First time to cook
So my favorite food here is cooked plantains. For those of you who do not know what those are, they look like giant bananas and taste similiar, but maybe a little sweeter. They cook them and eat them soft or they make them into chips (potato chip style). They are awesome. So the stove top here is gas, which i haven´t used a gas stove in 6 years or so. I forgot how quickly the stove top would heat up and i threw those plantains right on that super hot oil which of course splattered everywhere and about burned a hole through my wrist. I am thankful it wasn´t my eye b/c i am still bearing this cooking wound...it looks worse today than when i first burnt it two Saturdays ago! So, the Conexion team likes to laugh at me and tell everyone i don´t know how to cook. But NOW i do!
Roomie
This is Vanessa, my roommate for the summer. She works full-time for Conexion and AMAZES me in all that she does. She is living with me this summer, mostly b/c it is not safe for me to be alone here (although i would probably be okay). She is gracious and giving, and i can´t tell you how helpful she has been to me. She is always doing everything with Conexion all the time and the girl barely sleeps at all. She is happy and friendly. She does not speak ANY English, so we have continuous interesting conversations and facial expressions. This picture was taken in the morning after no much sleep so...keep that in mind! ;)
Vanessa is the expert on cooking plantains. In Espanol, platanos. She does such an amazing job! She knows they´re my favorite and she makes them all the time. Muchos Gracias, Vanessa!
Yummy
Platanos maduros
This is my new friend, Bimbo (haha, sounds more like Beambo). Although, i don´t think we´re really friends b/c he tells me everyday he hates me and wishes me to die. Yeah, i´m just making friends all over the place here, let me tell you!!! No really, he´s a fun dude who cracks me until my side hurts and is always helping me with my Spanish speaking.
Moonwalk
So, those of you who have been to Conexion before...do you think it´s pretty funny that they put the moonwalk in there?! Definitely a good time!
To my Ohio friends
Remember this guy Hugo on the stilts? Well, i received an email from him last night telling me that he had a job at midnight (he is like some sort of entertainer for all sorts of things like birthday parties and stuff like that...). He said he was going to make fire in his mouth and he was explaining how he does it. I couldn´t help but thinking about "STRANGE FIRE!!!" Ha, ha, ha. I knew it would be too difficult to explain that to him...or anyone else really! Talk about strange fire! lol. Hope you are all doing well and having a great wknd!
ps. Tad - we had a REAL toad-choker yesterday! Seriously, it rained and stormed so hard while we were painting a school yesterday. :)
Those of you who know me well...
So, i have made friends with some Costa Ricans and one of them sent me an email. He was telling me about his daughter, and he wrote, "my daughter lives in the USA...with your mom..." For those of you who know me well...you are laughing right now too. He has no idea. YOUR MOM!!!
Crockadiles!!!
Just look at them! So, i recieved a phone call at 6:24 AM Thursday morning...it was Wil and he said, "I talked to Jherson and you are coming to the beach with us (with the Ohio group), be ready in about 25 minutes!" Yikes...that phone call woke me up! Not even 15 min later...Nalene calls (Wil´s wife), "we´ll be there in one minute." Are you kidding me?! I wasn´t even close to being ready (imagine that). I had to pack for a whole day plus get dressed and etc, keeping in mind i just woke up from a deep sleep. Wil and his car full of people is standing out front shouting, "Christie! Come on! Let´s go!" for the next 5 minutes! The neighbors were looking to see what was going on. Wish i was kidding, but i´m not.
However, the flip side is that i got to go to the beach all day! The beach is called Jaco. It´s very close (should be within a mile drive), but with traffic and no direct route, it takes almost 4 hrs to get to. I got to go surfing most of the day and it was a blast! On the way to Jaco, we crossed a bridge that had these lovely crocks underneath. Check out that awesome one who is yawning. Man, those things are HUGE!
The Ohio group standing over the crockadile bridge
Here is the OH group. I am already missing you guys!!! Boooooooooooooooo come back.
Always love those awful beach shots. This is my friend Nalene who lives here. She is from Illinois and married to Wil (in one of my previous pictues).
