OCTOBER 28
I hope all of you can go and look at the pictures Tiffanie posted on her blog, I need to do one of those, but since I don't have a camera now it might be a little fruitless! We are at the lab right now cleaning! It is getting closer but still have another day, I hope, until it is ready for making teeth!!
We are feeling good and are enjoying life in the Jungle!!! The power went out last night, for the second time this week! It stayed off for two hours or so and it was just when we were making dinner. We had the beans and rice already done s...o we just grilled up the meat on the camp chef in the garage, it was already set up from the time before, the power seems to go out around here at dinner time and, of coarse, it's dark then too!! So we had a little camp out, well, not really, I guess. We put on Home Alone for the kids on my lap top, so that's not really camping. But the kids loved it and thought it was a great party, all except for James who continued to tell me that "Toonah was sdared too!!" He felt better with the movie on so we were grateful for modern conveniences that we get to enjoy while in this not so modern place!! I have to tell you all how much I LOVE my king size bed!!! I sat on it today writing in my journal and reading my scriptures and felt so grateful to my husband for hauling it all the way down here! Anyway, I am praying to find a house with airconditioning and hot water!! You can pray for us too if you'd like, I know you all already are and we can feel your prayers everyday!! This Saturday we are getting together with the Primary Presidency to plan the primary program for this next month! They haven't planned it yet and it's on the 15th, which actually is a blessing because now our kids can be involved with it too! The Primary Pres. wants to make it bilingual, probably because our 12 children just more than doubled their primary attendance! I love the people here, they are very kind and good and I am excited to be able to get our lives settled so we can really delve into the missionary work that needs to be done here! We had the missionaries over on Monday for dinner and FHE, we didn't actually get to the FHE part because that was the other night that the power went out while we were cooking dinner. Anyway, they are just kids out here doing God's work and it is good to see them! They are from Utah and Idaho and seem to be happy about the work. It was actually kind of funny because Rachael and I are really tring to learn to cook like Ticos (because it's the only way to survive down here financially right now) so we have been practicing our rice and beans skills and we were excited to try them out on the missionaries. About half way through dinner it dawned on me that they probably would rather have something American to eat. Oh well, we will make sure we bake a casserole next time! Anyway, we are excited about the new friends we have made here and can't wait to get together with them again! It is such a blessing to be able to spend time with other Americans, it's kind of like a little dose of home and then back to the "Tico Way", don't get me wrong, I am not complaining just very grateful for tender mercies! I hope all of you are well and whole and I hope we can stay in touch better. Lots of Love heading your way!! Pura Vida!!
NOVEMBER 2
Hello agian, Hello!! I am at the lab, of corse, and we are helping Dannan, or so we are supposed to be doing!! I am online, not much help, writting to all of you about our lives here! Love you all and miss you much! Things are going well in Tico land and we are adjusting, sort of. Dannan is still melting constantly and we are thankful he has airconditioning at the lab!
It is getting hotter and that is hard to deal with when it was already hot! I am adjusting some what to the temperature, I don't get as hot and sweaty as I did but Dannan is literally MELTING here! I really can't believe how much he sweats..., it's kinda funny sometimes! But we feel sorry for him too.
So, some happenings of the past few days. Rachael and I got pulled over yesterday on our way to Samara beach. Some policemen were standing by the side of the road and one of them waved at me as a drove by but I didn't think he was asking me to pull over or anything because I slowed down when I saw him and looked at him but he didn't seem to be calling me to pull over or anything so I just kept driving. Well, about 15 minutes later, when they caught up to us, they pulled us over. We said a pray and prayed constantly for the Lord's help and that we would still be able to go to the beach. Well, they asked for our papers and I didn't bring my passport so they told me that was an 800 dollar fine and that I was talking on my cell phone and that would be 800 as well. Then they informed me that I was not allowed to drive the van I was driving because only Jacob has permission to drive it.~I was driving Jacob's van because the night before he went out and locked up our van and our keys were in it! He is our security master and makes sure we are safe and locked up! Well you guys know how us Royals don't really have a mind for locking things up so it's pretty funny to put us two together in the same house...one's going around leaving things open and the others right behind closing them up!!~~Anyway, the officer told me that because I was not allowed to drive it they should impound my vehicle!! I just kept smiling at them and telling them, sorry I didn't know. So they stood there talking to us for a while and as we talked to them the slowly changed their tune to...well, we will let you just drive home but don't drive this van again to...well, we don't want to ruin your trip to the beach so we will let you keep driving the van but just know that you need to have your passport and you can't really be driving that van, you know, you might get pulled over again and they could impound your van...We just kept smiling and saying lo ciento and gracis! So we got on our way with a prayer of thanks and had a fabulous day at the beach! Samara beach is absolutely beautiful! The sand is very nice and doesn't really stick to everything like some of the beaches we have been to. The "beach" is very big and there is tons of room to run and play, the temperature both times we have gone has been very cool compared to Nicoya and that has been so refreshing, the beach very slowly drops off so there is a lot of room to play in the waves and have lots of fun for the kids, there is a wonderful corral reef area that the kids can find fish, crabs, starfish, beautiful shells, etc., and the waves are pretty small so the kids don't get washed away! We had a good day!
