Beginning of the End

As we wrap up our time here in Costa Rica with our last trimester in language school, we are trying to see a few things here that we've been wanting to see. We realize we may never be back in Costa Rica again, and God has placed so much of His beauty here, that we want to be sure and see some of that before we leave. This past weekend, we rented a car for the day and went just a few miles outside of San Jose and saw a few things in Orosi Valley in the Cartago Province. Here are a few of the pics.

The ruins of an old church built in the 1500's.


The National (Catholic) Basilica in Cartago- about 30 minutes outside San Jose


You can see people in these pictures crawling on their knees to the front of the Church. There's a statue up front of the black Madonna, or "La Negrita" as they call her here. People believe that if they crawl on their knees to the front of the Basilica, the Madonna will show special favor on them. This shows a little of the kinds of barriers there are to cross when sharing the Gospel in other cultures. It was a heart-breaking scene, the feeling in the church was very cold. Our hearts desire is the teach the truth of God's Word... this is the way many Latin Cultures believe and worship.


Nothing you wouldn't see in Mississippi, except people were walking down the street as well and not a soul thinking twice about a bull sharing the road with them. Just looked funny at the time.

Some of God's beauty I was referring to earlier. This was the view from our table at a little cafe where we ate.

This was the playground outside the cafe- probably not the world's safest equipment, but the girls enjoyed it nonetheless.


As I said before, the equipment may not have been the safest, but this playground has got to have one of the best views in Costa Rica, if not the world!



We also discovered a little trout farm up a mountain road where we actually had to cross a creek to get there. It had a beautiful view, and you can catch your own fish and have them prepare it however you like. We didn't do it this time, but definitely plan on going back.


This is called "La casa del soñador" or "The Dreamer's house"- It was built by Macedonio Quesada, a world famous Tico wood carver who died in the mid 90's. It now houses a workshop run by his sons and displays their works of art. As you can see, the house itself is a work of art. Neat place to visit.


Please pray for us as we start our last trimester of school, that we will be able to understand and be understood well enough to be effective in sharing the gospel. We head to the Dominican Republic in April, only 3 months away.