Zone Visit

So a zone visit is something i have never experienced before. Certain countries get them and basically it is when members of the Governing Body visit other Bethel branches and schedule a special meeting while they're here. Ours was Sunday the 11th in San Jose. It's held in a outdoor stadium and your congregation is bussed to the location. There are two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and it is for the whole country!

Our congregation was assigned to the morning session and there was 14,000 in attendance. There were 3 talks and the session started at 9 am and was over at 11:30 am. It was all in Spanish but super exciting none the less! After it was over we had to rush through the crowd to get on our assigned bus. It was crazy! 14,000 people and hundreds of busses creating the biggest traffic jam you have ever seen. Once we got on our bus it took 1 1/2 hours to get less then 5 miles. By the time we were getting out of the traffic jam, the other session attendees were arriving in their busses and everyone was waving at each other and yelling"hola"!  It was quite the experience and we were very privileged to be a part of it. We come home in exactly one month and it's going so fast! Tomorrow we pick up Jeanie and Kris and head to the Caribbean, i hope everyone has a great time!

Congregation Get Together and Mapping Trip

So I've mentioned the Oldham's in the past, they have really done a lot to get the English group up and running these past few years. Well they have to move back to California and might not have the opportunity to come back for quite awhile. So of course the congregation threw them a going away party! It was a surprise party at Eric and Anita's house and Eric has a great swing attached to a very high branch on the ancient tree on his property. The kids and adults played on that swing for hours. Of course some of the guys tried to see how close to death they could come, fortunately no one was seriously injured! We all ate a huge spaghetti dinner and Amber made awesome cheesecake for dessert.

Yesterday we also finally took a trip to check out the bottom of the peninsula and see how much English territory would be there. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive all on dirt roads, with a couple of river crossings. We would only be able to reach this area during the dry season because the rain would make the rivers impassable and roads too muddy. We have already mapped half way down, with pockets of English areas but nothing like we encountered in Manzanillo, Santa Teresa and Mal Pais.  These towns are all English! They will take at least 2 to 3 days to work with one or two car groups. We weren't expecting this at all. I guess this area isn't a "secret" surf spot for Americans any longer!

So now we have to see if we have time within the next month to plan a preaching getaway! If not, we'll probably have to wait until the dry season starts again in December. So realistically this area will be worked at the most once a year for a few days. So if anyone wants to come visit next year we can plan a service excursion! The beaches were more aquamarine then the beaches here and a little more lush and green, they must get more rain during the dry season. We don't get rain in Samara for about 5 months during this season creating a lot of dust, but it's always sunny without a lot of humidity.

Next week Jeannie and Kris are coming to visit and we're going to explore the Caribbean side of Costa Rica for a few days. I hope it's a lot of fun, I'll be sure to write all about it.