Sorry it's been a while...things have been moving pretty fast (and slow) around here and I've been too caught up to write. So here it is…
I would first like to thank God for his continuous reminder of LoVe and mercy to us! Ryan and I have been able to count the times the Lord has provided for us in the past few weeks. I can't believe we've been here almost a month! I think it’s gone by fast...I wonder if Ryan agrees.
As some of you may know we have our own car! We were able to purchase a Toyota 4Runner, it’s a manual transmission...which means I haven't driven yet! I'm thinking this week I’m going to have to put on my big girl panties and give it a try. Just to give you an idea of how long it takes to do anything around here, we purchased the 4Runner on Wednesday September 7th and we weren't able to go back and pick it up until the next Wednesday while we waited on all the paperwork to get done. Moreover, the dealership lost part of the paperwork so we had to ride to Alajuela with the owner to redo part of it. Haha!
Last week we celebrated Costa Rica's Independence Day on Sept 15th. There were so many things I'm sure Ryan thought were crazy but to me it was as if I was a small child re-living my childhood memories. At church on Sunday they had a whole service dedicated to Independence Day...there were plays, singing the anthem, clowns and folkloric dancers. The night before on the 14th we walked down to the town square to watch the “Lantern Parade”. The legend says that when independence was declared from Guatemala they went through the rest of the Central American countries with a torch telling the people that they had gained their independence…The cool thing was that this is a reenactment that is done every year. At the end of August someone starts traveling with a torch stopping at every capital and from there others bring that original fire to their town squares, our fire arrived on wed 9/14 at noon. It was quite the commotion. All the little kids are encouraged to create their own original lantern…thankfully it had poured earlier that day -not that night (like its happened before many times) and the parade was a success! The next day the whole town was in Party-mode, we made our way down to the streets and watched the beginning of the school band parade, it was so HOT! We waited to see my aunt and her school march in front of us then we escaped the Heat!
We finished the morning with an authentic Costa Rican Meal :Olla de Carne: Soup…yep you heard it was hot and we had soup…this is the kind of soup you just don’t pass up! It was delicious! Thanks Grandma!
Ryan’s birthday was the next day; we took a little getaway trip to La Fortuna de San Carlos; a beautiful town at the foothills of the Arenal Volcano. We packed our car and took our old faithful map and got underway. It was a wonderful site…the 2 ticos were free to go, funny how a car can make you feel powerful for a second! J We traveled THROUGH the mountains and valleys of the beautiful CR country side…yes there’s a direct highway…but why would you pass up the opportunity to play “miss the pothole”, the small country roads are much more entertaining. J 35 minutes before our arrival we made a pit stop at KFC for a pre-birthday celebration…it was the best KFC experience of my life! J As we continued to drive into La Fortuna we were met by the amazing view of the volcano…it was breath taking.
At that moment we realized that this town could possibly become our new home…you see what I've not yet shared with you is that this trip had 2 purposes... 1. A birthday getaway and 2. a job opportunity.
Ryan and I have been patiently waiting on the Lord to reveal himself to us. We are ready to take on this new phrase of our lives; we want to do something for others and even for the community. We had been looking at properties to purchase, but of course everything is quite out of reach for us right now. At the beginning of that week I made this declaration: “ I'm going to find a job before the week is over”. A week later it feels like an answered prayer. Here is the story…
La Fortuna is a well developed area thriving on tourism. My uncle Ever’s cousin owns land there: 3 acres to be exact. 1 acre of the property has 8 bungalow style cabins…and not to make the story very long they are looking for someone to lease the property and get this little resort on its feet again. Remember when I told you I would tell you later about the business plan we were writing….well that was it. We were looking for land to build cabins to use for tourism and retreats; I just never imagined such opportunity in a “well known” area of CR. Although things are not set in stone…God has supernaturally open doors we never imagined. I'm beyond impressed by the God I serve! There is soo much potential here that we cannot wait to get started! It’s a risk we are willing to take, believing that God made a promise to us…FOLLOW ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRE OF YOUR HEART. We are learning that giving up our “normal” American lifestyle has been hard and it even continues to be but the reward is bigger. I think life is based on seasons…right now it’s our season to “leave and cleave” to God and each other. We ask that you keep us in your prayers; we have a meeting this Wednesday! We had an awesome weekend! We enjoyed the beautiful view of the volcano and the thermal waters of the hotel, enjoyed a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant “La Choza de Laurel” and a pit stop at the Cataratas(waterfalls) del Toro . A road that made the back of your neck stand up! There were no railings and it was just big enough for our SUV to squeeze between the rock face on one side and where the road had collapsed from earthquakes on the other. You could look out the side window and straight down a cliff, sometimes more than 400 feet down. Lori and Reg we thought about you as we made our way through every turn…
We hope you have your passport ready…the cabins await you!
With love, Vane & Ry
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