Back to School!

We've had a break full of excitement, but it's time to go back to school!  Today was our first day back, and we enjoyed meeting our new teachers who will be teaching us for the next 4 months.  During our break, we were able to do lots of fun things like go on a tour of downtown San Jose courtesy of our former Lenguaje teacher Gerardo, show Leslie's parents around San Francisco (the town where we live, just outside of San Jose), join Leslie's parents on their trip to the beach in Guanacaste about 5 hours north of here (thanks, Chuck and Susan!), and move into a new apartment. 

So, with all that's gone on, where to begin?  How about with everyone's favorite, the beach!  We spent a week in Playa Azul, Guanacaste, with Chuck and Susan (Leslie's parents).  Playa Azul is about as far away from civilization as you can get in Costa Rica, requiring a 30+ minute drive on gravel roads to get there, and situated over an hour from the nearest city.  Thanks to this, we almost always had the entire beach to ourselves!  It was also a great opportunity for us to practice the Spanish we've learned thus far!

 

Once we returned from Guanacaste, we got to move into our new apartment.  It's just a few blocks away from our old one, but is smaller and has a nice yard for Lucy to run and play.  She certainly gives her approval of the new place, complete with gated yard away from the noisy street, and a comfy couch!

 

Now that we've had a nice break, we're back to daily Spanish classes.  Leslie's birthday is coming up on the 16th.  If anyone wants to send her a card or a letter of encouragement for her birthday, I'm sure she'd love it!  Our mailing address is:

Jeff and Leslie Vanvactor

Instituto de Lengua Espanola

Apartado 100-2350

San Jose, Costa Rica

America Central

 We have several things we hope you'll pray about in the coming weeks. 

  --Homework and general difficulty level will be ramping up quickly during the second trimester.  Pray that we're able to have great attitudes, good health (so we don't miss any classes), and minds ready to learn a lot in a short amount of time.

--Many new students started today, with a few more still traveling here this week.  Please pray that these students have safe travels and acclimate well to the new culture, and that God will help us to be welcoming and encouraging to them.

--The rainy season is starting, so there will be lots of rain in the afternoons and throughout the night.  Because so many missionaries live in our area due to the Spanish school, there are many homeless people who live near us who will be sleeping outside during these stormy nights.  Please pray for God's hand of protection and provision on them, and for opportunities for us to show God's love to them even through their difficulties. 

Thank you for keeping up with us on here, and especially for your prayers.  As you can see from the graph near the top-right of the blog, we're still not quite where we need to be financially for moving to Honduras, but we know that God has and will continue to provide.  If you feel that God might be calling you to support us financially, or if you know of an individual or church that might want to know more about us and the ministry we're preparing for, please send us an email at jeffandlesliev@gmail.com or send us a Facebook message.  If you just want to send us some words of encouragement, those are also the best ways to do that, and will greatly brighten our day!  And finally, if you want to see what Lucy is up to here in Costa Rica, she has her own blog at travelingterrier.blogspot.com.  Until next time, Dios los bendiga!

Jeff and Leslie