Sat.Feb.28th

Pics: Taking a break at the market.
Me and Chastity feeding the Titi monkey's (notice the baby on it's mother's back, click to see full size).

The last day of February. Wow time is flying with only 18 days left. This morning Chastity is still sick, and the rest of us head to the service group. There were only need greaters out in service this morning with a total of 7. Myself, Megan and Amanda go on some of our return visits. First we call on Scott, a man that Amanda talked to a few weeks ago. After ringing his doorbell, I notice up in the tree above us is a sloth, slowly climbing up the tree. After briefly talking to Scott(he had some guests and could talk) we get out our cameras and take more pictures. We can't seem to get enough of these interesting animals. Next, Megan was able to contact the lady she initially called on with Laurie that I wrote about in earlier in the blog. Megan was able to have a nice conversation with her, no Bible study yet, but we'll see. Next we head to my call, Luis, the young man who agreed to a study. I finally find him at home and this time he has the day off. He invites Amanda and I to sit out on his little front porch in the breeze and discuss the Bible. First we learn a little bit about his background. He grew up in Alajuela outside of San Jose and he remembers as a young child going to the Kingdom Hall occasionally with his next door neighbor. As he tells us a little bit about himself, we quickly realize that even at a young age (I think he's in his middle 20's) he has a real love for the Bible, a genuine interest in helping others, hates all the immoral and unjust things going on in the world, and seems to be a very meek and humble person. He prays every night to God. He had a lot of people abandon him, including many in his family. He explained that his landlord, a man from Lousiana who lost his house in Katrina, has done alot for him and that he's kind of a father figure to him. I read to him the scriptures at Ps. 145:16 and at 1 Pet. 5:7 to show him the kind of father Jehovah is. He agreed and said that God is the best father and friend you could have. After chatting for awhile and getting to know one another a little better we open with prayer and then cover the first part of the Bible Teach book. He LOVES it and wants to know more....."Tell me, what happens to us when we die?". I didn't want to deluge him with too much information so I told him I would read him one scripture, Eccl. 9:5, and that he could read ahead the 2 chapters in the book dealing with death on his own if he wanted. We close with prayer and afterwards agree to meet again next Tuesday and discuss chapter one. I can't wait to go back!

We get home, change, and head to the beach. Though still feeling rotten, Chastity decided to go also. She figured maybe the salty water would act like a neti pot (for those of you who are wondering what this is....well, look it up) and help her feel better. The waves were absolutely massive today, the biggest I've seen yet. Too big for an amatuer surfer like myself, I decided to stick to bodysurfing with the girls. Some of the Titi monkeys (they are the smaller ones that make a sound like a bird chirping) came down to the beach and everyone was feeding them. The mothers had their little baby's on their backs as they jumped from branch to branch. What a great day!

Friday, Feb.27th

Pics: Megan enjoying her concrete block chair while Santiago saves his hearing from the roar of a passing truck.

Santiago and Naomi ready to share some good news with the public.

Well its Friday, our long day in service to Jaco. And I (Chastity) am stuck at home sick. Being sick here is not the same as being sick in Vermont. In Vermont you stay at home in front of the TV and laugh at all your friends who are outside in the freezing cold out in service. I get so excited when I am sick in Vermont. “Yippie, I’m sick…a day off”. Here it is very different. You see your friends leave the house not jealous of you at all. On their way to Jaco where the surf is high and the shopping is grand. And there are tons of gringos to preach to. Hmmmmm…..so sad. So today in order to make this a good day…I am laying in the sun finishing my Watchtower and Awakes. My plan is to be darker than Mandy by the time she comes home today. Maybe I will even do my nails. Oh what a day.

Now it's Lance, and yes we are headed to Jaco, the 3 of us along with Naomi and Santiago will be setting up the literature table at the bus stop in downtown Jaco. We take turns, some sit at the table and talk to those who walk by and show interest, while a couple others walk around and do street work. We placed mostly Spanish literature, but I did have the privilege to talk to one man who stopped and took a handbill on the meeting times. He is originally from Costa Rica but has traveled all over the world. He speaks English very fluently and just before we boards the bus tells me that he very well may come to the meeting on Sunday. We get home late at around 4:30 and after changing and picking up Chastity we head to the market to buy our weekly fruits and veggies. Santiago rides up on his bike and informs us he's almost finished moving into his new place, "I only have a few more bike trips to make back to my other apartment and I'll be done." I take the girls home and go help Santiago finish moving with the car. Takes us 10 minutes, now that's living simple!