So, the guys have ALMOST got the lab put together, it's just slow going in a place like this where you don't know the Tico Way and have to learn as you go! They really do things so differently here, if you have a gringo brain it doesn't really make any sense. So we hope to be in business soon and be able to make some dinero!! We are doing well and thanks to blessings from the Lord through good friends we are still afloat and actually have all we need! We are going to San Jose on Thursday to get dental lab supplies and to check out the Price Mart (Costco). We have heard from a few people that you CAN get bulk items there and that it's cheaper than regular price here. We are excited to find out! We have found out info on PO Boxes and stuff and we are deciding what service to use, once we decide I will send you my mailing address.
The branch is small here but we are happy to be part of it and to help make a difference here. The guys are going out on splits with the missionaries tonight and Rachael and I are hoping to be able to go out once a week with the RS Pres., we don't know yet if she does weekly visits but we are excited to do some missionary work. We have been sharing the gospel with people we meet through our example and testimonies, it is wonderful to do! We are driving our two big vans down to San Jose on Saturday for a big temple trip for our branch and the Santa Cruz branch. We leave at 4 am and spend the day in the temple doing work, I can't wait!!!
The kids are doing great, they miss their friends and family, but they are happy and enjoying the many wonders and beauties of Costa Rica!
Wow, that post was getting really long so I thought I would start another! Another interesting event this week was that the pool turned the most putrid color of green I have ever seen! George, the grounds keeper, hadn't been around for aw...hile and we were pretty worried we had ruined the pool somehow. Well, he finally showed up yesterday and the guys talked to him, figured out how to fix it and it's already much bluer!
We are still having many fun adventures with the bugs!
I am getting over my phobia of the ants and I can now just kill them instead of screaming.
Another adventure was that the fridge and freezer broke. Dannan spent a few days trying to get it to work until he finally just had me unload it and defrost the whole thing. Then he took it apart and fixed it and put it all back together and whala! it works perfect! He is such an awesome fix it man! Love that guy!
The guys have had soooo many crazy adventures everyday here in "Tico Land" as they call it! I can't really remember them all but I am making an effort to film them with my computer when they are telling stories and I hope to post them to youtube~ when time permits~
OK, so to answer some questions from all of you....we are here because the Lord told us to come. We felt inspired to sell everything and move down here. We have felt the Lords hand in all we have been doing and know that He is with us ble...ssing us every minute! We are here for as long as we feel it is right, until the Lord gives us a different direction, a little FYI, we have never lived anywhere for longer than 4 years. We are doing the same thing business wise that we were doing in the states, Dental Lab. except that we have hired Jacob Meyers as an assistant for Dannan and hope to be able to build the business bigger than we had it in the States. Dannan will be doing work for cheaper here than in the States and his supplies are about the same or a little cheaper. He is hoping to make up the difference in volume and the some of our cost of living is cheaper but really not all and we are just going to have to live a little more frugally here than in the States. The cost of labor here is cheap but the cost of materials is higher. It depends on what you are buying but the cost of our materials to build the lab were pretty crazy. A 4 by 8 sheet of 1/2 in. plywood was $30! A 4x8 sheet of melamine board was $50!!! The 2x4's were an okay price and some other stuff that we bought but some things are just ridiculous! The price of food, like I said, is about double to triple if you are buying imported American type products but for the Costa Rican food it's pretty cheap, cheper than the states. I can get really good beef for about $3 a pound or $2.5 for good ground beef. The fruits and veggies taste wonderful and are cheap! The rice and beans are very good and are cheap and so we are just adjusting to eating like Ticos and as we do so we spend less and less on food! What a blessing that my children love rice and beans and tacos!!
Oh, we found a really great place to eat in Nicoya and our whole family can get really well for about $15-17. It is so great! We went there last night for part of FHE and we just loved it! The little ladies that work there are soooo nice and take such good care of you! Well, really all the people are really nice around here, it's very friendly! So, we are excited to be able to save money on eating out! You can find great places to eat for very cheap! Dannan and I found another good place in Santa Cruz that sells excellent nachos for 4 bucks! I love nachos and the chips are homemade like everything else!
So, some things are cheaper and some more!
