The Lord is good and His love endures forever!

It's true. All the time. No matter the circmstances.

I am thankful for His love and his mercy. I am thankful that He never fails. I am thankful that He is my constant companion.

What are YOU thankful for?

Well, I hadn't planned on this turning into a plug for Thanksgiving, but I guess it did. :) That's alright. I can go with the flow. Thanksgiving is next week, and I'm celebrating it here... ... ... as if you didn't already know that. Silly me! So what will I be doing on this festive occassion? Celebrating of course! Only the best of a good 'ol American traditional holiday around here. A tasty potluck dinner with all the best goodies from the juicy turkey to the pumpkin pie and a few things thrown in between. Accompany that with some fellowship and football (which I always ignore) and we've got it made down here. It'll definitely be a big group though. I've heard rumors that there are upwards of about 30 people that come, including a few Costa Ricans who somehow snuck into the guest list over the years... ;-) I can't wait! Better start starving myself now, just to be prepared. Naw, I'm just kidding. But seriously, there is going to be a lot of food there!

In keeping with this trend of starting with the future and working back through past events, I'd like to tell you about my latest project. On Tuesday, Steve asked me if I'd like to participate in a Hydroponics class, which is basically growing plants without soil. He said it was Mon-Fri from 8-1ish every day and went from Nov 19-Dec 7. I said 'Yes'. I don't know why... They say we may be able to make money off of the skills that I learn in the class. I'm not so sure about that, but I'm game to learn something new. And it's put on by the National Institute of Learning, which is part of the government, so the class is completely free. What a deal! I'll try to take pictures next week.

Great news!

The brochure seems to be done now! Ok, really, that's pending approval on the use of some of the photos, some 'peer' reviews, one professional review, and the go-ahead from Steve to send it off to the printers. :D But boy am I glad about that! It is way past time to be done with that project. It has definitely been a learning experience that, Oh joy!, isn't quite done yet. Well, actually, I really am enjoying all the learning I've been able to do. I hope to use these skills more in the future so I don't lose them.

Speaking of skills... I've really gotten a lot of translating practice in in the last two weeks. For the first time ever, I worked as an 'official translator' for the last two teams during the first two weeks of November. My first job was translating from Spanish to English for about an hour. Phew! Talk about tiring! I got to translate for a guy named Ronald who runs a feeding ministry in San Jose. He explained about the ministry and then told his testimony. It was a great experience! Then last week I translated for a group that had a lot of activities planned with the kids in the daycare. That was mostly English to Spanish, which is harder, but I could see a big improvement in my translating skills by the end of the week. I'm very thankful that I got to use kids as my guinea pigs. They're very forgiving with mistakes. :)

That's the end of the teams for the rest of the year. What a huge blessing they are! The next one comes January 10th.

More exciting news!

I'm super excited for this one, and I hope that it starts getting a little colder in MN so there'll be snow on the ground when I go home for Christmas!!!!!! Yes, that's right. What a wonderful mother I have to make this possible! Thank you, Mom! I love you! I'll be home Dec 22-30th, and I can't wait to see my entire family! I miss them so much!

It's been much cooler here and quite windy. That marks the changing from rainy season to dry season. I'm loving the cool weather and enjoying the change.

Thank you, everyone, for your continued prayers. I love praying for you, too, so shoot me an e-mail if there's any way I can pray for you more specifically.

Be blessed and enjoy Thanksgiving with your family. Family is precious.

Prayer Requests

-For direction on my next work project.

-For grace and humility and openness with my host family as we continue to develop our relationships and work out continual problems.

-That I would be able to focus on what God is doing here and now as I am constantly looking ahead to when I get to see my family in December.