Thurs.Feb.26th

Pics: A spot by the road just before Jaco that I made the girls pose in front of.

Santiago with another one of his hidden talents - he can draw.

Today we worked near Playa Hermosa (Hermosa Beach), a really popular surfing village just south of Jaco. It was the four of us and the Ladds, Billy and his wife (I forget her name) they are from New Jersey and are serving here for a month. The territory here is mainly gringos who live in very nice houses up in the mountains. We didn't have any extraordinary experiences today, but we were to find quick alot of people. All of them as usual were very nice and hospitable. One our way home today we were almost to Quepos when I notice flying overhead two birds. Upon closer examination, I notice that they are pink flamingos! I yelled at the girls to get their camera and try to get a good photo of them in flight. Another one of the many beautiful creations of Jehovah. After service we had our family study (tonight we looked and read articles on serving where the need is greater), then Megan, Amanda and myself went over to Jaime and Anna's for cards and ice cream. Santiago was our dj during cards, playing music off youtube to keep us entertained, then a little later he draws Fred Flinstone and gives us a Spanish lesson! Chastity stayed home with another bad cold, something about this warm weather, it must be attacking our immune systems!

Wed. Feb.25th

Pics: Bryn starting the morning off right with some coffee and baked goods from our favorite local bakery.

The blue and gold macaw the girls got to see out in service.

Service this morning for me was working with Bryn at his house on the territories. He had a GPS unit that he's been using to try and map out the territories. As of now, some of the territories are very hard to understand, basically they are badly computer drawn lines with a few landmarks on them and dots to represent where the gringos live. They are still using the hand drawn ones from when we were here in 2008. Anyhow, by the end of the morning we had a really nice, easy to understand map of downtown Quepos. From there they will continue to branch out, using the same method. The girls worked with Bryn's wife, Nancy. The had the privilege of seeing a blue and gold macaw while they were working some territory north of town. It was one of the householders pets.

Tues.Feb.24th

Pic: A beach that went forever were we found some beautiful shells.

We had our meeting at 4 instead of 7 tonight, since the Spanish congregation is having their circuit overseer visit. At the meeting is Margo, the young girl I told you about earlier from New Jersey. Apparently her father, stepmother and sister continued on in their vacation. They had planned a week here in Costa Rica and then they were travelling to Nicaragua, but Margo asked if she could stay behind so as to continue to her Bible study! So, who knows, maybe she'll be our sister one day soon. After the meeting me, Amanda, and Megan (Chastity was determined to stay home and go to bed early) went to LaCubanita for dinner and cards.......that's right, cards right at the restaurant....hey, they are really laid back here.

More pictures posted

http://picasaweb.google.com/lancetaylorVT

Mon.Feb.23rd

Pics: Our wonderful host, Ms. Owens with the girls.

No, we are not visiting a prison, it's the parking lot of a grocery store. This is how many of the stores in and around the cities look like - razor wire and a guard tower with usually 1 or 2 guards walking the property with a shotgun in his hand. Did I mention that theft was a problem in Costa Rica?

We were able to sleep in a little before heading over to the B&B for breakfast. Same wonderful breakfast as yesterday except she added potatoes to the menu. While waiting for our breakfast, Ms. Owens wanted to know how our assembly went. She told us how that a brother, Dan was his name, from the English congregation in Grecia used to visit her. We left her the Bible Teach book, hoping that she will read the chapters on the resurrection hope. Her husband just died last month, January 2nd, on the day of their 47th anniversary. Very sad. From Grecia we decided to do a little sight seeing around the city. At one point we pulled over to let a speeding ambulance go by. About 2 miles ahead we notice the cars slowing down and swerving around something in the middle of the road. It was a motorcycle with no rider near it! No police or anyone around, just a wrecked motorcycle in the middle of the road. Seems you seem something so strange here daily. We were headed to Escazu, a suburb southwest of San Jose. This is were a lot of expats live. You would never believe you were in a third world country here. The mall we visited looked like something you'd find in Dallas with all the shops and even a nice cinema. Outside, around the mall was an Office Depot, Outback Steakhouse, PriceMart(Costco) & TGIFriday. I even had to indulge in a bean burrito and beef taco at the Taco Bell inside the mall. After a little shopping, we headed back to Quepos, back to reality for most Costa Ricans.

