Dry!!

Well It's spiritual  emphasis week here at our language school and the speaker that is here as great. It's some good, solid, Christ centered teaching that has really convicted me and spurred me to get back to the Lord in prayer. This week also seems to be the beginning of the dry season and the weather is gorgeous. It has rained a few hours all week and the view of the mountains is fabulous. We are continuing to pray for all of you In Saviors (our home church) that God would meet you during this time of corporate fasting and prayer. As we enter the dry season here we are praying that this spiritual season would be one of flooding. We pray that God would flood our hearts and minds, cities towns and countries with his presence.

  Hope you are all doing well.

May Jesus Bless You Today.

Just Flowers

So I bought Erin a bouquet this last week... It was for $3!! Here are some pictures... Also other plants we've found around.

A few fun things from Costa Rica

This last monday we had the day off and we went to Poaz Volcano. We had a great time. We had a great view of the crater where the steam from the heat of the lava comes out of the volcano. We also were able to see the lagoon on the top of the volcano. It was all very beautiful. 

The country on the way to the volcano was spectacular. The entire countryside is covered in coffee plants and ferns. It is absolutely breathtaking looking out over the coffee fields. 

We were also able to go to the ox cart factory. The ox carts are only a traditional thing now but the factory still makes them and hand paints each one with spectacular designs. 

Hope you enjoyed some sights of Costa Rica.

New phone #

For anyone who would like to speak to us on the phone, we have a great new gadget. We have a way to talk to you and it's just like a local phone call for anyone in the 559. I don't want to put the number up here but you can email me and I will give it to you... Don't be shy, we'd love to have some short conversations with all of you. For specific info go to: WWW.magicjack.com

It's a great deal to eliminate long distance fees and all you need is high speed internet.

Glad to have been of service!! (Gas Co.)

Well, as most of you know I worked at So. CA. Gas Co. for the last 8 years (give or take) and I really enjoyed my job. We worked in the streets and basically I dug holes and filled them... Every day. This wasn't a bad thing though. I learned a lot about soil, and compaction, and I found out that no matter where you go there's a whole other world underground. Needless to say that is true here in Costa Rica as well. 

The other day on my way back from the meat market, I walked up on a group of people frantically trying to stop traffic and block off a main bus route with caution tape. 

As I came closer I found that there was a good reason for the panic. In a 4 way intersection about 3 blocks from our house there was, and still is 3 days later, a huge hole in the street. By huge I mean 5-6 feet in diameter at the top, 15-18 feet deep, with a bottom diameter of 8-10 feet. 

If you can see the red thing in the bottom, that's a full sized grocery bag. It's a huge hole. Now due to my experience with digging holes I can tell you exactly what happened, (for all of my gas co friends, the rest of you may get bored with this so I'll put it in italics and you can skip it) They installed a storm drain at 20' and probably filled the hole in the rain, which means, in clay, the moisture was to high and failed to compact correctly. They should have used sand. Over time the water soaked in through the seam at the edge of the patch and washed the loose and wet soil further down the hill leaving a large hole beneath the pavement at the highest point. Over time the pavement began to sag due to 20-30 busses driving over it every day, and it eventually broke exposing the gigantic hole that had most likely been there for months or years just waiting to cause a lot of damage. (it rains a lot so the time could vary widely). 

So anyways, the police came and brought a stop sign and some dead trees and a lot of wood to block it off from traffic, and now it sits... Who knows when they'll get around to filling it. There are smaller holes on about every other street that have been there as long as we've been here, so who knows. Costa Rica is definitely a good place to be a mechanic. The roads are horrid and the cars get trashed from all of the pot holes.

Anyways, Thanks Gas Co. for all of the education. I like knowing why things are the way they are, and maybe someday I'll be able to help fix some of these problems. To all of you that hate the moisture meter and powder puff... Don't let this happen to your bell hole. LOL.

Thanks for reading.

Time is flying by

Wow... It has been over a week since my last blog... sorry. Erin and I were talking the other day and just realized that it's  been 7 weeks since we came to Costa Rica. Time sure is going by fast. Our days go by a lot faster here than in the states. I guess cause things take longer. (Refer back to http://thejanzenupdate.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-is-life.html) Right now Judah has been sick for a week. I took him to the doctor yesterday and he has an upper respiratory infection. I have a feeling that Ella has the same thing. It costs $28 to go to the doctor at the school and medicine is relatively cheap. At least there's something that is cheaper... I just wish it was something that we needed more of.

Well I think it's time for another paper update to go out to everyone. If you've been reading here there's probably nothing new in it but I have a feeling most people on our mailing list don't check in regularly. Well thanks for all of you who continue reading regularly.