Electricity + Water ?

Normally you wouldn't mix water and electricity, but here they do. These devices are affectionately called "widow makers."
We have hot water again in bathroom! Many of the homes here including ours do not have hot water, including our kitchen etc. But so that we can have a hot shower we have an electric hot water producing shower head that is hard wired. Well ours burned out and I was able to purchase a new one at the hardware store and install it. Our landlord was pretty excited that he didn't need to call someone to do it and agreed to deduct the cost of materials from our next months rent.

Becky asked me when I could fix it...and I told her "manana."

El Mono Azul

We have our internet connection back! I hadn't received a bill to pay for the internet (which is typically thrown over our gate in the form of a ball) so I was suprised when they cut our service. I thought it could have been a problem with the server or something. Then the other day I received the bill with a deliquent notice. Bills can't be paid with check or with credit card, they must be paid in cash in a variety of stores. But not all stores or banks process the same bills. So...with some patience and a little determination the bill was paid and they finally reconnected us!

El mono azul!

Becky: We were able to take adavantage of a long weekend and spent it with our friends the Dennetts in Manuel Antonio. We found a great place to stay for low cost called "El Mono Azul" (The Blue Monkey). We took the public bus (about 4 hours) and were the entertainment for all the passengers sure. Abby (our friends 13 year old daughter) pointed out to us that we were the only ones talking, laughing, and with little kids.

The beach was alot of fun and Josiah was like a fish in water with his friend Brody. We even got serenaded by a meriachi band. The second day we went to the national park and saw a bunch of white faced monkeys. Elliott was determined to catch one. His eyes were so big the whole time we were watching them. Steve's fantasy is to have a pet monkey one day, so he was really enjoying being this close to them (he is still trying to convince me of all the housework it could help out with.). On the way back I got off the bus to use the rest room, while running back I slipped and fell flat on my face. To add to it, it was poring rain, and I fell in a mud puddle. I just stood up and laughed because there was nothing else I could do. The only thing that I have is a scrape on my knee. And the memory of traveling three hours soaked in mud...

We will so miss the Dennett's when they leave for Guatemala at the end of this trimester!

Feliz cumplianos!
It was fun to surprise Becky in class with flowers for her birthday. She turned 24 on November 12!

Continue to pray for us:

-That we would finish this trimester off strong. We only have 3 weeks left and we will be having finals etc... We are up to our cejas (eyebrows) in flashcards.

- More opportunities to make contacts, practice spanish and share Christ.

!Dios es bueno siempre!

BECKY: I went a week and a half ago to a specialist for the eczema on my hands. What an answer to prayer! Within a day my hands where in the least amount of pain that they had been in for previous month. I go this Wednesday for a fellow up appointment. The dermatologist really knew just what to do for me, and took pictures of my hands to document them to be able to compare the progress in the following weeks. She was the best dermatologist I have been to.

THE BOYS: We thought that Josiah had chicken pocks last week. So we kept him away from kids, and didn’t go to church last week, we were a little perplexed because they have both had the vaccine. We were praying about what to do with the possibility of missing school for a week. But, Dios es bueno! But the spots didn't do much and went away as quick as they came. We had a doctor friend of ours look at it, he has been a blessing to have on the campus.
We have a long weekend this week. Yesterday we went and enjoyed the children’s museum in down town San Jose. It used to be an old prison that looks like a castle. The boys really enjoyed it there! Their favorite things were the pretend banana plantation, coffee shop, live animals, and flying a decommissioned plane. Elliott liked the animals until a big bird came over and pecked at his little finger. He didn’t get hurt, just frightened.

STEVE: As I think back at Spanish at UNH, it was for 1 hour three times a week; on top of 3-4 other classes. Here we are getting 4 hours of Spanish 5 days a week! I have always enjoyed studying spanish in the past but could never put the time into it. The teachers are fantastic, certainly the best I've had. We had been praying for opportunities to use Spanish more. We were talking to our neighbors and they offered to practice Spanish with us teaching us common phrases, and helping us with home work. We are going to have them over for dinner this week, and hopefully set up a time to meet with them that would work out best for both of us. Pray that God would use us in any way that he would have regarding the relationship with our neighbors. This would be a wonderful opportunity for us to learn the language, build a relationship and share Christ with them too. We had a great time with some fellow students here from Korea who are going to Mexico (Elias and Joy). They live a couple houses down. They don't speak english entirely and I don't speak Korean, so we've met half way and converse in Spanish! They are a great example of hospitality.

