Sunday School Translating

Today at church when I (Angela) took Sam and Georgia to Sunday School there were a ton of new kids, who didn't know any Spanish (they were from a church in Florida on a mission trip with their families). I asked the Spanish speaking teacher if she needed any help. She looked at me without hesitating and said YES! So I stayed to help her out. She asked me how my Spanish was, I told her "Mas o Menos" which means more or less but is commonly given as an answer to many questions here. She asked me if I would translate for her. I told her I would try. "Vamos a ver" meaning, we will see! It was actually really fun. It was hard at times, but for the most part, I was able to translate her Spanish and relay her message. Granted, she was talking to 6-9 year olds, and it was a Bible story I was familiar with, so it was a little easier than say translating something off the t.v. But it was a great experience, good for my spanish practice and it gave me a boost of confidence.

Teacher Pics

Friday was the last day of school for our kids. They had a great semester and now will enjoy some Bible School and "Summer School" while we finish up our last month of language school here. They were each blessed with great teachers!

It's Been Too Long

It's been way too long since we wrote a blog entry. Sorry!!! We've been wanting to write something for a while, and I keep trying to think of something profound but I can't. (Guess we've got too many Spanish verbs floating around in our brains :) So I figured I'd just write about the everyday happenings over the last few weeks. Soon after the new trimester started in May, our grammar teacher asked us if we wanted to move up a class. While the classes study the same material, the more advanced ones just move at a faster pace. Knowing that we're leaving at the end of July, we decided that going faster was a great idea. The class has been good. Our teacher, Alejandra, makes us do everything orally. No writing answers down on paper first. It's been really good especially since once we're in Bolivia I know I can't be filling out worksheets on the spot before having conversations with people. When we first moved up, we were just learning the last 4 of the 13 tenses. We passed a bag around, each drew 2 cards with verbs, regular and irregular, and then had to conjugate the verbs in all 13 tenses out loud! It was such good practice.

As for the kids, they are all doing so well. They seem to truly be enjoying their time here in Costa Rica. Sam and Georgia finish up school this Friday and then they will have "summer camp" while we're in school. They have both done super well in their classes, made great friends, learned some good Spanish, and had fun! Ty love his preschool. His teacher did end of the year evaluations on each child, and then we had a conference (in Spanish) to go over Ty's. He did great, but told his teacher he didn't know his full name, our names, or where he lives. We told the teacher that in English he knows those things :) Well, except for his address here in Costa Rica. I don't know how to teach him that since nothing here has a real address!!! Directions are all relative here - like the blue house 25 meters from the park that is 50 meters south of the Shell station. It's confusing enough for adults, much less a child trying to learn his address. She did say he understands all the Spanish that is spoken to him, but he needs to practice speaking it more. We are so proud of all three of them.

Some of our good friends from language school left yesterday to go back to the states. This is such a transient place with new people coming every few months, and people leaving just as often. God has really blessed us with good friends, but it's hard at times knowing you have to say goodbye. Almost everyone here is in the same situation as us. Most are here for 8 months to a year and then are off to another country. When you have so much in common, and you see each other everyday, it's easy to form good friendships. But it's always hard to say goodbye!

We only have 5 weeks left here. It's so hard to believe how quickly time has gone by. We're looking forward to being in the states for 2 1/2 weeks before heading to Bolivia on August 7. We can't wait to visit family and friends, eat at Chick -Fil-A and Bodo's, and go to Target! That's the last few weeks in a nutshell. Hopefully we'll be better about posting more often. Thanks for loving us, supporting us, and praying for us!

Pictures from my classes

Liesa (Peru), Brian (Argentina), me, Brian (Guatemala), Rita (our conversation teacher), and Rick (Costa Rica)


Rick, Bubba, Brian, Tara, Cathy, Liesa, Crystal, me, Brian and our Grammar teacher Oscar


with Ana our phonetics teacher

To Panama

We had to go to Panama this past week in order to renew our visas. We had to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours, and then could return for another 3 months. It was quite a trip! Definitely a third world travel experience. God's protection and provision for us were huge, as He took care of all the details. The kids did great - they really were troopers! We had a driver take us from San Jose to the border. He dropped us off, we crossed a rickety old train bridge, went through immigration, got a taxi for a 30 minute ride to the water taxi. It was a 45 minute boat ride to the island town of Bocas del Toro, only accessible by boat or plane. Once in town, we had a 20 minute ride down a 3 mile very bad dirt road to the inn where we were staying. We stayed for 4 nights and had great family time. It was the first major travel we've done since being here. Both of our parents have come to visit (we never got to blog about our times with them, but it was super having them here and showing them around!) and we did some sight seeing/ day trips with them. But going to Panama certainly gave us a bigger picture. We passed through extreme poverty. I found myself struggling with huge issues - I was praying for God to protect us and keep us safe, while at the same time I was seeing families in dire poverty who probably pray everyday for enough food to eat, for clothes, and shelter. Why should He answer my prayers when others have needs that are so much bigger than mine? I know God cares for me and my family as much as he does for the poor, but I know he has a special love for the poor, too. These are deep issues, issues that I know I will wrestle with and be confronted with again. I do feel extremely blessed. Blessed by the life I have, and the experiences God is giving us.

