Update 1-20-09

Hello friends,

How were your holidays? Mine were good. It was a good time of rest which I greatly needed. Also Kim and I had a good visit together here in Costa Rica. We did a lot of things together while she was here. If you want to see pictures and more info be sure to look on my blogspot. However I do have to tell you about one day. We had gone to the bullfights during the day and we got home around 6 pm. When we got home that evening I put on my pajamas and I said I’m not going anywhere else today, if you want to go somewhere you are on your own. I was tired. Thankfully she was okay with staying home that evening.

Classes have started again. This time I’m taking grammar classes in Spanish and then I’m also doing a different program. It’s a program called FARO in which I will interview and converse with 7 people on a specific route 1 or 2 times a week. Then I’ll write a report on the interviews, complete a project regarding the topic for the week and meet one on one with the teacher for evaluation. This week, I am working on getting the route together. I have some ideas of people I just need to talk to them and solidify the route. I think it will be good for me to get out and talk to different people and hear the different accents of people. Topics I’ve selected include food, tourism, education, culture, sayings of the Costa Rican people, birthdays and other topics like that.

A praise is that I have found a church which I enjoy attending. It’s a neat story about how I found it. I’ll try to make it concise for you. As most of you know mom works at Baptist Hospital. She knows a Costa Rican guy who also works there. In the midst of a conversation with him, he commented that his brother is a pastor in San Jose, Costa Rica. She got the information about the church here where is pastor. During Christmas, Kim and I were able to visit the church with another missionary. Since then that is where I have been going each week. I enjoy it and the people are really nice.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support. I would just ask for your continued prayers in the language learning process and for the Costa Rican family that I live with…Blessings, Carol

Bible study

On Tuesday afternoons I along with another lady are leading a Bible study. It's in the house of a Nicaraguan lady. I would ask for your prayers as we teach them different Bible stories. Pray that they would be able to share these stories with others.

Playing cards

I had a fun time the other day when I went to visit Dora, one of my Costa Rican friends. She has another student living there. The student got out the Dutch Blitz cards to play with Dora's grandson. It ended up that we all played. Dutch Blitz is a fast paced card game, it's a lot of fun. We were able to teach Dora and her grandson how to play. Then Dora taught us two card games which they play here. I've noticed here that they don't seem to be as competitive in the games. I guess it's like the Mozambicans were, they liked for everybody to win.

A cute picture of friendship

I just liked watching these two friends...I bet as they grow up they would fit into the category of a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Soup kitchen & Bible study

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to go help and observe a neat ministry. It's in one of the poor areas outside of the city. It was started by a lady who runs a store. Each day she would have kids come in and ask for food and they would say put it on my parent's tab-bill. Well she would do this but she would she would never get paid for the food because the families didn't have the money. So she started a program where she would feed the kids lunch. That turned into feeding the kids everyday for lunch. Then on Saturday morning she has a Bible study for the kids before feeding them lunch. It was a really interesting program to see, I hope to be able to go again. For the meal she had rice, beans and pasta.

Please feed me...

One night at the hotel I was just patiently waiting for my food.

Hanging Bridges

A neat tour Kim and I went on was a Hanging Bridges tour. It was a 2 mile hike in the woods and we saw 15 hanging bridges, all of various heights and lengths. It was really neat to see. However it wasn't too much fun when we were standing in one place and the fire ants decided that they liked our shoes and wanted to go with us. We were able to get them off by stomping and jumping.