Thursday, March19th

Pics: Shopping in NYC

Back home in Vermont, we arrive at Brandon's and Oriana's to pick up our car at 3:30am.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog how that while we were at the airport counter checking in our baggage 2 girls in the American checkin line noticed Megan's bible in her bag and asked if she was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. "Yes!, the four of us!", Megan replied. They were both from Toronto Canada and had been here working with the Grecia English congregation. It's funny, it seems like in Costa Rica you run into one of your brothers or sisters almost on a daily basis. It's wonderful to be apart of a worldwide brotherhood.
I woke up this morning before the girls and caught the shuttle back to the airport to pick up our car. Except for missing my exit to get back to the hotel, everthing went as planned. We loaded up and headed into the city, had a nice breakfast, and then shopped around in SOHO for the day. After the city, we went back into NJ so that the girls could get their Target fix and after a quick bit to eat didn't leave the city until 10:15pm. I drove all night and we didn't get home 5am!
Here it is noon and I'm writing our last blog post. It was an experience we'll never forget! We all had so much fun, made lots of new friends, and though it had it's challenges, but the blessings far outweighed them. Time to get back to work and start saving for next year, till them.....chow!

Wed.March18th

Pics: Saying goodbye as we leave the house early in the morning.

NJ airport: All bundled up and coming off our withdrawal of no cell phones for 2 months.

We locked up the house this morning at 5:40am, slid the key under the door, and headed out. In downtown Quepos, we stop for coffee and pastries and just as we were heading outside the town limits, Megan realizes that she left her coat and scarf in the house! OH, but we locked the house and slid the key under the door. We decide there is a way. We drive back to the house and can see the key. Megan grabs a small stick and manages to slide the key back underneath the door. Shazaam! We're in! We head back out, only a few minutes behind schedule. It was a cool morning with hardly no humidity so we cruised to San Jose with the windows down, breathing in ever last bit of Costa Rica we could get, sad to be leaving. We make it to the airport by 9:15, I drop the girls off with all the luggage (which filled the entire trunk and the front seat and floorboard) and I take the car back to the rental agency. Back at the airport, we begin to check in and realize that one of our bags is 4.5lbs. overweight. So out comes the gallon jug of Lizano sauce that we were bringing home (the ticket agent will be eating good with that for months) and we head through security with no problems. At the food court in the airport, Chastity and I meet a family of 3 (father, mother and their college son) from Alabama. When they learn that we've been in Costa Rica for 9 weeks they want to know more. We were able to give a nice witness to them about our purpose their to preach.
We had a great flight home, landing in Newark at 7:30pm. We are pleasantly surprised by 60 degree weather and no snow on the ground. We finally get our shuttle to our hotel (priceline special....man I love that website!) at the Hilton next to the airport, eat a quick dinner at the hotel and reminisce about our stay in Costa Rica. By 9:30, we are in our room resting. Whew....what a long day! Tomorrow we pick up our car and make our way back home.

Tues.March17th

Pics: Lights out at our last meeting.

Saying goodbye to our good friends Bryn and Nancy.

Our last full day in Costa Rica. The girls packed all morning and worked on some final touchups to the house. I worked up my part for tonight and then at noon left for my last Bible study with Luis. Ken Nelson came with me and is planning on taking it over when I’m gone. Unfortunately, Luis wasn't home, so I left him a note and explained that Ken would be by next week to continue the study. The girls went to the beach while I took the car to get it cleaned. At the car wash (lava car) I decided to do my Bible reading for tonight and a man noticed the Bible and asked what religion I was. I replied, "I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses" and he said he knew many of the witnesses. Our conversation continued and I learn that he use to study with the witnesses, had stopped smoking and then life took a turn for the worse. He explained he needed to get his life back in order and start coming back to the kingdom hall. I shared a couple of scriptures with him and gave him an invitation to the kingdom hall, with the new times for their meetings.
After arriving at the meeting, seconds before the meeting started the electricity goes out. Within no time flashlights appear and the meeting continues. No fans, no lights, and no microphones. They are used to it here so we continue with the meeting. It was hard commenting at first because I could hardly see my book or Bible, plus I was sweating so much I could hardly focus. After the congregation Bible study, Bro. Cernuda introduces the Theocratic Ministry School and right after the Bible highlights we get electricity! Too late, I'm already soaked from head to toe. After the meeting we said our goodbyes to all the friends, exchanged phone numbers and emails and promised to come back again. It is such a loving congregation, we will truly miss the friends. Back home we loaded up a big bag of things (extra food and other misc. items) and took it over to one of the local Spanish families, Jainer, Carla and their two kids, Farit and Amy. We also said our goodbyes to our lovely neighborhood kids, little Issac and Camila. We stayed up for awhile and watched our internet "TV" and finally went to bed. We'll be up and on the road at 5:30am tomorrow.

