Our Journal: We're in route (on foot of course) to the international airport in Alajuela, Costa Rica to pick up Joe and Ginny

back to Our Walk of Faith

Monday, October 1st
Carlos and Xinia are going to have a group of tourists over for lunch today. Mayela, a friend from church, came over to help Xinia cook the meal. Karla's school has a program with Overseas Adventure Tours which brings tourists to their school every other day in the high season and once a week in the low season. The kids demonstrate several traditional dances and typical fruits and veggies grown in Costa Rica. Then they show their guests around their school and spend some time playing with their new friends. In exchange, the tour company donates money to the school...with which they've bought computers for the kids to use, remodeled the cafeteria and kitchen, built an all-purpose room and put a fence up around the school. To end their experience, the tourists go to one of the students' houses and have an authentic Costa Rican lunch!

We were excited about seeing

Karla dance, so Xinia called

Lilliam (the director of the program) to ask if we could come to visit as well. She was excited for us to come, so we went over to the school. We were a little early, so we got to talk to the kids for about 30 minutes. Then we watched them dance--Georginela & Jerson, Yazmin & Jose, Karol & Joan, Dania & Eliath, and Karla & Makbray.

Then we helped translate at lunch.

Each one brought a gift for Karla's family! We met a ton of people...several of them with amazing testimonies!

Ann and I sat together at lunch. She's from Idaho, and she just retired...this trip was to celebrate. Diana is a former teacher from California. Sonny and Connie are from Virginia...they ride motorcycles together. They shared testimony of how Connie has been radically healed from cancer!! Vic and Fran are from California, and they have been married for over 50 years...we have so much to learn!! And of course, we were able to share a bit as well!!

After the tourists left, Chris and I had the opportunity to share testimony with Mayela, Lalo (her husband), and

Elídier (

Angie's boyfriend--she's in the red shirt). It was a really good afternoon. Before Lalo and Mayela left, Lalo told us that while we were talking that God had laid it on his heart to take us to San Ramon on Tuesdsay. We couldn't believe it! We weren't even planning to go that way although it's the shorter route to the airport. (It's also the steepest route.) Well, I don't know where we'll go from there, but it looks like we will be going to San Ramon tomorrow.

Tonight, Fulbio, Olga, and Camila came over again...they wanted to take us over to their previous pastor's house.

Pastor Daniel and Hilaria moved to Limón to minister about 4 years ago, but God sent them back to Chachaguas about 3 months ago to open a new church in a small community just outside of Chachaguas. We spent time sharing testimony, singing and praying together!! What a great night!

Tuesday, October 2nd

Lalo and Mayela (in the cream-colored outfit) came to pick us up this morning. When we arrived in San Ramon, Lalo tried to find a church to drop us off at. We quickly explained that that's not how we do things. We pray and wait for God to open the door...otherwise we could be shoving on a door that wasn't intended to open! Once Lalo understood that, he said, "Well, in that case I want you to meet my mom." We were pretty interested because we knew that Lalo was one of 18 children...only 11 are still alive. Boy did we meet Lalo's family!!

Doña Teresa, Lalo's mom, welcomed us into her house that she shares with her daughter, Bernarda. Then the revolving door began to swing wide open. We met several more daughters...Soledad, Carmen, Argentina, and Yolanda...along with countless granddaughters, great granddaughters, and nieces. (All of Doña Teresa's grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren add up to over 100...and many of them live in the small community of San Rafael or in nearby San Ramon!!) Before we knew what was happening,

Doña Teresa was inviting us to stay the night at her house and continue our journey on Wednesday. We just smiled! What an amazing God!!! He opened the door to share how to get to heaven (only through Jesus) with many of the children and teens who came to visit us! It was an amazing day!!

Wednesday, October 3rd
This morning we met some of

the

guys...yesterday it felt like we only met the female family members. Before long Esteven, Luis Carlos, John Carlos, Jostin, and Cristian were inviting Chris to play soccer with them. Just as he was leaving, Nuria (a granddaughter) came up. Her mom, Yolanda, told her about us, so she came to visit. She and I talked for about an hour about her relationship with the Lord, her family, and some problems that she's been going through. There was an instant connection. She has such a sweet spirit. She invited us to go with her to meet her family...plus we would be closer to the road to Alajuela. We knew it was a divine appointment, so we said our goodbyes in San Rafael.

We stopped at

Yolanda's house on our way into San Ramon. Yolanda really wanted us to meet her other daughter, Meivis as well. She's going through a really hard time right now, so we prayed with her and her son, Justin. We spent the rest of the morning with their family. We even had lunch together and met Asuncion, Yolanda's husband and the girls' dad, on our way out of the house.