Street Preaching!
I have heard that Greg and Wil often go "street preaching", but was not sure how it all worked. Today, we went into downtown San Josè in a popular and very busy shopping area. So, Greg put a few U.S. $1-dollar bills and a $20 in his hand and stood on a crate - before he even said anything, people began crowding around him. Greg asked them funny questions like, "Who can name the only mammal that can´t jump?" Answer: elephant. "What U.S. state produces the most coffee?" Answer: Hawaii. etc. He would give one dollar to those who answered correctly. Then he would hold up the $20 dollar bill and ask, "Who is a good person here, hold up your hand?" He would call on someone and tell him/her to answer some more questions. He would ask them, "Have you ever lied?...stolen?...committed adultry (maybe not physically, but in mentally)?" etc. somewhat following the 10 commandments. Then he would ask, "Does a liar, a thief, or an adulter sound like a ´good´person to you?" The crowd only grew larger and he had their attention. Then Greg shared the gospel (only a few minutes) and mentioned his gringo friends were around to pass out information about their church to them. He stuck around to answer more questions people had and the rest of us talked to the people around us (they wanted to ask us all more questions). Greg told us earlier that preaching is important because it works. God commands in the Bible to preach the gospel and Jesus, Paul, and others preached in the streets (so it´s not something weird, or something that doesn´t work anymore today). Side note - Greg is from the U.S. and speaks very good Spanish, all of his preaching is in Spanish.
Wil preaching.
Day 2 at the work site
I got to drill today...okay...i only actually got to drill one screw through metal on this roof. It really was so hard! But i really enjoyed it, would have been fun to do more, but i didn´t want to make everyone feel bad since i would have been so awesome and fast at it...yeah...ha,ha.
Roof came down today (Pastor Greg and Andres on the right)
Notice Miriam who is sleeping while others are working in the background. Ha,ha, fun friends.
Mim and Christina. Mim really did work hard, that´s why she needed a nap. Where as it may look like she is covered in snow and sparkles...paint really was flying everywhere, and poor Mim seemed to get most of it.
Costa Rica House
Behind me, upstairs is where i am staying. This gracious couple i met through Conexion the last time i was here is letting me stay in their place while they are in Ohio. I love it!
Another pic of the place.
Brooke
Here is a local Costa Rican. On the first day at job site, she showed up, wanting to help. She followed me around for the next couple days until...not really...this is my friend Brooke. We are friends from our church in Houston and she is staying with me for 6 days. She has helped me so much, i don´t know how i would have gotten around the first few days without her help (she speaks a lot of Spanish). I mean...just look at her! She even looks helpful.
Brooke and I
We are pointing to the little hump behind us which is actually a volcano. You can see it pretty well, right? :)
Jherson asked the man who is an auto mechanic at this autoshop here if we could pay him to use his shop during the Romeria. Conexion will need a place to sell drinks, give out tracks, speak with people (share the gospel), and play music. The man (hopefully i will learn his name soon) told Jherson he did not need to pay. So, Jherson asked him if there was anything we could do for him and the man said, "no." Jherson noticed that he needed a new roof along with some other things. Here is a before-shot.
We are replacing the roof with these brand new pieces of sheet metal that we will paint.
Let´s paint! These guys are a part of about 9 from a church in Ohio working with Conexion. I am really enjoying spending time with this group and will be VERY sad to see them leave. I have learned so much from them - they love the Lord so much and have encouraged me in my walk/service to God by sharing what God is doing in their church and their lives. They really are a blessing unto others. Thanks Ohio friends - you guys are so awesome! I do have to tell you one story about the guy on the right though...his name´s Tad...and he told Brooke and I that when it rains in Houston that people in Houston say, "Sure is a toad-choker out there!" I mean...I am still laughing at how funny that is and the fact that i´ve never heard that before. Please if you have ever heard that expression, let me know. LOL. I think our whole van laughed for almost 45 min straight one night. Fun group. Thanks for the laughs guys.
Miriam and I painting the sheet metal.
