Visiting the Folks

It's been too long since I updated the blog!  We've been trying all week to get a different type of blog done for you to check out, but it's been harder than we thought to finish it up, so I decided to go ahead and finally write this blog in the mean time!

Sara talking with Elizabeth Fly while we wait for Courtenay in Cartago.

Last weekend, we were blessed to get to go visit some fellow GO missionaries serving here in Costa Rica, Jacob and Courtenay Folk.  For those of you who don't know, we're part of a GREAT missions organization, Global Outreach, that is dedicated to sharing Christ around the world.  There are several GO missionaries serving here in Costa Rica, as well as quite a few of us at language school right now.  We went to see the Folks with John and Emily Darnell and Jared and Elizabeth Fly, both GO missionaries to Ecuador.  The Fly's have been in Ecuador for 3 1/2 years already, and were in Costa Rica for a month of special tutoring at ILE.  John and Emily are attending ILE this year, and will be serving with the Fly's in Ecuador.  Other GO missionaries at the language school, Cody and Maria Whittaker (formerly in Haiti) and Tony and Beverly Steele (heading to Mexico in April) weren't able to come this time.

Jacob and Courtenay have been here in Costa Rica since 2008, ministering near the city of Cartago.  Cartago is just a 30 minute drive from where we are in San José, so we were able to catch an easy busy ride there.  We met up with Courtenay, and all went to the church they attend there in Cartago.

The church we attended in Cartago.

We really enjoyed the service there, though much of it was missed by my poor Spanish.  It was encouraging, however, that I knew every song they sang, either because there were Spanish versions of common English worship songs, or they were Spanish worship songs that I had heard before.  We were also blessed to meet some great believers, including one lady who has taken in (as PERMANENT adoptions) 45 children from the streets of Cartago (you'll hear a little more about her story in an upcoming blog).

The woman on the right has taken in 45 children now into her home from different situations.

After church, we rode with Courtenay up the mountain to their home.  They live on one of the mountains overlooking Cartago, and are working with several church plants in villages in the area.  While we waited for Courtenay to go back to Cartago to pick up Jacob and their kids, we got to hang out at the restaurant adjacent to their property.  The restaurant had a stocked fishing pond on the property, where you could toss out a line, catch a fish, and they would cook it up for you (that was the theory, at least!).  Jared, John and I tried to catch a fish for close to an HOUR, with a few strikes, but no success!  Finally, we had to have them throw a net in and bring some fish out for us.  Jacob said that if the fish aren't biting, it's pretty rare, and it's probably because they had just stocked the pond today, but either way, it was pretty humbling for a Wyoming boy to not be able to catch a fish in a stocked pond!

We then went into the restaurant to get out of the cold and rain, and enjoyed some great company and some amazing fish!  I'm not sure that I've ever had a fish that was that good before (or one that had so recently been in the water).

The fish was amazing!  Kinda seems mean to keep the head on it, but the whole thing was fantastic!

Zoe and Caitlynn really loved the fish! (the fried fins tasted kinda like chips!)

We then went up to see some baby cows that had been born in the past few days, then walked up to the Folks house.  God has totally blessed them with an amazing house!  It used to be a rental that Ticos used for weekend get aways and other vacations, so it wasn't used continuously.  The owners were surprised to hear that someone wanted to live there all the time, but they were excited to have someone paying rent all the time.  Now, the Folks have a fantastic property with some land, and enough rooms and showers in their house to put up a mission team of ten!  God is so good!

Caitlynn was REALLY excited to see the baby cows!

It was a huge blessing to spend the day with the Darnells, the Flys and the Folks, and we're blessed to be a part of the same organization as they are, sharing Christ with the nations of Central and South America!

The view from the Folks front door.