Finally Some Video!!!!

A walking tour of the skatepark... 

Kinkajous and 4-eyed Opossums

Last week we finished up building, staining and filling an 8’x4’x2’ cabinet for storage in the office. We spent a day helping organize the office and cleaning. 

We are currently working on planning a skate contest and possibly some sort of hygiene day. We had a donation of toys, sunglasses, hairbrushes and toothbrushes. And another donation of skateboards and accessories. So, we have plenty of prizes for the contest... and I am thinking for the hygiene day, to have a local dentist come and talk about dental hygiene. It has been fun seeing people we know every time we are out. 

In English class this week, we looked at a children’s dictionary and had fun practicing sentence together. They are finally getting brave enough or trusting enough to try English out loud. The boys love to make sentences about each other... we even found a couple of sentences in the book with their names in it! They are such hams. I have about 3 or 4 consistent students... Oscar and Carlos, Fabian and Marlin. They are fun boys. 

Sunday school was fun too. We talked about kindness (amabilidad) and the many ways we can show kindness. Sunday school is usually 5 girls (ages 6-10) and 2 little boys (4 and 6). It gets a little chaotic bc it is a somewhat bilingual class. Everyone speaks either a little English or a little Spanish.... or our visiting friends from the UK who are left in confusion speak only English... nonetheless we are surviving, and I think the application is sinking in :-) Thankfully, we have a bilingual Bible! This week we will be learning about goodness. 

The weather has been nice... about 4 days of sunshine and then a rainy day or two. Perfect ratio right now :-) Today is sunny... we have seen a couple of new animals this week... (so fun exploring God's creation) one at church on Thursday night... two kinkajou where gathering fruit from one of the trees, they were precious, we sat and “spotlighted” them for about 10 minutes... super noisy and somewhat social... we did not know what it was at first. It looked like a cat/monkey/squirrel. Very interesting. The other new animal is a type of opossum. We saw it running on the power line at our house while we were cooking dinner Monday night... we thought it was a ferret at first, but our landlord told us opossum and sure enough we googled it and found it. Here are some pictures we found online of the two animals: 

Kinkajou

We are excited to have my parents visit us. We get to take a day off and go pick them up in San Jose next week.   We are excited to share what we have been doing with them and have their encouragement to spur us on for our last month here. 

We are praying and thinking about the next steps on our journey with more urgency everyday. Please pray divine wisdom and insight for us. 

FYI: The Mt. Chicken has been seen but thankfully not heard as of late!!!!

A Quick Update

This is what craft time looks like during Sunday School :D

Sunday School Fun

Josh made an "Open/Abierto" sign for the park 

Hard at work :)

 Mrs. Perezosa, a friend of the park.
She and her little baby live in the tree by the skatepark. 

We are enjoying our time here in Puerto very much. It has already been a month! We have been having fun at the skatepark and getting to know so many new friends. We had a chance this week to get away a bit on our day off and went to Manzanillo, 13 kilometers, on our bikes. It was a "treacherous" journey but super fun. We ran into some guys from the park and Josh was able to snorkel with them while they spear fished. I whined all the way there and back, but I am very proud of myself.... those of you who know me, know that I do not love to make myself sweat, nor do I love to exercise. 

Sunday school is going well. I am excited about this week teaching PATIENCE :-) 

English class is going well too, got a little tutoring in this week with one of the kids. I am really enjoying it... our Spanish is improving, I even had a dream in Spanish the other night :o)

Thank you for all your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for our physical health, wisdom and discernment. We love you all and miss you!  

Week 3

Sunday we had the chance to witness a baptism. It was very special. This couple became Christians about a month ago. They decided to follow Jesus and to dedicate their family to the Lord, raising their son in a Christ honoring home. It was super special, especially because Shiloh was baptized first and then he helped baptize his wife Adriana. Very sweet. We are so excited for the Rose family! 

Sunday School was really nice this week. I had 5 girls and 1 boy. We studied love and made "valentines in July" with different verses about love. Next week we are going to study joy.


Yesterday we started "English Class." Before the skate sessions on Wednesday and Saturdays, we are offering an English class for those who want to come. No one showed up at first, but when they came to skate, they saw that I had the games on the table and they ALL wanted to  play. It was pretty fun. We played alphabet bingo and another vocabulary bingo game. The boys loved it. I have had fun visiting with moms and girlfriends while the guys skate. Josh is loving getting to know everyone. He has the skate shed in perfect condition, we made labels for everything yesterday. The guys love him and the little ones have been helping him clean. They are all seeking recognition, and a high five from "Jorsh" (Josh is too hard to say I guess, bc they all call him Jorsh) is just the answer. 


