An amazing example

I heard this experience a few days ago, and thought it was too good not to share.  There is an elderly brother in Costa Rica that has always lived modestly as a gardener and caretaker.  The time came for him to retire and start receiving his government pension.  So he went through the process of submitting applications and paperwork to the proper authorities and all the usual rigmorole.  He says that he finally got tired of going again and again to the government agency and asking if his pension had been approved.  And so he went on with his life and kept working for years at his gardening without hearing a word.  One day he received a letter in the mail from the bank advising him that there were 5,000,000 colones (approximately $10,000 US) accumulated in an account in his name!  He couldn't believe it!  So he went down to the bank, and sure enough, the government had been depositing his pension for years and forgot to let him know!  So now, what would this poor, elderly brother do with his unexpected windfall?  He tells the tale:  "My house is paid for, and I'm going to continue to receive my pension every month. What am I going to do with all that money?"  So he went and bought himself a new bicycle so that he could better go out in service and to the meetings to serve Jehovah.  He bought himself a new suit, and the rest, he says: "I gave to Jehovah."  !!!!!  The brother that told me the experience is someone that lives a more comfortable lifestyle and has very little time for Jehovah because of his many business ventures.  He had tears in his eyes and said, "I feel like I'm not doing anything for Jehovah."

What an amazing example of faith and a simple eye!  How many of us would do the same???


And for a little laugh, the other day out in service I noticed the following poster on the wall of a woman that claims that she and her husband are pastors called by God to start a new church in their back yard.  They had taken the cover art of the Bible Teach book and used it as a backdrop for their own poster with two Bible texts about the holy spirit!  In the States, that'd be a lawsuit. But here in CR, nobody bats an eye! :) 

Memorial 2011





Our speaker Jonathan Vargas, Erick and I, and Jonathan's sister Michelle


Our Memorial this year was exciting, as I am sure it was for all of you wherever you may be.  Our congregation of Muelle currently has 22 publishers, and we had an attendance of 94!  So that is more than 4 times the number of publishers.  Since we always have such great attendance at our public meetings anyway, (averaging about 60), we didn't quite know how many to expect.  But we were pleased with 94.  Of those 94, 14 were our students or invitees.  There were also about 4 families composed of 12 people that were present because of our encouragement or help getting reactivated.  Muelle isn't like other places where the work has been established for years, and thus, we don't have a lot of inactive ones that come out of the woodwork for Memorial only.   Here are some of our attendees:

My return visit Darling and her husband



Joycie and Nicole



Students Hanniah (left), Elizabeth (right) and her little sister (center)



Students Adrian (father), Andrey and Elki (children)



Anie, the congregation's live doll
Such a cutie, a student's daughter



Student Doña Bernardina "Nana"
We pick her up for all the meetings.
She is paralyzed on one side from a stroke.




We did our best to decorate everything pretty, "tropical style"



We had about 5 of these arrangements on the posts of the porch, but by evening they were suffering from the heat!





Extra seating on the lawn along with an Italian restaurant style string of light bulbs to help with lighting



 

Small arrangement with ginger flowers and tropical leaves for the literature counter



The main auditorium was pretty full



A video of our meeting area




Yours truly

 

A rural day

Today was a hot, sunny day with a constant breeze blowing.  It was a day that we set aside as a "rural service day", meaning that all the members of our congregation that chose to, spent almost the entire day visiting people from door to door.  Since we normally only do this activity for 2 hours or a little more at a time, this is a big undertaking.  We had 6 cars full of people that spent from 8:30 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. in the preaching work.  We are in a special campaign of inviting everyone to our memorial of Jesus Christ´s death on April 17th, so our visits were very brief and we covered a huge amount of territory.  Everyone packed a picnic lunch, and one sister, Hilda, even brought a portable gas burner.  With this she boiled water and made fresh coffee right on the spot for everyone using the traditional Costa Rican "chorreado" method (pouring the boiling water through what looks like an old dirty sock full of ground coffee).  Hilda also brought a homemade cake that she shared with everyone.  Erick and I brought fresh, juicy watermelon, papaya, and melon for all and shared cold iced tea with many.  Even though the cars were there to facilitate things, we were walking most of the time over dusty, very rocky roads.  So we got home exhausted, toasted, and covered in dust from head to toe, but happy!  Everyone was excitied about all we had accomplished and the huge testimony we had given to 3 different pueblos (communities). 



A welcome rest

 




Jessica is exhausted and sunburned

 



Dayans enjoying an orange

  



Maicol is happy with our picnic

 



a calf looked on as we ate

  




Roger

  



Samantha the Valiant

 


Hilda making coffee

 





Amparo and her Montero

 





Tico Time

There's something here in Costa Rica that gringos (not always affectionately) refer to as "tico time"....that basically means that Costa Ricans, who proudly refer to themselves as "Ticos", walk to the beat of their own private drummer.  They view appointments and set times as a hopeful goal, but by no means a definite commitment.  It is the Costa Rican version of "fashionably late", but I assure you that fashion has absolutely nothing to do with it.  (Fashion is an extremely rare commodity in third world mentality, at least no fashion you've ever seen).  A minimum of an hour late is pretty much expected and very well tolerated.  Since I've had nine years to ponder Tico Time, I've decided that it has several basic underlying reasons.  First of all the majority of Costa Ricans do not have a car, which means that they are completely dependent on public transportation, or their feet, and propicious weather.  So there is a centuries long tradition of not worrying too much if you can't make it.  And if you do make it, WOW!!!  That's great!  Who cares if you are an hour late or more?? Just getting there is a HUGE accomplishment!  Bus schedules can change at a drop of a hat, buses break down, torrential downpours can come out of nowhere, and there are always the unexpected visitors, that in no way shape or form can be told that you have an appointment or previous engagement.  They must be attended to!  Thus, Tico Time is the norm in Costa Rica.  If you can't make it, no big deal...everyone understands.  TRANQUILO!!!  This was acutally a huge relief for me at first after living in a rat-race gringo culture where everything has to be done yesterday.  With further exposure and mucho more time in the country, it can be trying to the gringo psyche...but you learn to just go with it.  And if you can't beat 'em (which you most certainly can't)...join 'em!!!


