October update

It has been quite some time since I have been able to post an update and I have several things to be able to tell you about! First of all, one of the reasons for a delay in posting is because about 3 weeks ago our laptop was struck by lightening! We have had quite a bit of rain over the last month, which is not too unusual, but periodically we suddenly have lightening that comes with the rain. We really have no warnings when this happens and it does not happen often. So this particular night we had been having some heavy rain and within about 30 minutes we literally had ONE lightening strike in our area and it must have either hit our house, or somewhere VERY close to it. Our computer was connected to a surge protector that was untouched, but we did notice that our cable box for the internet was dead. We figured this must have been what was hit and it traveled to our computer. We are praying that it can be fixed! For now we are using an internet cafe that is directly behind our house. It is very nice to have one so close by!

As of October 1st we have been living in our new home! What a blessing it has been! We are really enjoying it. We have more space in the home, but I have to say one of my favorite parts is having a real washer and laundry room! Before I used a plastic washing machine that would have to be stored in my hallway when it was not in use and then carried outside to be connected to an outdoor sink. This washer had two sides to it, one for washing and the other for spinning the water out of the clothes. It seemed like it would take forever to just wash a load of clothes! First of all...the washer only held, at the most, maybe 5 towels. For a family of 6...we go through alot of clothes...and towels...and sheets! I would put the clothes in the washing side, let them wash for about 15 min. until the washer was done, then have to remove the clothes to put in the spinning side. Once the water was spun out, I would place them in the washing side again to go through a rinse cycle. After that was finished, I would once again put them in the spinning side to remove the water. Just imagine going through all that...and then it starts to rain! The old house did not have an area outside to put clothes when it was raining. During the rainy season, which lasts for 6 months, it can rain almost everyday for a couple hours a day. This is not good for a family of 6 that goes through alot of clothes,towels and sheets! LOL! Thankfully now, we have a great carport to hang the clothes when it is raining! And we have had our share of very heavy rains over the last couple weeks, especially the last 7 days straight! I don't think we have seen the sun for more than an hour in the last two weeks! We have had so much rain, that the country has been under a red alert for flooding. Dave left Saturday with Jeremiah to do our weekly grocery shopping. He had to take the bus and when he got about halfway to Santa Cruz, one of the main bridges there has collapsed into the river! There is only a small area that is still connected. The buses have been taking the passengers to the bridge, everyone exits the bus and walks across the bridge to get to another bus waiting for them on the other side. We have seen on the news many areas of Costa Rica that has been flooding and where roads have literally been washed away!

This is our street coming into town! The road and the river are one!

We have received so much favor through the owner of the house. The house was fully furnished with all appliances, including a new stove and washing machine, but the only thing we were going to have to get was a television. The owner decided to go ahead and purchase a new TV and placed it in the house as well! He replaced the living room furniture, which what he had was fine with us, with a new living room set. He also expanded the carport to where it is the full length of the house now. This is a great blessing to us because we are using the carport for our Bible classes now! For our first children's class in our new home, we were outside under the carport and we had 8 children from our neighborhood come! It was the most we have ever had in a kid's class so far and they all really seemed to enjoy themselves. Our neighbor that was watching from her kitchen window seemed to enjoy it as well! We are so thankful for the many blessings we have been given and now we look forward to new souls being added to His Kingdom! Because of the rains, we were not able to have a kids class last week, but today we had 5 children come and two of them were new ones. During our prayer time today, all 5 children gave their hearts to the Lord!! PRAISE GOD!!

First children´s Bible class in our new home!

We have received favor with the public school director in the town of Brasilito where we wanted to hold weekly Bible studies! The director gave us permission to use his personal classroom on a weekly basis to hold a Bible study. We have been going for four weeks now every Friday night. As of yet, we have not had anyone come, but we continue to pray for the town and invite people to come.

We can't tell you enough how much we appreciate your prayers and support for us. As of this month, we have completed our first year here in Costa Rica. We have seen God open up doors of oppurtunity and we are just so excited to see what else He has in store for this next year.