I had the chance finally to play soccer the other night, I felt like a fish in water. I have to admit my walk to school the next day was a little belabored....

Thank you for your continued prayers!
The Diems

Mucho Agua!

On Monday Morning at 4:00 am I thought that I heard our neighbor taking a shower. The walls are not very sound proof here, and we share walls with each of our neighbors. When I went down stairs around 5:45 this morning I found out that it was not our neighbor who was taking a shower. ..A pipe in under the kitchen sink came apart and our entire first floor was covered with over an inch of water. Steve and I spent the morning sweeping the water out the door. Thankfully the only thing that really got ruined was Steve’s grammar book ( he can get a new one easily). The floor is dry now and Steve replaced the flex pipe that broke off at the nut (he got good practice using plumming vocabulary at the hardware store). Josiah came down the stairs this morning and said “ Dad, why is there a big puddle in our house” It was very funny! We are thankful that we were here when it happened, and thankful that there was not a lot of damage done. I should have shot a little video of it, but was not thinking of that at the time, we had to get to school! A “memory making" morning!

Dental Floss - $5

Please be praying for Josiah. He has a sore on the bottom of his foot that is infected. He had a hard time walking today. One of our friends at school is a doctor and took a look at it and told us what antibiotic to put him on. One of the great things about living here is that you can walk into a pharmacy and tell them what prescription you would like without even having anything written from a doctor. So now he is on antibiotics, and I have another appointment scheduled for Thursday with the Doctor that comes to our school.
Also be praying for my hands. I have had exima for the past 13 years. Some times it is worse then others. My hands have been swelling, and blistering. I was in pain today just holding a pen and trying to write for two hours in grammar class. Mary Dennett gave me a name of a really great dermatologist in the area and I’m going to try to get in there as soon as possible. It has been such a blessing having the Dennettes here and the help of our big brother and sister Steve & Diane.
Update on our date! We had a wonderful time! We went to an Argentine restaurant. For those of you who know us well, we loved Portsmouth NH, and this restaurant reminded us of a restaurant that would be in Portsmouth. The food was great, and about half price of what we would have paid in the states.
We are enjoying the food here very much. We are addicted to pineapple salsa that I make. And these wonderful all natural popsicles that you see the boys eating in the pictures. (The pineapple is less then a dollar and the popsicles are twenty five cents a each). We are learning our way around and trying to learn from the ticos of where to shop for different things etc. We have our grocery bill down a lot after taking some tips. I think a have learned my lesson after paying $5 for dental floss, $4 for Q-tips, and $3 for a role of scotch tape. It is about 550 colonies to one American dollar. Sometimes American products are cheap and sometimes they are 2x as much. Also, it is hard to figure out the price sometimes…until you get home and whip out a calculator with the receipt.
Thank you for taking the time to read our blog! We enjoy hearing from people! Thanks for the posts! The Diems

Who is Oscar Arias Sanchez?

Last Monday was the Costa Rican independence day. Which ment we had a long weekend off from school. Steve brought Josiah to the little parade by our house put on by a local school. They make lanterns out of paper, lit a tea light, and marched around following a marching band. Kids as young as Elliott where walking around with little lanterns too.
Monday we went down town to the park with a group from our school. We saw the president of Costa Rica (Óscar Arias Sánchez - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Arias_S%C3%A1nchez) and their were ambassadors from around the world. It was neat to be that close to them. We had TV cameras on us almost the whole time, because it was unusual to see “gringos” there. There were also people taking pictures of our kids to put into newspapers etc. When we went back to school Elliott’s teacher said that she saw him on TV that night. And this morning the guy that we buy coffee from in the open market said that his daughter saw me and Elliott on TV! It would have been neat to see it, but we don’t have a TV yet.
Tonight Steve and I get to go out on the town without the kids! There are three single girls that are teachers at the grade school on campus for the year. They called us up this week and asked if they could watch our kids for us Saturday. Josiah is excited about playing superman with them. God has provided so many great people to encourage us in different ways.
Last night we had pizza with the Dennett’s and their kids at our house. We really enjoyed getting to know them better, and just encouraging one another with what the Lord has been teaching us along this journey of serving the Lord. Josiah loves there son Brody, they are the same age and very much alike. It’s sad that they are only here for one trimester with us…. But we are excited for them to move on to where the Lord has called them to serve. They have been a great source of encouragement to us in the first month here, and before we came too. Today I’m going out with my big sister Diane, and a couple other women from the school to a little thrift store near by. It will be nice to get out for a little while.
The boys are adjusting well to there school. Josiah surprised me with how much Spanish he can comprehend, he is doing great! Elliott is doing wonderful in his class as well. He loves his teachers, and is taking his regular morning nap there too. Praise the Lord!
Continue to pray for our health, this week no one was sick! We know that is because of answered prayers by all of you. Also pray for our safety, it is a very real issue here, pray that the Lords shield of protection would just continue to surround us. Thank you for your prayers! Also pray for our time management that we would continue to spend the amount of time needed each day to learn this language well to convey Gods love to others.
Thank you for taking the time to read our blog!!! We love getting responses and hearing what you think about it. If you read it, let us know! We enjoy seeing who took the time to check it out!!!

