The Rainy Season

The rainy season is upon us in full force. They say that when it rains, it pours; that is certainly true for down here! Yesterday we got drenched on the way home from school. Today, it rained hard for a number of hours non-stop. They say that it will rain almost every day until close to the end of the year...I can't wait.

Second Trimester

The second trimester is in full swing at language school, and things are going well. Missy and I both have new classes with new teachers, and both of us are very happy with both our classes and our teachers (I tried to think of a way to throw in a few more "boths," but the only thing that I could come up with was a parentheses about "boths," which would both explain so many "boths" and at the same time let me use "both" a few more times). Missy is taking two hours of grammar and two hours of language each day, and I am taking a two-hour translation class. Devin has gotten to the place where he gets excited almost every time we take him to daycare. So, thank the Lord for his help once again.

Alejandra, Missy's Grammar Teacher

Missy's Language Class (Teacher Eugenia 2nd From Left)

Ana, My Translation Teacher

My Studious Translation Class

First Bike

We bought Devin his first bike today, and boy is he a happy camper! It even comes with a little air horn and a little water bottle. He hasn't quite figured out how to make it go on his own, but he enjoys just sitting on it. After much begging, I even put the bike on our bed so that he could "ride" it up there (PLEASE don't tell Missy).

In case you hadn't noticed, Devin was not in the mood to pose for this one.

A Pet Peeve

Lawn mowers are few and far between down here. Then again, yards are few and far between here in the city. Most houses have a little strip of grass somewhere that could be maintained with a pair of scissors. But instead of using scissors, most people hire one of multitude of guys roaming around with a weedeater. Those guys will then proceed to scalp the poor patch of grass, literally just turning the their machine sideways and putting it right against the ground. Boy, does that drive me nuts (consider the pictured strip in front of our house that just got scalped). The only benefit that I see is that the owner only has to get his patch of grass cut once every couple of months.

Thank You, God

What a blessing it is to have three mothers in my life who are loving, kind, supportive, exemplary, caring, spiritual, and the list goes on!

Nimrod

Congratulations, Jason (Missy's brother)! I'm very happy for you, but at the same time I'm saddened to think that I won't be able to hunt with you guys this year. I wonder if missionary hunters get extra stars in their crowns when they have to give up hunting.

The "Can't Think of a Title" Post

We just returned from a short trip to the States (more on that in a minute), and while there we had several people tell us that they enjoy reading our blog. I must admit that I started our blog as a hobby, and the hobby aspect has sorta worn off. However, the comments that I received last week reminded me that there are people who are interested in following our ministry. I have noticed that the views our blog receives has gone down, but that is probably due to my lack of activity. So I am going to try to do my best to get back to posting more regurlarly, and your visits and comments will in turn serve as an extra motivation. We do like hearing from you too. Comments like the ones left on our last post are so encouraging.

For any of you who have been missionaries, you know the hassel that immigration stuff can be. We entered Costa Rica on 90-day tourist visas, but time ran out before we were able to jump through all the hoops to be able to get our 2-year religious visas. We ended up having to leave the country for at least three days. We were able to find roundtrip tickets to Washington, DC for $294, so it worked out for us to be able to fly home and surprise both sets of our parents in between trimesters at language school. The surprise worked beautifully, with my dear mother-in-law nearly fainting when she saw us and my mother giving a holler that could no doubt be heard across the Penn View campus.

I have a lot of pictures that I could share from our trip, but this post is getting long and people rarely read long blog posts. I do want to share two very important pictures though before signing off. Some of you who have followed our blog for a while remember the hardships between my mother-in-law and me over apple pie. Well, she acutally made me one while we were home this trip, which is proof positive that she either wanted on my blog again (she did hint in that direction several times), that she misses me to no end, or both. For some unfortunate reason she waited to bake the pie until the night before we left, but I was able to enjoy three pieces of it. So dear Mom-in-law, I will grant your wish and thank you publicly for my pie.

The Baker

The Pie

Missionary Trivia

Too much time has passed since my last post, for which I offer my most humble appologies. We have not fallen off the face of the earth. In fact, God met with us today in our service in Paraiso. There was a good crowd, Pastor Rolando gave a good message, and there was a good spirit in the service.

I have a quick trivia question for you. As a missionary, is my time better spent preaching, teaching, painting, sleeping, or building relationships? Hmmmm................

I have no idea how you might rank my options in order of importance, but I believe that one of the most important responsibilities of a missionary (and of a Christian I might add, but I won't get on my soap box) is to build relationships. We recently had a chance to do that with Rolando, Carmen, and their four boys when we invited them to our house for pizza. After eating, we all enjoyed a nice time at a local park.

The National Theator

When my family used to live down here, we would go to the National Theater every once and a while to listen to the National Symphonic Orchestra. From that, I developed an appreciation for classical music. Now I know that there are some of you who would rather read through a phone book than to listen to classical, but that is ok. Anyway, a couple of Fridays ago we all went to a concert. Tickets only cost about $5.50 a person; you can't beat that. The National Theater is beautiful; I have never been in a more beautiful building. I can't share the music with you, but I can share some pictures. Unfortunately, pictures taken in the semi-darkness do not come close to doing justice, but they will at least give you an idea of its beauty.

So, what do you think?

"Flowers for Mommy" by Devin

Mommy has been pretty sick the last couple of days with a respiratory infection and bronchial spasms, so Daddy took me on a walk yesterday and we picked these flowers for mommy. I know that they aren't super fancy, but she really liked them. Daddy had bought mommy some flowers too; they almost match mine. Please pray for Mommy. She has had a lot of problems off and on with her breathing ever since we moved her. The doctor has her on medicine now, so hopefully that will help.