The Adventures Continue...

The past few days have been busy busy!! On Wednesday we had a ½ day of school with the kidos, but for the remainder of the day we attended a mini-workshop session for educational development. The sessions were excellent and I learned a tremendous amount about Writer’s Workshop, Kagan’s Models, and Positive Ways to Handle Difficult Behaviors. Alaina also attended a session on Relaxation Strategies. Immediately after school on Wed. we headed to our friends’ house for Young Life Team dinner. This was really neat because we were able to be in Christian community and share a meal with like-minded people. It was neat to hear the stories of how all the leaders had come to Costa Rica and gotten involved in Young Life. After a tasty American-style dinner- with no rice and beans (praise the Lord!), we headed over to the US embassy housing where we were having Young Life club for the night.

The theme of the night was a Mystery Dinner Party. Basically it was a real-life game of Clue. Alaina’s dream come true. Yes that rhymed. Everyone was given a character to portray, and goals to achieve. The object of the game was to talk with the other characters in order to fulfill your goals and to discover who killed Tom Speed. The game was fun and tricky because you never knew what spin would happen next. Also, you were unaware of others’ goals and motives, so cutting deals and making alliances could be tricky. Anyway, it was great fun for us and for the students. Afterwards our new friend, Fran, spoke about Jesus and the thrill and joy of having life found in him. He shared the story from John 14 when Jesus tells his disciples that he is the only way to the Father. It is a great story and you should check it out if you get a chance. It was such a blessing to take part in the same ministry happening here in Escazu, Costa Rica as the ministry that is going on in Jackson, Tennessee. God is on the move and it is a beautiful thing! (Yes I’m reading The Chronicles of Narnia- he he!)

Today we were able to go to a volleyball game and watch some of the girls we met through Young Life. We also clandestinely obtained a plant for us to take care of during our time here. In honor of Shalom, we now have a beautiful little plant named Bombero. If you are wondering, bombero is the first new Spanish word we learned here in Costa Rica. No, it does not mean someone who drops bombs or “bombs away.” In fact it is quite the opposite. Bombero means Fireman. We planted our little Bombero in an empty peach fruit cup that one of the kids from CDS left lying around. Another exciting thing that happened today is that we saw Moses. I’m not kidding. I mean this guy was as close to Moses as you can get- beard, robes, staff, the whole nine yards. And he lives on our street. I mean Alaina and I began looking around for the Red Sea or a burning bush. Sadly we could not stop and take a picture with Moses, but no worries, we drew a picture that is almost exactly what we saw. Then we took a picture of the drawing and we’re going to post that for you to see. I know-pure genius.

The remainder of the evening we spent planning our trip to Manuel Antonio. This is a famous National Park where we are going to spend the weekend. I don’t want to spoil the adventures, so we’ll write more about it when we return. Please pray for safety and for a relaxing time as when we return we will begin teaching our first lessons at CDS.