Sun.Feb.22nd

Pics: Carmen, Megan, and Kim.

With our friends Rebecca, Rocky & Bryn.

For breakfast we drove back over to the B&B and are welcomed by Mrs. Owens. After bringing us fresh orange juice and coffee, we are asked what we would like for breakfast and how much: Eggs, pancakes, bacon, gallo pinto, fresh fruit (watermelon, papaya, cantelope & pineapple)! One of the best breakfasts we’ve had since we’ve been here! Next it was off to the assembly hall. The program was the same one we’ve already had in the states, but we still enjoyed it very much. Bro. Teasdale, from the Costa Rican branch was the guest speaker. Being that the majority of the friends here are either permanent or temporary need-greaters, the program really focused on the work we are doing in Costa Rica. Throughout the program, the brothers expressed their appreciation for everyone that had come to Costa Rica to help out in the English field. Bro. Teasdale highlighted the tremendous growth in English and stressed that there was much more work to be done. We had a total attendance of 488. Margo, Kim's study, rode up with Kim and Ken. Kim said she was full of questions and has aleady made arrangements for studying with the witnesses back in New Jersey when she returns! I'll keep you posted as to her progress.

After the assembly we headed back to our rental in Grecia for a nice relaxing night.

Sat.Feb.21st

Pics: One of the beautiful flowers growing outside the house in Grecia.

The house we stayed at by mistake....see below for full story.

We headed out at 10am to the city, taking with us our friend Santiago. After dropping Santiago off in Alajuela, we headed on to Grecia. Upon arriving at our bed and breakfast, the host, Ms. Owens, informs me that she doesn’t recall my reservations and that they are all booked up! Confused, I tell her that I had just emailed her the night before to confirm our reservation for 2 nights. Before even checking into it she replies, “Well, have you all had dinner yet?” She proceeds to have us go to the back deck and has her daughter bring us out fresh juice, then a beautiful salad, and finally a huge plate of spaghetti for each of us. She comes to explain that she has another guest house that is a few miles away and that she has sent her workers over to clean it up for us. After dinner, I bring out my laptop to find out why the confusion on our reservation. It was at this point that I realize that we are at the wrong bed and breakfast! I had reserved a room at La Terraza in Escuza, not at the La Terraza in Grecia! Ms. Owens didn’t mind the mixup at all, but instead was determined to accommodate us. After our wonderful dinner, she told us that a driver would be coming over in a few minutes to show us to the guest house and in the meantime we could relax in the gardens down by the river in the backyard. The guest house was about 3 miles away and when we walked inside we couldn’t believe our eyes. The house was huge! It has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, a family room w/ fireplace, a dining room, huge kitchen, and a laundry room. The place is completely equipped with everything…..internet, satellite TV (yes the girls are getting their fix). Looks like it’s going to be a nice weekend!

Tue-Fri, Feb. 17-20

Pics: The girls out in the ministry.

One of the many beautiful sunsets here.

Sorry to be slacking on keeping up with the blog, but we lost internet here at the house and I haven't had the time to go into town and do it. So here is just some of the highlights from the week:

We didn’t have a meeting on Tuesday due to the fact that we have the special day assembly in San Jose this Sunday. One great experience I would like to share:

On Wednesday, after service, Amanda went to give a massage for some people who are staying in Kim and Ken Nelson's house. It was a family of 4 here on vacation from New Jersey. While Amanda was giving the stepmother her massage, after learning that Amanda was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, she informed Amanda that she was worried about her 17 yr. old stepdaughter, Margo. She said she's been smoking since she was 12 and has some other problems she's dealing with. She stated that she knew that many people, upon studying the Bible with us have made really improved their lives so she said she had been searching online about us but had not found our official website. Amanda gave it to her and explained that she could bring her some literature. After meeting her 2 daughters and their father, she left. While she was waiting outside for us to come and pick her up, she saw Kim (Kim and Ken live in a small little place next to their larger house that they rent out) and told her all that had just happened. I think it was the very next day that Kim went over to bring some literature and explain to Margo that over the weekend they would be away in San Jose for the special assembly day. She went ahead and invited Margo to come along with her and Ken, and she accepted!

