Our Costa Rica Life : December 2014

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!