The homes are mostly Tico but there are some that are nice and made more for Gringos! Almost every property has a least some fruit trees and some places have tons of varieties. The property we are on now has orange, coconut, lime and lemon. Savannah says that they should just call there oranges here "greens" instead of oranges because they don't get orange they are just green even when the are ripe, but they taste great and are very juicy. We love to make fresh fruit drinks in the blender with ice, very refreshing and basically free! So, we have not looked at property very much yet, we are hoping to get to that soon, I would like to find something else to rent but we could make the place we are in work out nicely with some remolding here and there. It actually has a lot a pluses to it, like, the pool, the land, the horses, it's secluded, it's not in a neighborhood, it's very well vented and has two very large water tanks for extra water storage, plus a well and a good sized stream ( a river for Utah). So we will see what happens. If we do stay when the Meyers find a new place their will be a guest room so come and stay!!
Oh, Samara beach is about 40 minutes away from Nicoya and Tamarindo and the beaches on that strip are about 1 hour. They aren't very many miles away, like 20 to Samara, but the roads are very windy and hilly so it takes awhile to get there when you are driving a 15 passenger van!! In the car you can get places much faster!
So, the kids are doing homeschool still, I would love to get them into Spanish classes so once the money is coming in we will in role them in something like that. There are quite a few people in the branch that teach Spanish. So, yes, there are a few that can speak English, maybe about 3 or 4. So it's pretty hard still to communicate with the people but I confident we can learn the language and be able to speak to the people. Dannan is already doing so well with the language, he gets along really well! So going to church is a challenge but it is good for us and is stretching us to be more like the Lord. I am thankful for all of our experiences that have helped us to turn to Him more and more...
OK, last question was about the neighborhood, we don't really live in one, we live out of town about 4 miles and in the Jungle it seems much more isolated then it really is but we have not real close neighbors. We feel very safe and don't feel the need to worry! They people we have seen and meet seem very friendly, there are a lot of poor people, some homeless but not many. You tend to meet drunks here and there and that is a little disturbing but it is getting easier for me to handle.
All in All things are good and we are feeling thankful!! Love you all!
NOVEMBER 5
I don't have a lot of time, it's busy right now but maybe in a little while I can get on and send more fun tidbits! Today is a wonderful day, the weather has been extreamly rainy, there are quite a few people dead from all the flooding and mudslides in Costa Rica, none right here but close in Puntaranis. We are at th...e Wrydes right now visting and having a wonderful time!!!
I am on their internet so that is why I am able to post. We won't be able to get internet for awhile so I don't know how many posts I will be able to make. We are about down to the last penny and won't be able to change that much for a mo...nth or so, once the money starts coming in from lab work. The lab is up and running and Dannan will be in full operation on Monday!!! Hiphip horray!!!! We are doing well! All the rain has brought it's own set of challenges and opportunities to trust in the Lord and learn to be patient and to follow the Spirit in all things! The house we are in does not have a dryer and so if it's rainy for days and days there is really no way to get your laundry clean. We have hung a bunch of lines under the awuning of the swimming pool but with 16 people those lines are full fast! So we took the opportunity today to come to our friends house here in Tamarindo and do laundry. They have a washer and dryer and hot water!!! I just got my first load of hot clean laundry out of the dryer and I almost cried!! I am so excited to fold it and have dry clothes! It is so hard to get things dry and keep them dry around here. Many things in our garage are molding and we have been struggling to get it out and to keep other things from molding as well. It is a struggle having so many things to keep from getting moldy or dirty, cooking and cleaning for 16 people, and nuturing many children while you are trying to learn and teach spanish and have a good amount of study time with your kids every day! But we are doing it the best we can and we are making memories and building relationships!!
We meet the Hildago Family Wednesday and they are wonderful people!! They came over for awhile and while they were there Jose tried to fix Rachael's van and succeed in getting the keys out of mine (they were locked in) and then we went over to their place (they have an empty resturante out front) and made dinner and visited together. It was a great day! Yesterday Dannan, Jacob and I went down to San Jose and bought lab supplies and went to Costco. It was such a relief to be there and to feel like I was in America again! It is much cheaper than the grocery store and I was very thankful to be able to get some resonably priced peanut butter and such! On the way down we got pulled over twice and had to pay a 120 dollar bribe, the second time we got away without a fine thanks be to the Lord for that blessing!!! Anyway, when you're short on funds it's hard to pay the fines, but the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the name of the Lord! I am grateful we have so much and are blessed to have the gospel and the scriptures to guide us and help us to know the will of God for us!
So we are all doing well and the children are happy and enjoying the jungle! We saw howler monkey and heard them howling this morning, they are sooooo loud, it's kind of unreal! The pool is getting bluer thanks to the guys for working on it and Dannan fixed the fridge!! I have got the mold out of almost all the things that were molded, except for the rugs, I now know why no body has any rugs here!
Ya live and ya learn!
Well, I hope all of you are doing well and are happy!
We love you Grandma Royal and hope to be able to call you again soon!! We miss you sooooooo much too and can't wait for the day that we can see you again! All the kids say hi and that they miss you!
Lots of Love!
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