New Years Eve....

We watched the sunset on New Years Eve and then got ready to ring in the new year. Mike built a big bonfire and we ordered a pizza from our favorite place in town, Pizza Paraiso, and had it delivered to us on the beach.

We lit the fire and enjoyed watching the glow of about 20 other fires that people had built along the shoreline. This beach is a bay that is an open horseshoe shape and we were in the center of the "u." We were able to see the fires on both sides of us.

Mike bought some fireworks and was setting them off periodically throughout the night. We also enjoyed seeing fireworks being set off all around us. It was quite a different way of celebrating New Years for us, but we really enjoyed the Costa Rican way of celebrating. The fireworks show was pretty spectacular and it was a high tide around midnight so the reflection of the lights on the water was beautiful.

Happy New Year to all of you from Costa Rica...

Playa Samara, Guanacaste

We went to Samara, about 6 hours from the area where we live, and stayed with Sandi there for a week. It is one of our favorite beach areas in all of Costa Rica and we have been there a few times before. In fact, this is the area that were we stayed for a couple months when Mike attended a language school after he retired. We were excited to be able to ring in the New Year with Sandi in this beautiful place.

Lunch in San Carolos

We took Sandi to San Carlos so that she could see the beautiful view from one of our favorite restaurants. We ate lunch here with Alex and Daniela, a couple from our branch, when they wanted to show us a new dam that is being constructed here in this valley. The restaurant, El Mirador, is perched on the side of this mountain and overlooks peaks filled with coffe plants and banana trees. We had a ver nice lunch and enjoyed speaking with the owner, Miguel. We talked to him last time we were there and mentioned the church to him. He seemed interested in learning more and we told him that we would be back to bring him a Book of Mormon. We took him a copy and Sandi was able to share her testimony with him.

Tamale Time....

Just like most Latin American countries, tamales are a traditional food this is shared here during the Christmas holiday. We were given many tamales by our friends and branch members. Each one of them was a little different and had their own unique twist. The main thing that we noticed about tamales here are that they are extremely different from the Mexican style tamales that we are used to eating in the Western United States. These tamales are made from a cooked masa and are wrapped in banana leaves. Hermana Ballestero invited us over for a tamale dinner. Her tamales were delicious and it was obvious that each one was meticulously made with care. Some of the filling included pieces of chicken, carrot, chickpeas, raisins, red chile, potato, and green beans.

Tamales are bundled with twine in sets of two called Pina's. These tamales were made by a different sister and her ingredients varied just a little.

We visited Hermana Rocio at her home and she sent us home with some tamales too.

Sharing the best gift...

In an effort to pass out our most valuable gift to the Costa Rican people, the Book of Mormon, we have given them to people who come to church but have never been given a copy. We have noticed that various people have been attending the branch with their friends or family members but have either never been approached about receiving the missionary discussions or have never received their own copy of the Book of Mormon. Elder Munroe couldn't pass up the chance to give this young man a Book of Mormon after church this week. He attends many youth activities and occasionally attends church. We hope that we were able to plant a seed by sharing this special gift with him.

Christmas Visits...

We have had a very busy week delivering Christmas goodies, toys, Joy to the World DVD's, and more....to 39 families in our area. We started on Monday and wrapped up our last few visits Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful experience to share the Christmas spirit of giving with these people and in return to see their eyes and smiles brighten. We visited members of our branch, less active members, neighbors, and people from our community. Here are just a few....Marta in her vegetable store in San Pablo.....Maria at La Burbuja (The Bubble) where we get our clothes washed.... Adrian, our Post Master at his office in San Pablo....

Gladys and her kiddos at their home in La Sabana....

Doris, Ernesto, and ther daughter Marcela at their home in San Marcos. They own two pizza joints in San Marcos and Santa Maria called Pizza Las Tejas.

Walking to Rosie and Yanory's house in our neighborhood, El Rosario....

Visiting one of Hermana Munroe's favorite little girls in our neighborhood. This is Carolina, you might remember her from a previous post, and she was thrilled with her presents.

Some of the Palacio kids in front of their home in San Pablo. They have 5 other boys that were off working in the coffee fields when we visited them....

The Santos family from the Guadalupe Mountains in San Marcos...

Feliz Navidad....

Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas from Costa Rica! We hope you all have a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends. We are thankful for your friendship and support and pray that you may have a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve with the Mora Fuentes Family....

We spent the majority of Christmas Eve with the Mora Fuentes family in San Marcos. It was nice to spend time with them and to learn more about the cultural traditions that are celebrated in Costa Rica during the holidays. Hermana Maria Mora, her sons Fabricio and Alex, and daughter-in-law Daniela. Alex and Daniela are great dancers and we had fun watching them dance the swing to Cumbia music. They danced for us a few months ago when we took them on a daytrip with us to San Carlos but it was fun to see them dancing on such a fun festive night in their own home.They served us chicharrones (fried pork chunks), boiled green bananas (similar to plantains), and homemade tamales. One of the jokes that Tico's like to tell during this time of year is about some Americans who were eating tamales (the tamales here are made with cooked masa and are wrapped in banana leaves). Someone asked the Americans how they like the tamales and one of them responded by saying, "The tamale was delicious but the cabbage was a little tough." They think it is hilarious because the man didnt realize that he was supposed to unwrap the tamale and only eat what was on the inside. We have heard various versions of the joke but we always get a good chuckle.

Little Maria (Alex and Daniela's daughter) was pretty excited about hanging out with Elder Munroe. She would sit real close to him and make cute smiles and faces at him periodically throughout the night.

Fabricio was excited to show us his birds and we all took turns holding them.

Alborroto's....

We had our good friends, Rita and Rene, over for goodies and hot chocolate today. Hermana Munroe had given them popcorn balls for Halloween and Rita wanted to learn how to make them. We visited for a while and then the gals got to work while Elder Munroe and Rene supervised. It was nice to spend time with them during the holidays.