P.S. We have updated our mailing information. Click on the "contact" tab at the top of the page.

Queque con Carne

We have been learning more about the culture, learning to love the food, and learning to love the language. We are enjoying, and looking forward to learning more about the “Ticos” (What Costa Ricans call themselves).
This was our second week of school third week in Costa Rica, time has gone by fast. This week I missed two days of school because Josiah was sick this week. Almost everyone we have talked to in school has gotten some sort of virus within the first month of being here. Then Steve got sick. He was up all night, poor guy. So the next morning I got the two kids breakfast, lunches made ready and packed for the day, and off to school we went. I had a test in grammar, which I think went well. Some of our friends from school walked me home on Friday, so that I didn’t have to be alone. Safety is a big thing here, please be in prayer for our family as we walk every where we need to go. God is gracious and has protected us in ways that we have seen, and in many ways we probably will never know.
I went to the fruit market this morning with my big sister and her friends (our big brother had his appendix out this week). God provided so much help yesterday and today. Last night Brian Dennett brought over a couple of things for us that we needed. It was a blessing that I didn’t have to try to go out on my own with the two boys to the corner store with what little Spanish I know.
This is a long weekend for us! Praise God, because we all need a little extra rest and relaxation. This Monday is Costa Rican independence day. The children have been practicing for the parade all week right in front of our house. It was fun to go out of our gate and watch it with Josiah. Friday Josiah and Elliott where in a little parade at our school. It was really cute!
Back to adjusting to the culture... I made some banana bread this week, left it on the stove covered in tin foil. The next morning I came down excited that breakfast was done, took off the tin foil and saw a million little bugs no bigger then a speck of sand all over the banana bread. We have a sweet little lady one day a week to come help teach me Spanish who also teaches me to cook a Costa Rican meal with her. She came that morning, I showed her the bread, and she said “No problem.” She put it in the oven for a couple of minutes, took it out and all the bugs were gone. She proceded to eat it and enjoy it. Later that afternoon after school I came back and we cooked dinner together, and then we were working on my home work, and she offered me a piece of the bread. I said “no thanks,” and she asked “ Do you trust the Tico way of doing things?” I paused and thought that this is going to be the first time amongst many that I will set aside my fear of getting sick to show that I trust there ways too. I ate it, and we made jokes and had a great time. We called it “Queque con carne (Cake with meat).” I didn’t get sick either!
Adjusting to culture has taught me a lot about my own spiritual life. We can read all about it in books…like learning how to become a great Christian but we continually need to take that step of faith and trust that God will meet us there. God is there, whatever situation God has placed you in, God is there, and has equipped you to handle it. Pray for us as we put these thoughts into action. We know this and have been taught this and we are called to live it.

Back to school!

