CR language training, week 4

Monday started off with our Spanish lessons, as usual, but we’d scheduled 2 Skype sessions in the afternoon. We Skyped with daughter Erica and later with missions candidate, Courtney. Skype is a wonderful thing! It’s so good to talk almost-in-person with our favorite people! We are continuing to appreciate technology and its capabilities, as we also are watching the Cardinals or the Presidential debates online (however, we had voted early, the day before we came here).

CR language training, week 3

Monday was a holiday, so our lessons this week were a little mixed up. No problem, we’re flexible!  And along with our lessons, we got to do a few other fun things too!

Tuesday was our field trip day this week, changed so we could attend a midday concert at the National Theater of San Jose, Costa Rica.  We hurried to the front gate of the campus and to the bus stop, riding to a bus stop farther than our usual park, so we would be closer to the theater. Gaby was concerned that we might be late or that the tickets might be gone; after exiting the bus, we had a hard time keeping up with her!  But we arrived before the start, bought tickets ($2 each!) and took our seats; the theater was full!  The stage was set with 16 chairs and several short music stands.  In a few

minutes, out came 16 young men with their acoustic guitars, all students at the University of Costa Rica. One student stood and plucked some notes for tuning… their conductor came onstage. They became silent… and the concert began! The group performed 5 numbers (and later, an encore), all quite complex with 2 or 3 men playing each part, like an orchestra!  If you closed your eyes, you’d have been sure that there were several more instruments there as well – a drum, a harp, a viola… extraordinary! We thoroughly enjoyed this 30 minutes or so of spellbinding music, totally professional quality!  Dan recorded it on his cell phone, so we can experience it more than once! It was worth so much more than the ticket price!   You can download and listen also, follow this link to all 6 tunes + a video he created - Guitar Concert link.

CR language training, week 2

Dan and I had decided over the weekend that we really needed to get moving, literally! So we got up a few minutes earlier on Monday and walked around the campus, up to the front gate and back – twice!  The sun comes up here, over the mountain, at about 5:40, so you can just imagine how early the folks on the east side of the mountain see the sun!

We attended our Spanish classes as usual (Mondays, I have a 2-hour class and Dan has two 2-hour classes).  I could tell you about the verb tenses we’re studying… but I’ll enjoy more telling you about our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner that evening! Because the Kuceys were missing their friends and family this time of year, it was decided that we’d join the missionaries and all celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. We had divided up parts of the meal in a discussion last week and I was to make the mashed potatoes. I’ve never made mashed potatoes without a mixer before, but they turned out just fine and were a great accompaniment to the “turkey” (really chicken this time) and carrots and stuffing at the Tooleys’ home.  (Dan and I had found a bag of almonds at a grocery store, so I also made sugar-spiced almonds to share… mmm!) We’ll get to share another missionary Thanksgiving in November in Argentina, but this one was unique, sharing a meal and our thankful thoughts and prayers with these special friends.

CR language training, week 1

Tuesday, after we each had a 2-hour class, then lunch, then my second 2-hour class, we were planning to walk to the Pali grocery store by ourselves to fill in some gaps in our pantry supplies, but our teacher Gaby was going that way and was willing to drive us to the store and we’d walk home. I had finished the shawl I had spent the last few weeks knitting for her and decided this was the time to give it to her.  I had taken some photos of it earlier, to document the project… Gaby brought her car over from the classroom parking and we asked her in for a minute and gave her the shawl. Her reaction was predictable, as she’s always muy enthusiastic, but I was thrilled that she appreciated the fancy pattern and the hours it had taken to complete! Dan took a photo of us together before she drove us to the store. And thankfully, it didn’t rain on us on the walk home!

Leaving again (2012)

Well, here we are, beginning another extended time away from our home in the US.  This has been a busy time since our last post.  Late spring was filled with obligations in various areas across the US.  In July we participated in 3 regional youth events.  These were all related to our continuing involvement with our denomination's Bible Quiz Ministry.  We had the privilege of being at: 1) the US national Quiz event at Olivet Nazarene University, near Chicago; 2) the MesoAmerica regional youth conference in Panama City, Panama; 3) the South America (SAM) regional youth conference in Cali, Colombia. Soon, we hope to have another set of photos to show a little of our summer.

