther's reformation are getting ready to land in the hearts of individuals and couples, much like it was originally intended. 

I know this much...we have invested in sending out a limited number of Missionaries every year for a hundred.  We've reached the point (Church of the Nazarene) where that scenario is changing dramtically.  Finances are tight.  Any possibility that Nazarenes and other believers going out all over the world, living as expatriots and helping local churches, is the new face of World Missions?  Certainly something for us all to think about.

I’m afraid this blog investment is getting too long, but I promise to share more thoughts as we go along.  However, if I could speak to your heart in a closing paragraph, I’d say that we are quite possibly entering a time where we will enhance all of our resources (spiritual, relational, financial) by staying in touch, encouraging each other and sharing ideas for making the best of life. 

Pretty sure the thoughts that are coming to my heart are because of retirement and rest.  As we go along with this “Adventure Blog,” please share your ideas.  Nothing would please me more than for this to become “our” blog instead of “my” blog.

All My Love,

Wes

Costa Rican Men's Retreat & Special Fotos

One week ago today [written on Sunday morning] Colleen and I headed south!  And, what a week it has been.  This morning (Sunday) I'm having thoughts about how Sunday mornings have been for the past 41 years or so.  So different to get up and think about...going to church.  My standard operating procedure is undergoing dramatic change!  Not bad change.  Just change.  This morning I am praying for Pastor Payton (that's Pastor Payton and "Mo" in the 1st pic) and the "Coast Congregation" to have a wonderful morning.  There is no Church of the Nazarene in this area so we have the privilege of enjoying worship today with a small congregation in Uvita that is making good progress in reaching people for Christ in this area.

Josh and I joined in with 11 other men for a 24 hour Men's Retreat beginning this past Friday evening.  It was adventure from start to finish!  The "start" had to do with not being able to find the retreat center.  The "finish" revolved around knowing that we had connected with some men at a very spiritual level.

The retreat was conducted in the Costa Rican home of someone who lives in Steamboat Springs, CO...a magnificant complex of comfortable living and meeting-type buildings.  We studied through the book of Job in 4 sessions during our time together.

There were some other highlights...involving photography!  Look closely at the pics.  I had a wonderful time taking pictures of birds, butterflys, flowers and spiders.  Hard to believe I have this privilege!

Will share more, of course, as we go along.  I will tell you that Josh and I had an encounter with what I'm pretty sure was a Fer de Lance snake.  It happened on Friday evening, but it was drawing close to the time we had to leave for the Men's Retreat.  I think we "dispatched" him, but not sure.  It's too complicated of a story to tell but it did involve a 10 foot steel bar, a flashlight and places in the roof of the garage where a snake can hide.

Continued...Monday morning.  Colleen and I took a nice long walk this morning.  Warmer than it has been since we arrived, but more than tolerable.  I suspect we walked close to two miles, down to the local market.  This really is an amazing place.  It is nearly impossible to look in any direction without seeing stuff that you've seen on National Geographic.  This morning we were awakened by screeching parrots.  Took the dogs out to the back yard.  Dasher surprised some of the neighbor's chickens and sent them packing!

We think of you all very often and offer up our prayers of thanksgiving that we have the wonderful privilege of calling you all...friends!

Much Love,

Wes

Ojochal, Costa Rica!!!

Dear Friends,

Well, the adventure has begun.  I am writing this from the front room of our rented home here in Ojochal.  All I have to do to remind myself where I am is to lift my gaze from the screen to the backyard.  I've already taken lots of pictures and will post all that I think will give you a good concept of where we are and to what we are up! (For my English friends!)

First, let me regress a bit.  Our last formal service as a Sr. Pastor was on September 25th.  We had family in attendance as well as guests from each of the six churches I have pastored in these 42 years.  What a blessing!  The service as well as the "honor" was much more than I had anticipated.  The church presented us with a generous financial gift.  In addition, the folks who were present contributed another $1,500 love offering!  So amazing!  Honestly, considering the difficulty of the economy and the ongoing financial needs of the church, we were not expecting anything except the joyful presence of our family and friends.  The gifts more than took care of our family reunion back in Branson, MO.  To all who were there and to all who contributed...Thank You very, very much.

Following the final service, we were head over heals involved in wrapping up the packing.  Since we were moving to a foreign country it was necessary for us to keep a manifest list of all the boxes and then to place a value on the contents for customs purposes.  A great group of friends gathered in on Sept. 28th to load the forty foot container.  We knew that we had plenty of space, especially since we had sold so much stuff.  Making a long story short, we drove the last "piece" into the container our, Isuzu Rodeo, at about noon.  It took us another 45 minutes or so to tie things down, but by about 1:00 PM, the container was on its way to the railroad station to be shipped to Long Beach, CA, and from there to Costa Rica.  We will be reunited with our "stuff" on about the 30th of this month!

The next stage of our journey led us to Branson, MO, for our family reunion.  It was a great time.  I've heard of Branson for many years but this was my first opportunity to be there.  The highlight, of course, was the family.  There are five of us Smith kids and we were all present along with our spouses.  We saw the Oakridge Boys, the Bald Knobbers and Pearce Arrow.  We enjoyed great meals together and lots of laughter and love.  Bruce and Caye are arranging the next reunion in 2013.  Hey, there is nothing like family!

