Saturday, October 6th
When we went down for breakfast we met
Laura who was on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica surfing. She's from Canada, and she works for Flare--Canada's fashion magazine. I was pretty impressed!! (You can check out their website on the links page.)Then we were off...we wanted to get to the airport early...but two hours is a bit extreme! Anyway...we journeled a bit and tried to keep ourselves busy while we waited. Then we moved to wait at the window. We were talking to everyone around trying to make the time go faster...finally we saw them!! Ginny came screaming around the corner, and Joe was right on her heels!! Oooooh!
It is so good to see them!! They came loaded down with new supplies for us (a special thanks to our parents, my grandma, and a few family friends!!), ministry supplies to use this week, a huge goodie bag of snacks baked by my Grandma!!, and a few articles of clothing for themselves.We quickly explained the plan to head back to the place we started walking the week before and to deliver them back to the airport in one week. They were excited, so we headed over to get bite to eat before we started our adventure. On the way over, they told us of how they tried to explain to a missionary who works in San José what they were doing in Costa Rica this coming week. He was pretty skeptical when he learned that they didn't even know where they were staying that night. Too funny! God's got big plans!!
We were just getting ready to leave the food court when it started pouring down raining...so we were waiting again! It was divine appointment time...two young men--
Victor and Jonatas--struck up a conversation with Chris and Joe. It turns out that they too are missionaries. They (along with their parents) have been all over the world sharing the Gospel! It was a great time of encouraging one another. Just as we were finishing up our conversation, the rain stopped. I just had to smile.The original plan was to take a bus to La Fortuna where Geiner and Denis would pick us up. We missed the early bus though...so we were looking at arriving sometime after 11 pm...too late! Thankfully God provided a taxi that only ended up costing just a little bit more and it got us there by 6 pm!!
Geiner and Denis arrived to pick us up, and we all climbed into the truck! Ginny and Joe still had no clue where we were going. It was really dark, so they couldn't really see either...until they could see the outline of Volcano Arenal and
then they saw the sign for the Hanging Bridges. We kept going further from the main road...it would be morning before they could see the beauty that surrounded them!! They were exhausted anyway. So after we chatted a bit, we all went to bed!Sunday, October 7th
We woke up to the most clear and beautiful day...birds were everywhere.
I hope you can see the toucan in the picture. After enjoying the beauty all around us, we headed up to the restaurant. We took pictures and explored a bit while Denis and the girls fixed some wonderful food for us. Joe even helped sweep some of the water off the porch that over looks the valley and the volcano. Then Denis took us all on a tour of the hanging bridges...enjoy the photos...God put on a completely different show the 2nd time around!!
Denis fixed us milkshakes after our hike...while we were drinking our shakes, she asked, "Would y'all like to visit some hot springs?" None of us knew what to say...we were shocked...finally we said, "Yes!!" She excitedly explained that she had called one of their friends who owns a resort to see if we could come over for the day. We couldn't believe it...none of us were expecting this surprise, but we were pumped up. It gave us a great time to relax and to catch up. Both Joe and Ginny were really tired from work and school, so it was good for us all to rest up for the week God has in store for us. Hope you enjoy the pictures from Baldi Hot Springs...Monday, October 8th
Time to walk...We had another delicious breakfast at the restaurant and Geiner volunteered to give us a ride into La Fortuna. On our way there, these
animals ran out into the road to great us...I'm not sure what they are called in English, but they look like a cross between a racoon and an ant eater!!We dropped off the snack bag at the bank where Karol works...Grandma sent goodies for us and for us to share along the journey!!!! Then we started walking--8 miles for their first day. (
Now you can see why Ginny's new nickname is La Tortuga...she looks just like a turtle when she's walking with her pack on...plus her favorite Ninja Turtle was the orange one.) We made it as far as the little store where Chris and I had to wait the week before for the rain when the bottom fell out again! So we waited out the rain there AGAIN! ha, ha, ha!
On we walked...we came to the bridge that over looks the Fortuna River. Chris pointed out the rope swing and others swimming below. Joe and Ginny both wanted to go for a swim...thankfully our "bathing suits" were still wet, so we just put them on and jumped in...what fun!!Time to continue on...
We were about 1/2 a mile from Chachagua when we came to the restuarant that Chris and I visited a week ago on Sunday night. We were surprised to see everyone standing outside. They called us over, and we introduced Joe and Ginny.
They hadn't written the Bible verses on the bottom of the tables yet, so we offered our services. We prayed together, and then we all grabbed a Bible and wrote on all the tables...praying for those who would eat at them later! We had a little snack before we headed on to Chachagua.Xinia was so surprised and excited to see us! We talked and shared testimony again of all that God had done in the week that we had been gone. Then we ate supper and some more of Grandma's goodies!! Then it was time to head to bed.