Our amigos from Nicaragua

Jose is the guard on our street. He invited us to come to his wife's birthday party, her name is Georgina. She turned 21, she is also pregnant with twins. Being a part of people's lives like this is why we are here. Jose and his family are immigrants from Nicaragua. Angela made the cake for her.

Un buena cancion

Dame tus ojos quiero ver
Dame tus palabras, quiero hablar
Dame tu parecer

Dame tus pies, yo quiero ir
Dame tus deseos para sentir
Dame tu parecer

Dame lo que necesito
Para ser como tu

Coro

// Dame tu voz, dame tu aliento
Toma mi tiempo es para ti
Dame el camino que debo seguir
Dame tus sueños, tus anhelos
Tus pensamientos, tu sentir
Dame tu vida para vivir //

Déjame ver lo que tu ves
Dame de tu gracia, tu poder
Dame tu corazón
Déjame ver en tu interior
Para ser cambiado por tu amor
Dame tu corazón

We love this Spanish worship song.
Here is the translation:

Give me your eyes, I want to see
Give me your words, I want to speak
Give me your view/perspective

Give me your feet, I want to go
Give me your desires for feeling
Give me your view/perspective

Give me what I need
To be like You

Give me your voice, give me your breath
Take my time, it's for you
Give me the way that I must follow
Give me your dreams, your longings
Your thoughts/mind, your feelings
Give me your life for living

Let me see that which is your time
Give me your grace, your power
Give me your heart
Let me see inside you
To be changed by your love
Give me your heart

Strength in Weakness

I've been reading a book by Stormie Omartian called "Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On." It's very relevant to where I (Angela) am with learning Spanish, where we are, and I'm sure will be relevant to many of you, which is why I wanted to share some of it.

"Learning to walk with God is a process. And just when we think we have it all figured out, God leads us into a new place where our old tricks won't work....We enter unfamiliar territory and are soon reminded that, on our own, we stumble......God moves us out on a path to someplace we've never been before, and we believe we're failing if we have to depend on Him to get there. We try to make it on our own because we think that dependency is a sign of weakness, instead of understanding that it signals our willingness to allow God to be strong in us. If you are at a place in your life where you feel like you can't take one step without the Lord's help, be glad....God has you on this path, no matter how difficult or impossible it may seem right now, because you are willing to follow Him....He wants your undivided attention because you can't do these things on your own. The path is not a punishment; it's a privilege. It's not a restriction; it's a reward."

I hope this speaks truth to you as it has to me.

School Days

It's been a while since we've added any photos. Thought y'all would enjoy this one of the kids in front of our garden. Sam and Georgia are wearing their school uniform shirts. I think it's a law here in Costa Rica that all school kids have to wear uniforms.

Yellow Fever Shot - Another Adventure

One of the shots we needed for Bolivia but not Costa Rica was Yellow Fever. The Health Department ran out in December, and Ty was the only member of our family who didn't receive one. We just figured we'd get him vaccinated when we return to the states before going to Bolivia. Well, since we have to go to Panama now to renew our visas, it may be necessary to have been vaccinated to reenter the country. A girl at school here went to Columbia over Spring Break and couldn't come back until she had been vaccinated and then waited 7 days for it to be effective! Not willing to risk this, we decided to take care of Ty now. Well, here if you need any vaccines, you just go to the pharmacy and request what you need and the pharmacist gives you the shot. The pharmacy we needed to go to is downtown. I assumed Bubba would take Ty since his Spanish is better, and I would stay here to be able to pick up Sam and Georgia after school. Well....He wanted me to take Ty since I have more patience in those situations (ie screaming kids :) - his words, not mine. He felt confident in my ability to navigate all this in Spanish, I wasn't so sure. But, wanting to try, Ty and I set off this afternoon after school. After much praying on my part in the taxi, we arrived at Clinica Biblica, asked directions from 2 different people, and ended up where we needed to be. I was able to communicate with the nurse what we needed, and I understood (more or less) what she was asking me/telling me. After Ty received the shot, I asked her about the card that is needed to prove you have received the shot (this is necessary to carry with your passport when traveling to many countries in the global south). At the health department in the states, they give you the card right there, stamped with an ink stamp and signed. I should have known from our experience at immigration that it wouldn't be that easy. She proceeded to tell me that I needed to go to the Ministerio de Salud (Ministry of Health) to get the card. So....Ty and I took another taxi to the Ministerio de Salud. Once there, the woman took our form, and asked if I had the stamp. When I said no, she said I needed to go buy one at the Red Cross across the street. When she saw my bewildered look, she said the man out front (who was parking cars) also sold them. I think he marked up the price, but at only $1 I was willing to buy from him to save the effort of trying to find the Red Cross and communicate with yet another person. So, once the stamp was purchased, we were able to obtain the necessary documentation. Even though I know I didn't say everything perfectly and didn't understand all that was said to me, it was a huge victory. 3 months ago, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this by myself!