From Megan & Emily Rohde

Today our van group went over to JHoly Theatre and met Pastor Rudy. He talked to us about his church (their ministries and outreaches). They do so much for their community! They minister to the homeless, the terminally ill, youth, street performers, pregnant teens, and so many other people. After he talked to us about the church he took us to a plot of land that they had just bought to build a new church. It was beautiful! We hiked down to a stream that they plan to do baptisms in once they clean it out. There was a huge waterfall down the path as well. Everything is so lush, they care about the environment so much! After that we went back up the hill to pray over their new church. When we started to pray as a group a huge wind kicked up and it started to rain (it was crazy! God was definitely there). Then we hiked back to the van (lots of ant hills and pokey grass! Some creepy jumping spiders,too) and headed to downtown San Jose. Pastor Rudy gave us a little tour of the City Hall & the loal Catholic church. At the city hall we climbed up to the top of a 3 story military tower that was built in the 1840s. The view was gorgeous! You could see so much of the city (lots of colorful roofs & palm trees). Pastor Rudy and George (one of our translators) also pointed out some volcanoes to us. Costa Rica is an amazing country and I can´t wait to spend more time with the people here!
-Megan

okay bear with me here because im really tired and this computer is reall hard to type on. after we took a tour of the city we then went to lunch at an auhentic costa rican resturant. we had a choice of eating chicken or beef, rice, beans, salad and mashed potatoes. i think that out of everything weve eaten ere o far the rice has been the absoute best food of all! for drinks somee of us in out van group chose to try juice. our translator george told us that there were two drinks one caled cas and another caled mariyana that were on the menu. kris, kelsey and emily h decide to be adventureous and try them. brittney megan and i just decided to stick with coke and iced tea. we al tryed the juices though and they were delicious. after we ate we we went to a local private school to teach kids ages 11 to 13 about a parable in luke 8: 5-15, the parable of the farmer scattering seed. the first group of kids listened as we spoke through a translator about how we should be the seeds that are firmly planted in soiland rooted in God and others who follow and believe in him. it was difficut to speak through a translator but it was a good experience for all of us. then we played soccer!!!! it was difficult to communicate verbally but we played and had a great time!!! with the second group of kids we played soccer and basketball first and then we shared a short version of our testimonys. later today after dinner we had a team debreifing and we shared what we all had learned after our first day with the people. ive learned that all of the people here are very joyfull and friendly. theyy all give so much to their community and church and even though they have little materially, spiritually they are fulfilled and complete with themselves and god. im so blessed to have the opportunity to be here and i hope that god will teach us all more asd we continue to minister to the peope here! keep us in youre prayers!!!!
emily rohde