Somewhat Ironic

Coffee Fields of Costa Rica

This has been a very busy week.  Mostly wonderful, but one particularly very unfortunate event...

Work on the church has continued and is pluggin' right along.  We find ourselves out at that site 4-5 days a week lately. While the last group was here (they left on Tuesday morning) we accomplished the completion of the concrete floor, the plingaring of multiple walls (a process of flinging concrete on the walls), new walls installed, and the moving of many piles of sand, rock, and concrete bags.  Why are we doing all of this...so that there can be a church in the middle of Alajualita, a fairly rough neighborhood in need of some TLC.

We were finally able to be a part of the candle making ministry at La Guacima.  This ministry is run by Mylinda Baits, with minimal leadership, in hopes that the ladies there will take it on as their own.  That area is a target area for sex trade prostitute recruits, and a thing such as a candle business can be enough to keep some from that terrible outcome.  It gives purpose and a new skill.  The candles are then sold for a minimum donation of $10 and the proceeds are split: 1/3 to the ladies, 1/3 to the supplies, and 1/3 to the church where they make the candles.  I continued on with my puppet house building project and will finish the next time we go out there.

Jenn helping to make the candles

We went to the baptism of a friend that we have made here, Caryn Schmid.  It was absolutely wonderful as we hung out at an awesome river and had lunch with everyone.

Congratulations Caryn (and thanks to Gary and Mylinda for officiating (is that the right word?))!!

On to the not-so-hot news.  Jenn and I saved up for nice DSLR camera that would take spectacular pictures to remember our experience.  In our last posting we mentioned helping out someone in need.  Well, apparently a guy on a bus decided that he was going to force us to give him our camera (apparently he was in need).  We were on our way back from our first trip to the Pacific coast (fun trip by the way...and very warm water) when the bus came to a stop and I immediately knew something was wrong.  I stood up to see our bag being pulled out of the bus by said guy.  I grabbed the bag at the last second, he looked and me and said, "Lo Siento," and he left the bus.  I had just saved our bag full of a wallet, cell phone, keys, mask and snorkels, and ipods.  Jenn and I quickly discovered that the top of the bag had been opened and our Christmas gift to one another, our camera, was gone.  Sigh, sometimes things are too good to last, or something philosophical like that.  In memory our dear camera, please observe the last pictures that she captured (quite nice ones at that)...

Poas Volcano, Costa Rica

At the butterfly gardens!

Two three toed sloths...seriously lazy creatures!

I LOVE THE TROPICS...yes, I was this close.

This is our new friend, Lt. Snottlenose

Yes, these frogs actually exist.

We went to a couple of the more touristy places in Costa Rica.  The Poas Volcano, and the Waterfall Gardens.  Both were fantastic, and we recommend them to anyone heading this direction...

New things we've learned:

1. Noise pollution laws in the States are actually in place for a reason.

2. Carpet is not something they do here.

3. Going on jogs = always running huge hills.

4. Many times greetings include God: Como esta? Bien, gracias a Dios.  or: Hasta manana! Si Dios quiere.

    (How are you? Good, thanks be to God)      (See you tomorrow. Lord willing)

5. KEEP LUGGAGE IN YOUR LAP.

6. Everyone goes to the beach in the late afternoon, because it is too hot in the middle of the day.

7. Gary Baits loves playing games...ESPECIALLY when he wins.

8. Vendors sell things everywhere, on sidewalks, walking around on beaches, at stoplights between lanes.  And, most of the time they are things that make sense, like food items, or touristy stuff.  But, they also sell weird things like socks, remote controls, pens, and coloring books.

Our plan is still to move over to the Limon area (we have our eye on a little town called Cahuita).  This weekend we'll be meeting the pastor of the church that we'd work with over there.  Maybe then we'll have a bit of an idea of what we may do there.  But for now, we continue to help out the Baits with their ministries whenever we can.  Thank you to all for your support in this trip.  It is amazing to see God working in and through us.  

Until next time,

Christopher