Tuesday, October 9th
Karla and Nazareth taught Ginny a new game with elastic after we woke up this morning. Then Carlos wanted us to see La Finca (his farm). He wanted to take us last week, but it never worked out. This morning was the perfect time. Xinia 
walked over with us. We met the caretaker and his wife before Carlos arrived. Then he took us on a tour...we saw all kinds of animals and vegetables. We even got to ride the horse.When we got back to the house,
we started preparing for the evening service. We weren't sure if we would be called upon or not, but just in case we wanted to be ready. We prayed together, and the Lord gave us some ideas. Sharing about Jesus is sometimes hard because we don't know how to begin, so we decided to share a couple of techniques with them...the paper cross, the Rainbow song, a wordless book, a salvation bracelet, and their personal testimony. We also felt very burdened to pray over the area in the town that the townspeople were hoping would be converted from a haven for people who were up to no good to a park where people could take their children to play. We decided to get to church early and talk to the pastor about praying over the field after church.Before church, we went to visit
Ricardo and Yanini and their family. 
Nancy, their daughter, spent quite a bit of time with us. We shared testimony with them and tried to encourage them to keep seeking the Lord.Sure enough when we got to church, the pastor welcomed us and asked us to speak. We were excited about the opportunity! Then we asked about praying over the field...he was excited about it. He told us that he would talk to the congregation about it before he turned the service over to us. We were all amazed at how well the Holy Spirit caused us to flow together as we shared. Everyone did their part...Joe shared about the Wordless book (in Spanish!!), Ginny demonstrated how to make the salvation bracelets (and everyone made one...some people even came up at the end to get more supplies so that they could use them to give away), and Chris and I shared the paper cross and the Rainbow song.
We were so pumped to see that about 20 people stayed after church to go and pray over the field...it was awesome! We walked over together and all prayed together that God would take back possession of that piece of property!!
Walking to and from the field, Chris and Joe talked with Osvaldo. God has radically transformed his life...he can't wait to share it with everyone. He's one of the ones who wanted extra beads...He's passionate for Christ!Wednesday, October 10th
We knew it was time to go today, but we took our time leaving. Chris promised Karla ice cream last week, but we didn't get any. So we went this morning. On our way over, we ran into Osvaldo again. We invited him to ice cream as well! (This is where Joe got his nickname...EVERYONE is amazed at how tall Joe is...that's where the giraffe part comes from, but the man in the ice cream shop asked if Joe was from Russia. Apparently he thought that Joe looked like the Russian who fought against Rocky in the movies.)
Osvaldo went back to the house with us, and Fulbio, Olga, and Camila were there as well. We all fellowshipped together for a while. Finally we knew that we had to leave....so we packed up, prayed together and headed out.
About an hour and a half later we were walking into San Isidro de La Tigra just in time for recess at the local elementary school. All of the kids wanted to talk to us...I'm not sure if they've ever seen 4 gringos walking with packs through their town!!
Chris suggested that I take out the Evangecube and share it with them. By the time I reached the end, 10-15 of the kids wanted to pray to accept Jesus as their Savior! We prayed for divine appointments this morning! Praise God for this one!!! Right when we finshed praying, the bell rang to end their break! God's timing is amazing!!It started sprinkling just as we were about to walk on, so we decided to have lunch across the street. The
family who runs the restaurant is from Colombia...we were able to share testimony with them!! We were still eating when the kids were leaving school, so lots of them yelled a greeting on their way home. When we were getting ready to leave, 
Cristian, offered to take us to the next town. I had been wondering how God was going to transport 4 of us with our packs...He sent a 12 passenger bus!!We walked a little more when a
guy (Jesús) stopped in another 12 passenger bus to offer us a ride to Bajos Rodriguez. He let us out at a hotel, but we knew we weren't supposed to stay there. We also knew that there is absolutely nothing after this town and it was already around 4 pm, but we decided to walk on.Well, that was the plan...but we realized that Chris left his walking stick in the Jesús's van! Thankfully, we had stopped by his house on our way to Bajos Rodriguez, so we knew where we needed to walk back to. We had been walking about 20 minutes when we saw Jesús drive by! Praise God...we only had to walk 1 mile backwards instead of 5!! So we turned back towards Bajos Rodriguez. By the time we were walking out of the town limits, it was getting pretty dark because the sun had gone down and it was cloudy. We prayed as we walked. All of a sudden, Chris announced that their was a church down below on the right. It looked like they were having services that night, so we decided to check it out.
