Pizza Time with the Campos Family....

We went to San Jose this week to take care of some paperwork. We met up with Obispo (Bishop) Juan Campos and his family for dinner at Pizza Hut. We have mentioned him many times before because he was our first friend in Costa Rica. We met him over 3 years ago when we came here on vacation for the first time. We made arrangements for him to be our taxi driver and then a friendship grew. He is also close to Royce and Sandi because they have spent time with him and still communicate through email and phone. Familia Campos, gracias por compartir un buen noche con nosotros!

Juan's wife, Ana, and their cute daughter.....

Juan and their son.....

A "Run" for the Border.....

Yes, A RUN FOR THE BORDER! Not for tacos...... but to get our Passport's stamped. Our 90 day limit, that is granted to all visitors, expired a while ago and we still have not received our residency cards. The mission lawyer and office Elders aren't sure when we will be receiving them, so we thought it was best to stop being "illegals" and make the 6 hour drive to the Costa Rica/Panama Border. The town is called Paso Canoas, Canoe Pass. Luckily, we were successful in getting our passports stamped for another 90 days! The town was bleak and lacked charm of any kind. We could say much more but will leave it at that. We were thankful to have our stamps and even more happy to be able to leave.

On the way to San Jose from Panama, we stopped in a couple towns along the way. As we approached Dominical, we saw a whole pack of White Nosed Coatamundi. They were right out on the road and even got close to us. They seemed very comfortable and acted like they owned the place.

We continued on to Quepos and saw these men working the palm groves. It is obviously an old method to use the Ox teams but is very common in Central America.

Branch Bus Trip to Stake Conference....

We went with our branch on a little outing today. Our branch rented a bus so that we could all travel together, about 2 hours away, to attend Stake Conference . The Stake Center was in Desamparados, a part of San Jose. We walked a mile from our home to San Pablo this morning and were the first ones to board the bus. Hermana Munroe was ready to go....

Here is Elder Munroe with the bus driver and his son. We left San Pablo and drove onto San Marcos and Santa Maria where we picked up more branch members. There were 22 members that made the trip.

This is the Stake Center in Desamparados...

Here is the Fuentes family waiting to board the bus....

This is President Jimenez, our branch president, rounding everyone up for our trip home. It was a very nice day. We heard messages from our Stake Presidency as well as our Mission President, President Galvez, and his wife. We also heard from the Temple President, President Porter, and his wife. We estimated that about 600 people attended the conference . After conference, we met with our branch and ate lunches that we had packed from home. We said our "goodbyes" and boarded the bus for our 2 hour ride back home. Nice day!

El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido.....

Many people here have vehicles but many more do not. The ones who do not, walk a good bit of the time. There are taxis and buses but if the weather is good people walk. In the San Pablo area, all of the outlying neighborhoods have sidewalks connecting them to the main town except ours, Barrio Rosario. This was not an issue until they began constructing the Pirris Dam. Then the traffic through Barrio Rosario increased dramatically. Our neighbors have requested a sidewalk for years but to no avail. This past weekend they finally got the attention of ICE, the dam builder, and the San Pablo city fathers. A meeting was held at the small Catholic church across the street from our house. We were asked
to attend to lend support, which we did. Several people from the neighborhood made speeches and comments but the best was the young boy representing the school children. After all was said and done, it was agreed that ICE and the City of San Pablo would build the sidewalk. After the meeting the engineers, officials, and neighbors walked the rightaway. Clearing and grubbing began this week with earthwork to follow next week. In a few weeks we should have approximately two miles of new sidewalk.

Aerobics at the Munroes...

Welcome to the Rosario Latin Aerobics class at the Munroe Casa! These ladies were at our house today and they shook and shimmied their hips to various Latin beats....much like Zumba. Why at our house? Well, because we have the largest paved space in the neighborhood and it is covered. The gals can workout and not get wet during our torrential rains. They had been wanting to ask us permission to workout here and finally got the chance at a recent town meeting. Of course, we said YES!

They will be meeting here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you're in the area and want to get your heartbeat up....stop by!

The gal in the red pants on the right is the instructor. The gal behind her in the black pants and brown jacket is currently reading the Book of Mormon and seems to be gaining a testimony of its truth. We are glad that we are able to share our home with these women and we will be sure to post any crazy adventures that we may have with them as they swing and jive on our patio/driveway.

Christmas in October....

It was "Christmas in October" for Hermana Munroe and the ladies in our branch on Friday night. Pat taught the Relief Society sisters how to make a simple star ornament to decorate their Christmas trees with this year. The sisters seemed to really like it and they turned out great. In fact, the mujeres jovenes, young women, want to learn how to make them as well. Pat has been asked to teach a mini class for them next week.

After eating a dinner that consisted of chili beans, rice, and tortillas.....the women got to work! This is Liliana finishing up her ornament. Some of the ladies used paper and the others used ribbon. We also provided glitter and other trinkets that they could glue in the center of the star.

Daniela, baby Maria, and Margorie were working hard....

Hermana Mora decided to use multiple colors on her star.....

Margorie, her sister who was visiting from Nicoya, and Maria Blanco were ready to show their finished ornaments......

Leda and Rocio made a double layered star.....

Daniela showing off her finished stars.....

Here are of the stars that Hermana Munroe made. We will be using them to decorate Costa Rican home this Christmas. It will be here before we know it!

Iguana's Love Golf Too....

Hey, Iguanas like to play golf too! We were in Herradura for a few days last week and saw these guys on one of our walks. We have seen many iguanas, known as gorrobo's in Spanish, all over Costa Rica. We were surprised to see them hanging out with the golf balls though. You never know what you'll see here....