It has been a week filled with experiences in and out of the class room. As I’m sure for most of you this time of year you are all going back to school or have children that are. It has been a little bit of an adjustment getting back into the swing of the academic life. Now we have two children, meals to cook, and a house to run.
We got off to a little bit of a rocky start the beginning of the school week. The first day I stayed home with the boys Elliott had a temp of 104. Josiah was getting over whatever it was that he so kindly passed on to his brother . Steve had a good first day of classes and that night Steve decided to give me break off from cooking and he ordered pizza. Firstly, because streets do not have names and houses do not have numbers the pizza guy just drives around the neighborhood beeping his horn for you to come out. It took over an hour and was really expensive. Basically we had crackers with a little sauce and cheese. Please don’t let this be a reflection of Costa Rican food! The food here is delicious! Muy Rico!
The second day of classes the boys went to childcare on campus, and I had my first day of classes. I had a quiz to take in one class and a lot of information to catch up on in Grammar class. We both have wonderful teachers, and there desire is to serve us so that we can better communicate Gods love to Spanish speaking people.
Later that night Steve went outside to go rinse the trash can out, he stood up to fast and hit his had on a low hanging metal pole. Josiah was actually the one that saw him first laying on the ground in the pouring rain. He said he wanted to go out and pray with his Daddy. I went out to go talk to him, and that was when I saw the blood dripping down his face. He was in a lot of pain. God was gracious. I called up our friends and they came over right away with one of my class mates that is a Doctor. He looked at his head for us and said he could probably have two or three stitches but thought he could go without them. He is doing fine now, just a little sore.
It was awesome to know one of my class mates was praying for me without knowing everything that was going to happen that night. Although we can not say for sure why these different situations came about, we are thankful for the Lords protection and provision of good friends while we are here.
Costa Rica is a fun challenge. We enjoy learning the language. The mountains are so beautiful here. The people are very friendly. Tomorrow will be our second time to the open market that they have on Saturdays. We enjoy the fresh fruits and vegetables and we love eating new food. Pray for us that we will make good use of the time that we are given to study Spanish, and also not neglecting our personal walk with God.
!Adios! The Diem Family

Packin' Up

May has been busy.

We were at Fellowship Bible Church, Methuen for their missions conference. Paul Segar, the director of our mission, was the key note speaker. We were thankful for the opportunities to minister by sharing our ministry, preaching in an elementary school chapel, and giving a lesson our Motivation for Missions in a high school Bible class.

The other missions conference this month was at Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Whitefield, ME. The couple we stayed with was such a blessing. They had five kids and they themselves were missionaries on their way to China. They gave us alot of great advice, any where from raising your kids on the field to international travel and told some amazing stories.

Home from the conference for a day and moving day is just around the corner.

We are schedule to move out of our mobile home in on Boxwood lane in Raymond, NH this Monday (5/26). This was our first place and have been here since we have been married (4 yrs). We will miss our neighbors and will continue to pray earnestly for them that the seeds we have planted would be watered and that God would give the increase.

In the middle of chaos, Josiah's 3rd birthday is this Saturday the 24th!!!

I spent the better part of the morning cancelling services and updating our new address on everything I could think of. So here it is:

Steve & Becky Diem
15 Lilac Lane
Sandown, NH 03873

Lord willing, I get to do this again in August!

Living Unplugged

A friend gave me an ipod and it has been great listening to sermons and music (in Spanish!). Studying in a coffee shop or working out at the gym I can just be in my own world. It helps me also redeem the time at work, able to listen to some good preaching.

However, if I never took off the headphones what does that say to anyone around me? I had a friend in college who used to purposely where a pair of ear plugs around his neck, but not plugged in, just to tell people “Hey, I’m listening.” An interesting fashion statement... As a Christian however, zoning out and letting the world go by is self-focused. By living a life "unplugged" our eyes begin to be opened to those around us, a brother/sister in Christ, someone lost, or even our own family.

This has to begin committing our day with prayer, setting our affections on things above. Then committing to making ministry our life. Rather than fitting in "God-stuff" in our schedule, but giving God our date books.

Two examples of men who lived “unplugged”

Philip - (ready, willing, obedient, eager, apt)
“Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest (Acts 8:29-30)?”

Timothy - (Christ focused)
For I have no man likeminded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s (Philippians 2:20-21).”

Here is next months itinerary:
May 1-4 - Faithful Five Gathering – N.Y.
May 7-11 – Missions Conference – Fellowship Bible Church, Methuen, MA
May 18-21 – Missions Conference – Calvary Baptist Church, Whitefield, ME
May 24 – Josiah’s 3rd Birthday!!

The Spanish Institute

I had a great conversation with someone already at the language institute. He and his wife (Brian and Mary Dennett; http://www.thedennetts.blogspot.com/) are missionaries to Guatemala who are currently attending the Spanish Institute along their five kids. His positive attitude and encouragement really got us excited to get there and begin our studies and show us that many of our fears were misguided.

