A Few Exciting Weeks

The last few weeks have been jam packed with fun, rest and new opportunities.

Fun. Robby, Emily, Darwin and I were able to get away for the weekend to Manzanillo. Manzanillo is located on the Caribbean Side, Limon, and the farthest south you can get before Panama. It's a tiny little town with sand streets. The culture is almost completely different from San Jose. Think Jamaica. The majority of the population is black and they speak about three languages: English, Spanish and Patua, a mixture of the two. It was a beautiful setting and just a good time to hang out with friends and explore God's Creation.

That following Monday I was able to go kayaking. We started out with a lesson and then hit the river for about 30 minutes. We learned basic tecniques and tried to get the "roll" down. This is useful for when you get dumped upside down and you can just flip yourself back over. No one got it down pat, but I had plenty of practice after the lesson. To start we practiced entering the rapids and then turning back round into the pool where we had our lesson. Every other time I went, I had the chance to practice my rolling skills, but never did I succeed. We were able to go through some real rapids and I was doing great up until the end when I watched the girl in front of me flip, and then I did the exact same thing. The day was pretty exciting and I was sore for about the next week.

Rest. The next weekend we, the STM team, headed south again to a camp called La Cumbre, in the mountains of southern Costa Rica. It was a wonderful time to relax and grow together as a team. Julie, a past CFCI missionary, lead us in some spiritual excercises over the weekend. We played games and read and got to enjoy God's beautiful creation. I was able to go out and run around on Saturday morning and take over 100 picutres. I found a great spot to take some time and read and just enjoy the stream running through the camp. I ran back up to the Chalet and grabbed my books. I walked back across the log bridge and slid down the hill to the river's edge. There was a big rock just down stream from where two streams met with georgous waterfalls. I had my backpack on my back and my camera in my right hand. As I began to climb up the slippery rock, I my footing slipped and I slid all the way down into the freezing water. First being concerned about my camera, I kept it above the water level, that went half-way up my chest, before, however, I banged it on another rock. Fortunately there was only cosmetic damage to the case. Then I realized my books. I had my Bible, journal and the book I was reading on my back and the pack was plunged under the water when I fell in. Placing my camera aside, I flung my pack around to frantically remove the books from further damage. I unzipped the pack to find that all of my books were completely dry. Relieved I placed everything aside, picked up my camera and decided, I'm already wet, might as well wade out and get some good pics! I stood in the middle of the stream on another rock and got some great pics. The weekend was great to be able to spend with good friends and grow in the Lord.

New. This week I started teaching English in Guarari. It's been slow getting started. There had been another person that was going to do it, but he just decided not to show up, and they turned to me to pick up his slack. Definately pray for me in this area, I'm not sure how strong I am in teaching English and the books I'm using are rather old and lacking.