Our Costa Rica Life

Hi everyone! I haven't blogged in a while and I feel so terrible because so many things have happened!

Some of you have already heard but our english group was dissolved. It was pretty sudden. We went to the meeting one Sunday and after the meeting was over they made the announcement and that was it..not one more meeting after the announcement. So we had 2 choices:

1} Go to the next closest english group which is about 1 hour and 20 minutes away.
Or
2} Stay in Uvita and go to The Spanish Congregation that had been hosting us.

We decided to stay in Uvita and join Spanish. Just before the announcement was made we had turned in our slips to regular auxiliary pioneer and we were wondering, " Can we really do this now that we will be totally in Spanish?" We decided, for now, to continue on Pioneering and take advantage of the opportunity to be totally immersed. Slowly but surely it is coming, but learning a language takes time and endurance! I had so many misconceptions about learning a new language! It can be very hard at times. I had a week where I wanted to perform a slow burn of everything I owned that was Spanish! LoL The words aren't just different, the meanings are different. For example: In Spanish you don't bring something to a party, you carry something to a party..HUH?? I have tried so many different things to help my learning and I have come to this conclusion.. It cannot be rushed. You have to talk like a baby and look kind of dumb ( Its very humbling), You can't pass over being corrected constantly, and it just takes time. The meetings are hard because I want to give the same comments that I did in English but I just can't because you have to start from the bottom and work your way up. I give simple answers just a few sentences most of the time and occasionally read a scripture that I practice in advance. This is all just part of the learning process and its hard at first because you have to realize that you now have different limitations. Learning another language has got to be the most humbling experience ever! I am very thankful though because it has made me realize that I had some changes to make in my personality and I needed to work on being a more humble person. I am learning how to communicate without a lot of words and to listen more without the intent to answer because ..well I just can't sometimes because I just don't have the words. For a few months I really struggled to keep a positive attitude because I felt so out of place. Every time I went to the meeting I felt so scared someone would talk to me..in Spanish!!! Ahhh! I really hate awkward conversations but I have to say... I'm getting really good at them! :) Sometimes I just stand near by as sisters are talking so that they know that I want to be apart of the group and I want to understand. For the most part I do understand but I have a hard time putting together sentences. Then when I don't respond people often think that I don't understand and thats frustrating. It helps having people in the congregation that also speak English because we are all learning together. I am doing much better now and I am feeling more confident. Tyler is doing great, he has a good memory and isn't afraid to use the language so he will learn fast. The kids are like little sponges ( I ask them when I have a question)! Asher gave his first bible reading and he did awesome.
I have 2 bible studies now and I would love to tell you how that's happening but I have no idea..every week it just happens LoL All said and done, I would not change a thing. Life here is simple and uncomplicated. Of course we still have some stresses but who can avoid that?!

A few weeks ago we went to our english assembly in San Jose and of course..our car broke down on the freeway just 7 miles outside of the city. There we were on the side of the road in the dark trying to figure out what was wrong. Tyler had a hunch that our engine might be toast because of a snapped timing belt so he had a tow truck tow us to our hotel. Okay, one issue with Costa Rica.. people like to take the weekends off. How dare they, right? Well our option was to miss the assembly and get the parts we needed to fix the car on Saturday because nothing would be open after 5 on a Saturday and nothing is open on Sunday. Or go to the assembly and just wait until Monday to find out wether or not we would still have a car. Really, there wasn't an option, we decided to take a taxi to the assembly and worry about it after the assembly. Fortunately a brother and sister staying at our hotel gave us a ride to the assembly so we avoided having to take a taxi. Once our friends heard what had happened to our car, they all pulled together to get us a ride home (which is 2 and a 1/2 hours away). A brother recommended a good mechanic but Tyler knew that the chances of our engine being fine after a timing belt snap like that was slim. But Sunday morning the mechanic came and picked up the car and we headed home waiting for the news. Tuesday morning we got the news that our engine wasn't damaged!! We couldn't believe it! The mechanic couldn't either! :) So we headed back to SJ to get our car and have had no trouble since! Phew..a close one! Thank you Jehovah! The assembly that weekend really helped us focus on our trust in Jehovah and not our problems, so as usual..our food came at the perfect time!

In other news: We had an exit to Panama. That went well and we went over to the caribbean side of Costa Rica. Tyler gave a talk in the Cahuita English Congregation. We even got to go to a sloth sanctuary and take a jungle cruise while we were over there. We had so much fun! The beaches are amazing there!

Our memorial attendance was 143 with only 35 publishers:)! We have never had that many so the whole congregation was really thrilled!

Peyton had to have a tooth pulled but he was a trooper!

Asher gave his first bible reading in Spanish and he did great! We are really proud of our kids. They have made a lot of changes since we have been here. It makes me feel so great that they are all talking about pioneering one day! Even Peyton. He wants to "work" at Bethel :) He's so cute! He keeps asking when we can go to Bethel so he can see it:) Warms my heart.

