Las Palmas...

Friday was a great day at school. We were all able to enjoy culture day that the teachers put on!
The rest of the weekend Joe and I had a great time, enjoying the beach! We were able to see monkeys and snorkel!
It is amazing to view God's creation and enjoy it for even just a little while... here are some pics...

What a Great Weekend!

Well first of all let me tell you what a blessing it was to have the 4th of July off at school. It was a nice breather! That night Joe and I got to spend some great time with friends.... eating traditional 4th of July food and playing games. BUT the best part is that a homeless man came to the gate and Joe was able to share the Gospel with him. Hopefully the words will penetrate his drunkenness!

Saturday, Joe and I got to help out a youth group from the States with a family fun day in a poorer town! I passed out invitations to a movie that we were showing that night and an invitation to church the next day. I was able to talk in Spanish the whole time and show the love of Christ! While I passed out invitations and helped face paint children's faces... Joe walked with a group around the town passing out invites and sharing the Gospel! Later that day... Joe and another ABWE missionary were able to share the Gospel with 3 other men! 2 were far gone and drunk, but one of the men really stayed to listen. He understood everything Joe was saying and knew that he would have to change his lifestyle to believe in Christ! He is really struggling with an addiction to cocaine, and is unwilling to give up his life style... but yet wants so bad to be free of it! Please pray for Mauricio that his conviction and pain would be so strong that he would cry out for the LORD! We showed the movie Facing the Giants at night in the main square of town, and it not only touched those standing around... but also the church members! It was great. Throughout the day I was so amazed to see the Costa Rican church members really take charge in sharing the Gospel and bringing people in! The Costa Rican youth group even learned the Mime that the "gringo" youth were sharing with the town! They learned it in 3 hours!

Then Sunday in church... we had already begun our service and began to get discouraged as no one from yesterday's event was showing.... when half way through Sunday school... a family of 5 walked in the doors... 2 gentlemen walked in the doors... and a cousin of one of the members that they haven't seen in 30 years walked in the door! It was AMAZING! Then as the service began to start a lady with 3 children also walked in the door... I cried as I realized it was one of the ladies that I handed an invitation to the day before! All of them stayed through the whole thing and now they have meetings with church members and missionaries to hear more about the word of God! One family is even going to come to the Bible study that we are having on Wednesdays! PRAISE THE LORD! The Costa Rican teens then acted out the mime they had learned in 3 hours.... It was amazing to see them learn it and take control of it as their own!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!! ALL THE TIME!!!!

Happy 4th!

This weekend is turning out to be such a fun weekend. Yesterday, I was able to go to the store and the mall to eat and watch a movie with just another girl and not Joe!
Although I love my husband it is good to get away and try to communicate and tackle things on my own, in this new culture and language!
It went well... we had a great time and did pretty well!
Today we were able to Celebrate the 4th with a group of friends. It was wonderful! We had a barbecue and played lots and lots of Dutch Blitz!

What a wonderful 4th! Hope you had a good one!

Fun In The Sun...

So this past weekend... I went on a ladies retreat with the language school! It was so great.
Such a refreshing time... and yes.... I AM BAKED....
here is a pic of a friend of mine & I enjoying a Pina Colada.... YES WITHOUT ALCOHOL!

A Wedding...

How wonderful it has been to spend time with family! And to see my only sister-in-law get married! She was
beautiful...So now... one more day and we are back in beautiful Costa Rica! Anticipating coming back home for Christmas.... :-)

Baking....

So last night was so great baking Choc Chip cookies with our Tico mom's grand daughters... Diana (small) and Daniella (taller). We had a great time making a mess! :-) Here is some photos...



But then our Tico mom came over to get the girls... and told us that her and her husband are moving! They can't afford this house that they have been in for over 21 years! So they are moving in the next couple of days! Yeah... fast! It is hard because Joe and I have grown to love this family and now we have to do it all over again with another family!

So pray.....

A 5 Year Anniversary to Remember...

It was wonderful... Joe got us the Master Suite in a gorgeous hotel here in San Jose, Costa Rica. He was able to get a great deal with through one of the missionaries here.

Friday night we arrived. Put our suitcase into this gorgeous suite...





And then headed to dinner... it was a wonderful night with a beautiful view! ...

Family Fun Day...

Yes... today was great. Joe and I were able to go to the newest Church Plant here in Costa Rica for their Family Fun Day! While the parents had seminar's dealing with finance, their marriage, and their roles. Joe & I with 2 other missionaries ladies "took on the kids", it was a great time! First we had the painting section... they painted their house or one they would like to have one day.... they were interesting!



