Spanish ..Spanish and more Spanish

Hi everyone! Its been a while since I have posted anything because it has been such a busy 2 weeks for us! A lot has been going on. First off we had our CO visit this week for Spanish and that has been quit an experience. Our CO only speaks spanish. So honestly, for the kids, this week has been a little overwhelming. 3 spanish meetings this week and an english meeting talk and watchtower  tomorrow was a bit much for them. So I actually stayed home from meeting with them today while tyler went to the Spanish meeting. Besides moving to an entirely different country, they are learning a new language. I wish we would have had a little time before CO visit to get our bearings a little and get a little more familiar with the language. 

Our meeting Thursday night was so great. Our CO gave a talk on our congregation going back to a group and merging with spanish. He said that while he was out in service the day before, they met many spanish and english. Our territory has a lot of both. He said that with the spanish and english meeting together we will become like a strong pillar. Before, we were 2 small pillars, both needing help. But now the spanish can help us learn spanish and we can teach them english. This will have a great effect on our territory and out ministry because eventually we will all be able to preach to either language. In Costa Rica 99% of people either speak english or spanish. That really makes you think! This type of arraignment is happening all over Central & South America right now. Many english congregations are going back to groups. This helps make the load lighter on all of the brothers ,but, as I have been able to see, it really benefits the congregation in so many ways. Of course there are challenges. Think about it. You walk into a Kingdom Hall and it’s easy to talk to those who speak your language. But you cant do that. It would be very easy to segregate yourself and only converse with those that speak english. Or when speaking to the spanish friends one could  limit themselves to simple phrases like “how are you” “Nice to see you” but you can’t do that. ( okay at first you can, but eventually you need to say more:)You have to step out of your comfort zone and try to speak this new language and pick up what you can.  I say “ No Inteindo”  a lot! :) But listening to them speak and just being at the meeting  has helped so much. In fact there is one spanish brother in our hall who speaks a little english and the CO asked him to relate an experience and part of his talk in english during the meeting  Thursday. It was so encouraging and he wanted to make sure we knew how he felt about all of our hard work and our struggle to learn the language. 

“Good Job” he said in english “mucho corozon” (Much heart) It was so sweet! After the CO’s talk I really wanted to say something to him. Its so frustrating not being able to communicate what you want to. So I went up and said that I didn't understand what he said but very good.. thank you:) I know, kind of lame LOL but of course he did what I feared most..Started taking to me..in spanish. So I have learned to nod and say si a lot. :) I am so glad that we are here. We get to be involved at the very beginning when the hall is merging and starting this whole process. We get to see it all! I am so glad that we came when we did. Our hall has only been merged for the last 8 weeks, so all of us who speak english are learning spanish together. We have each other to lean on. Everyone is always checking in on each other and making sure non of us get too overwhelmed. I really cant wait until the CO comes back around in 6 months, I know I will be able to tell him how I feel then!

Okay so in addition to that, we moved! Our house was in need of so many things that we decided it was just way too time consuming and we needed to get out of there. So we prayed about it and started looking. You may not believe what I am about to tell you …but it’s true and I still have goose bumps!!!! Tyler had driven a Bible study home after meeting 2 weeks ago and he lives in a town 20 minutes up the road. Tyler loved this town. So he thought he would just pop in the location on craigslist and see if anything was available for rent there. (Usually you get terrible deals on craigslist but we thought it was worth a shot) Well the first thing that came up was a care taking gig. The house looked awesome so Tyer had me send them an email with our information. Of course no email back..so Tyler, being the persistant person he is, decided to call. The owner of the house had added a youtube link with a video onto the craigslist add and at the very end of that video he said his phone number. So Tyler got a hold of him and they talked for about 20 minutes. He asked for us to send him an email about ourselves and some pictures. He said that they need use of the home 3 weeks in November every year, otherwise the house is ours for the rest of the year!We pay no rent, just utilities, a landscaper each month, maintain the pool and his car and check on 2 other properties he has here in Ojochal. We also have use of their SUV because they don’t want it sitting all year and use of a quad on the property.  I’m still pinching myself! I cant even believe it! So I have included some pictures of the place and its amazing!We are waiting on our internet to get hooked up, which in Costa Rica .. could take a while. 

In other small happenings, we found out we can ship things here from the states using a vey reasonable container service. Only $8 per cubit foot. It still takes a month but hey its possible so we are happy! We just have to send our stuff to an address we have in Florida by the 20th of each month and we get in the following month..on the 20th:) 

A lot of people asked me how you know when to pay your bill since there is no mail here and we thought they just email you a bill..nope. If you don’t pay your bill on the due date  every month, they just shut your power off or your internet. No warning. Thats how they do it here. So every month you have to go to their office and pay your bill or the next day it will be off. 

Tuesday I’m doing my first border run with some sisters from the hall. They go just to the Costa Rican border ( before Panama) where there is a Costco type store and a mall!! No Target :( but Im still excited!!! They go every 3 months and stock up on food ( I can’t wait to get cheese!!!!!!!) Talk to you guys soon!

I love our back deck! 

Can't beat the amazing view here..

