Our Wednesday night group

On Wednesday evenings, we have "church" in the local gym. Really, it is an outreach from our church, the Escazu Vineyard, to Los Anonos. We have about seven groups for youth and one for mothers. I help out with the girls group for 9-12 year-olds. We pray together, share a teaching from the Bible, and just about always do some jump rope at the end with a snack.

The girls in our group are full of energy and always wanting attention. Ale, the leader, and I decided to take them to the park for a Sunday morning. We rounded up seven girls and took the mile and a half walk to Parke Sabana. The weather was perfect. We played on the playground, tasted salted mangoes (a favorite treat here), ate ice-cream together, and took lots of pictures . Even though I am not able to communicate well because of my limited Spanish vocabulary, we are able to laugh and play together.

It was great to get them away from their community for a few hours and see them playing. It seems to me that so much of the time they are having to be adults: raising younger siblings, experiencing poverty, seeing drug use, and always feeling unsafe in their own neighborhood.

I look forward to taking them to the park in the future and allowing them to "be kids" for an afternoon.

Holidays

I think there has been at least four holidays here in Costa Rica since I arrived on March 1st. One of them being Holy Week for Easter. Ticos looove to celebrate!

Today is another holiday... I think it is Labor Day. The schools are closed, government offices are closed, ... oh, and the trash that is now setting out in a huge downpour as I type this blog is not getting picked up today. Whoops. Another thing, winter is starting here (perhaps today) and is characterized by daily afternoon rains. It's a good excuse to take a nap... thunder and a holiday (typed as I yawn).

Last night there were a lot of people out having a good time... I was unaware since I sleep like a log, but Rodney and Cindy told me that they saw lines outside of bars as they were driving to the airport to pick up a friend.

I wish we had this many holidays in the States. Or, maybe I'll just have to move to Costa Rica permanently. Hmmm...

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!