Marcha

Last Wednesday, Marsha (called "Marcha" by all the children in Anonos) returned to Maine. Marsha was with Harvest Hands for almost a year. She didn't speak any Spanish before moving here and was able to do just fine in any conversation by the time she left. I only had a month and a half with her, but tried to glean as much as I could. She is wonderful with the children and can make any funny face imaginable.

I know that Marsha will return to do ministry with children in the future in Costa Rica, but for now she will resume attending college in Maine and being with her mom and brother.

I miss you, my friend (and am nervous about doing home-visits without you). You are in our prayers.

The boycotting continues.

I was asked before departing Ohio if there was a Wal-Mart in Costa Rica. I said no. Again (nothing new for me), I am wrong. There is a Wal-Mart in Costa Rica; actually, there are several. They are called Hiper Mas here, but is owned by Wal-Mart.

Rebecca and I have made a pact to not purchase anything from Hiper Mas. I have been in it twice since arriving and the prices are horrible (very expensive). We have also made a pact to not eat at any restaurants that are chains from the States. I went to Quiznos already, but no more! Here is a picture of our pinkie swear. :-)

King Kong

There are many men and women in Los Anonos that are addicted to various substances. The most common drug is crack because of it being so inexpensive here. The river running through the community is highly polluted and brings many metals that people collect and sell to have money for their drug of choice. It is a daily occurrence to see someone with a canvas bag on their shoulder carrying their latest finds.

Harvest hands has had the privilege of befriending four men in particular in Anonos that are addicted to crack: Martin, Jason, Javier, and "King Kong".

This past Thursday, I was meeting a young man down near the planche (the gym) in the afternoon so that we could discuss with him the possibility of taking him to a place to have a home and education. I took him some leftovers since I knew that he hadn't eaten in a while. We had enough to make two plates, so I took two in case I ran into one of the above mentioned four men. I did.

As I was waiting, King Kong crossed the bridge towards me. I greeted him and asked if he was hungry. When I offered the food, he was grateful. As he walked away and immediately started eating his lunch, he looked back at me several times. I think he was surprised that a young lady that he has only seen around a few times would approach him in this manner.

The odd thing was that I think I was the one more blessed. The act of kindness made me feel more human than normal.

"Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me." - Matthew 25.45

To market, to market...

Contrary to my usual Saturday morning habits in Ohio, I wake up around 5:30am here. Saturday is THE day to get the best fruits and vegetables! Yes, there are produce stands, produce available in the grocery stores, and even people selling bags of mangos, peppers, what have you in the middle of the street as you are driving by. However, nothing compares to the farmer's market, called "feria" here.

We leave the house no later than 6am. The feria which lines an entire street for at least half a mile is filled with stands of farmers offering their harvest. If you go much later than 7am, it is hard to move through the crowd of buyers. Some people rent a grocery cart while there. Most have a cart on wheels. We have a cart and also carry several cloth bags.

There is no bartering at the feria. The prices are clearly marked and you can choose where to purchase your carrots, cucumbers, papaya, etc. I think the only thing I haven't seen is blueberries.

On a normal week, we spend about $20 at the market. And then we spend an additional $3 for a large bouquet of flowers for the house. The bouquets we purchase would easily go for fifteen dollars and up in the states.

Here is a picture from our purchase from last week... $20 worth. It's amazing!!! There are two large bunches of bananas, two pineapples, three packages of strawberries, seven bags of different greens, a bag each of tomatoes, carrots, mangos, and tofu, three really large beets, cabbage, oranges, and sprouts. In other words, ... I'm eating really healthy!

Prayer with Funda Vida

Today was an interesting day. I was supposed to be working on projects here around the house in preparation of a team that is arriving on Monday. As a day in Costa Rica goes, the plans got changed.

Eladio, the director of Funda Vida (www.fundavida.org), came to the house with a pastor, Raul, that lives in the southern part of Costa Rica near Panama. They asked us to join them in going to a nearby community to pray regarding a piece of property that Funda Vida is considering using. Funda Vida has a total of four different sites in four different communities.

We arrived at the first community, Vienticinco de Julio (25 de Julio), and looked around the potential site. Our plan was to walk the perimeter of the town while asking God to intervene in the community. A friend of Eladio was driving through and stopped to chat with him briefly. While they were chatting, the rest of us witnessed an attempted burglary. A woman was trying to reach in to someone's house through the front door and grab items. The man who lived there was outside on the top balcony and saw her. He quickly went inside and returned to the balcony pointing a gun down at the woman at his front door. I didn't know whether to run away or stay and watch to see what happened. A few words were exchanged, rather calmly, and then the woman walked away. Talk about (culture) shock!

The next two communities that we went to had positive experiences (Concepcion and Linda Vista). In Linda Vista, we actually had the privilege in praying with a young boy, Daniel, who decided to accept Jesus as his Savior. He saw us praying in his community and invited us into his home to ask God to bless it. While inside with he and his grandmother, he told us of the decision that he wanted to make today. We were thrilled to be witnesses to his choice!

Los Animales

Not only does being in a different part of the world bring a new language, it brings new creatures too. Okay, I guess not new creatures, but definitely ones that I'm not so accustomed to seeing on a daily basis.

First of all, DOGS! There are dogs all over the place. Pets, strays, big, little, fat, mangy, nice, mean... oh, and dogs that attack me! We were doing a home visit last week and upon being let in the front gate to the home, the youngest boy was holding down a dog. Unfortunately, he wasn't holding on tight enough and the dog got away and attacked my foot, biting me on top of my sandal. The dog didn't break any skin, but my foot sure did hurt! Here's an example of what most of the dogs look like:



While doing some produce deliveries for Funda Vida, we came across this man and his "pets" traveling down the road. Yep, right in the middle of town.



You know how birds will run into your windows at home? Well, we had a humming bird INSIDE the house trying to get out through the window. Here is me taking him outside:



Second attack: Although this one I'm sure didn't do it on purpose, it wasn't comfortable when my foot found him inside my shoe yesterday morning. I'm sure glad I had socks on for some cushion.

Home Visits

At least twice a week, Marsha and I venture out to do a home visit with a family. We are always trying to make new contacts, but at the same time we want to continue to deepen relationships with families we already know.

Last week, we visited a family that is fairly new to Anonos. They moved into the area about five months and have a home that is about 10 by 20 feet in size. Winston and Ana (the parents) have three children: Ani is their oldest, and they have twin daughters, Nicole and Jacqueline. The twins are two-years-old; however, Jacqueline was born with part of her brain paralyzed. She hasn't developed at the pace as her twin and has to eat through a tube in her stomach.

The visit was really good. We took bread and some desserts in celebration of Holy Week. We shared the bread and some Coca-Cola with the family. As the children colored, Marsha found out that the reason they moved to Anonos from another nearby community was because the other community had a lot of marijuana smoke that was affecting Jacqueline's health. They have since got plugged into the church down the street from them and seem to be doing well.

Mom and Dad are very grateful for their special daughter and allowed us to pray for her healing. We also were blessed to pray for them and be an encouragement to their situation. Winston works away from Anonos and is probably only home on the weekends like many of the men here. Please pray for healing for little Jacqueline and for this family.