We arrived back in Longview to have a few days in our hotel, and then Ron & Sherry Worthington opened their home for us for the last couple days before the flight to CR.  Being in their home allowed us to spread everything out and then pack it into appropriate weights and combinations.  Thanks, Ron and Sherry!
We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Tom and Olevia Kinsey for allowing us to use their pickup for ALL the time we were without a car.  Pastor Chuck Dunnavant drove us to the airport.

As an aside, we had time in our hotel with the new Longview interim pastor and wife, Rick and Bonnie Ryding.  What a lovely couple, and, I believe with all my heart, the perfect match for Longview Nazarene!

Just a moment for a disclaimer...I will do my best to be more brief in future blogs!  Too much has happened since I last wrote.  Thus, this long epistle!

We departed from the Portland airport at about 5:45 PM on Sunday evening, October 16th.  (Oh, and I should tell you that I had my head shaved on the Saturday before we left.)  Colleen's Dr. was very helpful in getting our Schnoodle classified as an "Emotional Support Dog!"  As a result, Colleen was able keep Lillie with her on the entire trip.  I need to say that it was a lot of fun having the dog with us and it was fun to share her with lots of different people! 

We traveled "1st Class" all the way from Portland to Liberia, CR.  That is an amazing miracle, especially since we were traveling through the night...Las Vegas, Miami and then finally to Liberia.  We made Liberia our destination because we heard that the customs personnel there were more lenient/understanding of people traveling with dogs.  They were.  Moreover, customs was a breeze.  The only thing we lost was a bag of popping corn that we had purchased from a Mennonite store in Iowa.  Shucks!

From the Liberia airport we made our way to Thrifty car rental and then to San Jose.  Folks, I gotta say, that was one of the most nerve-racking trips of my life.  There are very few street signs in CR.  We were scheduled to meet some friends at a particular place in San Jose but the problem was that I did not know exactly how to get to the agreed-upon location and then didn't know how I was going to contact them when we did finally arrive!  Makes me nervous just telling you this.

Well, the good news is that we "miraculously" took the first exit into Santa Ana (where our hotel was located and where Josh and I had previously stayed) and within a minute passed by a place that I recognized from that stay.  My heart was thrilled and my blood pressure took a healthy dive.  Within another five minutes or so, we were at our hotel and didn't even need our friends to come and lead us to it!  Honest, I give God praise for what may seem like a little miracle to some, but to me was HUGE!!!

Okay, I will try to wrap this up quickly. (Those of you who know me didn't even flinch when I said that!)  Anyway, we had a great night's sleep and then a full day on Tuesday registering at the American Embassy, getting finger-printed at the Police Station and creating a "Power of Attorney" document at an Attorney's office.  Our good friends helping us become residents (more about them in a future blog) told us since we had gotten so much done that we were free to go to our home in SW CR.  We had thought the process could take as much as two and one half days.  One day and we were done.  Praise the Good Lord.

Our last challenge in San Jose was to return our rental car and obtain another one that could be taken to Uvita, CR.  Thrifty does not have an office there.  National does.  So, our challenge for the day was to get to the Thrifty office, around the corner to National and then off to Ojochal.  Sounds easy, doesn't it?  It wasn't.  But, we made it and arrived on Ojochal at about 4:30 PM on Wednesday (19th).  What a joy to be back with Josh, Jamie and Alexandria!  Jamie had a delicious meal of potato salad (Costa Rican style with beets and other unique contents) and a native dish...Arroz Com Pollo.  Fun to hold hands with the fam and give God "Thanks!" for a safe trip and for the privilege of being together in Costa Rica.

There is so much more.  We'll just call the rest of this...optional reading.  On Thursday morning Josh and I drove up to our property where contractor, Jose, and his crew are building our home.  Things are going well there, but since it is the rainy season everything is muddy and wet.  Feel free to add Jose to your prayer list.  He and his wife, Maria, are wonderful Catholic Christians.  We have really fallen in love with them.  Pray for their protection and efficiency!

Yesterday afternoon we spent an hour in the ocean.  Again, what fun!  I am eager to learn how to fish from the beach and from rock jettys.  Today Josh and I had a meeting with, Gary, the main contractor for all the building on Osa Mountain Village.  Then back home to post my first blog from Costa Rica!  Right now, Colleen is very Costa Rican comfortably dressed.  Jamie is doing some pool maintenance and sun tanning.  Josh is working.  Alex is trying to coax Lillie into the pool.  I'm finnishing up a blog.  Hey, retirement life is great!

Wrapping this up on a very personal note.  I am so pleased, actually more than I can possibly say, that my Good Friend, Jesus, has been in the leadership position in my life since 1965!  I'm thinking right now about some famous words from Psalm 23, (Message translation) 1 A David psalm. GOD, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. 2 You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. 3 True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. 4 Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd's crook makes me feel secure. 5 You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. 6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I'm back home in the house of GOD for the rest of my life.
Gracious!  Those words say it a lot better than I can!

Love To You All!

Friend,

Wes