:( :( :(..........you get the point. We'll be back.
Well, here we are at the airport. We were able to see Megan coming off the plane. She was so happy to see Chastity! She's here for 2 weeks, basically taking me and Chastity's place. This has been such a great experience. Last night, I saw Bro. and Sis. Phinney at the house and they both gave me a big hug and said, "please come back". We are already planning on how we can afford to go back but for a longer period of time and actually support the congregation more. They are truly in need of brothers and friends to help cover their massive territory, it is 1/6th of the country! We have a 6 hour flight to NYC and from there we hope to make our next flight on JetBlue to Burlington. We only have an hour layover in NYC, so hopefully that will be enough time to get our luggage rechecked and make it to the JetBlue gate. If not, Carmen who lives in NYC and left yesterday, said that we were welcome to stay with her. Well, they are calling us to board, gotta go!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Day 15 - Sunday March16th
I'm getting tired of writing blogs. My camera is broke and I'm not happy about that. We have one more day..........today......breakfast, beach all day-rented a surfboard and actually got up several times....Chaz rested all day on the beach......went out to dinner at the El Grande Escape....helped Chaz pack luggage.....:(
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Day 14 - Saturday March 15th
This morning Chastity, Amanda and I were going to be taking care of the table at the beach. We had to go to the Kingdom Hall, pick up the table, chairs, and literature and be at Manuel Antonio by 9am. We didn’t get a chance to talk to very many English-speaking people but a few of the locals did stop and pick up some of the Spanish literature that we had. Our table was right next to a pay phone and a local man that was working at the beach was on the phone and became very upset and began cursing in English on the phone. When he realized that Chastity was sitting right next to him he apologized for his language and then introduced himself as Butch. We also talked to a man named Marvin when we were leaving and made said he didn’t speak much English but that if we spoke Spanish he would be happy to talk to us about Jesus. I left him the Watchtower and Awake in Spanish and he said he would visit our table and hope to speak to someone in Spanish. We came home at around 2pm, got a bit to eat and rested up a bit. We have our meeting at 4pm today.
After the we took a picture of ourselves with the rest of the congregation and lots of other pictures of the friends. It was very sad knowing that we won’t see many of the friends there for awhile (I say “for awhile” because we do plan on coming back). After leaving the Kingdom Hall we went to Pizza De Marco with the Nelsons, Ingred, Carmen, Nancy, and our gang. The pizza there was some of the best I have ever had. I got the Hawaiian pizza with white pineapple, ham and COCONUT!
Back at the house we all set around and talked about our goal of serving where the need is greater. and how we are going to reach that goal. Start saving more, less spending, and more simplifying.
After the we took a picture of ourselves with the rest of the congregation and lots of other pictures of the friends. It was very sad knowing that we won’t see many of the friends there for awhile (I say “for awhile” because we do plan on coming back). After leaving the Kingdom Hall we went to Pizza De Marco with the Nelsons, Ingred, Carmen, Nancy, and our gang. The pizza there was some of the best I have ever had. I got the Hawaiian pizza with white pineapple, ham and COCONUT!
Back at the house we all set around and talked about our goal of serving where the need is greater. and how we are going to reach that goal. Start saving more, less spending, and more simplifying.
Day 13 - Friday March 14th
This morning we met the group for service and went up to Jaco, about an hours drive north of Quepos. There were 4 car groups that went up. Me and Brother Nelson stayed downtown Jaco at the bus stop, the congregation sets up a table with literature there every Friday. What an interesting experience! We had so many people that we had nice conversations with. At noon I went with Sam, Chaz and Amanda to work some of the territory in town. We found so many English-speaking people and they were all so very nice and receptive.
One nice experience we had was when we were working a street right downtown and Chastity saw what looked like an American sitting on a bench in front of a motel. When Chastity went back to talk to her, she noticed that the lady was reading the 2008 yearbook! She was a sister who spotted us first and thought, “if they are witnesses then they will recognize the yearbook and come over”. Her name was Laurie and her friend Betsy was actually on the phone inside of the motel’s office with the branch, asking them if they could give them the name of a nearby English congregation. The man working there overheard her conversation and said, “your people are outside right now”. The 2 sisters are both from Alaska, but now are serving where the need is greater in Hondorus and were here on their 3 day vacation that you have to take every 3 months (you have to leave the country for 72 hours before reentering). They asked if they could join us in the ministry and within 15 minutes they were in their service clothes ready to go out in the ministry with us! They helped us finish the town of Jaco. We got their emails and addresses and want us to come visit them in Hondorus sometime. We may just take them up on that invitation. They said they rent a 2 bedroom brand new house for $75 a month with a $4 electric bill!
We didn’t leave Jaco until around 6pm. It’s now 9pm and we are back home about to eat a late dinner. I’m hungry and tired and I’m going to go now! Good night!
Oh, by the way, my camera is broken. It didn't handle the monsoon that we got in the rainforest on Thursay. So if I post anymore pictures, they will have to be older ones. Sorry!