Okay here are a few tidbits I wanted to share with my fellow language learners..: It's not easy! In bible times, Jehovah didn't confuse the languages to make things easier:) It can be difficult to feel like you are making a difference. You are! Just being there to support the group or congregation is bigger than we all think. Not being able to form close bonds ( like you have in your mother tongue) due to the language barrier doesn't need to stop you. For example, in the Spanish culture it is the custom to greet each individual person at the meeting with a hug..no words needed for that! perfect! :) When the meeting is over it is also the custom to say a farewell to every person ..every person, and of course another hug. If I ever move back to the U.S.. I'm going to be a hugging machine! LoL So it is really good to learn the culture of your new family because it will really help you to show that you care since right now you may not be able to say it. You can always show it. This is how close bonds start! I really underestimated the importance of learning about culture because I thought. " Culture shouldn't be a big deal because we are all Jehovahs people". Well guess what..it is! Culture influences how people are raised, which influences how people think and feel. I didn't realize that until I was taken out of my own culture. Also The advice the faithful slave gives is so balanced so pull out that letter every so often and remind yourself that studying 12 hours a day is not going to help you. We all want to learn our new language so badly, but nothing can speed up time. It just takes time. Hang in there! Its okay to cry or feel like you can't do it sometimes. YOU CAN! Every hurdle you get over will make the next one easier. If you are really struggling, take a day or two off if you need to.

I recently had to learn that it is okay to say," I don't understand". Sometimes it feels so wrong to tell someone that you don't understand. Its easier to just pretend and nod:) Your learning it's okay!
I'm not ashamed to say that I am the girl at the meeting carrying around flash cards. Yep..flashcards! They have questions, responses, numbers, verbs and a a few other helpful things for me when speaking with people. This doesn't tell people you are dumb..No No No this tells people, "I want to understand you and I want to know you". Last but not least, it won't be like this forever, just a few years..Haha sorry:( Learn to laugh at yourself! The other day a sister was making a comment and she just laughed at herself because she said holes instead of eyes. I love her for her confidence! She isn't afraid to laugh or, more importantly, to open her mouth and speak! You must speak to learn.:) Well I love hearing about everyone so keep me posted on your lives:) Love to you all!!!!!

Copas at Playa Ventanas

Palm trees and a blue sky never get old!

The view from one of my favorite territories

This is our new baby! Her name is Indie and she's part doberman part Rott so basically she is going to be huge! She's only 4 months in this photo from February:)

Asher out in service during the memorial campaign.

This bridge was so creepy! I felt like I was in Jurassic Park!

Mapping some territory that has never been worked! It was beautiful!

Border run to Panama.

These are 2 sisters from my hall out witnessing. I love this area it is so amazing!

This was at the Sloth Sanctuary on the Caribbean side. We had the best time here. This little guy lost his arm and is now a permanent resident of the sanctuary. We learned so many interesting things about these guys. Jehovah has given us no shortage of cool animals!

A baby sloth!!!!

Tyler got to give the talk in Cahuita and they had air-conditioning .. which is rare here! It was a fun few days.

We ate at this restaurant that was owned by a guy from Australia and he was so funny! He came and had a little chat with us and the kids loved that they had props everywhere. This is Ellas rude librarian face:) But she isn't fooling anyone!!

Moneys on our Jungle cruise!

Occasionally I like to hold my kids hostage after a day at the beach. I turn them all into baby burritos!

Manzanillo, Costa Rica..My fave! Amazing!!!

Sometimes horses wander onto our property. This one stuck around for almost 3 weeks, napped on my lawn, ate all of my fruit and hung out by the pool..What a free loader!

Peyton had to have a little dental work..

He recovered immediately after with a smoothie..

..and a light saber

An amazing sunset from our patio! Every night it is different.

We like to rescue random jungle animals ... He flew away after he had a little rest.

More Manzanillo! It was so beautiful! Really these photos don't do it justice!

Father & son snorkeling

We were literally the only ones on this beach!

Random Waterfall ..

A little service day fun at the beach

Our memorial! Such a big group!

Yeah..We took it:)

A little Beach preach. Jim and Pam Beggs came and visited us. Tyler and Jim went to Playa Dominical to cart witness but we soon found them being fed and watching the waves.

My little guy making his way to a waterfall..barefoot of course:)

Sarahs farewell:(

Ella & Kyla. Kyla lives about 6 hours away ad they hadn't seen each other since the beginning of January, so they were very excited to see each other!

Sometimes the works of the flesh affect us all...

After we watched the convention reminders video at the meeting, the kids asked to see it in english. The brother happily obliged:)

Asher, enjoying the little things..

...aaaaaaand then there's Peyton...

This bird flew through our window and scared us to death! He was trying to eat our cat..we think. He got away unharmed and thankfully so did our cat.