When we got to Nuria's house, we met her husband, Fabian. No sooner had we started talking to them, and Lalo and Mayela showed up. Their son

, and his fiancee, Erika, wanted to meet us. While they were there, we talked to them about seeking the Lord together. They also asked Nuria to sew Erika's wedding dress. How exciting!! After coffe and bread, Lalo and family had to head back to Chachaguas so that Lalo could get to work on time.

We continued to talk with

Fabian and Nuria...we were drawn to them more and more. They love the Lord a lot...they are seeking Him. We learned that they are involved with the Charismatic Catholic movement here in San Ramon. (The movement we learned about beginning in Lousiana.) We met their kids--David (whose been pretty sick with a cold), Noé, Fabiola. Then they took us to meet Fabian's brother, Francisco.

For over 30 years,

Francisco made bread, but about 6 months ago, God opened the door for him, his wife--Adita, and their daughter--Brenda to be the caretakers of a Catholic Church. Francisco's testimony is wonderful...he talked constantly about the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! He also shared of the healing and restoration God has done between him and his birth father. We serve a big God!!

Thursday, October 4th
We knew we had to leave or we would never make it to the airport, but we really hated to! We all still felt like there was a ton left to say to one another...maybe God will work it out to bring us back together again soon. Before we left,

Nuria sewed Chris's straps back on to his pack. The pack can definitely make it a few more weeks now!!

Fabian and Nuria decided that they wanted to take us at least a few miles down the road, so they dropped us off in Naranjos. Chris and I started walking from there. We passed through Sarchi and saw the

largest ox cart in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Then walked on to Grecia (Greece...ha, ha, ha!) We found a hotel for the night...they gave us a great rate, and they had hot water!!

Friday, October 5th
We pressed on towards Alajuela today. We had a

perrita (little doggie) for about 30 minutes today. Blackie started walking with us in one of the small towns that we passed through. We tried to make her go back home, but she insisted on following us. I tried to distract her with food, but it didn't work. We even tried to give her away to a few people that we met, but no one wanted a dog. Finally we took a break...I guess we wore her out because she didn't get up from the rest. We hope she made it home safely!!

At one of our rest breaks, we met a man who was really turned off by church because he saw people running the church as if it were a business. Now he doesn't even believe that Jesus is God's son. Pretty sad...we are praying for God to remove the blinders that Satan has placed on his eyes.

When we finallly got to Alajuela, it started pouring down raining. Thankfully, God provided shelter again!! We waited for 2 hours in a shop where they were recovering furniture. Our goal was to find the airport and stay somewhere near it, but we soon learned that was a really bad idea! We were crossing through a gas station, and I asked a guy

(Mario) how to get to the airport. He motioned for his friend, Orlando, to explain to me that they would take us to the airport. So we climbed into the van for the Courtyard Marriot. I told them that we were looking for a place to stay so that we could pick up Ginny and Joe on Saturday. They started naming off hotels and prices, and I almost had a heart attack. Thankfully, they had friends at other hotels, so they called to get us a room at a much better price. Then they dropped us off in the Marriot van...too funny how God works in our favor!!

Chris and I finally had date night again! We had Papa John's pizza and milk! (I haven't had milk like we have at home for about 5 months...I was so excited!!) Then we played Rummy...I think Chris finally pulled back into the lead!! We are so excited about Joe's and Ginny's arrival that it was hard to go to sleep!

We can't wait to see what God has in store for this coming week! It's going to be wonderful!! We'll be in touch again soon! God bless you and keep you! We pray that God will daily continue to draw you into deeper relationship with Him!! We love you!

PS...Gabrielle O'melia--the little girl who's been having seizures--has been miraculously healed!!! You have to read Kelly's testimony of what God has done in her daughter's life! Glory to God!!! We serve a living and active God!!! Check out the pictures of

before God touched her body and

after God worked a miracle!! (Oct 13th was her 1st birthday!! Praise God!!)

a) Xinia is making coffee the traditional way...it's a little weaker this way...a good thing for me because Costa Rican coffee is strong!! b)This is achote...it looks similar to the fruit that we like to eat, but it's the natural way used to make food red

More flowers, rivers, and waterfalls

Karla and crew dancing...

a) I was showing Georginela where we walked from b) the kids introducing themselves

a) the kids from kindergarten playing...they wear a different uniform to distinguish them from other students b) Diana and I were paired with with Georginela for our tour of the school and play time.