Thanksgiving with Sally and Crosby in Portete, Costa Rica!

Sally's pie spread...I was spoiled with my choice of Apple, Pecan, or Pumpkin!


Crosby and Sally, my dear friends in Limon. Sally is a missionary from Kentucky that found love in Limon and decided to stay.



The rest of the holiday party (clockwise): Me, Crosby's sister Marcia, her husband George, and their friend Verona. Sadly, you can't see Florence, who is taking the picture.




The party crew.





Gobble gobble (courtesy of the Dollar Tree in Kentucky!)

Crosby starts on a second plate of holiday tastiness.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I hope you all got to spend lots of time with your families, enjoying delicious food. As you can see, I was well taken care of for the holiday this year. I even got to call home and talk to my whole family for hours! This was certainly one holiday I'll never forget.

It´s begining to look alot like Christmas...

My goodness, how time flies!

We are quickly approaching Thanksgiving, and here in Limon the city is already decking itself out in Christmas lights. Even the banks here already have their Christmas trees up in the windows. The weather is becoming a bit more like a Southern Winter, too. It rains almost daily and barely cracks 68 degrees or so. In fact, I´d be willing to bet that it hasn´t gotten over 64 degrees since Roman left for the States on Wednesday.

So, now it is cold and the Christmas lights are up, and people are becoming friendlier. Obviously, the people of Costa Rica don´t celebrate Thanksgiving like we do in the States, so they are at liberty to begin the Christmas festivities as early as they please. Stores began to carry Christmas decorations weeks before Halloween, and many houses have had lights up since the beginning of the month. Everyone I know tells me, in their inimitable Creole, that I will "know Christmas in Limon" and that it is the pinnacle of the year. I am very excited.

I am also relieved. I say this because the change in the seasons have brought the softness out of the people of Limon. Living here makes one aware of an existence that we in America have avoided (to our detriment) through our reliance on Credit Cards, and that is the grueling struggle of day-to-day living for people who have nothing to fall back on.

Life for many Limonense folks involves working long days for pennies, trying to stretch what little they have in order to provide for families that always seem to be growing, which I´ve discovered is directly related to the lack of Sexual Education in the schools, and basically just having to fight for whatever they can get. This is compounded by the astonishing growth of the US Dollar, despite our slip into recession. Every time the dollar goes up, the Colon goes down and the prices increase- we all understand basic economics. However, in Limon there is no way to increase what you bring in in order to meet the increased financial needs. This is a place in turmoil and clinging to whatever scraps it can glean.

No clearer example of this exists, in my mind, than when the cruise ships pull into port. If you want to see a city in action, come to Puerto Limon when the boats are in. Everyone clamours about the center of town, hoping to cash in on a piece of Euro-American ennui. They hawk animals crafted from palm branches, necklaces of dyed shells and seeds, paintings, and homemade food, all priced in Dollars- instantly doubling the prices such items would normally command. Children skip school and stand along the perimeter of the park, looking for sloths or birds that they can point out to the Gringos, who will give them a dollar or two in thanks...not realizing that a dollar or two can buy them lunch at a local soda, or maybe even pay part of the phone bill for their parents.

No, the people of Limon can´t just go to Walmart and save a few bucks on their groceries, or install a new faucet so that their water bills aren´t so high. They have to struggle. Watching TV the other night with a few friends lucky enough to have cable, we were watching CNN when an infomercial for a retractable awning came on. Immediately they all turned to me, asking if the product was real, or if the commercial was intended as a joke. To be honest, I wasn´t so sure. They shook their heads and I understood why so many people loathe Americans; how many other countries could provide so much for their people that they could waste it all on such frivolity? Here in Costa Rica there exists little imagination for such inventions- just getting what they NEED is hard enough.

So Christmas is fast approaching, and here in Limon that means bright lights and candies. But it means much more to this Gringo this year. It means that for one month, these people who have struggled and suffered throughout the year to attain those basics that we in America take for granted will dig deep into their hearts and take out the little bit of hope they can afford, and be joyful. Truly joyful. And then they will await the new year and pray that maybe this year will be a little bit better.

If that doesn´t make you feel a little more thankful for all that you have this Thursday, then nothing will.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, and keep praying for the people of this wonderful city.

1,2,3...What a community!

If you realized that the title of today's blog is taken directly from a Bollywood movie, then congratulations- you've gotten a gold star! Yes, today's blog is sponsored by Karan Johar- if you don't know who that is, open a new internet window and do a search for him. Pick any movie off of his list, rent it from the local Indian store, put on your reading glasses and enjoy the ride. Don't take my word for it; experience it for yourself!

Anyways... today's title is important for what it means for your two faithful missionaries. We've begun to build our little community here at the school, and it promises to be incredible. All the credit, really, ought to go to Roman for this development, although I have certainly benefited from it.

Basically, we now have an informal "Monday Night Fellowship" that meets in our home every week. Yesterday was our second meeting. We have a meal- Roman cooked last week, and two students cooked this week- and we fellowship together for a few hours before having an intense study session. This is a remarkable thing first of all because not all of our students know each other and are members of other churches. Then we also have many students who are operating on different levels of understanding. To top it all off, Roman and I don't teach together, so many students don't get to hear what I teach and vice versa.

Mondays are great because they break down all of these boundaries. We fellowship together regardless of age and denomination, combine students of several different ability levels, and Roman and I both teach and participate in the instruction. I'll be honest here and say that as much as our students need this oppotunity to learn informally, WE need to opportunity to work together and determine how to best support one another. Ultimately, at the end of the evening we feel fulfilled by the cooperative nature of the class, and more importantly our students are REALLY UNDERSTANDING! They can ask either of us for help, have things explained using different approaches, or just teach each other (which is actually one of the better ways to learn.) We have high hopes for this "program," and I think we have every reason to believe that this might be the key to longevity for the program here.

Speaking of the continuity of this program, I am excited to say that I have a student teacher! My advanced student, Tansy, is really a remarkable student and is fast surpassing the theory she needs to know in order to understand music thoroughly. Because I work one-on-one with her, we are able to make incredible strides in our lesson times. I've talked her at length about slowly transitioning her theory lessons into intensive piano lessons, and then beginning the next trimester with her acting as a student teacher in the beginning theory class. It is my hope that she will be able to serve as an anchor for this program- being the ultimate resource for whomever comes in the following year. This is obviously the answer to a big prayer for us, so I thank you all for the constant remembrance. Please continue to pray for the budding school and these first signs that EMA is not only coming to life but is starting to thrive.

This is just the beginning. I've been here 4 and a half months, and this is JUST the beginning!