Thanksgiving

I had a Thanksgiving Day feast. It was good. I felt like a stuffed turkey afterwards. I enjoyed turkey, homemade rolls, pineapple casserole, deviled eggs and lots of good desserts. All the food was good. We had a Baptist gathering of missionaries and of course us, Baptists, know how to eat and enjoy!

Christmas tree

The other day the Tica grandmother came to visit. She brought her dog (baby) with her. I thought this made the dog look like a Christmas present.

Some of the gifts

Some of the children with the gifts which they received.

Please lower the pinanta

Please lower the pinanta so I can go after the candy....He sure was hoping that the pinanta would be lowered so he could have a chance at it before the others had their chance.

Psalm 34:14

If you are wondering what the shirt says and you can't read Spanish then I guess you'll have to look in your Bible to find out what it says....

Good friends having fun.

Good friends having a good time at the Christmas party.

A happy child

She was very happy with the gift which she received...

Roblealto Christmas Party

I had the opportunity to help with a Christmas party for kids. It was alot of fun. We had games, food, gifts and pinantas for the kids. At the end of the party when the kids were leaving the leaders had the kids say "Merry Christmas" to us in English. When they said that I thought that makes it all worthwhile hearing the kids say that one phrase. Face painting was also another option. Thankfully I wasn't one of the ones doing the face painting...

For the Wake Forest fans

Thought all of you Wake Forest fans would enjoy this photo...

Pinantas

At Cultural Day we had alot of fun with pinantas. There were 3 of them, one for the ladies, one for the men and one for the teachers. In the pictures you can see the baseball type slides that the teachers did to get the candy. It was so interesting to watch them go after the candy. They showed us the way it should have been done.

Cultural Day

This past week at school we were able to learn about some of the Costa Rican Christmas traditions and sing some spanish Christmas songs. It was a lot of fun. There was one of the songs which we (the students) had a hard time singing. The phrases were so fast. It would be the equivalent of us giving an English tongue twister to one of our teachers and having them attempt to say it. It was fun though.

We sang the 12 days of Christmas in English. The teacher's part was 5 Golden Rings. They had practiced that and it sounded good.

We were even able to enjoy tamales.

Putt Putt players

The other week I had the opportunity to play a game of Putt Putt or mini golf depending on what you call it. It was a lot of fun especially with the raccoons that came up to play with us. Thankfully they were more interested in the food that the other people had instead of what we were doing. We didn't keep score as we were playing but we all did get at least one hole in one.

Some photos of Carol

For those of you who say you like seeing pictures of me, here are a couple for you..

Crocodiles

The other week I had the opportunity to travel outside of town. We passed over a bridge and I looked down and I thought I was seeing fake crocodiles because they were so many of them. But they weren't fake, they were the real things. After we crossed the bridge we were able to pull over in the bus and go back to the bridge to take pictures.

PB & Banana sandwiches

The other day I had one of my favorites, a peanut butter and banana sandwich on fresh wheat bread. My Tica mom commented that is a strange food for the Costa Rican people. I said it is an American food isn't it? She said it is. She said that some other American missionaries who lived here before used to eat them so she had seen somebody eating them before. I enjoyed it alot. And no I didn't convince her to try it...

Nov. 12 update

Hello friends,
I think it has been a while since I’ve written…It’s not that I haven’t thought about you. I know you have been praying for me and I do ask that you continue doing that. The past few weeks have been a time of adjustment and a time of realization. I, along with other students, have realized that we aren’t here just for a short time we are for the long term in order to learn Spanish. You might be thinking I could have told Carol that before she left. You’re right. Sometimes it just takes being in the situation for it to really sink in.

Overall things are going good. The other week we hit the halfway point of the trimester. We had evaluation reports. The common theme was that my schoolwork and attendance is great, I just need more confidence. Since I received those reports God has provided a Costa Rican lady who I have been visiting. I met her through a friend who was here for the month’s intensive studies. The Costa Rican ladies name is Dora. She told me that I have a friend in her. I would ask that you would pray for Dora and our friendship.

I did have the opportunity a couple of times to go to another area of town called La Carpio. It is a really poor area of town. Each Thursday students from the language institute go there and have a ministry with the children there. I was able to go there one week and also I was able to go with the children on a Saturday to the park and to enjoy McDonalds. If you want to see a few pictures you can look on the website.

I would ask that you would pray that I would finish well these last few weeks. My sister will be visiting over the Christmas holidays. God has worked it out so that I will be house sitting during the time she is here so that will be fun.

Giving directions here and receiving directions is definitely a challenge. For the most part road names are nonexistent. To tell someone where you live you might say 300 meters south of the Shell station, in the yellow house with white fence. Or go east out of the school for 2 blocks then go west 3 blocks and then go south 2 blocks and you’ll be there. Well if you know me you know that north, south, east, west and directions like that are not my forte. The other day my Tica mom had told me that a new shopping mall had opened not too far away from here. Saturday morning I woke up with the desire to go walking and exploring areas that I hadn’t been yet. So I started walking. I thought I should see if I can find the mall. I followed the vague directions which she had given me. But I found it! I was so happy when I found it. When I returned home and told the Tica mom that I had found the mall she was very surprised and happy that I had been able to follow her directions. I would ask that you would continue to pray for the relationship with the Costa Rican family who I live with. Thank you Lord that it is a good situation.

In the early part of December I will have an oral proficiency exam, I would ask that you would pray for this. This is a test which the IMB gives to see where we are in the language.

I am sure that there is a lot more that I could write but at this moment I am not sure what that is. Thank you for your continuing prayers and support. Thank you for those who have sent cards and notes. The mail is arriving usually in about 7 or 8 days.

Instead of my writing a verse for you to read I encourage you to take a minute and find the verse that God has for you….For me today it was a section out of Colossians namely Colossians 3:2.
Love, Carol

Fireplace

It was nice to sit by a fireplace on a rainy night at the restaurant.

Mirador restaurant

Saturday night I had the opportunity to go with several others from the languge institute to a nice restaurant. One of the nicest things was the ride to the restaurant in an air conditioned bus. The restaurant was up in the mountains and had a really nice view of the city. The restaurant was very nicely decorated with Christmas trees and decorations. It was an enjoyable evening.

Flowerpot

Saturday night I had the opportunity to go to a nice restaurant. For dessert I enjoyed a flowerpot. It was good as you can tell from the before and after pictures. It was cookies and ice cream.

A servant's heart

While the trip to the park was an all girls trip, a few of the boys had an outing of their own. They went to play soccer. Then they came by the park and they handed out the food and cleaned up the trash. The guy who is in charge of the ministry thought this would be a good way to teach the boys about servanthood and serving others. I thought it was a neat idea.

McDonalds

The girls were treated to a lunch of a Happy Meal from McDonalds. They all enjoyed the meal. Several of them didn't eat all of their meal so that they could take the rest home to share with their brothers and sisters.

A day at the park

Today I had the opportunity to go to the park with about 30 Costa Rican girls. It was alot of fun. There were about 7 of us gringas who went as "chaperones". We had a fun time of playing soccer, swinging, jump roping and just being outside. It sounded so sweet to be referred to as "gringa". Gringa is the name for a female from the United States. The girls would say gringa and then ask their question. We were able to share with them about God by using the wordless book/plan of salvation book. It was alot of fun.

The ice cream man

At the park today the ice cream man came around selling ice cream. I just thought it was interesting.