New Experiences Every Day!

Hey everyone!! Hope all is well with all of you, we love you all and miss you very much! It is hard to be so far away from family when it is Christmastime! Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year, Feliz Navidad y Feliz Ano! I have my first Spanish lesson tonight with Gisele, she is a very sweet Sister in our Branch here who has offered to teach me Spanish and I am so excited! I am finally starting to feel like I am getting somewhere with the language, my vocabulary is increasing and I think I am going to be able to learn to speak quickly as I study more and dedicate myself to consistant, everyday study. So, things are going pretty well, we have our ups and downs but mostly ups, so that is good. We feel the Lord is with us and we are so thankful for all of the blessing we receive every day. We are all learning to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not unto our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will and is directing our paths. We feel the strong need to lean on His knowledge every day and to be willing and ready to follow the quite promptings we receive. It has really been so awe inspiring to see the Lord answer so many prayers and to do so many times directly after prayer or fasting. I feel the need to tell all of you how much I love Him and Honor Him, I feel like singing praises to Him night and day. Sometimes those songs are full of just love and gratitude and other times full of longing to be with Him again one day and to have the power of His Spirit with me now. I am so thankful for all of you and your great support and love! Thank you for all of your prayers and all of the great generosity and blessings that you have sent our way.
So, now for the juicy details of our crazy lives....
Christmas was a wonderful day! Thank You to our dear and eternal friend Tiffanie who posted a little tid bit for all of you and for encouraging calls! We would love to hear from any and all of you! The part she posted about Christmas morning taking awhile was heard backwards, we actually didn't have any presents to unwrap so we had a very peaceful and relatively quite Christmas morning. We went out to the pool and had a beautiful Christmas Day Devotional. We sang, read scriptures and stories about love and testimony, then we all took turns "giving our gifts to Jesus" It was really wonderful! We did a similar devotional Christmas Eve Morning and then did the Nativity and such that evening. It was really a Spiritual Christmas this year and I so thankful for it. I truly love my Savior and this time of the year we have to reflect even more on his merciful birth and life. For all of those who sent packages to us for Christmas we want to tell you how thankful we are and that we hope to be able to resolve the issues we are having with JetBox in being able to pick up those packages. So, if you could help us by praying for an affordable solution to the problem and if you wouldn't mind continuing your prayers in our behalf for the many other challenges we are tackling right now, we would be most grateful!!! We love you all so much, Thank You!
Anyway, we went to the beach, as Tiffanie said on Christmas Day and it was great. Dannan, Joey, Jacob, James, and I all got stung by some pretty large Jelly Fish. Mine was really bad and is still there. It has turned into a very itchy rash, but it is getting better now. So, things having be going pretty smooth. We are getting a little more work every week and I hope soon it will be busy. We are still here in Nicoya, all living together in our Swiss Family Robinson House and we are doing well. It is, at times, hard and the kids need a break every now and then from each other but we feel blessed to be together for this time and to be able to practice being extra patient, selfless, and forgiving. The kids still love playing in the pool but they have tamed down quite a bit from when we first got here. We were able to ride the horses that are on the property for the first time 2 weeks ago and have ridden them a couple of times since. It has been fun and we hope to make it a regular activity. Riding around in the jungle is really fun and beautiful. Their horses are very sure footed and will go just about anywhere. Savannah and Mary especially love it and I think it has really helped Savannah to feel a little comfort from her loss from selling our own horses.
It is the dry season now and it hardly ever rains anymore. The weather is warm but usually pleasant and the nights are really nice!!! I like the dry season! The grasses and some of the trees are turning brown but it is still pretty green, by the end of the "summer" (April) everything will be very brown and then the rains will begin again.
Last Thursday the Royal Family loaded up in our van headed up to the mountains! We went exploring and found and saw all kinds of beauty and awe inspiring creations. Probably my favorite thing was playing in the Blue River. It really was blue as the sky but completely see through. The rocks were beautiful, smooth cobblestones in many colors and the temperature of the water was perfect for playing!! We felt so blessed to be able to see such beauty! I can't begin to really give this river justice with my description of it but I will just say that it is the most beautiful river I have ever seen! I can't wait to go back! So, my favorite part about Costa Rica so far, is the amazing beauty and the loving people!
Joey is finally going to be ordained to the Aronic Priesthood this Sunday! I am very excited for him and he is very excited and anxious as well. He has waited a long time for this and I am grateful we finally get to do it!
Toona is a favorite here! Everywhere we go people just can't get enough of him! We think he's a keeper too! It's pretty cute how amazed Ticos are when it comes to blonde hair. The other day we were walking across the border (more on that later) and we walked past a family of Ticos and Savannah looks up at me a little upset and says, hey! That lady just pulled my hair! I just smiled and told her she didn't "pull" your hair, she just couldn't resist touching it as we walked by! It happens quite a bit wherever we go, they just have to touch that hair! It is pretty cute!
So, we had to cross the border into Nicaragua on Tuesday to renew our visas. Online it says that you have to leave the country for 3 days and then come back but we prayed about what to do (we didn't have the money or time to leave for 3 days) and felt like we should leave prepared to stay if worse came to worse but go and try to just cross over and then cross back. Well, we got to the border parked our vehicles (we didn't drive them across because it takes a lot of money to do that) and got out and said another pray about weather or not to take all the stuff with us that we brought for over night stays, well, we felt like we should just bring lunch and go, so we did. Well, it worked out just right! We were able to cross over into Nicaragua and stay for 2 hours and then come back! It was a very cultural experience reminding me of childhood days in Italy! But we did get to use a real toilet, not a hole in the ground, and the toilet was free, we only had to flush it manually with the bucket of water sitting next to the toilet! The resturant we went to was very dirty but the food tasted pretty good! And no one got sick so I guess we did okay! We are still working on getting the license on our vehicles renewed so please pray for us on that one!! It is never the same as what the law says around here, so we get to play the game! Anyway, I have a good feeling that all will work out.
I am loving....
clean, dry laundry from the line
beautiful weather every day
peaceful personal devotionals on our little hill
yummy treats made by me!!
the beach
my wonderful selfless children who were still jumping and beaming with excitement on Christmas morning even when all they had was a stocking and one unwrapped present!!! They are such good kids, I love them!!!
living with my best friend and "sister" who teaches me so much and who loves me and praises me even now after 3 months of having to live with me every day and come to know me intimately!! Thank You Rachael, I love you!!

Love all of You!!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!