June 9: The Week in Review

The weeks seem to go by in a blur now as we approach the end of our time here (we leave Quepos on June 25).  Here's a few highlights of our week:

• Visitors at El Puente:  Director Anna's parents and aunt came from Michigan to help out with some projects at El Puente.  Her mom and aunt worked on sanding and staining the 13 cubbies that George has made for books and storage.  Her dad and George worked on making bulletin boards and white boards.
• Seeds of Hope:  When I got to the girls' English class on Tuesday I told them I didn't really have a good idea of what we should do for a story.  I asked them what they wanted to create a story about and they said they wanted to do a story all about how they were going to stop me from leaving....It involved coming to Quepos at 2am the morning of the 25th.  While I'm asleep they'll bribe Angelina (with an ice-cream cone and a cute cat) to let them into the house.  Then they'll send one of the girls' 2 year old son to go into our bedroom and grab my passport so I won't be able to leave.  It was very fun to see how creative they were with the language and also very sweet of them to try to stop me from leaving.  If I hear noises outside our house on the 25th, I'll know who to suspect :)
• TPRS training: The women from last week Friday night's training session (on how to teach English) were eager to have a second night of training so we met again this Friday.  It's exciting to see how enthusiastic they are to learn more about the method and how they could use it to teach English to a variety of groups here, including starting an English Kids Club at church and starting language/literacy classes for hotel staff.

  

  Laura, Tracy and Penny = awesome students who are now equipped to teach English in a fun and personal way.

• Casa de Amor Graduation Day:  Today we were thrilled to share in the celebration of six guys who have completed the 9 month program at the rehab center.  

  

  Sophia and I went early to church to help our friend Laura set up tables and decorations.  

  
  

  

  View of the street from the church entrance.  It's a 15 minute walk from the nearest bus stop.

  
  

  

  The guys were all invited to come to the regular morning service at  10am.  The youth group made lunch for everyone as a fundraiser for their upcoming camp.  Everyone's waiting for the food to come:  fish, rice, beans, cole slaw,  and potatoes....it was delicious!

  
  

  

  Some of the guys had family members that joined them for the celebration.

  
  

  

  After lunch there was the graduation ceremony that included a time of worship, testimony time, presentations of diplomas and ended with refreshments and more fellowship and celebration.  It has been such a HUGE joy and blessing to get to know the guys at Casa de Amor.  They received us like family every time we went and we are grateful for the opportunity to share this special day with them.  The guys in the picture include both graduates and current residents of Casa de Amor.

  

  Kids playing across the street from church as we were leaving.

PRAYER REQUEST:

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Nathan for 10 days.  He is very excited to be able to join some of his classmates from Zeeland Christian who are coming down with a group of 20+ students and teachers.  George and Angelina plan to drive him in a rental car to San José to meet up with the group who arrive tomorrow.  We will see him for a few hours on Saturday when they'll be in Quepos for a carnival at school and then he'll be gone again until the 20th.  We covet your prayers for safety and good health for him and the entire ZCS group while they're traveling in Costa Rica.