Sandra and her son, Fabian, greeted us and told us that the service started at 7 pm. We asked what church it was, and she told us that it was a 7 Day Adventist Church. We thanked her and moved up the hill to pray about what to do from here. If Chris or I had seen a sign that said 7 Day Adentist Church, we wouldn't have even gone down to ask about services. We've heard so much...we don't know what's true or not. We could only rely on the Holy Spirit's leading at this point. Our request as we prayed was for God to make it obvious if we were supposed to stay...for some one to invite us in. As we said "amen," Clider pulled up on his bike. He eyed us curiously and promptly sat down in the grass with us (even though he was dressed for church). We learned that he and his wife (Sandra) have been working with this church for about 2 weeks. They are missionaries helping to get the work going in this town. Before long Sandra and Fabian joined us on the grass. Fabian wanted to feed us oranges, so he ran to get them. Sure enough as we shared and they shared, Clider invited us to stay for church. We knew it was of the Lord...now why He hasn't opened doors on other occasions and why we've been warned to stay clear of these churches, we still aren't sure.
Before the service started, we sang songs with
Sandra and Fabian and with Lety and her two children. 
The service was extremely Christ centered. The lesson that evening was on daily surrender...choosing moment by moment to live for Christ. There was no check in Chris's or my spirit...we were where we were supposed to be! After the service, we met an interesting couple who spoke English. Efren is from Colombia and Elvira is from Mexico, but they met over 30 years ago in California. Several years ago, Efren bought a small finca (farm) in Santa Rita de Florencia (a nearby town) where he and Elvira hoped to retire too. They came down on their vacations and almost immediately Elvira had gathered up kids to teach a Bible lesson to...from there, their parents eventually started coming too. Finally they had a large enough group to form a church, so they requested a Bible worker to come and to help with the work. About one year ago, they built the church. Pretty awesome how God works!!
Efren and Elvira ended up inviting us to stay the night with them!! We made plans to pass back by Clider and Sandra's house on our way out of town, and we began the long journey to Efren and Elvira's house. We were riding in a van and the bridge is out, so we had to go the long way around. (I was glad to hear that on foot it was only about 40 minutes because I thought it was going to take a full day to get back to the main road.) Elvira fixed a wonderful soup for us for supper!! Ginny and I squeezed oranges to make fresh OJ!!The guys went to bed early, but Ginny and I were able to talk for quite some time. She's been though a lot this past year...and as always, she challenged me to step out a little more on faith...to trust God a little more...to surrender more to Him...to seek Him more!! It's been such a blessing having Ginny with us! She loves the Lord so much, and it's obvious for all to see!! Chris and I can barely wait to see what God has in store for this amazing young woman! She's seeking Him that's for sure!
Thursday, October 11th
Efren and Elvira had to go to a doctor's appointment early in the morning, so we had to say a quick goodbye. We asked if their was anything that we could help them with. Apparently Elvira was trying to put together a ceiling fan yesterday, but she was struggling with it. We offered to see what we could do...
Joe and Ginny worked on it while I showered and Chris washed the dishes. Pretty impressive results!!!
The fan looked really good! 
Then we put together some salvation bracelets for Efren and Elvira to use with the children that they work with.Then we started walking...the pedestrian bridge that crosses the river is called The
Hammock...that should give you a clue! It was quite an adventure...from there, 
we had to figure out which path led to the main road. There's a saying in Spanish "By asking, you can get to Rome." Well, that's what we did...over the river and through the woods and slipping and sliding in the mud, we finally made it.When we got to
Clider and Sandra's house, they offered us lunch. Ginny and I helped with that while the guys talked. It's been a hard adjustment for the family...they lived near their family before. 
Fabian hasn't made very many friends yet, so he's a little bored. Clider is having to work super hard trying to get things started. Sandra is having to adjust to living in one room...they have their own house in the town they used to live in. However, they share of how faithful God has been to them!! We played with Fabian and encouraged Clider and Sandra to keep pressing forward! Although none of us really wanted to go, we knew that it was time.On we walked...up one of the steepest grades that Chris and I have encountered so far. It was a hard hike! We had been walked about 45 minutes or an hour when another 12 passenger van stopped.
Ricardo asked us if we wanted a ride...we couldn't believe it! He took us all the way into San Ramon!!!! Praise God for His faithfulness...we were all glad that we hiked part of that mountain, but we were also pleased that He carried us part of the way too!!Ricardo dropped us off really near the church where Francisco, Adita, and Brenda live, so we thought that we would walk over. We were standing in front of the church (and I was calling Fabian and Nuria) right when Brenda walked up. She invited us in!!