Mon.March16th

Pics: Chaz and Amanda on our hike.

Some beautiful bamboo we saw on our hike.

Well we finally got our internet turned back on!! This morning we dropped Amanda off at the Nelson’s house to give Kim a massage while the rest of us went on a short hike on their property. It was so hot that we didn’t last long. Dying of thirst and hungry, we ditched the hike and headed for Café Milagro. After I picked Amanda up, we went down to Quepos and went snorkeling by the new marina they are building. There is a great little cove to snorkel, except for today. The current was really strong and so the water wasn’t as clear as it usually is. We did see some pretty fish and beautiful coral though. So it’s back to Manuel Antonio beach. The girls all went for a run on the beach while I went for a walk, hey, at least it’s exercise.

Pics: Best pork in Costa Rica.

Still no internet, we are starting to have withdrawals! Anyhow, this morning the girls started getting things ready. Washing clothes, packing clothes, etc. Just a few more days left. L For lunch, Alex drove us up to Naranjito. There is a local there who is known to have the best pork around. Last year a guy on our zipline tour told us about him, then when the Sterns and Kotormans were visiting, our zipline tour guide on this trip told us the same thing, then on Friday, Bryn Cernuda was telling us about the same guy. I knew I must go after hearing so many people rave about his food. He cooks only on the weekends and doesn’t advertise. You would never know about this place except by word of mouth. No sign or nothing, just a sitting area under a tin roof and a big open grill. The prices are amazingly cheap. Nothing fancy, just a plate of grilled pork, boiled yucca (a lot like potatoes) and slices of lime and a Coke to wash it all down. You don’t even get silverware, you can either eat with your hands (which most of us did) or there are some toothpicks on the table you can use. Talk about “finger licking good”! It was so good that the girls made me order extra to take home.
At the meeting today we had 2 couples and another brother all visiting from Missouri. They are here only for a week scoping out the area to see if maybe they might move here permanently. We had about 25 in attendance. We decided to stay home and watch a movie tonight. I rented Wall-E and we ate popcorn and then played cards.

Sat. March 14th

Pics: Some of the massive waves at Manuel Antonio today.

Chaz, Evette, Megan, Nancy, Naomi, and Amanda.

Still no internet. This morning the girls were craving French toast, so we went were we knew it was good – Anaconda restaurant at Costa Verde. After breakfast, Chastity, Amanda and I went to the beach while Megan stayed home to rest. The waves were even higher today than in days past! They were breaking quite a ways from the shore and were probably 9-11 foot swells – massive! There were tons of surfers out in the water and the rip currents were really bad. I rented a boogie board to be safe and it came in handy as a floatation device, just ask Chastity or Amanda. Megan came to the beach in time to see the sunset. We were sad to hear today that our good friend Santiago had left to spend his last 2 weeks in San Jose before returning to Toledo. (If your reading this Santiago, you for sure have to come visit us in Vermont now. You owe me, thinking I had my last meeting here with no assignments, I now have to do your part on Tuesday about the yearbook.)
Back home, Bryn, Nancy, and Naomi stopped by to say goodbye to our neighbors the Kubons - Dan, Evette and little Jayden. They are leaving for San Jose early in the morning. Everyone came over to our place to hang out and enjoy one another’s association. The Kubon’s were here the same length of time as us. We will miss them very much.

Friday, March13th

Pics: While in service we saw this little boy riding his horse and leading another one.

We had to stop one last time at Playa Esterillos on our way home from service.

