Costa Rica: Day 2 {Sunday}

 Good morning from Costa Rica!!  I took this photo right out the front door this morning.

Day 2 of our trip is in the books and it was nothing short of amazing!  We started the day off with breakfast downstairs (rice & beans, scrambled eggs, bacon, watermelon, & wheat roll) then had some time to kill before our driver would arrive to take us to church. 

At 10:15 our driver, Javier picked us up in a bus/people mover.  

We made our way to the central part of San Jose to where the church is located.  We are actually staying in Tobias which is just about 10-20 mins from San Jose.  The above photos are in the central area of San Jose and the below are on the outskirts on our way to zip line/lunch.  

We met up with Lidia and her 2 daughters and walked about half a block to the first Methodist church in the country.  It was built in 1917.

We found our seats and were greeted by some of the most gracious people.  The entire service was in Spanish, but it was beautiful!  There were a few songs we knew the tune and English words to.  We tried our best to read the words printed in the bulletin.  The kids from the children's home also were there and sat in the 2 pews in front of us.  They are all SO insanely precious!

Worshiping in a different language was quite beautiful.  And the people here are so passionate about their faith.  They also had the cutest man leading worship and his joy was contagious.  I took a video of him singing and will post it to YouTube whenever the WiFi will let me.

Restaurant where we had lunch.  It was down at the bottom of the mountain from where we zip lined.

After church, we loaded back up and headed to the place where we would zip line and have lunch.  We had another delicious meal of Costa Rican food.

Stuffed chicken with a sauce, rice, beans, salad, and a fried plantain fritter.

Once we got done eating, we changed our clothes and hopped into the back of a little truck that took us up the mountain a little way.  It was a rough ride!  They unloaded us off with our 2 guides.  We had to walk the rest of the way up.  It was a crazy, steep trek up the mountain.  We had many pit stops along the way!  We all realized just how in shape we really in ;) but Becky wins the award for most awesome climber!  She was a trooper for sure!

Hallelujah!  We made it to the TOP landing platform!!

Our guides were Diego and Juan.  They were so patient and kind with us!  After they give us our instructions we were set to go.  I was the first one to go!  I am brave like that ;)

We ended up doing 13 different cables.  The longest was roughly 1500 feet or 500 meters.  We all encouraged each other, cheered each other on, and laughed so much together.  It was beyond amazing!

One of our guides, Diego telling us about the 3 most important volcanoes in CR.

View from one of the platforms.

Elias going down.

Amazing crew!  Melissa, Dave, myself, Beverly, Becky, Michele, and Elias.

 The views of Costa Rica when zip lining were incredible!  It was truly an unbelievable experience!!  It was definitely hard work but so awesome.  We got back to the Wesley House around 5:30 and dinner was at 6pm.  Maruja fixed another delicious meal of fish, mashed potatoes, salad, mixed vegetables, and fried plantains.  After dinner we had devotion time, then down time.  Everyone is wiped for our day's adventures.  Tomorrow, our real work starts - bright & early!  Breakfast will be served at 6am and then we'll head to the children's home to work.  We are eager to get started and know God will be right along side us as we serve His people tomorrow.

Day 2 is in the books and God's glory shined so bright today!  Thanks for praying for us.