Hi all!! Again my blog is delayed because as usually life happens and although life here is tranquillo is seems the days go by fast and slow at the same time. The owners of our house came into town for 16 days so we had to move out while they were here. That was a huge process! I'm so glad we only have to do that once a year. It does help us keep things simple. The less we have to move the better! So every time we think about buying something...we remember that we have to move it!

We had planned on going to Nicaragua for the time that they were here but we got offered another free house so we took it. Tyler was in the village supermarket and ran into one of our neighbors. She just happens to also be the local vacation rental manager. Tyler mentioned that we were getting the house ready for the owners and she asked where we were going. He told her that we had just planned on checking out Nicaragua for a few weeks. She said. "Well if you want to stay in Ojochal I can get you into one of my rentals thats available for free!" How could we pass that up? It was going to cost a bit to take the bus 9 hours into Managua! It was a really nice house. 2 story and in a valley so it was a bit warmer than our house here on the hill. It had a pool and was right next to a river. The only downside was it was next to that river! The first day that I was moving stuff over I did a double take as I drove down the driveway because I could of swore I saw an alligator in my driveway! After further investigation I found out that the river was home to a family on Cayman! Needless to say we did not fill the pool because... well do I need to explain?? I still have some city girl in me:) That was the only cayman we saw so I was pretty happy about that. We had almost no internet for the entire 16 days which led me to realize I would rather be without water than internet!

Now for some experiences. Last week I promised some from Nicaragua! A brother and sister are moving down there in February. They have been here for 4 years and have decided that they are ready to go to another area. They visited Pearl Lagoon and loved it. Most people there speak english or creole as a first language and spanish as a second or third. One day a week this congregation boards a boat and travels to a nearby island. They use a boat provided by the branch. They leave before its light out and work the territory until almost dark. They have had so much interest on the island! Yolanda, the sister that went, had many experiences but I will just share one with you all because there are SO many! She walked up to a house and noticed that an entire family of about 8-10 were outside having a BBQ. The brother said to her, "Go ahead." She was very nervous. As she approached the group all eyes were on her. She started her presentation and pulled out the video Would you like to study the bible. All of them watched in silence! As the video ended an additional person walked outside and asked what was going on. Her family told her that she needed to see this video! So Yolanda started it again, and again they all watched. They left several sets of magazines and a few bible teach books and made arraignments to go back and start a group study with the entire family! This congregation has very limited funds and it is hard for them to get to this island each week so they are currently having any friends who have experiences there, send them to the branch in hopes that they might soon get a more efficient motor for their little preaching boat.

Now onto Costa Rica! We started doing cart witnessing on the beach last week. I know rough life, right??!We have been working a lot of spanish territory since we became a group but we starting to slowly shift our focus back onto english as we work to adjust to our new group status. It is hard to stay in practice at talking to people in english when we don't have an english service meeting and school. As a result the methods used in the territory are, at times, outdated. The reminders we get at the meeting on showing personal interest and starting conversations are crucial to our success in the ministry. Because we don't get them weekly we have to put extra effort into learning and appreciating these points. The school helps keep you fresh because we all know that sometimes we go out and may not speak to one person. I have come to realize how much more I appreciate the meetings now. Jehovah knows what we need. We are starting to get creative with our ministry here so that we can talk to as many people as possible. One big thing we are starting to do is street witnessing. This is great for the kids! We try and have them talk to at least one person every time we go in street work. They have never really done street witnessing here. Bus stops and just walking around where english people are, having our cart outside the bus station and the grocery store that english people frequent are all new or not yet utilized ideas for the friends here that are just starting to trickle down. The internet is invaluable too. Every Spanish door I go to I always ask, "Tiene Internet?" Because if they do have internet I can direct them to the website.

Another big challenge here is the roads. They are dirt, they are steep and rugged. Many times people are impressed that you took the time to drive up to them:) The territory is fun though I'm not going to lie! We basically go jeeping every week and the kids love it! We continue to have nice conversations with people and season the message all over our territory. One person that was witnessed to here went home and by the next year when she came back, she was a bible study!

Learning Spanish is going good. We started reading out of the bible story book in spanish every day. We basically sit at the table and take turns reading out loud and it has really been helping! I didn't think it would because we don't know what we are saying but it does! A sister form Venezuela recommended that and I'm so glad she did! We are all feeling more confident speaking our new language. In fact Tyler had an hour long discussion with our gardner last weekend and placed a bible teach book, a bible and showed him the why study the bible video. They are going to continue their discussion the next time he comes. He told Tyler that his wife is very catholic but that he thinks it wrong for people to have to pay for prayer books and pay each time they confess. It was a great conversation! I can't wait to see what comes of it:)

Tyler gave his first public talk last weekend and he did so great! There was an audience of about 25 which was good for our little english group. He has another spanish part coming up next month so he is already preparing for that.

We already have to do another Panama run this month! I can't believe that we have been here for almost 6 months. We have visitors starting to plan to come visit us over the next few months so we look forward to getting a little piece of home. We miss everyone!

This is the house we stayed in for 16 days. It was pretty cute!