Still no internet. At about 7:30 this morning it began pouring rain again. So nice to hear the rain coming down on our tin roof. We decided to sleep in an extra hour and missed the service group. The four of us went and finished a territory that we had just south of Jaco and then around lunch, met up with the friends at the literature table in Jaco. Megan had a great conversation with a girl who is originally from Colorado. She explained that she attended a non-denominational church in Jaco and that in college she took theology. She was very familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses. She had lived in South Korea for 5 years and was amazed that when they visited her there they spoke excellent English. We explained that many of Jehovah’s Witnesses learn another language so as to be able to accomplish our ministry more fully. She said she had read many of our publications and when Megan offered her the Bible Teach book she quickly accepted. Megan explained that she would be leaving next week, but that she would have someone else from the Quepos English congregation come by and visit her. A few hours after lunch we finished the territory and drove into Jaco to meet up with the rest of the friends. The market is in Jaco on Friday morning and afternoon so we decided to stock up on a few items. At one stand, after hearing me talk, the man next to me asked, “sounds like a southern accent you have”. Turns out he and his wife were from Plano, Texas here on vacation. He asked Amanda how long we were here for and when she told him 2 months, he wanted to know why so long. She explained to him that we were Jehovah’s Witnesses here as volunteers to teach the English speaking people the Bible. He was really impressed and said that was great we would come here to do that. Friday evening we went back to Barba Roja due to our nacho cravings.

Thur.March12th

Pics: The dolphins about to jump out of the water.

A view of the white sand beach we visited on Tortuga Island.

Today was our last hurray. The 4 of us, along with Bryn, Nancy, and Naomi went on a boat excursion to Tortuga Island off the tip of the Nicoya Penisula. I had read about how the island offered some of the best snorkeling in Costa Rica and it was true! The beach was soft, white sand and the water was very clear. We saw all kinds of fish, even an eel! We even got a special treat on the way there. About halfway, someone on the boat yells…”dolphins!!” There were about 7-8 of them swimming together. The captain of the boat turned to try and follow them and one of the dolphins began swimming right in front of the boat. It was the first time that most of us had ever seen dolphins outside of captivity. They were so beautiful. We had about 4 hours on the island and then on the return trip we got back to the port just before sunset. What a great day! When we got home, it started raining, hard! It hasn't rained here in about 6 weeks! How refreshing it felt! We also have not internet service right now. Apparently, no one in the area has it. How sad! Who knows when they will fix it!

Wed.March11th

Pics: Issac and Amanda fighting it out with paper airplanes.

Well this morning I brought Megan and Amanda down to the Kingdom Hall for the group (Chastity was home running late for the group and I took the day off). I dropped the girls off and went to Cafe Milagro for a cup of coffee. While I was sitting at the cafe, I noticed a woman approach my car out front. I watched her closely even though she didn't look like a thief and the car was locked. She proceeded to try to get her keys in the lock for about 10 seconds, then she looked really confused, stooped down to look into the window and finally realized that it wasn't her vehicle. She started walking away all the while laughing at herself. She walks over to the vehicle parked next to me, unlocks the door and drives off. I was cracking up laughing, because my car is a small little Nissan sedan and the car that was hers was a huge 4x4 SUV. Guess she hadn't had her coffee yet. After the group, I picked the girls up, including Chastity and took them to the beach to man the literature table.

At 11am, I decided to lay back down for a little nap. Then at 11:14 I awoke to the bed shaking.....an earthquake! It was very minor, but enough to wake me up. The girls got home at around 1:30 and they said they didn't even notice it at the beach. I was starting to think that I was making it up in my head. Then at around 3pm, the house starts shaking again. "It's another earthquake", I yell. Again, nothing major, just enough to get us all a little jumpy. This time I decide to go online and see if anything has been reported. Sure enough a 5.7 magnitude earthquake was the 1st one and a 5.9 the second one with their epicenter about 50 miles south of here, right off the Osa Peninsula. If you have Google earth, you can see where they both occured. Pretty exciting stuff.

Issac and Amanda had an all out war with paper airplanes. Issac narrowly missed loosing his eyeballs a couple time from the point of the airplane.

Chaz made fish and rice for dinner and Amanda made some more fried plantains....yummy stuff.

Tues. March10th

Pics: Chaz and her little buddy, Jayden.

Megan and Carmen just finish dancing.

