a little nail salon... to pamper the village women...

Our women's ministry time included a little pampering of the village women, who do not live a soft life... it's a hard life. So we washed their feet, polished their nails, did a little hair, hugged a lot and did a drama about giving your hard situations over to the Lord...

Shannon polishing toe nails...

Becca polishing toe nails...

Carol polishing fingernails...

Stephanie and Rochelle polishing nails...

Trish and Krystal Wisdom polishing nails...

the "salon" in the community center, where the men's tent village was...

Reuben and Becca dramatizing the "Burden" drama...

"single mother"...

Becca, showing the anguish of many women's problems...

and the craft... scratch off crosses...

and of course, there's always friends to be made...

May your blessings be rich and your friends many....   love, Shari

(once again I apologize for the giant spaces...sigh)

a little jungle walk...

take a little walk, he said...

a little jungle walk...

a fruit the monkeys eat, not edible for us...

15 minutes up the road, he said...

hot and sweaty after about a half hour...

to see the Howler monkeys... those little monkeys that make the huge howling sound...  at dusk and dawn...

really?! a "little" jungle "walk"?

so up we went... through the hot, sweaty jungle... and up the muddy creek... boots full of water, slipping in the mud...

oh yes! the views were spectacular!  the bugs were buggy! the sweat was sweaty...

and down through a cow field, with a big bull looking us over...

and there it was... one monkey...

one small monkey in big ol' tree... not howling... just wondering what these gringos were looking at, standing in that cow field, sweating like crazy...

the survivors.... heading back to the church... glad to have made it out of the jungle... alive. (some parts of this tale MAY have been slightly dramatized but all of it's true!!).  May God grant you adventures in your own neck of the woods...  love, Shari

some dancing, some playing and some working... Llano Verde

Becca, Lillee, and Stephanie, moving lumber...

the team line dancing to the song "a work in progress", which we all are!!

hot potato game with the soccer ball...

the shrinking group

down to the last few...

drink water! drink more water!!!

Kaylee going for it with the power tools...

more dancing...

ooooo! fresh guacamole!

"Jesus is my Superhero action song..."

line dance

Jesus is my Superhero... better than Barbie!  (go for it, boys!!)

Well, one more Llano Verde post after this one and I'll be caught up to where we are today... hanging out at Wisdoms' house without any Wisdoms here (miss you guys!!). Right now, I can hear a marching band practicing at the nearby school.  We went out to Llano Verde for church Sunday ... 6 hours travel day on Saturday, youth group, sleeping in the tent in the church, church the next morning, then 6 hours travel day back to San Jose and Wisdoms' house.  Wednesday we will leave for the ocean.  Thinking of all you that we love and miss.... love, Shari

a random look at the team's time in Llano Verde...

As far behind as I am in my posting of our team time in Llano Verde, I will just try to get them posted. Sorry for the most general and disorienting way of showing you things that made up our trip there...

nighttime card games

there were times of ministering to each other, as well the people of the village.

Reuben and Dale praying for Wayne

Ashley and Doug helping kids with crafts

planning sessions, Becca and Steph and Lillee, going over the kids' program

rest times... Lillee, resting on the benches

mystery night visitors...

Every night after we went to bed, I kept hearing things hit the tin roof  and roll off.  I wondered what in the world it was...  Turned out the big tree beside us was an almond tree and the almonds were falling off onto the roof.  For something so small, it sure made a BIG sound rolling down the tin roof overhead!!

Shelley and Faith, holding our "beautiful feet" sign

Clint talked about 'how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news'.  So one of the signs we made said:  "beautiful feet".  The template we used for the "feet" were the youngest missionary's feet, Chloe Wisdom's.
And that is all blogger is going to let me upload today... Wishing you a very blessed day, love, Shari

More projects done in Llano Verde...

(disclaimer: I have NO idea WHY blogger leaves these giant spaces in my posts, but you know what it's doing to my OCD nature!!!!!)

a beautiful sunset in Llano Verde, on an evening when it didn't downpour ...

"Many hands make light work..."

Reuben Perez

Walking to the school to do puppets, line dancing, a skit, a craft, and an action song in which Jesus is our superhero, better than any superhero, including (and not in order) Batman, Ugio, Dragonball(?), Superman, Spiderman, Barbie, and..... I forget the rest... Ask one of the team... they can tell you AND do the actions!

the little blue school where we did the program :

conversation in the lumber shed...

Shannon Harkness, Ronny, and Erin Wisdom

Nail gunning boards up between the new windows and frames...

Steve Schemstad, Reuben Perez, Dale Weide

caulking the windows...

Wayne Cress

more caulking...

Steve Schemstad

washing out one of the giant coolers which kept our food stuff...

Ashley Stephens, Rochelle Scoggins

how to remove sawdust from your clothing...  air compressor power!

Doug Irons, Russell Wisdoom

till next time... May God bless  your socks off, like He did ours in Llano Verde... love, Shari

Smilin' in the rain....

What's a little rain to those crazy Washingtonians?  We were wet and smiling!!  Work projects got done regardless of the weather.  And cooler was better than sweltering hot!!

Dale Weide, Stephanie Mitchell, Becca Sophoson

And yes, it did pour down in buckets at times!!

not naming any names, A.S, C.W., B.S, & S.M.

Some were even crazy enough to play soccer in the mud puddle out front.  You know that crazy idea that once you're wet you might as well have FUN being wet...

Steph, Dale, Jerry Chilcote, and Becca

We had some great fun together, as well as great work efforts, great worship, great conversation, huge laughter...

oh, alright. i will  mention ALL their names: Ashley Stephens, C.

J. Wisdom, Becca Sophoson, and Stephanie Mitchell!

And the rain was the reason that the women's tent village was set up inside the church building.  The men's tent village was down the road, set up inside the community building. We surely appreciated it on the nights it downpoured and the night of the terrific storm!!

this lovely heart I found in the corner of the bathroom walls... i thought it was maybe an ant mud home but i was told it was la cucaracha nest.  hmmmm. does it sound any better in Spanish????  Best wishes for just enough sunshine to warm your skin and just enough rain to keep our beautiful area green!!  love, Shari