Adventures In Boquete: April 2014

We left Nicaragua Thursday morning and had a very nice bus ride to San Jose. Once we arrived in San Jose we tried to get tickets to David and found out that no transportation was running on Friday as it was Good Friday. The bus we took to San Jose was Tica bus and the price was twice as much as TraCopa so our friend Eduardo took us to the TraCopa bus station and we got tickets for Saturday morning at 7:30.
The Rojas' family once again took us into their home and showed incredible hospitality. Friday morning I went for an hour and a half walk with Yolanda and two of her friends from the congregation. San Jose was so dead due to the holiday. Everything was closed and there was hardly any traffic. It was a beautiful walk! When we returned to the house Yolanda made breakfast and then she took us to the Volcano Irazu. Eduardo had to leave to go to Limon at 12 so he could not come with us. The drive to the volcano was beautiful and it was freezing when we got to the top however we touched the ground in the crater of the volcano and it was warm. That was kind of weird! After we left we needed to get snacks for the bus ride and the only place open was Wal-Mart, so we went to Wal-Mart for the first time in over 6 months.
The next day we left in the early morning to get to the bus station by 7am. Yolanda woke up extra early and made us the best empanadas we have ever tasted! We had an uneventful bus ride until the border crossing at Paso Canoas. The people on our bus, many of them, did not have verification of $500 per person or else did not have tickets showing when they were exiting Panama and that is a requirement to crossover the border into Panama. So we had to wait an extra hour while they got it all figured out. It was over 100 degrees in Paso Canoas! We survived!
We got back to Boquete about 6pm and were so happy to be home! Even though it meant I had 7 loads of laundry, I was still glad to be home!

Walking to the bus stop with Ted

The children walking to the bus stop

A volcano in Nicaragua; took the picture from the bus

View driving up to Volcan Irazu in San Jose

Danielle in a crater in Volcan Irazu

Entrance to Volcan Irazu

Beautiful Creation

The Ground here was warm but the air was cold

With Yolanda on Volcan Irazu

We were literally walking through clouds

On our way down the volcano

We went to Wal-Mart in Costa Rica

Palm Tree Farms on our way home

April the 11th through the 17th we spent with the Sanders' Family in San Marcos. We got to their house around 9:30 at night. The next day we got up and went in the ministry. We had a great time. I worked with Aribey and Danielle, Jason and Dylan worked with Ted. We worked a territory in the town of Jinotepe. You take a bus from San Marcos to Jinotepe and then walk to the Kingdom Hall for the meeting for service. They work Jinotepe one day during the week, I believe Wednesday, and every other Saturday. The first door we found home I got to speak to a local boy who spoke wonderful English and started a door step study. Ted will follow up on the interest. There were lots of not at homes but then we went to Diriamba, another town in the English territory, and did some return visits. Lori actually started a bible study with a lady named Rosario, who we found out later had been called on before and studied with. It was a wonderful call. She was very receptive and even had been to the Kingdom Hall in Las Vegas before. The meeting was that afternoon and the English group meets at 3:30pm. It was a very nice talk given by a brother from Leon, Nicaragua. Then the Watchtower was conducted by Kyle Cyzik, an elder in the English Group. The next day was Sunday and we went in the ministry again but this time I went with Lori on her bible studies and Jason and Danielle worked territory in San Marcos, Dylan went with a brother named Jonas on his bible studies. The first thing Lori and I did was walk Alyvia to the NSL meeting at the Kingdom Hall. She was going to attend and then hang out with a sister from that congregation in the afternoon. After that we took a bus to Lori's study. Wendy was her name and the study was beautiful. She studies the bible two times a week with Lori and is very genuine. Then we went to another study in the same town and on to the store. After we came home and we ate lunch and Lori went with Melissa on a study it was time to go back out in the ministry. Their afternoon meeting for service is at 2:30, which I might add I love!!! Jonas, Teresa, Jason, Lori, and I were the ones who met. Jonas and Jason went on studies, Teresa went on a study and Lori and I went on two more studies and a return visit. The bible studies were wonderful, one was a 14 year old girl, and the other was probably in heer late 20's. Very hospitable people and their English is very good. So now it is Monday and we have the Memorial this evening. We go to the Hall to clean up for the Memorial and that was fun to be a part of. After we finished the Hall cleaning Aribey took us, by bus that is, to Jinotepe to get Memorial dresses for Danielle and I. Since we were not planning on being here we did not bring any clothes for the Memorial. We each got a dress at the secondhand store for $3 a piece. The highlight for me was going early to the Memorial because we got to see the NSL after they let out. They had 28 from the field, a total of 59 in attendance. It was incredible especially considering that their territory is only 200 deaf people. What a blessing for all their hard work. San Marcos English Memorial had 32 in attendance with 6 from the field and only 17 publishers, many visitors. Also the Spanish congregation had 343 in attendance! The total for San Marcos was 444 - San Marcos is not a large city BTW - 30,600 population according to Wikipedia. Jehovah is truly blessing the ministry here!
So Tuesday we went in the ministry and Jason and I had the privilege of working the cart in the central park of San Marcos. The college is where they normally set up but because of the holiday they were closed so we set up in the park expecting not many people as it is only English and the college was closed. In an hour and a half we got to speak to 3 English speaking people and one was very promising. He said he would definitely be at the Special talk and took the magazines. His grandmother is a witness in Managua. The other two were very nice and took the Truth tract but did not leave contact information. The next crew came to take over at 10 am or a little after. That day we ate Pupusas! Yum! The whole family got a meal and a drink for $8 total! Wednesday I was sick so Jason went in the ministry with the group in Jinotepe and I stayed behind and got our bags ready. I think I forgot to mention that the earliest we could get tickets home was Thursday morning so we were leaving at 7:30 the next morning. We were sad to say goodbye to our friends as we do not know when we will see them again but we were anxious to get home. The journey home will be another post...
The Kingdom Hall in Jinotepe