Greetings, or Pura Vida, as they say here in Costa Rica!

So at this point we´re on the Outreach phase. So far we´ve been to Panama City for about two weeks, Bocas del Toro for one week and now we´re in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Panama City was interesting. We mostly did programs in the streets. A program consisted of skits that we had learned in the Lecture phase that portrayed the gospel message followed by some time afterwards to talk to whoever stuck around. Some of the programs were really good, as were some of the conversations afterwards. There were two times I remember someone on the team reporting that they had led someone to Christ which is awesome. However, some of the programs were a little more on the awkward side, as were some of the conversations, I´m not going to lie.

I guess the most frustrating part was when you were talking with someone who had big issues (we talked to our share of crazy people) that couldn´t even begin to be dealt with in one conversatoin. It´s like you were talking into a vaccuum that would just suck up everything you said and just keep sucking. A lot of issues take time to be resolved which is why it seems that relational evengelism is better than the hit-and-run method. Apparently, they both work, but I know that at least I prefer knowing the person.

I´m still a bit shaky in my español beause our whole team speaks English all the time. But so far I´ve been having some good practice on Outreach.

So, Bocas del Toro was cool, too. It´s a beautiful spot! Beautiful! They´re trying to start a YWAM base on one of the islands, so that´s where we stayed. It´s a house that runs on solar power and get´s all it´s running water from rainwater. It´s pretty cool. And they take care of their own trash, too. The house is situated right near the ocean with a breathtaking view of the ocean. The house is run by Kim and Dale and they´re the ones who want to start the YWAM base there.

Some indigenous folk live next to the house so we interacted with them a bit, too. They´re very nice and very smart. They showed us how to harvest rice and catch shrimp. A lot of them were Christians, too.

But some of them haven´t really been educated about the world. For example, I was chatting with one guy and he asked me how it was possible that it could be daytime here in Panama but nightime in Russia at the same time. I made and imaginary model of the solar system, and he definitely understood. So it´s not that he was stupid, he just hadn´t been educated. It´s crazy that some people in the world don´t know those basic things.

(Then again, I think we´re all pretty oblivious about a lot of things. I mean, we haven´t even been to the bottom of the ocean yet...just making sure nobody gets a superiority complex.)

Well, that´s all the time I have for this quick update. Maybe I´ll fill you in more than once every month, how about that?...I´ll try but I´m not sure how much more internet access I´ll have on Outreach.

Alright, signing off.

Take it easy.