First of all, we want to say thank you to everyone for understanding our need for down time right now. We've had a lot of space to just breathe and reflect. Plus, we've received so many encouraging emails that we know we have an army out there praying for us, and we're incredibly grateful to have so much love and support. THIS is what being in the body of Christ is all about.

So what now?

This coming Monday we will head out to Fresno, CA to a Christian counseling center where we will attend their Restoration and Personal Growth Program designed especially for pastors, missionaries...anyone in full time ministry, and their families. We will be living in a campus apartment there and anticipate staying around 2 months. Seeing as this is now mid-November.... yes, that means we will be there over the holidays. We are not sure yet as to the campus policies on travel or visits, but considering the intensity of this program, it will likely be best for us to just have a simple, quiet holiday season, just the 4 of us. We will be sad to miss out on spending quality time with all of you, but we are grateful to be given this time to reconnect as a family.

And we'll gladly accept any belated get-together invites in the new year!! :)

We will have limited access to internet while we're there. Please feel free to continue to send messages and updates and we will try to check them as often as possible. Just know that while we are focused on what God brought us here to do, you may not hear from us a lot, but we NEVER forget about all the wonderful people God has brought into our lives and how much you mean to us!

Oh, and if you just happen to have an extra Christmas card to send out...
(Was that subtle enough?)
Here's our mailing address until January:

Nathan and Jamie Hynum
1734 West Shaw Ave.
Fresno, CA 93711


And as our Pastor Paul reminded us...

Even though we may not agree with God's tactics, or understand them, I trust that in the end we'll look back with Him from an eternal vantage point and say,

"Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay Him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:33-36

I heard this song on the radio last night...... I think it's my new theme song right now. - Jamie

Check it out.

We just wanted to let you all know that we arrived safely in Southern California late Friday night. We've been unpacking and settling into Jamie's parents house for an undetermined length of time. Things are still kind of up in the air for us, so we are just remaining flexible and allowing the Lord to guide our next steps.
Since we want to use this time to focus on our family we will be "flying under the radar", so to speak, for a little while. It's very tempting to start scheduling visits and catching up with friends and family now that we're back, but we need to keep things on the down low for a while. We hope you understand.
We also want to thank you for so many encouraging emails and prayers. We had so many we couldn't respond to them all.... we felt seriously loved and supported! It's more encouraging than you can know.

Wouldn't ya know... just two days before we are scheduled to leave Costa Rica, we officially receive our residency!

Even so, we are thrilled about it. This is no small feat. The fact that we were approved by the government only 1 week after turning in our paperwork is nothing short of a miracle (considering it has taken some people 3 months - 2 years to complete this process).

We also have to thank our small Costa Rican church and specifically our beloved Pastor Alex for allowing us the honor of applying under the church's jurisdiction and for all his hard work and patience in gathering the necessary paperwork.

We know God has a purpose for making us residents here so quickly and smoothly....
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

This is one of those letters that you just don’t know how to start, so we’ll just get right to the point.

After much prayer and counsel, we feel that God is asking our family to leave Costa Rica at this time. Recent stressors and events here have highlighted some areas of weakness in our family’s emotional and mental health. Although it is truly tearing at our hearts to have to leave this country, especially after the Lord has so clearly guided every single step, we understand that at this moment in time we are not as well equipped to continue in ministry as we could be. God has specifically shown us that we need to make our family’s health priority in order to serve to our fullest potential.

We believe without a shadow of a doubt that this is still part of God’s big plan for us, even though it seems like a detour. The honest truth is we very clearly see God’s hand in this timing… He brought us here, drew us near to Him, provided trusted counsel, and allowed deeper truths to be revealed…all so we could learn to die to ourselves and learn to trust Him more.

Even though we are confident in what the Lord is asking of us, the actual “doing” of it is very difficult. Please join us in prayer for this unexpected transition back home and all the logistics and adjustments that it entails, for this season of peace, restoration, and healing, and most of all, that no matter what, God’s infinite grace and glory will be revealed. Our hope is to return to full-time overseas service as the Lord directs.

Thank you all for your prayers and support of our family.


To our Financial Supporters

We can’t say thank you enough for your faithful prayers and financial support during this last year.

We want to be clear that any financial commitments are free to change along with this temporary change in plans. We ask that you seek what the Lord would have you do. You may decide to cancel your commitment, or put your commitment “on-hold” until regular ministry begins again. If you wish to continue financial support, your donations will help offset living expenses and counseling while at home or be placed in a savings account to provide for reassignment costs when we relocate to the field once again.

Today after school we went to the post office to mail some letters... and we walked out with 2 big surprises!
Our home church in Oregon, Countryside Community Church (check out the link to the right) made a big effort to share about our ministry with all the kids at their summer vacation Bible school. They learned a bunch of things about Costa Rica, about what we do here, and what it means to be a missionary. These incredible kids then raised enough funds to send school supplies to our kids! They showed such generosity at such a young age.... can't wait to see how God uses them to further His kingdom in the future!

This was such an exciting thing for our kids, (they wanted to wear their backpacks to sleep!) and we are extremely humbled and grateful for your great generosity and support!

THANK YOU CCC KIDS!

click play to view the video

This was a week of firsts. After graduation we had a couple weeks to reorganize, declutter, and regroup before jumping into our new routines.

