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.