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.