Thursdays we have dubbed work days. Today Josh is working on grinding some steel, on the skate pavilion, where the salty air/water has started to cause damage. I am working on posting official hours on a sign and making an "open" sign, and finally posting on here :D


We got a big rain yesterday. It's nice when it rains, because it cools off so much and then we feel like the humidity is here with reason. 


We ride our bikes everywhere which is actually totally fine with me, then I don't feel so bad about all the ginger ale we drink. Some how buying groceries on a bike has not been a problem at all which is a big surprise to me.  BUT the real surprise has been the price of things! You have to take your laundry to get done and it costs 4,500 colones a load, which is about $9....  lysol is $6 a can... so needless to say we are stinky people already ... three weeks in! And most of you have seen how sweaty Josh is when he skates.... that $9 is looking cheaper everyday! 


We are so excited to say that we have a nephew now! Max made his debut on June 24 at 4:35 am, 8 lbs, 4 oz and 22.5 inches long! All About Our Nephew :)

Mountain Chicken Update: 
The Mt. Chicken has pipped down a little. We still hear it, but now, thankfully he has decided that one announcement of dawn is enough. Also, I have realized that he also announces dusk.... that is he bugles at 4:30 am AND exactly 4:30 pm... That's right, it gets light at around 5:00, 5:30 and sunset is at about 5:30... so long late summer nights! 

Mountain Chicken

So, the house we are staying has an open air layout for ventilation. It's just a metal roof with a wood structure under it. The walls are made with lattice on one side and sliding door on the other.... We are staying on the second floor, and the owner (Oded) and his wife (Megan) live below. They are super nice and fun to be around. Needless to say there are no sound barriers...  Monday night at about 4:30 we heard this awful noise (animal) followed by Oded trying to scare it off. We had no idea what it could be, but it definitely woke us up. Then, last night it returned! The sound is awful... a mix of car alarm and horrible beet-boxing.... Tonight our neighbor informed us that it is his "old friend" back with vengeance.... A Mountain Chicken... so we immediately googled it to figure out what it is. It is a gray necked wood rail... turn the volume way up and imagine being in a deep and peaceful slumber and then this HORRIBLE SOUND . 

Oded asked us tonight, "I got some firecrackers... would you guys mind if I used them to scare the bird in the morning?!" Of course we said we would LOVE that! So... here is hoping that tonight the Mt. Chicken get scared away!!!!! :-)

Week 1 and 2

We are finally getting a little bit of a schedule going and settling in. The first week we met so many people and learned a lot about the town and the cultures here. It has been a lot to take in, overwhelming at times. I finally feel like I am treading water.

During the week we have 4 skate sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Tuesdays' are staff meeting and the kid's skate session/Mom's Cafe. Thursdays', we have decided are general maintenance work days.  Josh mounted two new ceiling fans and wired them to the panel...thank you Marshall.  Sunday nights have been really neat too, we have a pot luck dinner and then a message. This week I started working with the 7-11 year olds on Sunday School. We are starting a study of the Fruit of the Spirit. I am really enjoying that. Josh is loving getting to know the kids at the skate park. He says that they are really good. The kids here are all so brave. Even the 4 year olds surf and skate!

This week we are helping a lady from Minnesota out with a mini VBS.

We are having fun meeting people and building relationships. We have been learning so much. Some of it the hard way ;-) But Barrett and Amy and their girls have been a huge blessing showing us the ropes of the culture.


Prayer Request:
-> For stamina in the heat
-> Josh to feel 100% (he has been having an upper respiratory thing)

Address

A real post is coming soon! Promise.

But for now here is our mailing address:

The Johnsons

c/o: Barrett and Amy Cruces

Apartado 141-7304

Puerto Viejo- Limon

Talamanca

Costa Rica, Centroamerica

Settling In

We have been getting settled in these past few days. We have had fun getting to know the layout of the town and meeting a lot of new people. I read that there are over 50 cultures represented in Puerto Viejo with a population of less than 2,000 people. We have already met a lot of the kids we will be working with. Some of their stories are heart breaking, but it has been awesome to see how God has worked in their lives. We will get to meet more people tonight at church. Getting ready for that now. 

Also it is rainy season so it has been super nice, “fresh” as the locals put it, and cool at night. We made a video to post.... just can't figure out how to upload it because it is so large... 

...3 Days and Counting...

