This morning was the same routine - waking up, breakfast, and heading out to base camp. Karina and I caught the twins eating leftover chocolate cake (from Brandon's birthday) for breakfast.

We got to base camp at 8:30am, where Gary led us in a short devotion. He showed us a song called Vessel by Chris Sligh, which talked about man being a vessel for God.

"Make of me a vessel that you can always use

No matter how you break me, what I win or what I lose

Let me be a vessel pure and holy, perfect in your eyes

Lord, hear me when I cry, for you to make me, a vessel"

After our devotion, we worked on improving the house. It was my turn to paint the roof today. Luckily, there was hardly any sun, so it did not get too hot up there. Melissa, Amy, and Danielle worked on the garden, while Brandon and Karina went on an adventure to the garden store to pick up supplies. During lunch, Maribel packed me and Karina a chicken pate (liver) sandwich. It was very interesting to say the least...

We headed for Tirrases around 1:00pm. Today's lesson was on the breastplate of righteousness. Gabriel and I played two songs on the guitar to start the lesson: This Little Light of Mine and Alleluia. All the kids sang and they were really cute! Brandon taught the lesson while Gabriel translated. After the kids completed the word search worksheet that Melissa prepared, we moved onto crafts. Karina came up with the idea to cut breastplates from paper bags and have the kids decorate them with the words "righteousness" across the chest. Brandon drew a dragon for one of the boys, Lester, which resulted in every kid wanting a dragon on their breastplate. Brandon then pushed the responsibility of drawing dragons onto Danielle (haha)! We played "toss the bean bag into the cone" with the kids to end the day.

SLIDESHOW BELOW WITH LOTS OF PICTURES!! :)

EXCERPT WRITTEN BY AMY: While everyone was working with the kids, I went with Esther (Horacio's wife), Nathan, Jamie, and Gloria on a house visit to Sara's house. Sara has 4 kids and is separated from her husband. They live in a very dirty shack made of old wood and rusty metal. Last year, Sara was diagnosed and treated with chemo and radiation for ovarian cancer. Unfortunately, her cancer came back, making Sara unable to use her oven to fry plantains and sell them for a living. So Sara cannot pay $150 a month to rent her living space. It was heartbreaking to see their living conditions, especially considering how blessed I am in the U.S. I am deeply moved by their situation and feel extremely blessed with the opportunity to pray for Sara and will continue to keep her and her family in my prayers.

During the evening, we headed for a free Zumba at the local park. The park was around a 15 minute walk from our house. I was surprised to see how festive the park was when we arrived. There was a stage and sound system set up with an instructor on the stage, along with around fifty people already dancing. The instructor was leading everyone in the dance routines and he made it look so easy! Man his hips do whatever they want! When the hour was over, the instructor came over to us (we were in the back corner) and pointed me and Brandon out. He praised Brandon for trying and commented on my crazy moves. We introduced ourselves and found out that Carlos taught Zumba five days a week, from 7-8pm. It was really awesome to be able to experience Costa Rican culture through dance, and it was definitely a memorable one :).

Prayer Request :)

For Julio's family: May God continue to watch and protect Sara's childrens and keep them in school. May God bless them with good health and to comfort Sara in her times of pain. May the family rely on you as their biggest strength and protector.
Praise God that spiritual warfare was minimized at Tirrases yesterday, but continue to pray that we will continue to endure against conflicts that we will face.
Pray for energy since the next few days will be longer than we are used to.
Pray for safety in Pavas (we will be going there next week from Monday - Wednesday)

Spanish Phrase of the Day - Hasta Luego (which means see you again... I used this phrase to tell the kids that I will see them again tomorrow)

In his Love,

Lisa Mai (with excerpt from Amy!)

Day 5 - The Day of the Dragon