I still haven't been able to have a study with Luis. Seems he's always working too late and has to sleep up until he goes back to work the next day. I'll keep trying.

Tomorrow we leave for San Jose.

Mon, Feb. 16th

Normally we all take Monday off from service but I have Luis, the young man who agreed to a Bible study. I had arranged to take Tony, a brother visiting for a few days from England, with me. I pick him up at 9:30 and off to the study we go. Not having the best directions, we spend the first hour of our morning looking for his house. We finally find a neighbor, a man who moved here after his house was destroyed by Katrina. The man shows us where Luis lives, but he isn’t home. We spend the rest of the day doing a couple of my return visits.

Sun., Feb. 15th

Pics: Santiago jamming on the piano.

The permanent publishers here in the Quepos English congregation.

Sunday Chastity and I got up at 6:30 to go see our family and friends off. We had coffee together by the pool and then at 7 they headed to San Jose. Just as a side note to all you who know Laurie. The whole week here in Costa Rica, she was on time! I think only once did she show up maybe 5 minutes late. So when you see her, give her lots of praise and commendation and maybe, just maybe her new habit will stick! You go Laurie! We had our meeting at afterwards we went out to dinner at LaCubanita with Santiago. After dinner, Chastity decided to go home and head to bed early while the other 4 of us went to the Gaia resort to hear Santiago play the piano. It was a blast. Santiago claimed to be “ok” at playing the piano, but to our surprise, he’s unbelievably good! The piano was bad out of tune but it still was a blast!

Sat. Feb.14th

Pic: Our little friend,Peepers.

Saturday was our day off. We all went out to breakfast at the Anaconda restaurant. A great view of the ocean and a great breakfast. After that we all went to Ken and Kim Nelson’s to see their baby sloth. What a treat! Everyone got a chance to hold him. His name is Peepers. I pretty sure that was the highlight of everyones trip. It’s one thing to see a sloth sleeping in the trees here, it’s another to see one actually awake and climbing in the trees (they sleep 14 hrs. a day), it’s another to actually see one up close after crossing the road, and it’s a chance in a million (not sure of those statistics) to hold a baby sloth in your arms! How cool! Next we headed to the beach. Mark and I went to another beach and tried some snorkeling but the water was too rough and thus too cloudy. We saw a few fish, but it wasn’t very eventful. Back at Manuel Antonia beach we had some pretty good waves and just bodysurfed all day. We had dinner at Pizza de Marco near Stearns/Kotormans hotel. It was their second time to visit the restaurant, Donna’s favorite (not Marks). Gary and Donna was telling us how that they were sitting at the pool before coming to dinner when the owner came over to chat with them. They told him they were Jehovah’s Witnesses and he perked up and replied, “I knew it! I just knew by the way you all were always dressed and the attitude you showed that you must be Jehovah’s Witnesses!” Goes to show how even by our conduct, dress and grooming that we give a witness to Jehovah. After dinner it was off to the ice cream shop for our last ice cream together.

Friday, Feb.13th

Pic: The going away party for the Oka's in front of our house.

Friday we woke up to no more internet at the house…..sad day. The four of us went out in service. We had 4 car groups drive down to Dominical for a full day. We had a great time. We worked high up in the mountains just north of town. After service we drove a little farther south to Uvita. Alex had a return visit down close to the kingdom hall. The kingdom hall is a little room built on the side of a storage building. It was pretty primitive compared the other kingdom halls around here. Outside there were about 4 little huts. In one of them is were a temporary special pioneer was staying. It was about the size of a small storage shed, with a mattress on the floor and a sink. The bathrooms were outside by the entrance to the kingdom hall. Now that is living simple! We got home at around 6pm. At 7pm there was a going away get together in the front of our house. About 25 of the friends came. Even Mark and Laurie came by after their dinner. We all played games and ate and had a great time. Afterwards we played cards with our neighbors, Dan and Evett, while their little boy Jayden played in the living room.

Thurs.Feb.12th

Pic: The 5 of us getting ready for our first zipline!