We have been so blessed already in our preparation for Costa Rica. We have seen first hand the love of Christ in our Arkansas friends and our Texas friends and family. We have learned how quickly God works in the hearts of His own and felt His love through them. Our time here in Texas is already coming to a close. We are very excited about the coming days but a little sad to leave home.. (Tx) we just got back! We still have 3 days, I know we will be making more memories, but these are a few things we've enjoyed while we’ve been here:

- Helping Brad and Jessica settle in to their new home

- Playing games with the whole Johnson family 

- Making predictions about Max's arrival and sharing in the anticipation and excitement

- Taking Johannah and Jillian to the pool... so happy that they are finally here and excited to see how well they are adjusting 

- Laughing with my parents until we all 4 can't breathe

- Helping Jared work on his house 

- Going to a wedding and knowing almost every person there! (Also, looking at the row behind us and realizing that at some point every single lady on the row has taught me from 2nd grade - 12th grade)

- Always seeing someone you know at Wal-Mart (no matter the time)

- Having dinner with Grannie and Grandad and enjoying their company and laughter

- Driving an 1.5 hours to meet Mawmaw and Aunt Ronda,  Uncle Rusty and Dalton half way to the lake for dinner at the "Sirlon Stockade"

- Catching up with good friends 

- A chance to adjust to the humidity before Costa Rica

- Seeing our church family and feeling the love that they exude 

- Always having a job lined up

- Listening to stories around the dinner table from really good story tellers

-The tradition of the "last supper" before any big trip... We have had about 3 "last suppers" already and 3 more to come. We have both gained about 5+ pounds from these "last suppers". 

Great is THY faithfulness!

We have 95% of our monthly support. We have been amazed these past few months watching God work through his people. The LORD is a faithful provider and continues to prove Himself to us daily. 

Right now we are in Texas. We made it out of Arkansas. It was quite a trip, we made it to Texas last Saturday night at 10:00. We are staying in an apartment behind my parents’ house for the 16 days we are home (only 7 more). Josh has been working during this time. We have already seen a lot of family and friends. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Max (our nephew). I am really glad that we have this time to spend with family and friends before we begin the next part in our journey. And a little time to adjust back to humidity. It is so refreshing to be in fellowship of loved ones. 

Only 1 week until take off :o)

♥♥♥

Fundraising update:

100% Start fund

90% of monthly support

0% project fund

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Perse-dang-vere

Packing...Packing...Packing!

Three days until our journey to TX

Looking forward to some down time to catch our breath in Texas. We are SOOO excited to see friends and family!

20 days until Costa Rica

Gathering, packing, praying

♥♥♥

Fundraising update:

100% Start fund

69% of monthly support

0% project fund

♥♥♥

Year 1

It has been quite the school year!

AND MY was it FAST

Since I last posted (a long long time ago) a lot has happened. I have about 5 days left at my school here in AR. I have loved teaching PK and library. I definitely stretched and grew this year. I have felt so welcome and loved at this school. It is hard to think about not returning in the Fall. And it is hard to think about working at another school. I don't think I will ever find a more loving principal or fellow faculty. What a blessing it has been!

Josh has also finished up school. WOHOOOOOOOOO! We were happy to celebrate with his family (parents, Jillian and Johannah) and my parents 2 weeks ago. What a relief to have that done! He is steadily applying for jobs and holding things together for me since I am running in circles wrapping things up here.

Our family is growing, Josh's family adopted two girls from Colombia and they are here and adjusting well. And Josh's sister is expecting in June.

Josh and I have committed to a 3 month mission internship in Costa Rica with Alternative Missions. We are so excited to start our journey in less then 30 days! We leave June 16 and will return September 13. We are excited to serve and learn what life in Costa Rica feels like. God could not have opened the doors in a more beautiful way. Josh will be ministering at a skatepark (managing, maintenance and relationship building). And I have the opportunity to work with the children's program at the home church. Our fundraising is going well. God is a faithful provider. We have 100% of our start up funds and and about 33% of our monthly goal. Our first month is talking care of only 2 more to go!

We are praying with open hearts and minds about the coming year and where God wants us after September.

At the moment we are packing ... packing our house and packing my classroom and simultaneously packing for Costa Rica. My last day of school (by that I mean work) is the 28th and we have HIGH hopes of driving our trailer and vehicles to TX on the 29th with the help of my parents.

Josh is getting ready for a final skateventure to MO and saying some hard goodbyes to some awesome friends this weekend. He is also excited to be finishing up at Lowe's on Tuesday.

I am hoping to actually keep up with this over the summer.

I would love to blog/journal away all summer. I am sure we will have MANY interesting memories and lessons learned :o)

♥♥♥

So here's hoping

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