Hitting the Trails (with Jeff & Linda)

While Jeff and Linda were here we tried to take advantage of the sunny Sunday afternoons and take them to see God's awesome beauty in this country.  While you see things that are amazingly beautiful (and a picture can never truly depict the depths that are really there), you also see things that are hysterical, scary (well, not as scary anymore because it is just common to see now.

About 15 minutes from our house there is a spot to pull over and you can see the ocean.  I believe the altitude is about 3600 feet.

The depths in these valleys is

amazing.  

At first sight it just looks like skyline, but it is the 

ocean.

All in a few minutes you can go from breath taking ocean views to breath taking parts of the road is

MISSING!!

This is one of the scary sights that has become

pretty regular to us.  

No joke!  Sometimes I think the van

is just going to go ahead, flip, and roll

all the way down.  This is one of those

scary things that I have still not become

accustomed to.

This is a typical real estate sign.  FYI, the property for sale is basically a cliff.

I would not want to be in that house below the road

there.  The road is caving in.  

Typical housing.  Brings a whole other light to 

"close" neighbors.

And more road gone.  And yes, we are driving right over 

a hollow piece of asphalt.

I told you it was common.

Just a random picture that reminded me of home.

Just made me think of old farm homes.  You do 

not see very many homes that have character here.

We have seen lots and lots of 

Catholic churches since moving here.

Some of the artistry is just amazing when

you look at how old they are and what

they had to do to accomplish building

them with the tools and materials they had

in the time they were built.

This church is completely made of sheets of metal.

Work In Progress

The work on the church building has been slow.  There have been hick-ups along the way that have slowed things down.  Nothing major, just causing turtle speed work.  It has been more difficult getting some of the things done since David is working with primal tools....meaning he doesn't have his electric saws, laser level (we managed to get that one on the flight with Keith and Lesa), and probably a bunch of other tools that I do not even know the names.

There is nothing square about this building.  No square floors, walls, ceilings...and absolutely nothing is level. This definitely called for some creative thinking.  I took this picture last Sunday, but I think David has now completed the center part with sheetrock as well.

I think we are ready to have someone come in and give us a price for doing some plaster work.  You can

see on the far wall in the picture above there is a concrete post that is exposed with rebar.  We will need someone to do some plaster work since all of the other walls are concrete.  Once that is done then we will need to do something about the flooring.  We are not sure at this point what is cheaper, tiling the entire place or using a leveling material and putting an epoxy glaze on the entire concrete.  All of the building is smooth finished concrete except the part where we knocked out the wall.  It is a very rough concrete.  So, a few more things, then we can paint everything and it will be all refreshed.  Amazing what a couple coats of paint can do for a place.  It always sounds like less work than it really is....you know it all takes time. 

SOME SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP

Everyone looking at SNOW pictures

Valeria

Logan- not enthused to stop for the camera.

And Leia was not real enthused either.  Camera shots

seem to be on her terms lately.  Which means she 

wants me to take pictures of her when my camera is

not handy, and when I have camera then she is not interested.

Good news for one of the families that go to church with us.  David took Jorge last week to look for another job.  He was working very very long hours and not getting paid for it and it was becoming very stressful.  He went one day and applied at about 12 different places and had a return call from one place by the time they returned back to his house that afternoon.  He found out Tuesday that he got the job and his first day on the new job was yesterday.  I had planned on posting this prayer request for him and his family, but the answered prayers were faster than me : ).  So, please pray that this new job will be a blessing to him and his family and that they will have more time together and an easier road ahead of them.  He plans on taking a couple tests this Spring and Fall to receive his diploma and then apply for some grants to go to college.  I am sure he would love each one of your prayers.  I am sure it is hard working a full-time job, having a family with 4 small children, and studying for tests.  

While Keith was here, he and David were able to meet many new people and started lots of new studies.  David has been super busy trying to keep them all going on a consistent basis, especially with everyone's limited time schedule from work.  We are hoping everything is starting to slow down.  Coffee harvest is finished.  We saw today that the sugar cane harvest is starting here; not sure how many people are involved in that process.  All I know is it is HARD work.  On one of our trips when we were visiting Costa Rica, we visited a town near the indigenous tribes and it looked horrendous.  They burn the underpart of the sugar cane and go through cutting it with a machete and a handkerchief on their face in thick, very thick smoke...and did I mention it is sweltering hot right now and there has been no rain in 2 months and we are looking at two or three more months of no rain.  Okay...I am digressing.  But you know one thought just leads to another.  

Back to the Bible studies.  One of the couples David has been studying with have expressed their understanding of the Gospel and stated they wanted to be baptized but want David "to talk to their entire family, so we can all be baptized together."  This is an older couple from a Catholic and Assembly of God background.  Please pray that they will truly understand the importance of making and following through with obeying the Gospel because it is the truth and not base their final decision on whether the rest of the family agrees to do the same.  

It seems like so many people do things because other people do it.  They follow men and not God.  We must live for God ourselves and not through other people's actions and words.  They follow others to other places thinking it will better a situation and better their life.  They follow what other men say.  Why?  Why risk your eternal life on a supposedly better idea out there by man? 

Navidad en Costa Rica

I know, it is a month an a half past Christmas but thought I would share anyways.  Christmas was definitely different here.  There was no music playing in the stores, no lights on every street corner, no wraths hanging in the town square, no cold air, no carols ringing in the air, and none of a whole bunch of other things.  But, we did see Christmas trees on front porches beginning November 1st...and we have still seen a few still sitting out.  The kids actually asked the other day why these people were still having Christmas.  No different than the Christmas lights that people leave up until July or just leave til the next Christmas : ).  But there were sights that made me smile, because it was things I don't think I have seen since I was a child.

This was a very common scene by the middle

of November.  Trees strapped to cars

everywhere you turned.  Definitely made me

SMILE!

I don't think the Christmas decor sold here

could even be found in the US anymore, 

unless it is someone's attic.  It was quite funny.  

Not bad, just things I have not seen in a 

really long time. 

The first time we saw a public display of Christmas lights.

It was actually cool the afternoon we took this drive/

I got to wear a jacket...which made me really happy.

I just  needed some apple cider.

Not complete with Christmas sweets.

A little cheer in the house.  My mom managed to pack 

some of my Christmas things into two shoe boxes.

Opening gifts with Papa and Nana.

He was super excited about his can of cashews.

That same can here is $17.

Do you see the resemblance?

We got a couple super heroes for 

Christmas...well, they got some too.

Batman opening his toys.

All his goodies packed into a shoebox.  Gotta pack

it tight when you flying to another country.

She was just a little happy about her blackout mask.

Their room at this house had an entire wall of windows 

from floor to ceiling with no curtains.  Made for some

early morning risings.

Happy Boy!

New friends we met while on our Visa Run to Panama.

Christmas Eve Halo around the Moon

Christmas morning in two continents

(I prefer to do this together in person next year.

Praying that will be a possibility).

Carson Christmas morning at home.

Logan is in serious concentration.

Olivia now knows the time.

She was very meticulous with her package.

Together!