My friend's daughter with her chiguagua



Elizabeth

 I have a new student.  She has been studying the Bible for several months in nearby Ciudad Quesada, but recently moved to our area.  Her former study conductor came two weeks ago to help me find her and introduce us.  However, it turned out to be more than we had bargained for!  I don't think I've ever been to a more isolated house in our territory.  We entered a huge cattle farm, passed all the homes and buildings and she said, "it's not far, keep going", so we kept going.  We went down a totally desolate and horrible road for about 20 minutes, and she said, "keep going" by way of text message.  We came to the end of the huge cattle farm, and had to open a gate that was surrounded by more cattle on the next farm.  She said "keep going", i'm not far.  So maybe 15 minutes later with slow sledding, we finally arrived to her extremely humble home.  Her "marido" which is the politically correct term in Costa Rica for "live-in boyfriend" works at a dairy that is literally "where the sidewalk ends", I felt like the earth's crust was at its furthest limit and we were going to fall off into nothingness!  It took us an hour on a horrible road with absolutely NO OTHER houses to find her!  Elizabeth is very desirous of continuing her study and had already gone to a meeting in her previous city.  But I was wondering how to take care of this very isolated precious sheep!  I happened to notice that she lived right next to a river, and wondered if there was a bridge to cross over and avoid the hour-long trek.  She informed us that NO there is no bridge, but I started to look closely at the other side of the river, and realized that the dairy farm and houses were actually only about 5 miles or so from my house as the crow flies!  We had weaved around so much that I had no idea where we were, but really we were not far at all!  So after some negotiating, we came to an arrangement.  Elizabeth will cross the river in a tiny paddle boat to the other side, walk out to the main highway with her little 2 year old, and I will pick her up, take her to my house for the study, and then bring her back to the farm entrance near the highway!  I was so relieved that Elizabeth was willing to also put forth her own effort to be able to continue her Bible study.  She says that it really scares her to cross the river, but so far she has done it one time!  The following are some pictures of her, the river, and the dairy farm near where she lives.  I'll keep you posted on her progress.



Elizabeth and Isis




If you zoom in you can see the dairy farm and wooden shack where she lives on the other side of the river, there's a little boat too

  



piglet wants to see who came to visit




a pen of newborn calves









a peacock perched as I wait for Elizabeth to arrive





what a tail!



The Muelle Congregation

Congregación Muelle (Con-gray-gah-see-on Mway-yay) as we say it here. My parents took this little video of me setting up our "auditorium" before a meeting.  We meet on Gloria Elena's back porch. Each meeting we have to sweep up the leaves and debris, set up chairs, podium, and until recently the sound.  We now have a permanently installed sound center that has really helped.  But our meeting is really out of doors, with hummingbirds flying around by day, and sometimes bats by night! 

Gloria Elena was the only witness in Muelle for 12 years!  But she would go out "predicando" (preaching) by herself, and conduct studies, even though she had never been to a Service Meeting!  Many of the students that come to our meetings are there because of her!  The whole town knows "Doña Gloria" for being a brave Witness.  She rides up and down the streets on her bicycle in her skirt, complete with reflective vest and protective head gear.  She is now a regular auxiliary pioneer, and even though her husband Gonzalo is not a witness, he has kindly allowed us to meet in their home.  He used to be opposed to the witnesses, but has been softening over the years, and is now attending both meetings every week and giving comments.  We hope one day soon he decides to have a personal Bible study.  I'll keep you posted on his progress. 



My dad with Gonzalo & Gloria Elena on their farm


We have had around 18 publishers more or less since Muelle began as a group almost two years ago.  However, after the recent Circuit Overseer's visit, about 10 more have been reassigned to our congregation from a neighboring town.  They were travelling to a congregation 30 minutes north of us, and it is going to be a huge support for us, and benefits for them financially because of a better bus schedule.  This means that we are extremely close to the 30 publishers that are needed to build a Kingdom Hall.  I think our Kingdom Hall construction project is going to shift into overdrive now.  We are praying to find a suitable piece of property at the right price.  Exciting times!



Cacao tree behind Year Text


Hasta pronto!
Aimee

Bloggin Blahs

Well, I have yet to get my blog up and running for real.  I have meditated on what interesting posts I could have had this month, and did quite a few mental blogs, but haven't got into the blog habit just yet.  But I'm going to see if this month is better.  Hasta pronto!
Aimee

May the blogging begin!

Dear Family and Friends,
I am starting this blog to keep you abreast of my daily experiences here in Costa Rica.  So many times you want to hear my experiences, and when I sit down to write them, it is literally overwhelming because there is so much to tell!  So I have decided to take a few minutes, hopefully every day or every other day to keep you abreast of our experiences, adventures, and "altibajos" (ups and downs) here.  I hope that you will be both entertained and encouraged.  Jehovah's spirit is flowing abundantly here in this tiny corner of the world and so many humble hearts are responding.  May the blogging begin!