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Here is a picture of the front of out apartment. In this entire house, there is 5 apartments/houses. Our door is the brown, wooden door on the bottom right. There is a white gate to help protect us. The white wall to the left of the door is actually an automatic garage door with a driveway through it to the house in the back. Another missionary couple (the Cooper') couple lives in an apartment on the other side (to the left) from our apartment. Below us (in the middle of the house) is another apartment. Then, behind the Cooper's apartment is another house. It has an entrance similar to the the white wall (garage door) house behind ours.

Our apartment is nice, and it has all tile floors. The window on the right (second floor) is the window for mine and Sherry's bedroom. The window on the left, with a small balcony and door, is Chariti & Kaylee's bedroom. We have a small dining room, living room, and a tiny kitchen. There is a small utility room with our own washer and dryer. Then, Chaz has a bedroom with a bathroom, and there is another room in the back. It is fully furnished, including kitchen supplies. It is about a five minute walk from Cincel, the language school Sherry and I are attending. On an earlier blog, I talked about how the kids got to school on the van/bus. They have about a 15-20 minute "bus" ride to school every day.

The house is in a nice neighborhood. We only know of a few robberies that occur each week. We have nice security guards that are here 24/7. I do not know how well they watch the houses, though. Because Freddie Cooper had his license plates stolen right off of his car. Anyway, we feel pretty safe, but we do not take chances. For example, Sherry does not walk anywhere by herself, we do not go out late at night, and we keep an eye out when we are going anywhere. It's all about being attentive to the people around you. Also, we have one advantage that a lot of people in Costa Rica do not have. We have the Holy Spirit protecting us. That's why we are here.

What? You thought we were here just to learn Spanish? No, we are also here to spread love, spread love, spread love (that was for all who remember some old Christian comedy). Seriously, we are here to tell people about Jesus and share what He has done in our lives with all we can. Now, for Sherry and I this is very difficult because we cannot communicate very well. So, what can we do until we can speak the language better? We show people that we care about them. We learn about their culture, and the more we understand the better we can non-verbally communicate. For Sherry and I, we try to show people how much we care about them by treating them nice, by treating them the way we would like to be treated, and by treating the way Jesus would treat them.

It is really nice to see people's reactions when you treat them with kindness. We have quickly learned the excuse me, pardon me, and I'm sorry phrases for when, not if, we make mistakes. It is amazing what a few kind words, a simple apology, or an excuse me can do. Next time you feel someone is getting angry, try an apology or an excuse me. Just take a chance and see what happens.

Good night all,

Charley