Costa Rica

I am in Costa Rica. We got here Friday night. We left Panama on a bus at 8:30 in the morning and got here about 5:30 in the afternoon, it was one long hot day. No airconditioning in the bus. The border crossing was grueling, about 2 hours to check out of Panama and into Costa Rica. Neither side  has any kind of modern or speedy process and it was hot and humid, not my favorite 2 things.
What I have seen of Costa Rica so far is different from Guatemala or Panama and I haven't seen anything too impressive yet.
Yesterday we went out at night to a church service and did one of our dramas and a couple of testimonies. It was a pretty good service. This morning after breakfast we took a public bus downtown to a church we went to.  It was ok, young people with gaged ears and tattoos and loud music but they were praising God. Now we have walked over to MacDonalds and that is exciting for all. It was going to be cold sandwiches at the base so it is nice to get something different.
It has rained a lot since we have been here and it will start earlier in the day than other places we have been which puts a damper on the things we can do to go out and shared the gospel.
The base is interesting and not too bad, I don't like it as well as Chiriqui but it is better than Panama City. It's a big old wharehouse building that use to be a coffee processing plant.

LAST DAY IN PANAMA

We have been really busy the last couple of days and today is our last day here in Panama. We leave at 6:30 in the morning to go and catch a bus for Costa Rica so it's packing again tonight and off to new places tomorrow.
Yesterday we went in the morning to a neighborhood to go house to house and give people a bible if they wanted and to pray for them. It went well and then we came back for lunch and then left to for another town to a small church we put on the service. First we went out door to door and invited people to the service and that was interesting. At one house the lady had her sin climb up a coconut tree and cut us down coconuts then wack the top off with a machete so we could sip out coconut water. That was something I had never done.
We were there from about 2:30 until 9:00 last night so it was a pretty exhausting day.  Today it was off to a nursing home this morning and then to a place where kids go after school until there parent can pick them up. We drove to David to do that stuff today and for back about 5:30.
Hopefully we will have Internet at our next stop.

NGOBE CAMPS

Today we drove back to Boquete where we had been a couple of days ago. It so so beautiful there. We drove up in the mountains where they grow coffee and they have these places where the owners of the coffee farms will build these small one level type apartment houses and have the workers live there. Most of the workers are the indigenous Ngobe so we stopped at three different areas and asked if it was ok if we shared with them and they all said yes.
We would all get out, get our sound system out and the kids would come and gather and the moms and dads would stand in there doorways and we would sing kid songs, do some of our dramas, play games with the kids and tell about Jesus.
Every stop was different as far as the number of kids but always the adults would stop what they were doing and watch and listen to us.
Kalissa had said the other day she wanted us to share the bible and gospel message in a more direct way as we are sharing because its possible that many of these people have never heard about Jesus. I wanted to share the gospel so at one of the stops I did tell about God our creator and sun and Jesus and Emma translated for me. I really liked doing it and am thankful to have had the opportunity.

QUIET DAY

Today was a "day off" which was great but what made it even better is 5 of the noisiest kids left early this morning to go to the ocean. That made it very tranquil and peaceful. Then after lunch everyone else except Kalissa and I went to a river. I enjoyed the layed back day, I read, looked at stuff on the Internet, listened to some Spanish podcasts and took a nap.
Everyone is back now and we just had dinner. The kids that went to the beach seriously had one girl almost drown out in the ocean today. There were huge waves and she was dumb and just went way out but by the grace of God she got rescued.
We are going to have a movie night and watch The End of the Spear.  Tomorrow will be a new day of going and doing.

Sunday

Today being Sunday we drove to the City of David which is the largest city in this area and went to church.  We did one of our dramas at the end of the service and it's one that I am in so that was fun.  Today is Panama's Independence Day so there were parades and festivities going on everywhere. After church there was a group of about 25 of us and we went to a store that is like a Costco that they have here in Central America called PriceSmart and ordered pizzas and sat and ate in the snack bar area. It was pretty good. 

After we went to the Central Park and walked around and asked people if we could pray for them or if they knew Jesus. It was pretty interesting. 

We are back now

And have had dinner here at the base. Tomorrow is going to be a free day which will be awesome to have some down time. Some are going to go to the beach but you have to take a couple of different buses to get there and it takes about three hours so I am not going to partake. 

Boquete

This morning we had brunch at 10, is was good and then a little quiet time before leaving at 11:45 to go to a town called Boquete.  It is a beautiful place located in a valley in the midst of some huge mountains all around. It is the are where most of the coffee in Panama is grown.  We went to a church that was having a mission conference and we participated by doing a couple of our dramas, and some of us sharing about missions. I was one that had to get up and talk and it wasn't too bad.
After we went for a drive way up the mountain side and say some of the coffee they grow here. The mountains here are huge and really beautiful. It was a nice afternoon.
Tomorrow it is off to church and then out to do some ministry. I will report on that later tomorrow I hope.

YES IT WAS

Yes, that was quite an experience. We left here Wednesday on a bus they rented along with a driver and we drove to a City called San Felix, that was about an hour and forty five minute drive. There they rented a pickup truck and van with drivers to take us up the mountain about an hour drive to a Ngobe village we were going to. There were 18 of us in the group and we had to pack in food and everything we needed.
The road winds with hairpin curves, goes up and down, is misty, foggy, rain cloud shrouded 3/4 of the way. Pretty scary to me. The road used to be gravel and only 4-wheel drive vehicles could make it up part of the way. In the last year the government has come in and paved it and while we were there the government is bringing in power.
We went up the mountains to the end of the road, there is a school there and then up the mountain side a ways is where the pastor and his family lives and that is where we stayed. We had to carry everything up the mountain and sleep on dirt floors in a small wood cabin structure. The outhouse was way far away.
The day we got there it poured down rain like there was no tomorrow. It rained all three days but not as much as that first day. Today when we had to walk down to leave it was raining. Everywhere was a slick muddy mess. I slipped and almost fell a few times but managed to stay upright.
It was a beautiful place and certainly an interesting experience. Yesterday we went on a walk to visit some families where some of the family members were believers. The walk was for me a difficult mountain hike and it was wet and muddy but seeing the places and people was unique and moving. These people live very remotely and with very little.
Last night they had a church service where we were staying. It started at 7 last night and I was surprised people actually come out in the dark and rain with just a flashlight and walk up the mountain to the service. I would be challenged to get in my car and drive to a Thursday night service where there would be electricity and comfortable chairs but here these people had none of those things and they came. Some of the women and children come at the risk of making their husbands angry with them because they are not believers and don't like them to go.
Today we went to the school and did our presentation and that was good.  The drivers with the truck and van showed up to get us when they were suppose to and when we got down the mountain to San Felix the bus was waiting for us so we made it back safe for dinner at the base.
The bottom line is I have survived another wild experience.