Costa Rica 2012 Aug 12 & 13

Jason gave the public talk back in the Playa del Coco English group. About 15 in attendance.

During lunch we got to watch a local Soccer game.

Goooooooooooooooooooal!

Another wonderful study. We said we'd either see each other again in CR or in Paradise.

This is the study Luciano whose grandfather's a witness and really wanted to meet the brother studying with him. We were invited along. It's far so we set off early.

Just a man and his horse

We're headed to the base of this volcano. Miravellas.

Volcano Miravellas

Not sure what town we ended up in but we were taken to this familiar warm place for a photo. No matter where you are, we are there.

Incredible. Luciano with his 83 yr old grandfather Rigoberto and his son Justin. Rigoberto is the only one in his family serving Jehovah. He had 9 children. He has 30 years in the truth. About 3 years ago he had a couple of strokes. He has since been bed ridden. Completely paralyzed on his left side. He said when he heard that his grandson was studying he felt such joy in his heart that he could jump up and dance with joy.  When we got there he said he had a question for Jason and Ken, the brother studying with Luciano. He asked me to translate. Said it was an easy question. "Do we know yet who is the King of the North?" HELLO! Glad the question and discussion wasn't at me. Thankfully we had in the car a copy of the Study article that'd we'd just covered on the image of Daniel. Whew. He wanted to sit in on one of Lucianos studies. They asked him if he wanted to open the study with prayer. He insisted he helped to a sitting position. With help he struggled upright and then gave the most beautiful prayer. Later on he told me that all we have to do is just keep our eyes on the prize. Stay strong in our faith to Jehovah. We didn't leave dry eyed.

While the guys studied the girls and Justin walked the town.

Horse Whisperer

After the study we went on a hike somewhere near the Volcano

Saw a bunch of waterfalls

Ficus trees. Awesome tree. It was HUGE. Roots grow down. Then slowly they start over taking the whole tree. Till they kill the first tree and take over the space. Thus the skylight in between the one tree.

The hot springs. Las Hornillas. You walk along the path. And stay on the path.

Bubbling water...

Bubbling mud...

War paint

Not everyone was impressed with our tour guide putting his mark on us. Of course only Taylor got the heart.

Wild woman

The process, Sauna for about 15 mins to open up your pores.

Then put mud all over your body. Let it dry. Wash it off.

Then soak in the pools. From hot to warm to finally cold. To reseal the pores. You're seeing cold.

From the Hot Springs we headed to Luciano's mom's place up in the mountains. When we got there it was this dark. We couldn't see anything. To get to their house we had to cross a long skinny plank about 5 feet above a river. We used the flashlight on my phone. Crazy. They wanted us to spend the night. Then we could go fishing, horseback riding, milk their cows, make cheese...incredible offer. But we had to head back home.

This is Gladis, Lucianos mom and her new husband Jose. She is the study Elise and I started last Sunday. She came back home with us that night. She was saying she had stopped going to church due to the hypocrisy. That we should be learning the bible not being told to give more money. And it should be the deeper things. I told her about the Watchtower we were currently studying on Daniels image. She said if you look through the history of the bible Jehovah has always had people writing down his thoughts. That wouldn't stop just because the bible was done being written. That JW's are still writing down his thoughts in all our publications. Impressive. Elise told her she would take her to the Spanish meeting the following Sunday. She told Elise she didn't need her to go with her. She knew people there. Elise said she would stop by on Sat though and bring her the Study Watchtower that we had talked about so she could read it and be prepared. On Sat she asked Elise if she was going with her to the meeting like promised. Haha. So Ken and Elise showed up the following day. The whole family was dressed and waiting. Gladis did indeed know people. She went and sat with a sister. Studied Watchtower and all. But Luciano, his wife and their two boys sat with Ken and Elise. The whole cong rallied around them. Welcoming them.       Imagine the delight of Grandpa now...