August and September, we enjoyed staying home in St. Louis and reconnecting with our home church and neighbors.  At the end of September, we left for "immersion" language training in Costa Rica for the whole month of October.  In November, we will welcome a team of volunteers from our home district with whom we will join for a 2-week work project here in Costa Rica.  When the team returns to the US, we will go on to Argentina for another 5-month assignment there.  This brings us to where we are now. 

Holy week 2012

It’s Easter! Christ, the Lord, is risen today!! Alleluia! 

This has been a week to remember, or forget (!), as it was a very busy week of more training and acclimating for the Claytons. Our heads were full of information to “download” and decisions to make with our possessions, as we prepare to move back home to the States.  Beyond the work duties here, practically speaking, we needed to eat the food in our fridge and pantry, box up things to be stored, wash and pack clothing, and pass along the things that can be used by others in our absence.  No Spanish lessons are scheduled this week, as the seminary in Costa Rica is having Spring Break, but we’ll continue with those after we get settled at home!

Where has the time gone?

As we prepare to head back home to the St Louis area for a few months, we're soaking in all the details we can!  Even as our minds are so full of what-to-leave, what-to-store, how-to-train, duties-to-fulfill in the months to come in the States…

We're soaking in our last looks at Argentina – for a while – as we prepare to leave all we have become accustomed to and the people who we’ve grown to love.  How can it be April already? Didn’t we just get here and begin the learning and adjusting process? It felt like it would be months and months before April would arrive. And now it’s here.

Pieces and parts

With my laptop all charged up, I’m typing as we’re on our way to the airport to pick up the Claytons. David and Pamela are the couple who has answered the call for replacements for us in the SAM Regional Office. Their skills seem to be very close to ours, so the next two weeks’ training should go well. The clouds are burning off with the sun coming up; it should be a beautiful fall day! Following the calendar, it has turned to autumn here this week. There are still warm days, but cooler nights and more variables – some mornings are foggy, some have a little rain.

Skype has become our best friend, connecting us 4 times last Tuesday, to get our Spanish lessons and give Mission Coaching sessions. It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like to do this a few years ago, without the latest technology!

Constantly in the back of our minds, we’re formulating lists of what knowledge and procedures we need to pass along!

Late Summer days...

What a busy couple of weeks this has been! Two families have returned from deputation tours in the U.S. and it feels more like a neighborhood already! Carlos and Robin Radi arrived the first Monday evening, back from a 3-month deputation tour in the U.S. They spoke over 80 times in 60 days! That evening, we had quite a tormenta (storm), not much of a “welcome home!”

Tuesday, we Skyped with Thea, keeping in touch and coordinating our team efforts. Regional Director Christian Sarmiento (our boss) was in Argentina for a few days. We met with him and Liliana Radi and Carlos Fernandez about our ongoing relationship with them and the SAM Region, how things can work as we continue to work remotely, via the internet. Christian was joined here by General Superintendent David Graves and his wife Sharon, although we didn’t get to see them this time before they headed off to more district assemblies and ordination services in other South American countries.

In Days of UPS and DOWNS our God is Faithful!

After helping Thea get checked in at the airport last week, I knew it would be strange not having her around, but I didn’t expect to feel so incredibly DOWN the next morning. I moped my way through the day, tearing up whenever anyone asked, “Did you ride along to take Thea to the airport last night?” It’s not like we’ll never see her again! But, I think, I’d been caring about and for her so much, that it was such a let-DOWN to not have to stay UP for her. Sunday evening, Ana Melva’s mother (who’s been staying with Ana, caring for her as she heals from surgery) wanted to go to church with us, so we all hopped on the colectivo (public bus) and went together. Even the Sunday night church service was difficult; I understood very little of the service and it seemed to last longer than usual.