Tomorrow starts...

our trip to Managua, Nicaragua. We arrived to San Jose a day before the other of our community members because we had business, of various kinds, to attend to before continuing on to Nicaragua. Some needed to go to banks, others had things to get at supermarkets and I, I am finally reunited with all of my things! I packed only one suitcase to come live for a year.. but within one month I had a bag of things in Progresso, I had a bag at the Baha'i Institute outside of San Jose, I had a bag at the national office in San Jose, and I had some things with me in Colombia. Just in time, I have the very things I wanted to have in case there was an event like the one I'm going to. :) Unfortunately I believe I have a ways to go before I learn to be detached from my things.

But one thing I always knew - I have a rather love/hate relationship with technology. I love it because of all the things one can do with it (I'm mainly talking computers and internet here) but I hate it because so often, I can't. Take today, for instance. I have a few hours where I thought I would be checking email and facebook and catching up with friends and family (who I haven't had a chance to contact in ANY way for almost a full month and I miss it) and email won't work and neither will facebook. Sad day. But at least I have gotten to read up on people's blogs... and I can write one to sort of feel like I'm comunicating a little with my people.

Speaking of communicating, let's do a little:
The last month has been very busy, and therefore, great. We had a "capacitacion" (basically an intensive weekend of Ruhi) in Progresso near the end of December. A family who lives in El Salvador traveled down, with some friends (some of whom served in Haifa recently and know some of you guys), to help out. Of course, how else can one prepare for a capacitacion without going to the beach first? So, that's what we decided to do, then we had the capacitacion and it all went well. People from all over the area came to study books. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. Plus, I forgot to say, Laila and Paul and his wife Lorena came so I know it has been nice for Anne and Parviz to visit with their children.

Then came new year's eve. It was a happy day because Don Jesus's family all came back up to live in their home (this is the family of Adrian, who had gotten bitten by a snake) and they invited us up to celebrate. They had a few fireworks and they fed us sooo much food. It was quite funny because everyone was soo full. It was just a very happy time.

Then, Laura and Linda and I took a trip to Rio Claro to visit the family of a good friend who is from that area. If you walk over and through the mountains it takes about 3 or 4 hours, from what I understand. But we instead chose to walk down to Conte, take a bus to Rio Claro (the very touristy place where there is apparently one of, or maybe the, longest wave in the world.. so a lot of surfers come there). From there we walk about 1 1/2 or 2 hours straight up to get there. It's a beautiful walk with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean, and the bay and the peninsula to one side, and all lush green mountains and valleys on the other... but it goes straight up, and then straight down, and then up more, and then down, and then up again and even more, and then down and then you get close and you go up again, and back down. But it was a good weekend. We gave a children's class, and had a devotional and mostly just sat around talking and being friends. Good times. But, poor guy, on the way back to Progresso we decided to spend about an hour or two, while we waited for the bus, in the ocean - and he got stung/stabbed by a stingray. He said it was the worse pain of his life. He got stung/cut open on the bottom of his foot and for an hour he sat literaly shaking from the pain that kept climbing up his leg. This, by the way folks, is a man who grew up in the jungle of the Costa Rican rainforest with a machete in his hand. We're talking hard core. I was actually quite worried because we really didn't know what had stung him and we didn't know if it might possibly be fatal - and it was worse because there really isn't any hospital for miles and miles around and the only clinic that we know of is closed on Sunday. Luckily it's just something that just simply hurts. Oh, after our bus ride to Conte, he walked back up the mountain to his home in Progresso to rest. These people really sometimes amaze me.

Yesterday and the day before I went with Don Jesus to his bean field and picked new beans... and then sat around for two days straight and shelled them all. And in the meantime I've been continuing with my pre-youth and children's classes. Oh, and in other news, Dona Elia tells me that perhaps when I return from Nicaragua my Guaymi dress might be ready. :).

So, hopefully when we return from Managua the internet and computer will be working better and I'll have a chance to catch up with everyone. And who knows what I'll be wanting to write about here after the Conference?