Thursday was the four of us went out in service for the morning. We were suppose to be meeting the Stearns/Kotormans at 12:30 for a zipline tour. Chastity had a really bad headache and Megan and Amanda had decided they weren’t going on the tour, so the 3 of them stayed home. The rest of us met at La Selvita Tours for our zipline tour up in the rainforest. This was the 3rd time for me and this tour company was by far the best! It had been suggested by one of the local sisters. When we got there, one of the tour guides who drove us was the same tour guide from last year at a different tour company. I told him I remembered him from last year at Dream Forest Canopy. His name was Edwin. He’s from Costa Rica but speaks pretty good English. On the way to the rainforest we passed a cemetery and someone noted how different it looked because the tombs are all made of concrete and above the ground. Then Edwin turned around and said, “yeah, my little brother is buried in that cemetery” I asked him how old he was when he died and he said, “10 yrs old”. Then I asked what he died of and he said some kind of cancer. We were all really sad for him. And then he told us it was 3 months ago that he died! We were all so sad for him. None of us had any literature or a Bible so we decided that I would go back to the office in a few days and contact him to try and explain the resurrection hope and try and start a Bible study. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
At the rainforest, they first fed us an amazing meal. Then we were off. At the first platform we had to climb stairs to about 50-75 up. It was at this point that Donna and Gary were sure they had made a mistake. Then for our first zipline. Mark went first. Then Laurie. Then me….and then Donna and Gary. When we got to the other platform, poor Donna was shaking so bad that she looked like she was caught in a blizzard with a bathing suit. “I’ve made a mistake….I can’t do this…..I got to go back….Seriously, I need to go back” Gary and Laurie were doing a pretty good job at hiding their fear but afterwards they admitted they were terrified as well. Mark….well he was a little shaky as well but wanted to continue on and within no time he was having a ball. One of the tour guides explained to Donna what was involved in going back (rappelling down from the platform) and so she decided to continue. One of the ziplines was around 1500 feet long and 450 feet high! We all survived and at the end we had a nice hike through the forest down to a waterfall were we went for a swim in cool, clear water! Once home, we all went out to eat at Costa Verde’s BBQ restaurant. Donna was still shaking and anxious…..I was sure she was going to kill me for taking her on the tour. We had to leave the restaurant early to meet up with Santiago for cards. After we left, the four of them got to talking to the waiter, Ceasar, and come to find out he used to study and attend meetings. He told them how he knows he needs to come back to the hall and start up his studies again. I am going to return on him and see what I can get going.

Wed.Feb11th

Pic: Mark, Laurie, Gary and Megan in the field ministry.

Wednesday was service. We told the Stearn/Kotorman’s that the group met at 8am for service but they weren’t there. Chastity decided that she wanted to go check up on them to make sure everything was ok. After the group we drove to their hotel and sure enough, there they were outside all dressed and waiting for us. They had misunderstood and thought the group was at 8:30. We all went out in service near Quepos. We had explained to them that in Costa Rica instead of just going up to someone’s door and knocking that the polite thing to do is just say “hola” as you approach the house and if there is someone home they will come out and greet you and you can then say “habla ingles?” which is “speak English?”. Gary and Mark were working together and apparently Gary got confused and was going to the houses and yelling…”habla!?” or “speak!?” Maybe he thought he was searching for the hearing among a deaf community. Megan got a great call that morning. I’ll let her tell it:
“Today was great. I went out in service this morning and we were doing territory close by the kingdom hall. I was working with Laurie Kotorman and as we walk when we see someone we ask in Spanish (if we are able) if there is anyone who speaks English there or around. First I spoke to a nice man who new a little English and I had a nice conversation with him (I will go back but will probably write a yellow slip because he was mostly Spanish speaking)So that was nice , but then we continued and see two Americans and start witnessing to them. They where not interested and told us that there where no gringos or English speaking people around. We thanked them for informing us of that , but it was our territory so we just continued to ask around . The very next door I asked if anyone spoke English, the man said in Spanish "one minute". He gets who I think is his wife and she comes to the door. She is a tica (local) but spoke pretty fluent English. I start witnessing to her and she said "oh you are a Jehovah's Witness" and goes inside and then comes out with the Worship book in Spanish. I asked her if she has had a chance to read any of it, and she said " Yes but i am reading it slowly so i can read all the scriptures with it". I then said that is great and showed her my study copy of the Bible teach book to show her that I do the same thing. We talked about how it is important to read God's word . We talked for a little while. Then it led to talking about how beautiful it is in Costa Rica but yet we still can’t get away from problems, such as death of a loved one. She agreed . I was prepared to read John 5:28,29 and said the Bible gives us a hope. She then started to talk about how we need hope, so then I decided to read Jer. 29:11 ( a scripture I really like) I finished reading it and she looks at me with surprise and delight. Then she runs inside and comes out with a little plaque, shows it to me and written on it in Spanish was Jer 29:11. She then tells me how she loves that scripture so much and her best friend gave her that plaque. I look at her and just say "wow what are the chances out of the whole Bible I read you that one scripture". She said something like " God's direction" . Then I ask her if it had God's name and she said no only Lord. I explained to her the importance of the Bible having his name and using it. She agreed and said " yes ,otherwise how will people know what god you are talking about". I offered her the book but she said she first wanted to finish the Worship book . So I asked if I could just come back and share a few points from it with her and if she liked it I could give it to her. She said yes and seemed very happy to have me come back. I also told her about Adgera (my Bible student in Vermont) and how she had been trying to teach me Spanish and she said next time she could give me a little Spanish lesson . I am so excited to go back.”After service we went down to the beach and relaxed and played in the waves.

