How Great is Our God!

Jeremiah 17:7-8
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes, its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."



We sang "How Great is Our God" and "How Great Thou Art" during Spiritual Emphasis at school this week and that really got me thinking about how great and wonderful God is. He interacts with us and cares for us daily! It especially made me focus on how awesome is His creation. He is so creative and made beautiful things for us to enjoy. Just like the trees above, both are pictures taken this fall, one in Omaha and the other in Costa Rica. And there are a million varieties inbetween.

We were also reminded of God's creativity yesterday when we went on a tour of a wood factory about an hour from where we live. They make jewelry and other products from wood and seeds. It is all natural, no color added and the variety was unbelievable. Norman was in wood heaven! Did you know there is a purple wood called purpleheart? It is beautiful!













Below is an array of wood pieces used to make jewelry. They are all natural. The purple pieces are from the purpleheart tree. I am not sure what the 2 bright red and the lime green pieces are, I think they might be seeds.


The man above does amazing wood carving. We got to see him at work.
Below is a work in progress. It is a mamma horse with her baby.


The piece we are standing behind was also carved by the man pictured above. It is carved out of a root of a very large tree!

He's Got the Whole World In His Hands!

We have a small world story we would like to share with you. We have been thinking about posting this for a long time but are just now getting around to it. In the house we are staying at they have another extra room that they rent out at times also. About two weeks after we arrived here in Costa Rica our host mom, Flora, told us that the ministry Christ for the City (which is based out of Omaha) called and asked if she could house a young man for a little while. Flora asked them where this young man was from and they said Omaha NE. We were amazed and very curious who this person was. He was to come the next day.
That night I (Vickie) was visiting with a friend and previous coworker from Omaha and told her the story. And she said, "Is it Jimmy?" Jimmy is a young man that worked with her and me for several years about 5 years ago. I had heard he was coming to Costa Rica but I thought he was with a different ministry and I thought he had come to Costa Rica several weeks ago.
So the next day we were anxious to see who our new housemate was. When we got home from school Flora told us that he was here and he would be right out to meet us. And sure enough, it was Jimmy, who now goes by James. I hadn't seen him for awhile and the last time I saw him he had hair down to his shoulders so I wasn't sure at first but then I saw the flicker of recognition in his eyes and knew it was him. We couldn't believe it. God is amazing! It has been a blessing for all of us to have him here. We have enjoyed his company and together we wade through the language as we visit with our host family in spanish.

"El Cafecito"

Definition: Coffee. A little coffee. Mid-afternoon coffee time with a snack. (Kind of like tea time in England.)
Okay, so as most of you know, neither one of us like coffee! Never have acquired the taste for it. It was a little bit of a problem when we went to England on vacation. They didn't know what to do with us.
Our host mom here in Costa Rica finds it a little sad as well that we don't like coffee. I guess they have a saying here in Costa Rica that says, "If you don't like coffee, don't come." Ouch! She told us our first day here that some day we needed to try it, that lots of missionaries come that don't like coffee, and then they try it here and like it. She told us this after she told us that missionaries need to drink coffee.
So Friday was the day of reckoning. We told her we would try a little coffee. Her reponse was hilarious. She went to the calendar and said (in spanish of course), "Mark this down, October 17th Norman and Vickie had coffee." She then brought us tiny tea cups full of what seemed like just as much sugar and cream as coffee.


Flora serving us coffee in teeny tiny cups. Look at it compared to Norman's hand to get an idea of the size.


We took a sip. Not so bad in that ratio of coffee to sugar and cream. We could drink it down without gagging. It looked like hot chocolate but it had a distinct coffee aftertaste.
We now know that if we had to, we could drink coffee (with lots of sugar and cream) but sorry not even Costa Rican coffee could turn us into coffee drinkers.

PASEOS

What is a Paseo you say? Well, the spanish-english dictionary says it is a walk or a drive, but that doesn't exactly explain it. In other words we don't really have an english word that does it justice. It is more like a field trip, a mini vacation, an outing, a short trip. Something like that. Much more fun than just a walk or drive. And we've had a chance to enjoy some of our own paseos since we arrived here in Costa Rica. We have mentioned all of them in our email updates but thought we would include some pictures and expound a little more. Some fellow students took a "paseo" this weekend to see the Panama canal. We chose not to go as we felt our bodies are too old to ride in a bus over night for 17 hours, spend 17 hours in Panama, and then get back on the bus for 17 more hours over night to arrive back here this afternoon totally exhausted! I would need all of next week off to recover. So, I guess we will look at pictures of the canal. It can't look that much different from the Mississippi River lock and dam system can it? (Just kidding)

We have been introduced to many new different types of fruits and vegetables since we have arrived. The first weekend or so we were here we went to a farmer's market, or otherwise called a Feria here in Costa Rica. We learned about camote, cayote, and other names I can no longer remember. But our Tica mom continues to educate us. She brought home some Granadillas to try or aka passion fruit. Below is a picture:
The outside varies in color from green to yellowish-orange. The inside has a soft cushion to protect the seeds, and okay, if you think the inside looks like fish eggs, you are right, it does. But actually they are seeds encased in their own little slimy casing and you eat the seed and all. The coating has a very sweet good flavor but the seeds have an earthly flavor I didn't care for. And as for the consistency, kind of like fish eggs. :-) So now we have tasted the delicacy of granadillas!

We also have taken some day "paseos" to downtown San Jose. One day when we went we had Pizza Hut pizza and it was the BEST pizza hut pizza we had ever had. We were missing North American food a little bit that day. Here are some highlight pictures from downtown San Jose.
This is a picture of the front entrance to The National Museum, with yes, a construction truck going through with no room to spare!

At the fish market:


We have taken a couple "paseos" to the orhpanage in Atenas but don't have any good pictures of the kids yet, we will save that for another day. Our last big adventure we have taken is our trip to El Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast. We took a boat ride through the rain forest, walked on the beach looking for hatching baby turtles. We saw evidence but no babies. But that night we got to go on the beach with a guide and watch a mother green sea turtle of approximately 200 pounds lay her eggs in a hole in the sand she dug and then watch her bury the eggs with her fins. It was fascinating but we couldn't take any pictures because it would scare the turtle and it was too dark any way. But we did get some great wildlife pictures and have included a few below.

Toucans

Basilisk Lizard

Spider monkey

White faced monkey (we also saw howler monkeys but didn't get any pictures)

Rose colored spoon bill
This bird stuck his bill underwater and scanned the bottom back and forth for food just like a metal detector. It was funny to watch!

This bird (sorry I can't remember it's name) dives under water for his food but doesn't have oil on his feathers like a duck so after diving he hangs his wings out to dry. They were all over and really funny looking.

Paseo or not, there is Spanish to be learned!

A baby green heron in its nest.

A big baby bird in its nest looking for his mama. Who by the way wasn't very far away making lots of noise! Sorry don't remember what kind.

Those dark grey spots that kind of look like holes in the tree, they are bats sleeping their day away. There are 8 of them. Can you see them? (You can click on the picture to make it bigger.)


Thanks for sharing in our paseos with us. Isn't God's creation just amazing!

It feels weird to be on the mission field sharing about all our outings and fun adventures, but I guess this is a season of studying with a chance to see the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We will get our chance to share mission stories soon enough! God bless!