One nice experience we had was when we were working a street right downtown and Chastity saw what looked like an American sitting on a bench in front of a motel. When Chastity went back to talk to her, she noticed that the lady was reading the 2008 yearbook! She was a sister who spotted us first and thought, “if they are witnesses then they will recognize the yearbook and come over”. Her name was Laurie and her friend Betsy was actually on the phone inside of the motel’s office with the branch, asking them if they could give them the name of a nearby English congregation. The man working there overheard her conversation and said, “your people are outside right now”. The 2 sisters are both from Alaska, but now are serving where the need is greater in Hondorus and were here on their 3 day vacation that you have to take every 3 months (you have to leave the country for 72 hours before reentering). They asked if they could join us in the ministry and within 15 minutes they were in their service clothes ready to go out in the ministry with us! They helped us finish the town of Jaco. We got their emails and addresses and want us to come visit them in Hondorus sometime. We may just take them up on that invitation. They said they rent a 2 bedroom brand new house for $75 a month with a $4 electric bill!
We didn’t leave Jaco until around 6pm. It’s now 9pm and we are back home about to eat a late dinner. I’m hungry and tired and I’m going to go now! Good night!
Oh, by the way, my camera is broken. It didn't handle the monsoon that we got in the rainforest on Thursay. So if I post anymore pictures, they will have to be older ones. Sorry!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Day 12 - Thursday March 13th
This morning with the kids before our walk.This morning Chaz and I woke up before the others so we decided to go for a walk. We didn’t make it down the driveway though because the kids were outside playing with their paper airplanes and when they saw us they came running. Issac wanted me to throw his airplane back and forth to each other and when I threw it, it landed on top of the neighbors house! I felt so bad. He didn’t seem to mind though, he just started laughing. They all took turns taking pictures with my camera and then looking at their pictures and laughing. These children here are always so happy, they just laugh at anything. After about 20 minutes we tried to explain that we were going for a walk but they wouldn’t let us. They started jumping on our backs and hanging onto our legs. They followed us down to the end of the driveway and just stood by the road as we walked up the hill, they all looked so sad. We’ll surely miss them when we leave.
After everyone woke up we had an amazing breakfast that the girls prepared and then Sam and I went into Quepos to hit the internet cafe. At 12:15 we picked up Carmen and headed to the house. The tour company picked us up at the house at 12:30 and we were off to the rainforest to do the zipline tour. We had 4 guys with the tour company, one to take pictures, 2 to help us on the zipline and one to stay behind and take the bus to the finish. Our main tour guide was Thomas, who was from California. He's been here a year and a half, a really nice guy and very knowlegeable about the area. On the second platform it started raining, and I mean pouring. The cameraman had to leave to protect his camera. Did I mention that the rain makes you go faster on the cable and harder to slow down or stop. We saw a sloth up in the tree sleeping on the 3rd platform! Chastity did great, she was alittle afraid of the zipline but all in all she did spectacular! The 2nd to last zipline is 1/2 a mile long and you get up to a pretty fast speed! After the tour they took us to this house with a big covered patio and kitchen and fed us. They even served us coffee because we were all so soaked and cold. Yes cold....up in the mountains and especially when your wet you get cold. I think my camera is dead after getting so wet. I am letting it dry out and hoping that is will revive itself, if not we still have Sam and Amanda's camera. We were back home by 4:45. After changing into some dry clothes we all went to a nice restaurant in Manuel Antonio and had a bite to eat and watched the sunset. Good night!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Day 11 - Wednesday March 12th
Downstairs: Amandas bed in on the right and Chaz and I sleep on the king size on the left.
Top pic: Jen with more of the neiphborhood kids.
Bottom pic: Sam about to catch a wave bodysurfing.
This morning we got up and went out in service. We worked the Manuel Antonio area near the beach. We found quite a few English speaking people, all of which were very hospitable and one man who said he would be there for the memorial! During service, we needed to use the restroom so we decided to stop at the Gaia Hotel, a five-star resort on the top of a mountain. You park your car at the bottom and then they take you up in a electric-powered cart. The views from the resort were incredible. We visited the gift shop there as well and I purchased a beautiful wood cutting board with 3 different types of wood from the area. We stopped service at about 11am and went back home to rest and study for the book study which is at 1pm. Actually, Amanda didn’t stop, she went to the bus station to be with the Phinney’s where they have a table set up with literature to witness to the locals catching the buses.
The book study was great, it was abbreviated for the Service overseers talk. It was a really encouraging talk outline from the branch on what career will you chose. It was encouraging the friends to consider the full-time ministry if at all possible. They had 2073 publishers serving as aux. or reg. pioneers last year and 170 reactivated pioneers. The branch mentioned that for those that do make room for the pioneer service that they never look back and regret the choice they make……I would agree with that.
After the meeting, we went and reserved a zip-line canopy tour with Dream Forest canopy tours here in Qeupos. They are known to have the longest, fastest zip-lines in Costa Rica. They will be picking us up tomorrow at 12:30 to zip through the rainforest hanging from a cable! Can’t wait! The rest of the crew headed down to the beach while I stayed behind for a few minutes to catch you all up on our blog. Right now I am sitting on the porch of the Phinney’s place picking up wifi from someones computer nearby. The breeze is blowing and it is really nice outside. Sister Phinney keeps coming outside to make sure I don’t need anything. What a nice couple they are! Guess I better get going though, gotta catch the bus and meet everyone at the beach. See ya!