Tues. Feb10th

Pic: Megan giving her talk with her householder, Carmen

Tuesday we took off from service and we all drove up to Jaco. The girls went shopping, while us boys went to the beach to try some snorkeling. We walked along the shoreline by the rocks looking for a safe spot but the waves were so aggressive that we never actually got in the water. Mark was so sick of beans and rice that he was ready for some “good American food” so we went to KFC for lunch. I don’t think I could ever get tired of the Tico food here. After we found all the girls, the four of us headed back home, while the Stearn/Kotorman crew shopped around a little longer. We had the meeting at 7. Megan had the number 3 talk with Carmen as her householder and she did a fantastic job! I had the concluding part on the service meeting about the memorial invitations.

Mon.Feb.9

Pic: Laurie feeding the monkeys before boarding our boat for the mangrove tour.

Well…I’m sorry for not having kept up with the blog. We lost internet here at the house and I haven’t had the time to go into town to update the blog. Monday we all went fishing in the mangroves. We saw and fed lots of monkeys before we went out in the boat. It was a beautiful day on the boat, but the fish just weren’t biting. One fish was caught, a grunter. It makes these grunting sounds but it isn’t edible so we tossed it back. After fishing we stopped in Quepos and had dinner at Soda Sanchez then we all went to get ice cream. Funny story: Alex and Gary were engrossed in a conversation when we were all ready to leave. Alex was riding with us four and then Stearns/Kotormans were in their car. Alex started walking to our car and Gary just kept walking with him and talking. When Gary realized that they had parked down the street in the other direction he just laughed and started back the other way. We all get in our car and start driving down the road behind Gary. I see a silver Nissan pathfinder parked on the left up ahead and I tell everyone….”you watch, I bet Gary tries to get into that car”….well he does. He just goes up, opens the passenger door, hops in and shuts the door. Meanwhile the man who owns the car had just gotten out of the drivers side and was walking away from his car and pointing his little door lock “clicker” at his vehicle to lock it when he sees Gary get into his car. We all had our windows down and are just crying out loud in laughter. The man is so confused. He’s looking at us laughing and then staring back at his car with a stranger in it. Finally after about 15 seconds, Gary jumps out of the car, starts laughing and takes off walking for the correct car (a silver Mitsubishi Montero), never even saying anything to the man because he’s so embarrassed. We drive up to their car and asked Gary, “what were you thinking, didn’t you realize that Mark, Laurie and Donna weren’t in the car, why did it take you so long to figure out you were in the wrong car?” He said, “yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. There was a shopping bag at my feet and I was thinking…this must be Donna’s” Funny stuff!

Sun. Feb. 8th

Pics: Gary giving his public talk.

Apparently Khaki and blue are the Costa Rican colors.