Service this morning was return visits up until my study with Luis at 12. Once again, he surprised me with the questions that he had and his reasoning. He made the statement today that “many people don’t really care about how God wants us to live, they just want to live how they want to and then when they die they’ll just go to heaven” and then he says, “but really, if we are going to serve God, it takes effort on our part.” Usually our study has been 30 minutes, but today he wanted me to stay longer so we stretched it to 50 minutes. I brought him a Bible last week in Spanish and he’s already began reading it each day. Next Tuesday will be my last study with him. I am taking with me Ken Nelson to take it over when we leave. It will be a sad day, but I know he will be in good hands.
After service, was the meeting at 4pm. Amanda had a talk tonight with Dawn Islander as her householder. She did a really great job. After the meeting, everyone was invited over to the Nelson’s for refreshments and Spanish dancing. Again, it was hot and humid, but that didn’t stop everyone from having a good time. We love the Nelson’s, they are such a fun, hospitable couple. We are going to miss this place. One week left.

Mon. March9th

Pics: Me catching a wave on my boogie board.

Another amazing sunset picture.

This morning I stayed home and worked on my parts for Tuesday’s meeting (I have 3 of them) while the girls went for a run down to Quepos and back in the hot sun. At noon, Santiago came over and the 5 of us headed to the beach. Santiago stayed on the beach all day and then at around 4pm caught the bus back to Quepos because he was so hungry he couldn’t wait any longer. We spent the rest of the day there and then watched the sunset, it’s just breathtaking no matter how many times you see it.

Sun.March8th

Pics: Giving my public talk.

Me and Chaz afterwards at El Avion.

Today was my public talk – “On Whose Promises Do You Rely?”. We had about 30 at the Kingdom Hall. It was so unbelievably hot that when I got done I had sweat that soaked completely through my shirt and pants! Afterwards, the 4 of us along with Bryn and Nancy went out for nachos at El Avion. After dinner we headed back home for more internet TV and popcorn.

Sat.March7th

Pic: One of my "professional" photos of a shell on the beach.

We slept in this morning. After some breakfast, we decided to drive out to playa esterillos, a beach that we discovered one day while in service. The beach extends what seems forever and the girls wanted to go for a run so off they went on a 5 mile beach run. I stayed behind and walked along the beach picking up shells. For whatever reason, this beach is loaded with shells of all kinds of different sorts, along with lots of small crabs. The water was very clear here, but the waves were definitely lacking. We headed home before dark, cleaned up and then watched some more internet TV.

Friday,March6th

We had a large group out today, everyone heading north to Jaco. The four of us had to finish up some territory that we had started a few weeks ago in playa hermosa, just before Jaco. At around 1:30 we drove into Jaco because on of the sisters had asked to catch a ride home with us. At the literature table, there were several of the friends standing around talking to one another, one brother on the phone, and everyone looking anxious. Come to find out, our next door neighbors Dan, Evett and Jayden, had boarded the bus to head back to Quepos and at the first stop out of town 2 young guys grabbed Dan's bag w/o him looking and jumped off the bus. Once the bus started off again, everyone on the bus started saying, "those guys just stole your bag". By the time they could get back off the bus, the guys were long gone. They had their debit card, $120 cash, and all their literature in it. So who knows, maybe they will read the literature, return the money and come into the truth. The cops came and they filed a report, drove them around town looking for the guys, but to no avail. Fortunately, they have a friend who is visiting for the last week they are here (they leave the same day as we do) and are going to have them bring some money for back home. On the way home, I stop for a diet coke and mentos. The girls have been dying to try the "explosion experiment". Well, it worked. Unfortunately to upload a video takes way too long on here, but who knows, a video of the girls spraying diet coke all over themselves may make it to YOUTUBE.

Thurs.March5th

Pics: The four of us mesmerized in front of the "TV".

The girls playing cards at the Nelson's gathering.

Thursday we decide to sleep in, being that Chastity still isn't feeling quite 100% and now Megan is feeling a little under the weather. We spent the first half of the day behind the computer watching online TV. By noon, Chastity was feeling a little better and Megan was beginning to feel worse. So me, Chaz, and Amanda leave for a walk down to Quepos. It's blazing hot and I'm whining the whole way. Once we get to Quepos, soaked in my own sweat and gasping for air, I decide that MY first stop is at the ice cream parlor! The girls swig their water and head for the gift shops. On the way home is the worst part because it's ALL uphill! I didn't realize how bad out of shape I was until now, guess the ice cream is going to have to come to an end once back in Vermont. We get home, take showers, and me and Amanda (Chastity and Megan decide to keep their germs home) head over to the Nelsons for a congregation gathering at their home. Most all of the friends from the congregation were there. We had finger foods and enjoyed one anothers association. Kim made her famous upside down pineapple cake for everyone...it's to die for!