Our bedroom

This patio is off of our bedroom and open air {but screened to keep the spiders out} :) 

and here is the view looking into this room 

Our new and improved living room!! I love this place !! Still can't believe I live here you guys!! 

The kitchen 

check it out.. a real stove !!:) 

I have a pantry now.. 

no more clothes line!!! yes!!! 

Peyton & Ellas room 

The kids bathroom 

Asher's room 

pool/ outside  bathroom by pool 

pool shower but scroll down and look what lives next to it... 

NO thank You!!! 

check it out... AC!!! but we don't use it lol we live up on a hill now and it's much cooler thankfully!!

This is our AC:) 

I couldn't resist one machete picture:) Tyler's patrolling our driveway for unwanted visitors 

This is a pipa knife... for cutting down coconuts. it's about 7 feet long and as you can tell.. slightly modified 

Just a few random scenery photos ..

This is a huge Mango tree

This is the road to our house.. sketchy?  yep .. jk :) not too bad this is a typical road here 

and for fun.. some ridiculous prices:) They are in US dollars because I was at the Panama border yesterday 

He hung out for a while and then met his demise when Tyler got home 

Talk to you guys soon!!! 

Uvita Spanish Meeting

Last night we went to our first meeting in spanish. We were all nervous and excited. We had studied very well in English during the week but didn't study it in spanish yet. We weren't quite sure what to expect and we really didn't want to overwhelm the kids. We were a little concerned about how they would react to the entire meeting in another language.
 When we got to the meeting there was a visitor outside and he spoke english! We got to introduce ourselves to him and it turns out that his wife is a witness and he decided to come to the meeting that night with her. After meeting Tyler ended up giving him and his family a ride home and found out that he is Italian but grew up in Holland and speaks 6 languages. He  told us that he has a restaurant where he lives about 20 minutes away in a little town called Ojochal and we should come by and try his true Italian pizza. Tyler agreed that that would have to happen real soon! So as we came into the meeting and found our seats, the kids quickly disappeared. They were already right at home with their friends from english and their new friends from spanish playing alongside the Kingdom Hall. As the meeting started I was very quickly lost. All of a sudden I really couldn't remember what I had studied. What was this lesson about again??? Im still trying to figure out if I should listen and follow along in my english publications or listen and follow along in my spanish publications. It seems like everyone has different methods for learning the language in our group. One thing is for sure, our study at home has to be thorough otherwise the kids are missing out on valuable spiritual food. Tyler & I started studying together last week,on monday, for the mid week meeting. Then for family worship we study it again with the kids in english. Then (next week) we will go over it again before meeting and translate our english answers into spanish. There has to be a better method for this so I'm open to suggestions:) One thing I know for sure..I will learn spanish...eventually:) Now for some highlights from the meeting!

This is Fritz. He is from Denmark. He is in his mid 60's & English is his 2nd language, Spanish is his 3rd! Here he is reading for the congregation bible study. 

These cute little blondies kind of stand out:) 

Here is Tyler running a microphone. It was a challenge for him listening for the questions in Spanish so he would know when to run the mic up the aisle. Then he had to really pay attention because he doesn't know anyone's name...but as you can see by the smile on his face, he is happy to do it! 

This is Don he is the secretary for both the congregation & our group. Here he is conducting the school and he doesn't speak much Spanish. He was reading a lot of what he is saying. He also filled in for the bible reading! Wow, I'm still in awe over this brother! 

The sister on the right is Spanish speaking only. The sister on the left, Amy, doesn't speak Spanish but this her 2nd time as a householder! She told me that there are so few sisters in the congregation that she wanted to get right on the school to lighten the load for them. She's so awesome! 

This is Josh. He is our service overseer and he is giving the opening part for the meeting and speaks very little Spanish. He is mostly reading his part.  There were a few chuckles from some kids in the audience but he didn't let it phase him. He did great! 

He even did a demo in Spanish! The sister who is playing the householder speaks no English.How did they pull this together, not speaking the same language??? 

And here is Don being interviewed about his duties as the secretary. Again he mostly read what he had translated earlier since he speaks very little Spanish. 

 So that's it! It was a great meeting. The Spanish friends are being so patient with us. I imagine we all sound like kindergarteners to them :) 

Next week we have CO visit for Spanish and he doesn't speak English and neither does the only Spanish elder so I'm not sure how that works.. But it will! I wanted to share one thing with you guys that was so encouraging to me. Some of the friends in Spanish don't read well at all and because of this they are reluctant to join the school or reach out in any way. Since we have combined with them they have seen us in English fumble our words and make mistakes from the stage. But they are so encouraged by the spirit of the friends to try, that now some of them have joined the school and are reaching out. They no longer feel embarrassed or that they can't do it. When I heard that it in turn encourage me to not give up! 

In closing we went to Ojochal today and tried Fabrittzio's pizza and he wasn't kidding! It was fabulous! He said the only pizza that comes close is in Italy! He served our pizza with imported Parmesan & fresh homemade Pesto sauce! We agreed that all of our visitors have to try out Fabrittzio'z for themselves! Love you guys! Can't wait to get some visitors!!!:)