This week Kendyl had her 1st day of 1st grade at Sojourn Academy (anyone know the song from Veggie Tales "On the 1st day...of 1st grade..." I've had that stuck in my head all week) Half of her little friends from Kindergarten moved on to other Latin American countries and she was sad to see them go. There are a few that will stay here for another few months, plus her Tico friends that are in her new class which made her feel comfortable. Plus, being the little friend magnet that she is, she was excited to meet the new missionary kids and help them feel at home. All in all, I think she likes 1st grade even better than K, which says a LOT!






Nathan also started school at Sojourn Academy this week, teaching high school Bible. He has an awesome group of kids, some MK's, some Ticos. They chose to do a comparative study on world religions with a focus on apologetics. We think it's an excellent way for high schoolers to really learn "why" they believe what they believe and be able to defend their faith.












Most exciting of all...Nathan taught his 1st seminary class in Spanish at ESEPA this week! After what should have been a daunting 3 hours of lecture in Spanish, Nathan came home full of energy with his face lit up and said, "THAT WAS FUN!!!" I don't think I've ever seen him so excited before.




He has a total of 8 students in his class, including a Tico on his way to France to work with african refugees (he spent the last three years in Tunisia with his wife and two kids before the Islamic government kicked them out), a young Chinese man studying to be a missionary to Panama, a young Tica working in a very poor Guatemalan refugee village here in Costa Rica, a guy from Kansas and an older Tico couple taking the class "just for fun"!(He is a pastor of a small church and she has a counseling ministry as well as a Masters in adult education). Needless to say, it is a very diverse class.

We did it!
Last weekend we officially graduated from language school!

Almost exactly one year ago today, we packed up our lives, got on a plane, and arrived in this strange city. Our hearts were filled with the hope of learning Spanish and somehow being used by God to impact our new community for Christ.
We knew it would be hard at times, and it was. Being away from home, away from family, and away from familiar surroundings was by far the most challenging part (and still is). But never before have we been in such a place spiritually that made us rely so heavily on God to get us through each day, and there is no better place to be.

It was very touching at our graduation ceremony to see so many missionaries, each marching in behind the flag of their Latin American country of service, ready to head out once again, in unfamiliar territory, to serve God's people.

It was also a very bitter-sweet time as we had to say good bye to so many really good friends that we got so close to through this whole process.

Jamie's parents were able to be here for the ceremony and we celebrated with them on a little vacation at the beach for a few days. Some of our missionary friends from school were able to join us there for some much needed rest and relaxation. It was just what the doctor ordered!

Now we're ready to dive into full-time ministry! WooHoo!

click play to view slideshow

Guanacaste Day is a Costa Rican holiday celebrating the annexation of the Guanacaste province from Nicaragua in 1824. Guanacaste is the north-western part of Costa Rica, and is kind of like the "Texas" of Costa Rica with a drier, warmer climate, lots of cattle and cowboys, and a different accent too.

Our school put on a big presentation and we had the opportunity to participate in the traditional dances (mainly because Jamie's teacher put it all together) and hey, why not? It was super fun! The following night we danced them again in the street for the local neighborhood while they enjoyed tamales and chalupas.

Bailes tipicos -- simply meaning traditional dances -- are done with the big flowing skirts, ruffled blouses, and of course a big flower in your hair. In our dances, Jamie's group wore floral patterned skirts, representing the "rural" Guanacastecan woman who cooks, cleans, and works hard in the home but still dresses up and puts on aires. The women in white skirts represent the city girl from San Jose.

Bombas are traditional rhymes or short poems that are shouted back and forth as either fun flirts or taunts (usually with reference to mother-in-laws). Nathan shouts, "If all the men ran out like the silver runs out the women would be left mooing like cows!" and his partner responds, "If all the women ran out like the gold runs out the men would be left braying like bulls!" (Sounds better in Spanish)

For the finale, the men take on the "Toro" in the ultimate bull fight!

click play to start slideshow

Wow! Where did July go? That went way too fast.
We've been working really hard to finish these last few weeks of school strong... and we have some really good news! The test results are in... but first let me explain.

When we first got here, the school gave us entrance/placement exams to assess our current ability (or lack thereof) in Spanish. The written test was all about grammar and then there was an oral test to see what you can do in one-on-one conversation. Being from California we could say a few things like, "¿Donde esta el baño?" and "Yo quiero Taco Bell." Needless to say that didn't get us too far.
So last week we got to take the mother-of-all comprehensive grammar tests and an oral ECO exam which is an internationally recognized system for evaluating language proficiency. Not everyone who graduates from the language school will pass the grammar, in fact some people can learn to speak fluently and still not pass it. In the ECO you can earn a Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced level, each of which divide into low, mid, and high.

And so the results are in...

Drum roll please.....

Nathan received Advanced High on the ECO and 93% on the grammar!
and Jamie received Advanced Low on the ECO and just passed the grammar with a 71%!

This is better than either of us imagined we would get to and when we think of how far we've come in a year...well...it truly is a miracle, and we give all the credit and glory to GOD! He has been so faithful to us.

So the big question is, "Does that mean you guys are fluent?"
We are resigned to the fact that language learning is a lifelong goal but we can definitely say we are a whole lot closer!