A Simple Prayer Answered

Here is the blog I promised. A few days ago, I just had a bad day with Spanish. I had not done well in my phonetics class. Then, I had a grammar test that I felt I did really poorly on. As I was running downtown to run an errand, I just felt like I had lost all of the Spanish that I had learned. I couldn't understand a thing the clerk was telling me at the store, and I just was thoroughly frustrated. As I was leaving the store, I asked the gentleman if he would call a taxi for me. He said he would, and I went outside to wait.

Now, here in Costa Rica, it rains pretty much every day. I think it will be this way until about October. Well, on this day, I had at least remembered to bring an umbrella. As I was standing outside, it started pouring. It was one of those rains where an umbrella does not keep you completely dry. My shoes and socks were soaked, and I was getting cold. You may ask why I didn't go back inside. Well, I didn't want to miss the taxi if I didn't wait outside for it.

I was standing there feeling sorry for myself, and I looked up into the rain and said, out loud, "God, if you can hear me and see me, please send a taxi driver I can understand and be able to talk to!" What happened next was amazing!

As I got in the taxi from the pouring rain and told my taxi driver where my home was, I just made up my mind to at least try and practice Spanish with him. He was very patient and seemed really interested in talking with me. Our conversation turned to why we were here. I explained about learning Spanish so we could start a medical clinic in the jungle of Paraguay. His head shot around as he heard this, and he began asking questions like: why? who for? who are we working with? etc.

Well, it turns out that he is a Christian. He attends a Baptist church not too far from our apartment, and his church loves helping the poor kids in their neighborhood. In fact, he gets up early every morning to serve breakfast to the kids and make lunch for them if they don't have any for school. His church believes in feeding, clothing, and ministering to the poor.

As we talked, he let me know that he had been having a bad day. He had a lot of customers that were rude to him, and he had just asked God to please send a Christian along to ride in his taxi. As we pulled up to the apartment, I did not want to get out, and he did not want me to leave. We talked for a few more minutes, and he thanked me for being an answer to his prayers. I thanked him for being an answer to mine. Then, just before I got out, I handed him a prayer card. He promised that he and his family would pray for us. Then, he looked me in the eyes and said, "May God bless you, your wife, and your kids. May He bless your ministry! May many people come to know the Lord as a result of your ministry! May He bless your medical clinic, and may His Holy Spirit lead, guide, and protect your family!"

If you are having one of those days, don't think that God doesn't see or know. Who knows? Maybe he will send someone that needs you just as much as you need them.

Blessings to you all,

Charley

Taxi System in Costa Rica

For this post, I thought I would share some of our daily life. One of the most important things to learn is the taxi system. This picture shows a taxi here in Costa Rica. This is the normal color of a taxi, and it is very important that the taxi has the yellow triangle you see on the side of this one. That triangle means it is a "legal" taxi.

The most interesting part of the taxi ride is explaining where to go. THERE ARE NO ADDRESSES IN SAN JOSE. If there are no addresses, how do we get where we are going? Let me give you an example. Let's say that I need to get to the kid's school for soccer practice. The first thing I do is call the taxi company and attempt to speak Spanish. I need to tell them my telephone number in espanol, "dos-veinticuatro-veintiseis-sesenta y uno." Then, after the taxi driver arrives, I need to go through the normal greetings, "Hola! Buenos dias! (tardes, noches), Como esta usted?" Then comes the fun part! I need to know what part of town the school is in and the name of where you are going. If the taxista (taxi driver) does not know where you are going, then you need to know some landmark or building that the taxista would know. It is quite interesting sometimes. Here is what I usually say to get to the kid's school, "?Podria llevarme a San Francisco de Dos Rios?" Then, the taxista usually asks where I need to go exactly. So, I would say, "al instituto de lenguas espanol." Most of the taxistas know where it is from there.

Sometimes, there are taxistas that either do not understand me or do not know where I need to go. Improvising and knowing how to say straight, right, or left are very important to everyday life here. I enjoy, sometimes, riding in a taxi because it allows me an opportunity to think on my feet and to try to communicate in Spanish. A lot of taxista's do not speak clearly, and they use a lot of slang and shortened words. So, it really helps to hear different people speak Spanish.

I hope you understand just a part of our daily lives here in Costa Rica. If you have any questions of comments, please click on the comments link at the end of this post. You can also go to our website at: www.mattixfamilynews.com. On our website, you can look at some more photos, email us, and keep checking on our process as we continue to learn Spanish in preparation for moving to Paraguay.

Blessings to you all,

Charley