The ILF

Well, today is our fifth day in Costa Rica and the last morning of orientation. Many of you have heard, we woke to our neighbor ringing our on Wednesday morning, who informed us that orientation started that morning and not on Thursday as we had thought! We recovered from that mishap well, though, and are really looking forward to getting in to our studies. Official classes start this Monday.

Jim and Kaia being studious during orientation.

She even took her regular naps!

Jim with the rest of the orientation group. 

(Our Big Brother, Jim Rice, led the session on Safety/Security; he did a great job1) 

In addition to the anticipation of classes, this weekend we have the privilege of attending International Team's International Leadership Forum (ILF) in Puntarenas, Costa Rica (the beach!!!). These leadership forums take place every few years all over the world and this year's happens to be taking place 1.5 hours away from us!


The ILF is a strategic gathering of International Teams (IT) leaders from 66 countries for leadership training, exuberant worship, and refreshing time with God. It is also a great occasion to connect and network with leaders from the IT global family. Three other couples from Youth World in Ecuador will be in attendance as well as several individuals from the US Home Office and another couple that went through truing with us that we came to know very well while living in Elgin, IL. 


The ILF started on Thursday, so we are joining the group today after we complete our orientation. We will be taking a public bus from San Jose to the coast. So, this afternoon we embark on a public transit adventure! Please pray that God would bless this gathering, that we would arrive safe without any issues, and that God would use this time to stretch and refine us.

Kaia getting ready for the beach.

We will not be bringing our computers with us, so we may be out of email contact for a few days. We look forward to sharing more with you upon our return!!


-Suzy<><