Thursday, December 4th, 2003

We had breakfast and then we went to visit a man named Israel and his wife. They are members of the church. We had a good visit with them at which time they introduced us to yet another type of banana that grows in Costa Rica. It had kind of a cinnamon taste to it and was very good. While there, Israel got wind that Larry was looking for a bolero to take back to his children. A bolero is the catch-a-ball-on-a-string toy. He happened to have one laying around and gave it to Larry. We talked to them about their conversion to the church and the background from which they had come. The denominations in Costa Rica really do press these poor people for money so much and many times, these people give them everything that they have to their own ruin. This couple was one example of that. They ended up realizing that that was not the way the Lord's church was intended to be. This couple first learned and obeyed the gospel on an earlier mission trip with Bill Fort. They expressed their gratitude to the congregation at Berryville for all that they have done through the years.

We went back to the house for lunch, and that afternoon we took a trip to Coronado to visit with Mercedes and her kids. She lead us to a nice scenic place in the Orosi valley. We saw a couple of waterfalls on the way and while we stopped to take pictures, got out of the car and looked at some coffee plants. We ended up at a small park with a scenic overlook. The entryway to the park had a wonderful flower garden and we were able to see several different kinds of plants growing there.

We took Mercedes back to the house and came home. We had purposed to have some additional Bible studies that afternoon, so we split up into two teams again and went to two separate houses to study the Bible. Larry, Susan, Moises, and Kenji went to Mario and Rosario's house to study with them. Kevin, Mary Lynn, Moises Jr. and Walter went to Diego's house to study with his mother, sisters, and relatives. Both teams had good Bible studies.

That evening, Larry preached at Tres Rios on the subject of the church. Walter translated for him and did a wonderful job. Thursday night is the regular meeting night for them. The crowd seemed to be a little down from the previous night, but we had a good study nonetheless and encouraged all of those who were present.

After services we took several people back to their homes. Moises had not been feeling well all week with a sore throat. So that evening, we took him to the Doctor's office to have it examined. Moises got a shot while Kenji and I waited in the car. Back at the house, Moises Jr. decided to make spaghetti for supper. From what I heard, it was an interesting experiment. He got spaghetti sauce all over himself, and Mary Lynn, who stayed at the house, had to help them with cooking the spaghetti (evidently you are not supposed to put uncooked spaghetti in cold water). As for those of us who went with Moises (Senior), we stopped by McDonald's on the way home to get a bite to eat.

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