April passed by in a blur! The majority of the month was spent in sorting, selling, giving away and packing all of our earthly possessions. We were also able to spend some quality time with friends and family during the last two weeks that we were in the states. We received all of the necessary paperwork, had the plane tickets, and packed four suitcases for Costa Rica! We thank God for the ways in which He provided for us to accomplish all of this.
On Sunday, April 25, our church, Oak Ridge Baptist, held a commissioning service for us. It was an exciting and emotional time for us, realizing that a new page in our life of service to our Lord was beginning and the chapters we had spent and served here in the states were closing.
ON OUR WAY…
We spent the following Monday in final details (cleaning and leaving our apartment) and final goodbyes (to my parents and family.) We spent Monday evening with Daniel’s family and left early Tuesday morning for Atlanta. There was a four hour delay in our flight from Atlanta to Miami! This caused us to miss the connecting flight in Miami to San Jose. However, we have some very close friends in Miami, the Wisharts and Oetkens, who picked us up from the airport and gave us a place to sleep for the night. We did finally leave Miami on Wednesday morning and arrived in San Jose late that afternoon.
(Our apartment is in back of this building)
Orientation started at 7:30 am on Thursday morning, so you could say we “hit the ground running!” The very first thing they did after giving us a quick tour of the campus, was to take us to a classroom and give us our placement exam! During the orientation classes, we learned various cultural things along with school rules, medical advice and security issues. After school in the afternoons, we found the nearest grocery stores, pharmacies and bus stops.
(Note the razor wire on all the fences!)
LANGUAGE LAUGHTER...
As we study Spanish, we find there are myriad words that appear to be almost the same in Spanish and English. For example, chocolate is spelled the same, but pronounced a little different. However, some words sound and look exactly like an English word, but mean something totally different. During our first week here, we encountered one such false cognate that caused us much “language laughter.”
We were expecting to meet someone, a Costa Rican lady, at a certain time when the phone rang. It was Martha, for whom we were waiting. She explained to Daniel that she couldn’t come to our meeting because she was not feeling well. In fact, she explained in Spanish, she was “intoxicated!” You can imagine our confusion and bewilderment when she said good bye and hung up. The next day we shared this with one of the Spanish teachers and she said, “Oh yes, of course—intoxicated!” We then explained to the Spanish teacher that in English “intoxicated” means DRUNK! She gasped and said, “Oh no!!! Intoxicated means food poisoning! When you eat something toxic!!!
Our little apartment is so comfortable. We thank God for the blessing of such a nice place. We have been learning to adjust to the “Tico” time. (Tico is a term used to refer to anything or anyone Costa Rican.) We continue to wait for internet hook up and to get our refrigerator fixed. In the meantime, we daily look for ways to thank God for the great blessings He gives. Thank you for your prayers! - Dan, Jen & Eliana
How You Can Pray For Us:
ü language classes
ü cultural adaptation to Costa Rica
ü a good church to worship and serve in
ü Internet hook up
ü to get our refrigerator fixed
ü remaining support to come in (12%)
ü Eliana’s health & development
ü Ultimately - that we would graciously accept God’s perfect will for each of these requests
Praises:
ü We arrived safely in Costa Rica!
ü We found a doctor and hospital for delivering Eliana!
