Well, look I finally have a few minutes to really sit and write a bit about this past week. Back in Michigan my sister is still in the hospital, decease so please keep her in your prayers. Let me tell you a little bit more about what’s going on here in Costa Rica. Classes are trucking along. Corey especially tends to have lots of homework. I didn’t have a whole lot during the week, ed but this weekend I got plenty!
On Wednesday we had our first Costa Rican Cooking Class. It was fun! We made empanadas. They were very delicious. We made them with beans, cheese and a meat mixture. It wasn’t too hard. We’re going to attempt to make them on our own this week at home. We also made coffee the “old way” where you have this little sock type thing that you put in a special holder and pour your coffee through – no machines here! I personally do not like coffee, so this didn’t entice me, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. The last thing we made was “agua dulce” which means sweet water. They have these big bricks of brown sugar that you boil in water and add milk to for a drink. They say that it’s great to use when you have a stomach ache. I’m not sure about that one!
Friday we had our first interaction class. This class is a one on one with the teacher, but our assignment this week is to go out and meet 10 people that we can converse with on a weekly basis. It should be an interesting experience and we’re just hoping that we will start relationships with people we can have a positive impact on.
Tonight we went to a cookout with friends. That was nice. We are getting ready for tomorrow evening. We will have an English service at the school. Corey and I will be helping with the children’s service. I’m excited to have an active ministry to do. This experience is so strange in the sense of it’s crucial to our ministry that we be here and learn, but this is a time where we take a step back from the norm of ministry life. There’s kind of a hole there where you’re used to constantly planning and “working” at church. It’s a very odd feeling to sit in the congregation without any responsibility. Over the next few weeks we’re going to try a few different churches and hopefully find one where we can really get to know the people and find our place in a home church. It’s tough convincing Alex and Maggie that although it’s difficult now to sit through church when you don’t understand, it’s really important in the long run that they deal with it now and it will be easier later. This is a constant learning experience !
~Tona