First day in Costa Rica

Yesterday was a very long day, but one that blessed our hearts. Our pastor, Randy Snider, picked us up at 3:45 am for the drive to Chicago O'Hare. When we arrived, the US Airways Skycap was so helpful as we navigated our way through check-in with 10 heavy bags. The staff was gracious and only charged us a little extra for the two heaviest bags. All the books and our family make it in one piece to San Jose at 3:00 pm!

Our residence is delightful as are the Costa Rican breakfasts served by Ana each morning. I believe I could live on pineapple and gallo pinto (Costa Rican rice and beans).

We made it to La Palabra de Vida about 9:00 am and found out that Lisa and her daughters
(Lisa is one of the missionaries that operate the school) had been so excited to get the books yesterday evening, and had spent several hours browsing through all 300 books and enjoying reading a little and looking at a lot of the books for the youngers kids. To the left is a picture of some of the books on one of the tables in the library.

We found out that we will be helping to modify one part of the library to accommodate these new books and to reorder and restructure the rest of the children's area. This will take a lot of time but will be so much fun!

We will also be cleaning and readying another room for a collection of books that will be used for the upcoming semester. We can't wait to hear about all the jobs that we will help with during our
time here.

After we worked in the library, the kids were invited to swim. It was a very warm day (83F) and the all the children had a wonderful time.

We also met the librarian, who we will be working with us in the library.

I couldn't be more amazed at how God is providing for our family at every turn. I'm not sure why I am always so reluctant to trust Him, and am so eager to go my own way. During this trip, I hope to set aside my own plan and follow His unique plan for the life of my family. That will be a super faith building experience for me and for my family also.

I hope everyone back home in Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin is braving the cold weather and doing great.

Some tidbits: If you order a hamburger in Costa Rica, just like in Mexico, you will get it with mayonnaise, ham, and sometimes cheese. Red lights are just a suggestion, and the traffic is worse than Houston! The mountains around San Jose are unbelievably beautiful, but often obscured by clouds. There is no spiciness (heat) in Costa Rican food, although Salsa Lizano (the Costa Rican catsup) is a delicious condiment made from tamarind. Works well on everything but ice cream! :) More tomorrow. Bill