Then we brought them all together and sang some songs... and memorized a verse, Monica (missionary) taught. They had tons of fun acting out the movements to the songs!



Next was pool time... yeah that was fun.



Then the day ended with more crafts, reviewing the Bible lesson and verse... and watching Veggie Tales.... IN SPANISH. Oh and don't forget the "mini" zip line that the kids had to go on like every 2 seconds :-) Yes it was great fun... At a BEAUTIFUL place....

More New Experiences...

Well Today was a good day. It started off by me getting out of bed at 7am.... yes 7am. It has been over a week now and my body has still not gotten use to this 2 hour change. But it did give me lots of time to do my devos, finish a load of laundry with my 20 step process, and get myself ready by 9 am to leave for the Farmer's Market.

Joe and I met up with some new friends and began our 8 block walk to the Market. It was great walking and getting to know these fellow students. When we arrived at the market I was impressed with how great a place it was. It had a park for the kids to play, a basketball court, soccer fields, and a fairly long spread of all the fruit and vegetables you and think of! Here's some pics...



I had a great time... In the sun. yeah, in the sun. Many times during this week and a half I forget that I am about 8 Degrees Latitude from the EQUATOR! So yes everyone.... I forgot to put sunblock on. AND because I had my purse wrapped around my shoulder, I now have a nice white strip among very red skin! Oh my. Well at least I got to enjoy some VERY fresh pineapple... I think it is becoming my favorite.

Joe and I came home after to see if we could get another load of laundry done before the rain came! The rainy season has begun and at about 1pm no later then 3pm the rain begins! And it is crazy! So we got it done just in time! After we decided to go to the small mall around here. And we ate at the most authentic Mexican restaurant that I have had so far! It was very good :-) And of course.... we couldn't go home without stopping at Hipermas first :-)

Holy Cow...

Yes I said Cows. Joe and I were able to go downtown San Jose today with our Tico mom. We had a great time looking at the sites and admiring the painted COWS! Apparently this year San Jose, Costa Rica decided to try something new in the downtown! They had a Cow Parade. Different painters came in with plain ceramic cows and painted each one to their liking. Unfortunately I couldn’t get pictures of all of them but here are some that I got…

We had such a great time with our Tico mom and her son. We spoke in Spanish and laughed hysterically at my blunders…. for example we stopped at Burger King for lunch and Joe asked what I wanted in Spanish. Well seeing that there were no salads on the menu… really, I decided that I would go with just one cheese burger and a bottle of water. Well, speaking to Joe back in Spanish because my Tico mom was standing there it went a little something like this: Yo quiero un quesohamburguesa y un bosque de agua. Which literally mean I want a cheeseburger and a forest of water. Yeah you read it right… FOREST of water. So I should have said un botella de agua, which mean a BOTTLE of water. My Tico mom lost it when I said forest and I was SOOOO thankful that I messed up with Joe before I went to order! But the hilarious thing is when I ordered the bottle of water and the lady behind the cash register gave it to me the company that bottled the water was called Rain Forest. So I looked at my Tico mom and said see, I got my forest of water. She lost it again….

Laundry... A 20 Step Process!!!!!!!

Step 1: Plug in Orange cord in outlet inside of house

Step 2: Plug in Grey cord in outlet in outside patio outlet

Step 3: Turn Cycle Selector Dial to Wash/Rinse

Step 4: Slide Wash Selector button to Wash

Step 5: Turn Wash Selector dial to desired wash cycle

Step 6: Attach hose to sink

Step 7: Turn on sink

Step 8: Let water fill up in washer chamber, Put in cloths, and detergent.

Step 9: Turn Wash Timer Dial to desired wash time: in Minutes

Step 10: When finished Turn Cycle Selector Dial to Drain. Watch water drain out of chamber and leave

suds behind. J

Step 11: Turn Cycle Selector Dial back to Wash/Rinse and turn on sink faucet.

Step 12: Let water fill up in chamber and turn wash timer to desired number of minutes to “spin” rinse.

Step 13: Turn Cycle Sector Dial to Drain and let all water drain out.

Step 14: Slide Wash Selector button to Spin

Step 15: Turn Wash Timer Dial to desired number of minutes to “spin”. Which is just a heavy back and

forth motion.

Step 16: Take personals out of wash chamber and put in dryer chamber to the right.

Step 17: Turn Spin Dry Timer to desired time to ONLY spin with no heat until they are not soaking wet.

Step 18: Remove personals from dryer and place on drying rack inside house to finish drying.

Step 19: Ring out excess water from each piece of remaining clothing from washing camber.

Step 20: Hang up these clothes on the clothes line.

Only Two...

