kids camp

Today was the first day of kids camp. There were 20 kids ages 3 to 6. It is run like DVBS. They will be coming all week. The girl Pow, who runs the camp said to me today that she has been praying that God would send people to help with the camp and we showed up. She said that we are really needed here this week and she is so grateful that we came. I told her that we are thankful that she prayed, because her prayers brought us here. Here are some pics. of the first day.

pictures from capenray

Here are some pictures from the school. We enjoyed some fresh fruit this afternoon while Colton and Miranda played with the kids who live on base.
Colton went fishing today in the little pond with his new friend and caught 2 fish. Miranda had fun riding bike and skipping with all the girls.
This morning we worked at setting up the base for the kids camp tomorrow. We thought this was definatly a lot easier than digging trenches. But we will see how tomorrow is when the camp is filled with 20 to 30 three to six year olds.

Capenray school

We arrived at the Capenray school after a very long cab ride through the mountains and valleys. Miranda and Colton were feeling a little car sick half way through. I know that Don and Ang can attest to the very hilly country side that can very easily make you car sick.
As we pulled up to the school we were very surprised at the beautiful grounds. It has a very different feel to it than the YWAM base. This is very manicured and pretty. They have coy pond and flower beds that are amazing with every kind of flower that you could imagine. They have a huge kitchen and dining hall. It differs a little to the kitchen at YWAM. Where we scared out a huge rat from in the kitchen when we cooked the chili for them.YUCK! It is amazing how you can just go with the flow sometimes. I thought I was doing well with mice but I even surprised myself at how I could step foot into the building after that , but I did.
So when we pulled into this place it felt like a 5 star resort. All day today we walked around the grounds feeling like a rich family that owns a property in a different country. Because there was no one around all day but the people who work here and a small travelling singing group. But with a little imagination it felt like it was all ours and we were alone with our own private band.
Today we had off from work so we went for a walk to the marcado(fruit market).It was a 2 mile walk through the mountains but we took our time and stopped at a , well o.k. 2 bakeries on the way. We bought mango's,2 pineapples, bananas, grapefruit, blackberries, and the ingr. for fresh salsa. We took the bus back and started on the salsa. They said to make ourselves at home, so we have free access to the kitchen and we took advantage of that. After lunch we went for a walk in the other direction and found a grocery store and bought some nacho chips for the salsa. Wow was that worth the walk. We had the best afternoon snack today. I love fresh fruit and salsa!
Before supper Colton was dreaming of a hamburger for supper. It was so funny. Dean told him that we probably wouldn't be having hamburgers here because it is a lot of work and money to make hamburgers for a big group. But wouldn't you know it. They made us burgers. Colton was in heaven. Then to top it all off Miranda actually ate a hamburger. This was the first time she had ever agreed to eat a burger or a sandwich for that matter. What a day. We are all growing in leaps and bounds.
There is a little fish pond on the property and they said Dean and Colton could try fishing. They tried but they need to get some bait. The hooks they had didn't work. But it was fun for a bit to try.
There are two families from the U.S. that live on the base. They each have 3 young girls. So Miranda had fun all afternoon riding bike, picking flowers and playing with the bunnies (Yes, they have bunnies and baby ducks!).

working at YWAM

Dean and Colton rebuilt the little bridge that goes to the back property. The fence was in very poor condition

Wendy is spreading some compost around the flowers. The base tries to use all the composted vegies to fertilize the flower beds and garden.

Miranda had a lot of fun helping to milk the goat and collect the eggs in the mornings. She played with the chickens and the goats all day long. It was fun to be in the country. We had a great time at the YWAM base and didn't want to leave but we knew there were more great people to meet and places to see. But we will be back next year.

Volcanoes and waterfalls

Here we are at the Poas volcano. It was very cool up in the cloud forest. We were glad that we had jackets with.
The second picture is at the Chorros Waterfall. We had the place to ourselves. While we were hiking down to the falls we spotted a snake. Colton was sure it was poisonous. But we kept our distance. It was about the size of a garter snake from home.