Wed.March4th

Pics: The two officers that visited our table.

Chastity woke up this morning still sick with bronchitis. The rest of us met for field service and decided to do the table at the beach with Santiago. We had somewhat of a quite day, though we did have the tourista policia stop by the table. One of the officers took a Bible Teach book in English and the other took a magazine in French, being that he spoke some french. Santiago asked them if we could take their picture standing in front of the table and they were happy to let us. After service, we went back to the house and rested for awhile and then just before sunset the four of us went back down to the beach to meet up with Naomi, and Bryn and Nancy along with their friends visiting from Patterson, Mark and Renee Ferrigno. We all sat on the beach with some wine and watched the sun set. While we were there, a group of people came walking by on the beach and recognized Bryn and Nancy. It was a group of witnesses from the English congregation near Tamarindo. Turns out, one of the brothers in the group, Dustin, knows my cousin and her husband, Laura and Ralph. Then I find out that Mark and Renee know my brother James at Brooklyn and one of the brothers in our hall, Greg Wormser. It's such a small world in Jehovah's organization! After the sun sets, we all went over to Bryn and Nancy's house for some cards. We all spread out on the living room floor and played Golf, or SixPack, as some people call it.

Tues.Mar.3rd

Pics: Chastity showing off her sweat stains after the meeting.

Chastity giving her talk with Amanda as her householder.

Megan and Amanda giving their demos.

We had a full day today. Service this morning. I had my second study with Luis and it was wonderful. He really is such a nice person and seems to be thirsting for the truth. We covered the first subheading in Chapter 1. Chastity and I were talking about how that 98% of the worlds population has access to the Bible, yet there is still so much confusion as to what it teaches. He said, "yeah, so many people have access to the Bible, but they just aren't committed to learning about what it says. It's like when you buy a television it comes with an owners manual that tells you how to operate it properly, the Bible is the same, it's like our owner's manual for how to live properly." He is such a reasoning person. I wanted to invite him to my public talk this weekend, but he's going to be out of town visiting his aunt.

After service we had our meeting at 4pm again this week. We all 4 had parts on the meeting. Chastity was still feeling a little under the weather, but she had a talk to she muscled through it and did a great job. She was supposed to be doing a demo with Amanda as well for Santiago's part, but last minute she starts coughing uncontrollably, and heads to the bathroom. Megan has originally prepared the demo, so she offered to take Chastity's place. Her and Amanda did a fantastic job! It was so hot in the Kingdom Hall, by the end of all of our parts, we were sweating like crazy!

After the meeting, we took Chastity to one of the pharmicia's in town and talked to the pharmacist on duty. They can pretty much prescribe any medicine they want here. He decided that the best for her would be to take antibiotics and also some prescription cough medicine. He said to take the antibiotic on a full stomach........so we decided we just had to visit Soda Sanchez for dinner!

Mon.March2nd

Pics: One of Megan's sunset photos.

Monday's are our day off so, yes, you guessed it, we went to the beach all day and watched the sun set. Unfortunately, I've waited too long to write about this day, so I've pretty much forgotten what all happened. So.....that's about it.

Sun.Mar.1

Pics: Megan signing a comment (by the way, we all 3 signed a comment)

Visiting the friends after the meeting.

Megan and Amanda had been wanting to visit the sign language congregation while we were here so this morning the 3 of us (Chastity was still too sick) went to the Parrita Lesco congregation. As I've mentioned before, the people drive like mad here. As we were approaching the Kingdom Hall, I put on my left turn signal, and just as I'm getting ready to turn, I check my mirror (I've gotten into the habit of doing this) a car comes speeding by on my left! It would have been a disaster had I not checked! (That's right Don and Lisa, I saved your little girls) Anyhow, maybe that makes up for all the driving mistakes I HAVE made since being here in Costa Rica. We walk in just as the meeting is starting and after song and prayer, we realize that they aren't doing the WT, instead it's the "God's Friend" brochure for 1/2 an hour. Then they had a speaker give the public talk in Spanish with a translator, and then the last hour was the WT study. There were 21 in attendance. Afterwards we met most everyone there. There were 3 who were deaf, and I believe all 3 were studies. On the way home, 2 of the friends rode with us since they lived in the direction of Quepos. Sunday afternoon we went to the beach and cooled down at the end of a very hot and humid day.