The Fear: Classes would take up the entire day, ending at five, who will watch our kids?
The Reality: Classes end either at noon or one. Our kids will stay in a nursery on campus who we can see during our breaks. I'll see my kids more there and I do now.

The Fears: What will we bring? What do we pack? What can we get there?
The Reality: Most everything is available there. However, electronics, small appliances, and some grocery items are more expensive. There is also a place owned by Wal-mart ...enough said.

The Fear: The class work is intense.
The Reality: Learning a language is a challenge and everyone is at a different level. The teachers want you to succeed and most pressures are self-induced.

The Fear: What if our kids get sick?
The Reality: There is an American doctor who who is on campus a couple days during the week and there is also state of the art hospital that also happens also to be evangelical Christian.

The Reality: It is a great school with quality committed teachers, surrounded by good fellowship and student camaraderie, in a picture perfect climate.

Have you had any Spanish?
Steve: I took about 4 semesters of Spanish in college, but at the same time was taking 3-4 other classes. It will be good to focus on the language and put the time into it?
Becky: I have had no formal Spanish. All I have had is one month in Argentina living with a national couple who didn't speak English.

When do you hope to be in language school?
We continue to pray to be at language school in Costa Rica at the end of this August. Our mission requires us to be at 90% of our monthly support, currently we are at 78%.

How can you be praying?
Please pray that our support level will be what it needs to so we can get there. We are refreshed and excited about embarking on this endeavor to learn Spanish in Costa Rica.

"So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air." - I Corinthians 14:9

Pray that we could learn Spanish well, that we could clearly preach the saving gospel of Christ, and that He would be glorified!

Welcome to the NY Interstate

We aare excited about things coming into place. April 1st- We are going to be moving in with Steve's mom in Sandown, NH. Please pray for the transaction of our home to go smoothly. This is one more transition closer to getting to Argentina.

We had asked you to pray for us back in December about future meetings and our schedule has been filling up for the rest of the winter and spring time: mission conferences, vacation bible schools, and oportunities to share the ministry and preach God's word. We are hoping to be at 90% of our required monthly support by August and begin language training in September. Right now we are at 77%!

Here is where we have been in February:

February 3rd - Nashua Baptist Church, Nashua NH

February 17th - Centereach Bible Church, Centereach NY

Next month we have a couple more meetings in New York. But Both of which are closer than our longest drive, Mars Hill ME (8hrs!). We cannot complain, we are so thankful that God has kept our meetings close by.

The above photo was on our way to Long Island this last weekend (Our stay there was as good as the bagels!). We are getting eager to have more interaction with this bridge which spans the Parana River and connects the cities of Resistencia and Corrientes.

This Elliott getting way to confident with the cruise control

and Josiah eating his weight in snow.

A Winter Review

Christmas was a blast with the two boys this year. We had a quiet holiday season at home spending lots of time with our families, making many memories which we will cherish in the years to come.

There was a little girl at a church in Maine who saved up all her change with the help of her grandma. She showered the boys with new gifts and gave Becky and I a gift certificate to the grocery store, we were so humbled.

January 3rd marked our 4 year wedding anniversary! We enjoyed a quiet night out while the boys stayed at home with grandma.

Thank you for your prayers for us concerning meetings! The Lord has been opening up doors of opportunities to preach the word and present our ministry. Here is our January itinerary:

January 6 - Haven of Rest Baptist Church, West Haven CT

January 10 - Calvary Christian School (K-5) chapel, Derry NH

January 23 - Clinton Baptist Church, Clinton ME
January 25 - Calvary Christian School (6-12) chapel, Derry NH

January 26 - Men's Breakfast - Fellowship Bible Church, Chester NH

January 27 - Calvary Baptist Church, Woodsville NH

Our meeting at Haven of Rest is Becky's best friend Becky's church. We were able to spend the afternoon at her parents house and our Josiah was able to play with Becky's little brother Josiah. (Confused? me too...). This was our 3rd attempt to be at this church. The first time there a parade came though town which closed the main streets and 2nd time we had been snowed out (back in December). The pastor there is really right on the front lines of ministry and has a real zeal for reaching the lost.

Thank you for your faithful prayers!