YWAM

We arrived at the YWAM base and were very impressed with the whole facility. The people here are very friendly and are very surprised that we want to help. The girl that I had been talking to by e-mail before we came said to me (this morning as I was wheel barraling a load of compost to the back passture) I didn't know that you acually wanted to work. I said that that is what I had e-mailed that we did want to help. But she thought we didn't really mean phisical labour I guess. So anyway we spent the day working hard. I think they are not used to working at our speed because by 10:30 they were all tired. But after lunch we all started back at it. I decided I would treat them all to supper. So I went to town and bought the groceries for chili. Dean and I whipped up a batch for the whole base and I bought some ice cream because Dean needed some dessert. So we will eat a regular meal tonight, and I get to have a little fun in a different kitchen.
Miranda spent the afternoon with the kids who live near the camp. Colton found a few cool bugs (one was a preying mantis) and went exploring down a very cool dried up ravine that runs through the base.
The base is around 5 or 6 acres and is up in the mountains in the country. The perfect place to bring a group of people with kids. We feel very safe here as it is so quiet and peacefull. We don't have to have the kids right beside us the whole time and we can relax a bit. The camp can hold 30 people or so and they often have church retreats here. We found they really need a lot of help building a new kitchen facility and some more cabins to house people when they have retreats. Right now they set up temporary tents. So we are thinking this might be a perfect place to help out next year and maybe we can convince other families how great it would be to come and work for a week or so. I think a bunch of menonites could do some serious damage here in a week. It is also a great way to get better at Spanish. Everyone here speaks both Spanish and English.
We are sorry that we are not spending more time here. But we hope to come back next year.

Wendy

bad luck

So we got my mom and Justina to drive us to Grand Forks to the airport. It hasn't snowed in maybe a month. But of course, it starts to snow. Oh well thats all right it is just a few flakes. But as soon as we get there the snow starts to fall faster and faster and mom and Justina decide to high tail it home. They made it without to much trouble but it was to bad that we couldn't have supper with them. But thank you. Then we thought we would go for supper to red lobster for supper ourselves. Well the taxi was supposed to take 1 1/2 hrs. What to do? We have no jackets and it's snowing out. So luckily there was a Boston Pizza right behind the hotel so we ran over in our runners and summer jackets. Well that was kind of fun. We got back afterwards and jumped into bed. Then the next morning we got up at 3 am and quickly got dressed because the taxi was to arrive at 3:15. When we got into the entrance the guy at the front desk said that the 5 am flight was cancelled because of the snow. Well we spent the next hr. on the phone with the airport(who changed our flights to the next day) and with insurance to find out what we needed to do. Well I guess we'll start over the next day. Back to bed.
Then in the morning we decided to make this the start of our vacation and we went shopping (we couldn't buy anything because we didn't have room) then we went to a movie. We then went for lunch again at Boston Pizza and then for supper at Red Lobster. Insurance paid for our food all day so we all had crab and lobster and Steak!!
The next day we again woke at 3 am and had a ride from hell to the airport. Then when we had the luck of getting to be the ones on the flight that were chosen to have our bags totally searched and also we were all patted down before we could go through security. Then when we arrived in Minn. we ran through the airport because we only had 1 hr. to catch our connection to the next destination(which I can't even remember right now). When we ran for 15 min. straight we finally got to the gate and we found out that the flight was delayed 1 hr. which meant we would miss our next flight after that.Now what???
Well they put us on a different airline and we sat around Minn. for 5 hrs. waiting for the flight to Atlanta Georgia. Well now instead of arriving in Costa Rica at 2:30 pm we arrived at 9:45pm. Then our luck changed and we met a couple from Denmark and we sat around with them in the evening and this morning we went to see a volcano with them in their rented car. Then we came back and are about to have supper.Tomorrow we will go to the YWAM base and spend a few days there before we go and work with the Capenray Bible school at their kids camp.
Well the weather is great and the people we are meeting are wonderfull. After a bad start I think thing are looking up!
Wendy