Norman Missionary Adventures
Ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Costa Rica by encouraging local churches & pastors, serving in our community, and connecting mission teams to life-changing ministry opportunities  with the local Costa Rican church.

July in Review
It has been a busy month here in Costa Rica.  We are continuing to settle in, adjusting to the heat, slowly learning Spanish, and finding our way around Costa Rica.

SCHOOL.  Thank you for praying for our children as they started in the second semester of their bilingual school.  Things have gone well, with minimal tears. Minimal because there have been tears.  Classes completely in Spanish have left our girls (primarily) frustrated.  Yet everyday we hear them trying out new words.

Continue to pray for Laura and I.  A bilingual school which is geared for Spanish-speakers is hard on us as well.  Often times we have no clue what is happening or what is expected.  Trying to help with homework in Spanish is beyond frustrating.  We are hoping to start going to a Spanish class in August so that we can be better communicators.

CHECKING IN ON TEAMS.   It has been a joy to be able to jump in on two different trips to Lagunilla and San Fernando.  It is so refreshing to see local pastors being encouraged by teams from the U.S.  Our U.S. teams come in giving their all and wanting to make a difference.  The relief of having some help is seen on the faces of our local pastors.  

TRIP SET UP.   This month I had to go do some trip set up.  This usually involves meeting with pastors to make sure they have everything ready for their upcoming trip.  I took Darrell along with me for what I thought would be a very simple meeting to give them supplies.  Note, I did not take a translator.  Now I have your attention.  Lets just say that they had a lot of questions for me.  Miraculously, I felt that I could understand and actually communicate back very simple answers with the minimal Spanish that I know.  We left that meeting feeling pretty good about ourselves...until I told another one of our PPM staff that I just met with two pastors.  Anna (who will not remain nameless) literally laughed on the phone saying "Wait, you met with two pastors...without a translator???"  She could hardly speak because she was laughing so hard.  She went on to say things like "who knows what you told them!"  End result, the trips went great!  Thanks for your belief in me Anna (sarcasm)! 
First Trip Update:  San Vicente, Costa Rica
NATHAN (& DARRELL). Thank you so much for your prayers as I led my first trip!  I had a great team of 23 people from Minnesota and North Carolina.  God worked mightily through them as they served in San Vicente with Pastor Arhmando.  All week long we served the local church by pouring concrete to lay a floor f or Sunday School classrooms.  For thee days the team ran VBS teaching about the Father's love for them.  It was awesome to see relationships get built so quickly between the church members, vbs children, construction workers and people in the community.  The  light of Jesus Christ was shining so brightly all across San Vicente.  With one trip under my belt I am now much more confident.  Thanks for your prayers!


LAURA.  Can you imagine being alone in a new country in a language you don't speak?  Can you imagine still shopping, loving on people, making lunches, getting furniture delivered, getting local dresses made for a region-wide celebration, making dinner, going to bed and then doing it all again?  That's what Laura did while I was gone.  Laura had her hands full running the house and keeping the kids on track in school.  

One of our worst fears did happen last week.  We always feared that while I was out on a trip that Laura would have car troubles.  Literally the moment I picked the team up from the airport our van wouldn't start.  The enemy knew where to hit us!  Praise God that she and the kids hadn't left the house yet.   We are thankful for the contacts we do have in town who were able to help get it fixed (and speak English!) We were also able to get Laura a rental delivered to our house while our van was being fixed within moments of me asking our rental guy for a favor.
  
All this to say, Laura is amazing.  I led a trip for a week, and she did the same! I'm so thankful for the strong woman she is and the love she shows our family every day!  

Introducing Kyle!
In case you have not heard yet, on August 10th, Kyle Turner will be moving here with us in Costa Rica.  Kyle is seasonal staff with Praying Pelican Missions and is currently serving in Haiti this summer.  We met him at the PPM training conference and our hearts were immediately knit together.  Kyle
 has previously served with missionaries in Fiji to help set up homeschooling for
their children.  Kyle will not be working with 
PPM, but he is here to help tutor and educate our children.  He will be working to keep 
our children up to the U.S. standard of education by providing supplemental education, tutoring, and help with homework. He will also be a good mentor/companion for Darrell to hang out with.   

This is going to be a huge help to us!  We are looking forward to his arrival!  To get to know Kyle more and see what he has been up to this summer, you can check out his blog.
The Chicken Life
If you have been following us on social media, we seem to post a lot about our chicken life. This has been fun and educational.  We really have no clue what we are doing, but are enjoying them.  Take for instance the day I went and ordered 10 hens.  A few days later we received a phone call to pick them up.  Laura and Darrell were placing bets on whether or not I was going to come out with 10 eggs to hatch.  Instead I walked out with 10 full grown hens (not what we promised the kids).  Good news is that they are super friendly and best of all, they already lay eggs.  Us city-slickers, turned chicken farmers, now get about 7-10 eggs a day!
P.O. Box
As mentioned earlier this week, we now have a P.O. Box in Costa Rica:
 
Nathan & Laura Norman
P.O. Box 102-5000
Liberia, Guanacaste
Costa Rica, Centroamerica

After sending out the e-mail earlier this week, we found out that we get some hefty charges for any shipments that are mailed.  They go through customs and then we have to pay the tax on any items that come through. Needless to say this could be very costly for us.  If you want to ship a package to us, we prefer hand-delivery!  We encourage letters to be mailed though!
Check out the new look to our website:
Love,
Nathan, Laura, Darrell, Reagan, Abigail,
 Malachi & Isaiah Norman

If you feel you are to support us on a monthly basis, we are in need!  We have had a turnover of supporters and are looking to stay 100% funded.  You can make a Monthly Donation or a One-Time Donation by clicking  here.  Thank You!