First off I want to say thank you to all my friends and family back home without you I would not have had the courage to go where I am now. Rio Azul is amazing the hosts there are incredible people and very down to earth. They have been living in this community for several years and have become fully immersed in its people. They currently work at the church where we are staying and it has been a huge blessing to meet and get to know them. Yesterday we worked with a Korean church from New York, we all set up a dentist and eye doctor clinic to help the locals there. It was interesting to say the least with English, Spanish, and Korean being spoken all over the place. Today is the second day since arriving that I have an internet connection since we have to take a 15 minute bus ride to the mall in order to get it. Honestly though being so immersed in a society like this without a phone to contact friends and home or Wifi to check facebook every 5 minutes has been refreshing. My Spanish is also improving tremendously because very few people speak even broken English, last night at church I had my first full conversation in only Spanish and I was very proud of myself. Also the food here is incredible every meal is a new combination of beans rice peppers onions tortillas and sometimes meat. Rio Azul and the church there reminds me that this world we live on is huge and that there are believers wanting to serve the Lord in every community no matter their economic, geographic, or living situation. My faith in humanity has been increased by one hundredfold due to the generosity and love that these people show us and each other. Thank all of you that follow this blog, and special thanks to my mom, dad, Sam, Annie, Josh, Gary, Keetch, Rob, Christian, and my friends back home, without all of you I’d feel very alone in this world, but with you I know I have people that care for and support me. In the words of Costa Rica, Adios y pura vida!