We have new neighbors next door now. Two witness couples who are working with the Spanish North congregation. Zeb and Katie are from Michigan and I forgot the other couples names. Early this morning, Chastity, Mark, Laurie and I went for a long walk and found a road not far from here that leads way out into the woods and then dead ends into an abandoned bridge. We crossed the bridge to find a hiking trail that takes you down to a stream that continues into what looks like the heart of the rainforest. We didn’t have the time to explore it, but Mark, Gary and I are planning on going back to see if we can get lost in the forest. After the walk, we all, except Megan and Amanda who went out in the ministry, went to breakfast at the Gaia. Another great breakfast. Gary had the public talk this morning. There was 43 in attendance, a lot of visitors! Kim Nelson was all excited about her newest pet. She said her and her husband, Ken, went for a walk the other day and one of her dogs comes running up the hill with something in his mouth. She held out her hand to see what it was and she said her dog “gently dropped a baby sloth into my hands”! So they went online to read about taking care of sloths and apparently they make perfect pets. She said they read that they like to play peek-a-boo (can that really be played in slow motion?) Anyhow, she is so excited about her sloth. She said it just curls up in Ken’s arms and drinks from a bottle. They want us to come over and see it later this week. (more sloth pics coming) We all went out to LaCubinta for dinner after the meeting and then stopped at our favorite little ice cream stop across from the soccer field.
Funny story I forgot to relay from a couple a days ago when Chastity was home sick by herself. She said all of a sudden there was a knock at the door. She opened to find little Isaac, our neighborhood 4 year old who has been hanging out here, speaking something in Spanish. Then he just proceeds come into the house, walk straight to the bathroom and shut the door. Chaz said that after about 20 minutes, she hears the toilet flush, then the sink faucet running, and finally little Isaac opens the door and walks out. Chastity says, “did you wash your hands?” and he held out his little wet hands and says “Si” and then walks out of the house. WOW, I guess he really feels at home here!

Sat.night, Feb. 7th

Pic: The girls striking a pose before our street get together.

Well the anniversary party on our street was great. There was food, dancing, and games. About 40 of the friends showed up. One of the games was all the couples had to dance together, all the while holding a tennis ball between our foreheads, and whoever held the ball the longest won. Chastity and I came in at about 4th place. Megan won the game of holding a spoon in your mouth while balancing a tennis ball on the spoon and running to the finish line. Her prize was a hair clip and some candy. Who knew Megan had such hidden talent, she came clean and admitted that she’s secretly been practicing balancing a “bucket with beans inside of it on her head so as to be like the Ticos”, she said that “I’m only days away from being able to walk down the beach with a cooler on my head selling watermelons………yeah…she might be single for a longgggg time! We left the party at around 11pm and it still wasn’t over. The Ticos love to associate!

Sat. Feb. 7th

This morning we all, except Amanda....now she has what we all had, and went to the beach. We had a great day, the waves were big enough so I rented a surfboard. Unfortunately both Donna and Megan got hit in the head by the board trying to ride it.......they're tough though, after a couple of hours they were back in the water wanting to try it again. After the beach, the girls went home and started getting ready for our "street party". Some of the friends from the Spanish congregation are putting on a get together on our street and they invited us. I went over to Donna and Gary's room and we sat out on their huge deck and watched the sun set.

Friday, Feb. 6th

Chastity, Megan and myself stayed home today...we are all sick except Amanda, who went out in the ministry. Donna, Gary, Mark and Laurie all got here at around 4pm. After they settled in to their hotel, we all went out to dinner at El Avion. Donna gradually felt worse and worse during dinner, so her and Gary decided to head back to their hotel room (or should I say their Taj Mahal..their room is that nice). Megan wasn't feeling very well either so we dropped her off and the rest of us went downtown and went shopping at the market for our weekly fruits and veggies.

Thurs.Feb. 5th

Woke up this morning feeling even worse so I took the girls down to the Kingdom Hall, dropped them off for service and then came back home and rested. A pretty uneventful day.

Don't forget to check our photos and videos at http://picasaweb.google.com/lancetaylorVT

