Tico Tuesday, June 11

Tuesday greetings to you all once more!
Life in Costa Rica has a lot of bittersweet moments. Sunday was one of them. We had a going away party for a missionary couple that has been here in Costa Rica for 40 years. 40. That's a really long time. And they've lived in the same house the entire time. That, I cannot even imagine. I haven't even stayed in the same house for 4 years here! (My life record is 7 so far.) And this wasn't just any neighborhood. They live in Los Guido, which has one of the worst reputations in the country. They shared a brief testimony with us on Sunday about the time people stole their vehicle out of their front yard... and how that same night their Toyota was mystically returned to them and both they and their neighbors heard someone say very clearly, "don Roberto, here is your Toyota." There was a bullet on the floor of the vehicle, but no damage had been done. Pretty amazing, huh?
 I've enjoyed getting to know this sweet, old couple at LAM picnics and retreats. Ann is SO excited about the Los Guido Childcare Center being built! She once told me she could list off to me all the moms whose children we should receive in the center!
The funniest part of the day was the cake. Kind of looks like it was originally written "Valla con Dios," doesn't it? Oh native Spanish speakers and the spellings that trip them up! Here in Costa Rica, the y and ll are pronounced exactly the same, so unless people have seen it written or learned correctly that vaya is with a y, they are much more likely to put it with an ll. We carefully scraped off the top of the y so it would look better, but this shot is of the cake as it originally was. So funny!
May you have some fun moments this week (even in the midst of sadness)!
Carrie