So here we are in Costa Rica this is our second full day and we have had two visitors! Yes that is right ONLY two.... Two cockroaches that is. I am in shock and awe of how good my God is. Cause I didn't freak out as bad as I thought I was going to.
The first one was on our curtain above my head that my new wonderful friend Heather pointed out to me. I walked quickly forward THEN turned around to look. And it really wasn't that big. Maybe an inch and a half or two. :-) So Joe comes walking out of the bedroom with our little vacuum and sucks the thing up. The lady that we were renting from was in our home with her granddaughter talking with us. And as soon as Joe sucked the thing up she yells and claps her hands... Superman, Superman, Superman! It was so funny.
Then second one decided that it wanted to sit in the living room with Joe and I and watch TV! Of course "superman" did it again and squashed the thing!
So we have been told that they don't come around much... so we will see

Other then that, we have had a good time. It has been a little hard to adjust for me because of missing all of my wonderful friends and family. But God is good! We went shopping yesterday to a place called Hipermas! It was WALMART in disguise. :-) I was so happy. Walmart actually owns the store so it looked just like it! I could find LOTS there.
So today we continue to set up our home and maybe go to a birthday party! :-)
More to come...

9 More Hours...

9 hours until mine and Joe's plane leaves this Syracuse ground, lands in JFK airport, and then leaves this beautiful country for 6 weeks.

It has been a exciting and sad adventure.... now we will see how great this adventure in Costa Rica goes.....

More updates later... Please PRAY that all flights and transition that goes well!

LOVE YOU ALL!

A Big Day...

Today is the day that our whole church has been waiting for...

Today is a party day. Our church is going to have a great big fiesta to celebrate what God has done through pre-field...

More updates later...

22 days...

That is all Joe and I have left is 22 days. 22 days until we take that very early flight to Costa Rica. Our "home away from home". Or at least it will be for a year...

Here's some pics of the home we will be living in...

Front of "our" home

Kitchen

Living Room

Master Bedroom 1

Master Bedroom 2

Resurrection Day... 2008

What a wonderful day this day was with my family. I am beginning to cherish these days more and more with my family knowing that there will only be a few. Of course the highlight of the day was watching the first niece/Daughter/ Grandbaby of the family.

Here a few Family Pictures of our lovely day...

Extended Guevara Family
Top: Sam, Peanut, Joe, R Jay, Rachel, Dad, Gina
Bottom: Heidi, Heather, Annabelle, Mom

Mom & Dad

Heather, R Jay, Annabelle Dowling

Annabelle Dowling

Joe & Heidi DePuy

The Range of Emotions...

The one thing I Love and Hate about being a woman!

I love to be able to express how I really feel to someone in a time of love, Joy, and excitement....

BUT

I hate the fact that when life is changing so fast emotions seem to fly all over the place never knowing where they will land and what it will affect. I am so so so so so HAPPY that the wonderful Lord God created me and knows every move, thought, and word that is going to happen before it does! I'm happy because He knows how I operate and what buttons to press so that I don't die! Because if it was up to me... I probably never would have made it out of the womb :-)

So can you tell that leaving this country is getting closer and closer... yeah. Joe and I are beginning to find a place to call home in Costa Rica for a year... the homes are SO different... lots of adapting... BUT they are beautiful, WARM, and exciting....

I NEVER THOUGHT...

We would actually make it! But the Lord has been so good and we have! Joe and I have officially reached 100% of our support.
We got the clearance from our agency, we were excepted by the language school, and we have a couple finding a house/Apt. for us down there as we speak.
WOW... that is all I can say now a days through the tears. But good tears, great tears, tears of joy. Ok, Ok and sadness too. It is hard to say goodbye to the people you love.. not knowing when you will see them again.
But then excitement takes over.... Joy takes over. Excitement of a new adventure, a new country, new culture, and wonderful people. And Joy in knowing you are going to do what God called you to do and He is smiling...


Here we go....

Packing...

I didn't realize that when you begin packing there are so many steps....

There is the pre pre pre packing. Then the pre pre packing. Then the pre packing. Then the packing 1, packing 2, and packing 3 stages.......

AHHHH!

And I thought this was not going to be a big deal... right :-)

I need a manual... :-)

Closer and Closer...

It is really getting close to leaving time now.

Joe and I are just waiting to hear from a church in NJ if their vote goes through positive... and if it does...

WE WILL BE AT 100%! It has been 2 and a half years but it feels like 2 weeks have gone by. As I have been telling everyone I see here lately... if you see me crying... I'm fine... I'm just dealing.

We leave in only 2 months... not very long. Costa Rica here we come :-)