The Good Samaritan

This past week has been an adventurous one. A week ago from today (last Saturday) we were on our 2nd day in Playa Coyote (Coyote Beach) with the youth group (yes we consider ourselves to still be youth). This was a great experience. Aaron and I got to know the youth a lot better, which was something that both of us were wanting to do. There were 21 youth plus me, Aaron, Wendy, Cesar, and Enny on the trip. We spent most of our time riding the ginormous waves of the Pacific ocean on an air mattress; one of the best times I've ever had. We would put as many guys on the air mattress as possible, take on the biggest wave we could find, and hope for the best. When we didn't have the air mattress, we would try and body surf the waves while teaching Dauer, one of our good friends, how to do the same. Other than playing in the ocean, we also had nightly devotions as a group. Every meal was rice and beans with the exception of Saturday night, when Aaron and I cooked everyone a hamburger and a hot dog. Overall this was one of the most exciting yet productive trips that we have been on in Costa Rica. The video below is from the top of a mountain on the beach. Aaron and I hiked up it with a guy that lives on the beach. No this video is not fake...









This is a picture of the whole group that went to Playa Coyote.

This is a picture of the beach during sunset from our campsite.

This video is of Cesar trying to hit a ball thrown by Aaron with a bat that he brought from home. Cesar always acts like its the easiest thing to do, but I have 7 videos of him unsuccessfully trying. This is the 6th, and as you can see he was getting pretty frustrated. He is a comical character...






We also got the chance to go to Cartago again to see our friends. We really enjoy their company. Also it allows us to get out and see more of Costa Rica than just Alajuela. In Cartago we were able to enjoy our first Scrabble game in Spanish. The game itself is not called Scrabble, it's called Intelect, yet its exactly the same only with Spanish letters. Just so you know, Scrabble is a very big part of both mine and Aaron's family, so this isn't just another game. I don't quite recall the winner of the game that we played (ok ok, Aaron won).

We returned from Cartago on Thursday night around 6:00 just in time for church service at 7:00, in which Pablo preached. Pablo is a very cool character. He is just a regular member of the church with a very Hip Hopish style that absolutely loves the Lord. It was awesome to see the support behind him, as well as the passion for Christ in Pablo's heart.

On Friday (yesterday), Diego, a 14 year-old youth member of the church here at Agape, invited us to go with him, Ariel, and Harrison to some swimming hole down some river. Not knowing all the details, Aaron and I whipped up some PB&J sandwiches, a Bubba Keg of lemonade, and threw it all into my book bag. We started out on bikes for about 2 miles or so until we reached Harrison's aunt's house where we left the bikes. Then we walked just about another mile down a railroad track and through a cow pasture until we arrived at some river down in the bottom of this deep trench-like area. The river was extremely pretty with the exception of random trash and clothes floating here and there. The littering fine is not quite as enforced here as it is in the U.S. We walked down, through and around this river passing by small waterfalls and cascades until we reached the swimming hole (this was about a 2 and 1/2 hour hike). Once we got to the swimming hole, we ate our sandwiches and then began playing like the 14 year olds that were accompanying us. This was a ton of fun until me and Aaron realized that it was 4:30 and it gets dark at 5:30 in Costa Rica, and that we were in the bottom of a river in a jungle-type area (in Costa Rica) with no way out but the way we entered (tough to understand i know, but this is the truth). So with anacondas and serpientes (snakes) in the back of our mind we began to high-tail it back up the river. Thank the Lord, we made it back to the top of the river just before dark. I have some videos and pictures attached.










Once we got back from the River excursion, we had to get ready for a bible study that we were having at our house. This bible study is a part of the church's "50 Days of Love" theme. Aaron and I said that we would host one of the 11 cell groups that are going on throughout the area that we are in with the members of our church. Although only 3 people attended other than Aaron and myself, the bible study went very well. It was about the Good Samaritan and how we should care for others. One of the main points was "Kindness is an action of love".