recap of costa rica

Here is another video that John R has put together. It recaps the last 7 weeks in costa rica.

A Turning Point...

This past week has been a turning point for us. We finally feel like we are starting to get to know some of our neighbors and local people. Last week Charlotte and I met two Costa Rican women who live in our neighborhood. They invited us to come to a Bible Study on Friday evening. As it turns out, one of the women was a missionary for two years in the Middle East. At the Bible Study were four Costa Rican women, and Charlotte and me. Thankfully, one of the women spoke very good English and was able to translate for us. It was a very genuine time. They meet every Friday evening, and told us we are welcome to invite others. We are praying for witnessing opportunities and feel that this would be a good place to invite people that we meet.

This past week was also somewhat of a turning point for us at church. We felt that we understood a little more this week than we have before. It may have been because the pastor used a power point which really helped to pick out words and see the scripture references in print. We are also starting to get to know some of the people at church.

Saturday night we actually had a pretty good conversation - mostly in Spanish - with our taxi driver. He had a small Bible in the taxi and we asked if he was a Christian. He affirmed that he was and told us how his life had been changed by Christ!!

Please pray that we will meet more people and have more opportunities to share the TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL!!!

Good news!

We had posted last week about Charlotte's dad having melanoma. Well... he went to the doctor on Friday and was told the cancer was only in the very beginning stage. Out patient surgery was scheduled for today. He had the procedure done today, and will have the stitches removed this Friday. Hopefully, that will be the end of it! We thank you so much for your prayers. We are thankful that all went well. God is good!

What a great Sunday

We had a great time with fellow missionaries "The Duvalls." We went to a church that meets in a garage, and the service was great. I did get lost in the sermon time. I thought he said John but he said Jonah. Needless to say the sermon did not make much sense to me.

Here is a video of some of the events of the day.

Praise and prayer request

First of all, we got some unexpected news last week... My brother and his wife are expecting a baby in January - on my Dad's birthday! It's kind of funny because his daughters are 18 and soon to be 16! Life will definitely be different! We praise God for this new life that He's created!

Also, please pray for Charlotte's father - Bob Martin. He got some bad news last week. He had been to the dermatologist who had done a biopsy on a place on his face a couple of weeks ago. Last week they called to tell him it is melanoma. He goes to the surgeon this Friday. This can be a serious type of skin cancer. We are praying that it is still in the early stages and the surgeon will be able to cut it all out. Please pray with us about this. This is one of the things that are hard about being so far from family.

June 2009 Video Blog

Etc, Etc, Etc...

Last weekend, we decided to rent a car to explore San Jose. You see, we don't have a car while we are in language school and most of the time we walk or take a taxi. Busses are also available, but we haven't done that as much. Without having a vehicle, we have been limited in knowing what is around us, so we rented a car from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. I felt like a 16 year old who had just gotten his driver's license! Friday night, we took off for an area of town called Escazu. We soon discovered a Mexican restaurant called "Tacontento." I guess this would translate to the "Happy Taco"! Now this was no La Parilla (our favorite Mexican restaurant of all time), but we sure did enjoy it.! A lot of people think of Costa Rica as having Mexican food, but this is certainly not the case. Their signature food item is Gallo Pinto - which is rice and black beans - and they pretty much eat it three meals a day.

During our exploration last weekend, we also discovered a store just like Home Depot or Lowe's called Epa. It was fun to go in and feel like we were in one of these hardware stores from the states. We even ran into some fellow students while we we shopping in EPA.

When Sunday afternoon came, we sure hated to see the car go. We had a great time getting out and seeing the city of San Jose.

Today I made a language blunder in my grammar class. A woman in my class was called on and she did a good job. I attempted to give her a compliment, so I said, "Muy grande!" Instead of saying, "very good!," I had actually said, "very big!" - not quite what a woman would consider to be a compliment! Oh well, I have no room for anything except improvement!