The Christmas celebration at the jail was wonderful, after a rough start. At first the guards would not allow the invited guests to attend, but after prayer and more talking with the guards they allowed the others to come. We went from a few to a room full! We had a special guest speaker who presented the gospel message. My group of English speaking ladies put on a skit on the life of David that we had translated,that was a lot of fun. I was so proud of their effort in putting it together.We had food and presents for all. We had a three week winter break and have been back for several weeks now. We are continuing to study Ephesians, but the jail is not an easy place to live the Gospel . Please continue to pray for them. My pastor's wife, Jan Thorpe, came in to share two weeks ago and the girls really enjoyed meeting her. They are a really wonderful group of women who have all had really tough lives. One of the girls is from Germany and is about 19 years old. She does not know the Lord but has been so excited to get a German Bible sent to her from friends from our church. Please pray for her heart to be open to the Lord.
We are now half way through our second trimester of school and they say this is the toughest one of all. We have to read the newspaper and report on an article each week, lots of vocabulary to memorize and for me the most exciting thing is that we have to do a Bible Study each week and then present it in class. It has been an wonderful challenge! Bob is in a better classroom situation this trimester and he is really enjoying his classes as they are moving at a pace that works better for him. We are really getting better at communicating with each other in Spanish. I am in my 13th verb tense! How difficult to keep track of all of them!
Friday at school we had a culture day. Each trimester we have one day in which we learn about the traditions of Costa Rica and Latin America. There were presentations of the various fruits, music, dance and games that make Latin America what it is. It was wonderful to enjoy a day with our teachers in a non classroom setting. School continues to take all of our energy as it has been a very long time since we have been sitting in a class room. The brain is a bit rusty! What great mental exercise! The joy comes when you can engage in a conversation of substance!
We are in the dry season here in Costa Rica, which means almost no rain and but we are thankful when we have cloud cover to keep the hot sun from burning our skin. It is a lot like spring at home. There are several trees that are in full bloom with orange and purple color flowers. You see people painting their homes and making repairs, not because it has been winter but b
ecause it is the only time of year to paint and make outside repairs without rain.This weekend was Bob's birthday and we had a really fun sort -of -surprise party for him with some friends from school and friends from Costa Rica. It was great to have a social evening that was entirely in Spanish!