Paola, Francisco and Adita's oldest daughter, was also there with her son, Yorgen. They come every day to San Ramon to visit while Juan (Paola's husband) is at work. We had coffee and sweet water and bread and chatted for quite some time. Then Fabian, Nuria, and Fabiola came by to see us too! What a great day!! Before we could even get a word out, they asked if we had been to visit Abuelita (Doña Teresa). We told them that we hadn't, but that we wanted Joe and Ginny to meet her and the rest of the crew. (We didn't know how that could work out because we really needed to walk all day on Friday and early Saturday morning to make it to Alajuela to drop Ginny and Joe off at the airport. But without even explaining any of that, here's what happened.) Fabian and Nuria looked at each other and Nuria said, "I'll take you tomorrow to Abuelita's house, and Fabian will take y'all to the airport on Saturday." We were pumped!!
Okay, God!!! While we were talking, Nuria saw the big rip in Ginny's shirt. Ginny explained that it was her favorite shirt that had been on every trip she'd ever been on since she got the shirt. Nuria volunteered to sew it up!! See, God even takes care things that may seem small to others but are huge for us!!We ended up staying at
Francisco and Adita's house the two nights that we were in town because they had more space. Plus, they really wanted us to stay with them. That night before we went to bed, Francisco got out his guitar and the seven of us sang and prayed together! It was an awesome way to end a great day!Friday, October 12th
Time for Ginny and Joe to meet the crew!! Nuria came to pick us up. (By the way, Fabian couldn't go because he was signing the paperwork to start his new job!! He's been without work for 5 months...the other week when we stayed with them, we were praying for open doors and for the job that He had for Fabian!! Prayer answered!!) We walked down to Doña Teresa's house and Jostin was outside ringing out his socks. (It's rained everyday since we left San Ramon...but God has kept us dry every single day!!) Our plan was to play soccer if the rain stopped. We told Jostin to tell everyone we wanted to play.
Doña Teresa and Bernarda were so happy to see us again! They are so precious. They were so excited to meet Joe and Ginny too! She kept calling Joe "pequeñito" which means tiny one. ha, ha, ha!! Little by little kids and teens started coming...by the end of the day there were probably 25-30 of us all together! The rain never stopped, so we played inside. We played
spoons, 
memory, 
electricity relay, telephone, and a drawing relay. Plus we made salvation bracelets all day long...it was awesome...they first group all prayed to accept Jesus...they wanted to live for Him. Then the rest of the day, they helped explain what each bead meant to all of the others who made bracelets! 
Ginny painted faces and arms! 
We all helped make duct tape bracelets! 
We even bought ice cream for everyone!! It was a great day!The best part for me was washing dishes. I had been able to talk to Ginny to find out how she was really doing, but I hadn't been able to talk to Joe. The door hadn't opened for Chris to talk to him either, so we both kept praying. Well, Joe was my dish washing partner. We talked about this past year which was also really hard for him. We also talked about his relationship with God. We've been watching Joe grow into a really awesome young man over the last 5-6 years, but we weren't sure if he had ever surrendered his life to Christ. We had been praying for an open door, and the Lord opened it. Joe and I talked, and Joe prayed to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord! Praise God! He's got such amazing plans for Joe's life...Chris and I have both seen that...now the door is open for God to reveal those plans to Joe!! Wahoo!!
Adita fixed supper for us as soon as we got home. We had a great time of sharing with Francisco again this evening. He constantly emphasized the importance of a personal relationship with Christ. He explained that if you don't have authentic relationship with Jesus, it's all just tradition and ritual. We were also able to discuss some other issues about the saints and Mary. God was moving! (You need to understand that in Latin America there is a sharp division between the Catholic and the Protestant church.) Francisco commented that he enjoyed talking about the Lord together. He added "Because how often have you seen a Catholic and a Protestant sit down to eat a meal together?" My heart hurt because I knew what he said was true in Latin America and maybe sometimes even in the US. That doesn't make sense...John 13:35 says that people will know that we are His disciples by our love. We need to start walking in that love!!
After supper, we went to the Charismatic Catholic prayer meeting at the church. (Chris and I were really excited about that because we had only heard about it...we'd never been able to experience it!) They sang praise songs, had a message, and they prayed for 45 minutes or an hour. The Holy Spirit was strong! Praise God!! Maxim, one of the leaders, came up to meet us at the end of the service. He encouraged us to be God's hands, feet, and mouth. We were shocked! That's exactly what we share as our mission when people ask us what we are doing, but we hadn't had time to share with him yet! Then another of the leaders encouraged us to speak out to the teenagers...he had no idea that's what we are doing nor what we feel called to do when we come home from Peru! Hello, God, we are listening!!!
