Christmas in July

The Zopilota on the dental clinic porch

Our friend, Laura (We use to practice Spanish with her when we were at the Spanish Language Institute in San Jose.) brought a group from her church to Paso Marcos last Saturday to do a one day Bible club for kids and a worship service for adults.  They stopped at Centro Emanuel on their way home to have cafecito with us. I (Paul) was giving them a tour, when we came across a five foot long black snake with a yellow belly on the porch outside the dental clinic room.  I think he was there to warm itself.  Needless to say, there wasn’t much interest in a tour at that point, so we went to the kitchen and drank coffee.  When we resumed the tour and got to the porch where the laundry is washed, the same snake came out from under the washer, slithered along the rail and departed over the side, heading in the direction of the dental clinic porch. As you can imagine the laundry porch was cleared in a matter of seconds with only another guy and I still standing.  I figured the snake was leaving and so I needn't hurry.  I found out it was a Zopilota; that is good, since they eat venomous snakes. I was glad it wasn't one of the aggressive, bad characters found in these parts, as I was standing next to it. Maybe it will stick around and lower the snake population at Centro Emanuel.

July proved to be a cold month, no snow as in the winter in Oregon, but we often had 3 inches of rain in a day and the river ran high and muddy.  A fragrant flower outside our bedroom window at Centro Emanuel must like the heavy rains, because they have been blooming continually. July also means a couple of weeks of vacation for the schools. Since there were no classes, three churches from San Jose sent teams to the Sikua Ditso School, just down the road from Centro Emanuel in the Cabécar reservation.  Over a period of two weeks, they built an additional classroom.  More than that, the children came on their vacation days to play games, sing songs and eat a hot meal with the team.  One day the children were given gifts from the team and were surprised to find they each received a pair of shiny, new rubber boots. It was like Christmas in July!

Students showing off their new boots

Anna Clair & Danny

When school resumed the teacher, Betty Vargas, invited a couple of short term missionaries, Danny and Anna Clair with our mission, ICDI (Indigenous Community Development International), to teach English to her twelve fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.  They are already learning Cabécar and Spanish, but they also need to pass an English test in order to earn their high school diploma in Costa Rica.  Most students in the larger schools in San Jose start English in first grade.  But in rural schools, a teacher like Betty has assistants who teach Cabécar language and culture, while she is covering all the other subjects for 6 grades.  These students start high school at a disadvantage and quickly fall behind in English making it difficult to graduate from high school. Betty asked Bridget to continue the English classes with her students on Monday afternoons from August through November. She had a good start with her first class. Pray for wisdom as she plans lessons and looks for materials.

Thanks for your prayers for my health.  I got a good report from my neurologist and he expects me to continue to improve. 

Blessings,  Paul and Bridget