Costa Rica Es Grande

Hooray!  We made it safely and soundly through our first day.  I have to admit, I’m writing those words mostly for the parents and families of our eighteen person team.  Please know that your kids are in great hands and are all having a wonderful time.   

 In regards to our first day?  It was great, or “grande” as they say in Spanish.  (Okay, so for the record, Victoria is laughing hysterically at me because apparently Grande in Spanish, mostly means large.  Thankfully I’ve never claimed to be great at Spanish.  Also, Costa Rica is large and amazing, so it still fits, right?).  Speaking of Spanish, here in Belen, we are surrounded by mostly Spanish speaking friends.  Which makes it challenging for someone like me who only knows a “poco.”  Thankfully I’ve been getting by, using the few words I know, lots of smiles and charades when needed.  The heart and effort seems to go a long way.  To give you a bit of what our day looked like, we started out with a delicious breakfast at the church.  I cannot say enough good things about the food here.  Christian told me he likes Cosat Rican food better than American food, and I think I have to agree with him.  

 These guys seem to be enjoying their first missions trip, in case you couldn’t tell by the looks on their faces. 

   Lunch looked like this and tasted even more amazing.  God bless the wonderful people who have been preparing such beautiful food for us.  They are doing an incredible job and we are so thankful. 

 Kyle enjoyed it this much.   

 Much of what we did today, I captured using my little camera.  However, I realized yesterday that I didn’t have a way to transfer the pictures, limiting me to having to only be able to share the ones that I take with my iPad.   In case you were wondering about the quality.  Which you probably weren’t, but I still felt the need to explain so I did.

Moving on.  We spent a lot of time today walking all around the neighborhood passing out invitations for Kids Games which starts next week.  We walked for a few hours in the morning and then for another few hours in the afternoon.  It was hot and hilly but also awesome and a great way to explore the neighborhoods around the church.  The kids all did a great job.  After dinner, we took a walk up to a local grocery store to get some snacks and then ended the night a little early with our devotion time and a few group games.  

Quick shout out to this amazing woman.  Last year, Gina told me how she would love to do a women’s ministry next time we came to Costa Rica and this morning, she had the privilege of leading a Women’s Bible study.  She shared her incredible testimony and blessed so many.  I think she’s quite amazing.

And that wraps up our first day.  Thankfully we’re getting to bed early tonight, in anticipation for an amazing tour day tomorrow.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and we continue to be so excited to be experiencing so many great things here in Costa Rica.