It has been a fun couple of days recently.  The afternoon rain is painting circles on the puddle in front of our covered porch.  Recently we have experienced in a new way that people who love the Lord are all part of one body.  From the team of great people here from the states for a short term global journey, to the North American long term missionaries making Atenas, Costa Rica their home, to the Ticos who’ve lived here their whole lives, we are blessed to be making connections, from heart to heart.

The other night we were treated to dinner at our friend Cherie’s house and the company of a family who just finished up their time at the same language school we will attend in August of 2013.  It was a huge blessing to be able to hear about their experience and to eat Cherie’s good cooking.  Cherie’s heart of gold also gave us our first tour (cue up Gilligan’s Island theme here) of the closest Walmart and PriceSmart (think Sam’s Club) about half an hour away.  While we want to use as many local products as possible, it was serendipity to wander the aisles of American-type products and know that they were possible for our future, even if their prices made some of them not probable.  Tonight we shared pieces of our family’s testimony with the team who is concluding their time here on Sunday.    Ten days of our 5 weeks here have passed quickly by.  Some of the connections we have made, like with PriceSmart, are for a season, but many are eternal.

The afternoon rainstorms here are beautiful, especially when your laundry is safely dried and back under cover.

This is a banana tree. There is a bundle of them growing on the branch above the purple flower. They grow upside down. The stalks are very soft and can be hacked down with a few blows from a machete to gather the bananas.