The book study was great, it was abbreviated for the Service overseers talk. It was a really encouraging talk outline from the branch on what career will you chose. It was encouraging the friends to consider the full-time ministry if at all possible. They had 2073 publishers serving as aux. or reg. pioneers last year and 170 reactivated pioneers. The branch mentioned that for those that do make room for the pioneer service that they never look back and regret the choice they make……I would agree with that.
After the meeting, we went and reserved a zip-line canopy tour with Dream Forest canopy tours here in Qeupos. They are known to have the longest, fastest zip-lines in Costa Rica. They will be picking us up tomorrow at 12:30 to zip through the rainforest hanging from a cable! Can’t wait! The rest of the crew headed down to the beach while I stayed behind for a few minutes to catch you all up on our blog. Right now I am sitting on the porch of the Phinney’s place picking up wifi from someones computer nearby. The breeze is blowing and it is really nice outside. Sister Phinney keeps coming outside to make sure I don’t need anything. What a nice couple they are! Guess I better get going though, gotta catch the bus and meet everyone at the beach. See ya!
Day 10 - Tuesday March 11th
Top pic: Actually should be the last pic, taken at the beach of the beautiful sunsets they get here. Even more beautiful than Texas, believe it or not.Middle pic: Arriving at the secluded beach to do some snorkeling. Jen is waving at Carmen, who had already been there for awhile.
Last pic: All of us chatting with our brother Heiner at the restaurant.
I went outside this morning before breakfast and checked my email, I found a spot a stones throw from our front door that I can get wifi, so no more need for the internet café! This morning we got up, ate breakfast and then headed down to a beach that Jen found in service yesterday. It is suppose to be really secluded and great for snorkeling. We had to park on the road and walk down but before we headed down we saw monkeys in the trees. That was Jen and Sam’s first contact with them! The beach was beautiful but on heading out to the reef where the snorkeling was suppose to be the best we realized that it might be too dangerous because it was low tide and the waves were coming in over the rocks, which could easily cause you to slam into them. After getting out a ways we decided it would be wise to call it off and head back to shore. At the shore were 2 good old boys from San Antonio, Texas who said they’d been to Costa Rice now 6 times and this is were they always come to snorkel and that they were going to attempt it. Sam and I watched them thinking they were going to get pounded, but they made it! So Chastity, Amanda and I went for it. There was a local out at the reef who had some food that he was feeding the fish . There were hundreds of these beautiful fish surrounding us. It was great!
From there we went to Costa Verde, a restaurant with this incredible view and a nice breeze. After eating we were taking some pictures and our waiter came over and asked me if we were brothers. Looking at Sam I said, “no, he’s just a friend, this is his wife Jen, that is my Chastity, and she is our friend Amanda”, he was still looking kind of confused when I realized he was asking if we were spiritual brothers….lol. I said, “oh, wait, you are a brother?” He was a local brother in the Spanish congregation named Heiner. After lunch we went down to Manuel Antonio beach and I rented a surfboard. After getting up on the board twice, I realized that the waves were just not for beginners so I switched to a boogie board. The waves were the biggest that we have seen yet, some of them were probably up to 10ft swells. Sam and I stayed in the water until sunset, as you can see in the pictures, just having too much fun!
After the beach we came home to change and then head to Nancy and Carmen’s place. On our way out all the local kids were outside playing and when they saw us they all came running. They practically attacked us. They all came running up and hugged all of us and then wanted to play. They were jumping on our backs and yelling, “no happy……si’ happy”. It was sad to have to leave them but we were already running late for the girls. Nancy and Carmen’s rental is very nice. We ate and played cards until 9:30pm. It started pouring rain just before we left and it is still pouring at 10:30pm. Time for bed!
From there we went to Costa Verde, a restaurant with this incredible view and a nice breeze. After eating we were taking some pictures and our waiter came over and asked me if we were brothers. Looking at Sam I said, “no, he’s just a friend, this is his wife Jen, that is my Chastity, and she is our friend Amanda”, he was still looking kind of confused when I realized he was asking if we were spiritual brothers….lol. I said, “oh, wait, you are a brother?” He was a local brother in the Spanish congregation named Heiner. After lunch we went down to Manuel Antonio beach and I rented a surfboard. After getting up on the board twice, I realized that the waves were just not for beginners so I switched to a boogie board. The waves were the biggest that we have seen yet, some of them were probably up to 10ft swells. Sam and I stayed in the water until sunset, as you can see in the pictures, just having too much fun!
After the beach we came home to change and then head to Nancy and Carmen’s place. On our way out all the local kids were outside playing and when they saw us they all came running. They practically attacked us. They all came running up and hugged all of us and then wanted to play. They were jumping on our backs and yelling, “no happy……si’ happy”. It was sad to have to leave them but we were already running late for the girls. Nancy and Carmen’s rental is very nice. We ate and played cards until 9:30pm. It started pouring rain just before we left and it is still pouring at 10:30pm. Time for bed!
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