God's timing

One of the things I enjoy doing is walking the dog each day. Today I went earlier than I usually do...But it turned out to be God's timing. I had hardly gotten out of the house and a lady started talking to me. She started in Spanish and then switched to English. She said can I tell you my testimony, I said sure. We started walking together. She told me how God told her part of her mission is to pray for missionaries early each morning. She asked me if I was a missionary. I said I am. She lived in the states for several years and she has family who lives there now.

I call it God's timing because she usually goes walking early each morning than she did today and I usually go later than I did today. So it had to be in God's timing that we met....

McDonalds

On Tuesday Nicole and I lead a Bible study for a lady and her grandchild. The other week Nicole and the grandchild were talking about hamburgers. That gave Nicole the idea to take a McDonald's treat to them because we know that is something that they never have. Before the study on Tuesday I went to McDonalds and got a Happy Meal and some hamburgers for them. We arrived at their house. When we arrived the grandmother said I'm sorry I have a meeting that I have to go to. We said no problem, we can leave this with you and see you next week.



She had commented that she was making some food. I just asked what kind, she told me I said that sounded good. She said would you like some I said sure. She brought out two plate fulls of food and it was good food, fried pork, salad and a main staple food that is kind of like potatoes.

It was so neat when we left because we said we thought we were going with a blessing for her and she gave us a blessing.

Carol at the wedding

The hotel where the wedding was at had a really nice view of San Jose and the surrounding area. This was a picture taken of me before the wedding.

Wedding

Last night I went to the wedding of my Tico brother. We left my house at about 3:10pm. We stopped and picked up daughter’s boyfriend. He told me that the Costa Rican people think it’s more stylish to show up late to events. In reality they had put 3:30 pm on the wedding invitations so people would get there by 4 pm and it would start then. It did start at 4ish with a guy playing several songs on saxophone.

Then the groom walked down the aisle with both his parents. Then the flower girl, ring bearer, best man and woman. Last the bride walked down the aisle with both of her parents. There were chairs at the front where the bride and groom sat. The others sat on the front two rows.
The hotel had a really nice view overlooking the mountains and the city of San Jose and other smaller villages around.

The couple is evangelical, not Catholic. They attend an Assembly of God church. The pastor from their church did the service. He started with a mini sermon-talk. He told several points about marriage. He used the Mark 10 passage where it talks about leaving father and mother and becoming one. He said marriage was a creation of God. He used a symbolic illustration with sand. The pastor had 3 jars of sand, all different colors. He had each of them take some sand from different jars. Then they put it in the bigger jar and mixed it all together. He said this symbolizes the union of man and woman. Also he mentioned having love and respect for each other.

The pastor prayed over the jars of sand and the Lord’s Supper items before the wedding started. After he spoke, they shared their wedding vows and exchanged wedding rings. I remember they said to love, respect and help each other. Then they had Lord’s Supper together, their first time having it together as husband and wife.

At the end of the ceremony, they left the area with the people blowing bubbles in the air as the couple walked by. The Tica mom kept saying how happy the son looked and he did look happy.
Then they went outside to the patio area and pictures and had pictures taken. The rest of us

went and sat at our assigned tables. The waiters started serving drinks and snacks. Anyone who wanted could go outside and have their picture taken with the bride and groom which I thought was neat. Later after the meal they had a time where the bride and groom had their picture taken with the people from each table, I thought that was a neat idea.

After a few snacks, the band started playing and the first round of dancing started. The bride and groom started with their first dance. A few more snacks were served. Then later dinner was served and it was good. Meat, chicken cordon bleu, rice, salad, mixed veggies, bread and coconut flan. It was good. The evening continued with more music, dancing until 10 pm. It was a little after 11 pm when we got home.

They had fireworks set off which was neat. It was cold standing outside watching them. I had my fleece on and I was glad I did. I’m not sure how stylish it looked but it kept me warm. I did find a place outside where I was able to disappear a while and walk some and enjoy the fresh mountain air during some of the dancing time.

The dog ate my homework..

Just so you'll know the dog ate my homework is the same in Spanish as it is in English. I was an unprepared student and I told the teacher I didn't have my homework. She said the dog ate it? Then she laughed....I said thats it, the dog ate it..

Chocolate cake

It's interesting how God can take your plans and change them even for something as simple as chocolate cake...On Thursday night I made a chocolate cake thinking I would take it on Friday night as I was going to play games with friends. Well Friday morning I stopped to visit one of the girls I talk to as a part of my language activities. Her coworker came in while I was there and said Happy Birthday. So I asked her today is your birthday? She said yes. I had remembered that it was sometime around now but I didn't remember the day. However I did know that she wanted a chocolate cake for her birthday. I went to the house where I've been house sitting and I put icing on the cake and took the cake to her. She was thrilled, she had tears in her eyes as I left. It was neat to see how God had other plans for the chocolate cake.

I ate my underwear...

I bet that got your attention? In class yesterday I was telling what I had eaten for lunch over the weekend. What I wanted to say was that I ate a calzone instead I said I ate underwear for lunch. In Spanish the word for underwear is calzone just like the English word calzone which is the Italian stuffed pastry. In Spanish the Italian stuffed pastry is not called calzone but calzona....I thought that must be why the girl at the restaurant smiled when I ordered a calzone! She knew a little English but I'm sure it was still funny to her...I had to laugh.

Sunset at the beach

No words are needed for these sunset pictures from the beach...

Lunch at Central Market

The other week as an activity for one of my classes I went to the Central Market downtown and ate lunch. I enjoyed arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), plantan (stewed banana) and salad. It was an okay meal. However I did say that because this is the kind of food that I eat all the time the next time I go out for lunch I'll go to Taco Bell....haha

Manuel Antonio Beach

Over the weekend I went with a group of students from school to a beach called Manuel Antonio. It is a part of the national park system. I enjoyed hiking around the park. This was one of pretty views which I was able to see.