Wed. Feb. 4th

This morning I called back on Jim, the man I met a couple of weeks ago from Michigan. He has lived here in Costa Rica now for 16 years. I had told him that I would come back and talk about why there is so much suffering. He invited Megan and I in, offered us coffee or Coke, and we sat in his kitchen for about and hour and talked. We only discussed a little bit out of the Bible Teach book. His biggest hangup is that though he thinks the Bible is a good book, he’s not convinced that it is truly from God. I promised to bring him back the brochure, “The Bible-A Book for all People”. On our way home we saw a group of Spanish witnesses on the same road we were on. The friends here pretty much walk everywhere, they are so hard working and never complain. We could learn a lot from them. We went to the beach this afternoon and the waves were HUGE! We all did some body surfing and at one point Chaz got caught in a riptide. She did great though, she didn’t panic, she just did as they tell you and swim parallel to the shore until your out of it or until you can reach your husbands hand, which she did….whew!! I don’t think we’ll get out that deep again without a boogie board or surfboard. When we all got home we were so tired, it was hot and we were ready to get to bed. But then the electricity went out, thus no fans. It was roasting in the house. Amanda and Chaz were able to go to bed anyhow, they don’t mind the heat as bad. I decided I was going for a ride downtown to cool off and maybe find some ice cream. I did, one of the stores down in Quepos had a generator so they were able to stay open. It was like a party in there. Some of the restaurants were still serving food, they simply pulled a couple of cars up and shined their headlights on their guests and continued on like nothing. They are used to this happening. I didn’t sleep that well because the electricity kept going on and off all night.

Tues. Feb. 3rd

We slept in this morning, wore out from our trip home from San Jose on Monday. We just hung out at home all day, studied for the meeting and prepared our parts. Amanda was a householder, and then her and Megan had a demo together. I conducted the congregation Bible study and then the #3 talk. Chastity had the night off. The service meeting was cut short because we had a visiting brother from Brooklyn Bethel, Bro. Chris Mavor. He works in administration in the Service Department. He has been at Bethel for 31 years. His talk was really encouraging. On our way home, we crammed all 4 of us and our neighbors, Dan, Evett and their son Jayden in the car. Two in the front and 5 in the back. Tight squeeze but it’s only about a mile or 2 away. We made it home safely.

Mon. Feb. 2nd

On waking at 5:30 in the morning, the sun was just about to come up, so I woke everyone else up . The view was spectacular! Only once did we spot some lava running down the volcano. Chastity made coffee, and we all stood around for over an hour staring at the cone. It was just beautiful, watching the smoke come out with the sun rising on it. We left at around 7:30 and stopped at the natural hot springs that flow from the volcano. There is a spot in the road where you can pull off and walk down to the river. The weather here was pretty cool, so a dip in the hot water was really nice. We got Brandon and Ork at the airport in plenty of time. We hugged and sent them off, sad that our Brandon and Oriana “TV” was now gone. We returned our big, nice SUV and got a much smaller car, a Nissan Almera – it’s comparable to the Altima. We didn’t get home until about 7pm.

Sun. Feb. 1st

This morning we headed out at 8am and did some territory that hadn’t been worked since we were here last year. We started out near Parrita and worked all the way to Santiago, not far from San Jose. I found a man at one of the general stores on the way who was a local but spoke a little English. He said he was Catholic and had a Bible. When I gave him the “Do you want to know the truth” tract, he read the questions on the front and said he would like to know the answer to the last question – “How can I find happiness in life?”. Since he only spoke a little English, I explained to him that I could have someone from the nearest Spanish congregation contact him and conduct a free home bible study with him. He readily agreed and gave me his name. Our final destination was volcano Arenal, and we made it there at around 6pm. We found some little cabinita’s on the side of the volcano that the lava flows and got our rooms for the night. The view was incredible, according to a website I found, one of the best. The clouds were pretty much coving the top of the volcano when we arrived, so we didn’t see much on Sunday. We were talking later about how that we had experienced just about every temperate zone in Costa Rica this day. In Quepos it was hot and humid when we left, in Santiago it was a little cooler with no humidity and on our way to the volcano the girls were putting their sweaters on. The night at the volcano the wind was blowing really hard and it was chilly.

Don't forget to check our photos and videos at http://picasaweb.google.com/lancetaylorVT

Sat. Jan 31st

We took this morning off and went to breakfast at the Gaia hotel. It was great. One of the best breakfast I’ve ever had. They serve you coffee, then complimentary fruit, then complimentary pastries and then finally your main meal. After breakfast we went to the beach so that Brandon and Ork could buy some gifts at the vendors on the sidewalk. At around 1pm we headed out to the Norris’ for a congregation pig roast. There was so much food and it was all terrific. We had about 30 people there. Bro. Norris provided his 4 wheeler for everyone to ride around his property on. It was a fun evening.