Good Times...

Sarah: Whew there’s been a lot going on around here. Once we got back from the Osa Peninsula everything was going so well, like I said in the last entry. Everyone was getting along so well, studying all day, and hanging out together in the evenings. Unfortunately, there were some things that happened last week that disrupted all of this. All of the students had signed a contract upon coming here that they would abstain from drinking and smoking, or they would be sent home. We reiterated that in February as a second warning to all of them. However, 3 of our boys were caught having a casual drink over at the hotel a week and a half ago, and David and I had to tell our bosses at SNU to make the final decision on what their punishment would be. Sadly for everyone, the decision was made in Oklahoma to send the boys home. We took them into San Jose last Friday and they left on a flight Saturday morning. It was tough on everyone to break up the group of 13 students, and the dynamics changed quite a bit around here.

During this time we had one of the SNU professors here, Nancy Halliday, and her husband Frank, and his sister Lydia. It was really great to have them around—Nancy did an excellent job with the situation of the boys drinking and helping with all of the students left, Frank did a great job of hanging out and playing games with students, and Lydia was a great motherly support for those struggling with the whole situation. Each of them also helped out with the research projects quite a bit.

On Easter Sunday instead of having our normal gathering mid-morning, we arranged transportation to take us to the top of Cerro de la Muerte for a sunrise service. We left here around 4 a.m. and made it to the top in time for it to get light out with some beautiful views. It was cloudy over the Atlantic side, but it still was beautiful with the coloring of the clouds. We were even able to see all the way to the Osa Peninsula on the Pacific side, where we had just been a week earlier! It was a neat time to worship God and praise Him for Jesus’ resurrection together.

Later that week Scott came back through, and this time with his family. His wife, Dawn, and her parents were here visiting, along with Scott and Dawn’s 16-month-old baby girl, Selva. They spent 2 nights here in the valley, and it was great to see them. Scott and Dawn were good friends of ours in California, and we had the privilege of knowing Selva for her first few months of her life, so it was fun having all of them here with us at our place.

This week has been just as busy—but not nearly as much drama. The students who were a part of the ESC had to do a group presentation for LASP on Thursday, so on Wednesday morning we got up early and headed back into the city. They had all day to work on their presentation, while David and I got to hang out with Scott for some last quality time. We also had a great time spending the night at Trevor and Laura’s and talking with them and Scott until late both nights. It was fun to laugh and hang out with friends, especially since Scott was leaving this weekend and we’re not sure when we’re going to see him again!

Thursday was fun for David and me to see the group presentations, because we got to see the other groups as well—those that had been in the Advanced Language and Literature program (ALL, the program that I did as a student), and the Latin American Studies concentration (LAS). After the presentations, we took the students out to the OTS library (Organization for Tropical Studies), so that they could find other research papers on their topics in order to include them in their own projects.

And Friday was the most fun of all. The students had received money from a NASA grant to come study here this semester, and apparently there was some money left over to use for a fun and educational purpose. As a group we decided to go white-water rafting. The guides are great because they point out wildlife and talk about conservation and the indigenous tribes who live on the land by the river, so that made it be educational as well. We had a blast. We were on 2 rafts and were on the water about 5 hours, with a stop for lunch as well as a stop to swim in some waterfalls. Everyone had such a great time, and it was a great thing to do together as a group before they leave home. Now they only have 10 days left here at QERC, so everyone is frantic in trying to finish things up before they leave.