That evening, Chris, Ginny, Joe, and I talked together until late in the night. We finally got to share all together what we've seen God doing this week, what He's done in the last year, etc. Then we prayed together. It was a great way to end our time together!
Saturday, October 13th
What a tough day!! First we went to breakfast at
Fabian and Nuria's house. We got to 
squeeze our own orange juice again!!! Then we went to find Ginny a "Pura Vida" Costa Rica shirt and Joe some candy to take back to his Spanish class. From there, it was time to say goodbye to Nuria, Francisco, and Adita...so sad!Fabian took us on to the airport, but we ran into problems with traffic...the Pan-American highway was backed up in both directions. Thankfully, Fabian knew a back road that we could take. We made it to the airport just on time! We told Fabian goodbye and took
Joe and Ginny inside. We prayed with them and then waited with them until we couldn't see them anymore. Let me tell you...Chris and I shed a few tears. It was really hard to see them go!!We talked about the week outside the airport for about an hour...then we prayed and decided to walk for a bit. The first 30 minutes was fine, but then the rain started. So we walked until it started sprinkling and then ducked under a shelter for about an hour or an hour and a half. By about 3 pm, we decided to have lunch. Right when we got into the restaurant, it was pouring! We ate and waited there until it was just barely sprinkling. Chris and I decided that we were going to get a hotel that night so that we could get a good night's sleep before we made any more decisions. We were tired physically and emotionally. We probably walked in the drizzling rain for an hour or so without stopping for a break trying to find somewhere to stay. We asked a ton of people where a hotel was, we followed their directions, and we found NOTHING! This happened about 5-6 times before we finally found a place--Hotel Hojarasca. When we asked the price, I just stared at the response and asked if there was any other hotels nearby. I was so tired that I started crying. We left...I was embarrassed. Judith came chasing us out into the street and told us to stay...we could work something out. I was still crying...I don't know when I've ever been like that. I was just at the end of myself. I needed a fresh filling from the Lord!
We ended up staying the night...after I took a hot shower and I put on dry clothes, I went back to apologize for how I had acted. Judith and Carmen (her mom) had already gone home, but Omar (her brother) lives at the hotel, so I talked to him.
Chris and I talked about it and prayed a bit. He was pretty worn down too. We decided that we would look into finding some where to stay for the week. We needed to rest, to spend some significant time in the Word and to catch up on e-mails and the blog. We aren't sure what's going to work out. Be praying for us that God will open a door for us. Also that God will refresh us and renew the vision that He has given us! We'll be in touch again soon! God bless you and keep you! We love you ton! Keep walking hand-in-hand with Jesus!
More pictures of our day with Doña Teresa's family...
a) our first day walking with Ginny and Joe b) Did we mention that Joe likes to sleep?!! ha, ha, ha! We were all pretty tired after our daily adventures!!
a) One of my favorite birds b) Hot Peppers just for Chris in Chachagua
a) A rainbow that we saw on the day we shared at the church in Chachagua...a reminder of God's promise! b) Our boots have seen better days...Praise God for new supplies that Ginny and Joe brought us!!
a) Grandma's goodies...good to the last crumb!! b) Sharing the goodies with the Ferreto family in Chachagua!!
a) water break...one about every 30 minutes to stay hydrated! b) Joe and Ginny taking a little nap after our first day of walking...
Los Puentes Colgantes de Arenal y Volcan Arenal...The Hanging Bridges of Arenal and Volcano Arenal
Pictures from Baldi...
a)Geiner, Isaac, and Ginny b) Isaac was quite entertaining
a) Joe helped sweep the water off the porch...a daily chore during the rainy season b) Geiner and Denis with Joe and Ginny
a) I guess some would use a table saw...but this guy built Geiner and Denis's entire house by using a chainsaw to cut the boards. b) Then his helper planed the nearly perfectly straight boards to make the wood smooth.
Swimming in the River
Working on the tables at the Linda Vista Restuarant (Today we could see the Linda Vista...the pretty view!)...verses in Spanish and English!!
Some time at the finca...
a) this little red frog may look cute, but it's poisonous...it's venom was used on the ends of darts that the indians used to tranquilize or kill food b) Carlos was the brave one who picked that little guy up!
a) sweet potatoes b) Panamanian Chiles (Chris is excited to get to Panama now...he LOVES hot peppers.)
Hello...that's a cockroach!! And it flies!
Of course...more beautiful flowers of Costa Rica!!
Some plants along the way...
a) Liches or Mamones Chinos depending on the country b) Achiote which almost looks the same, but it is used as a red food coloring.
c) Papaya
