Drive Darling

Last weekend was very fun but busy with Laura Medrano's graduation party and going to San José, so it's nice to be home and try to get back into normal life. Jazmyn went home on Wednesday and Tori moved upstairs, so I'm living alone again. 

Exciting news of the week: My landlady put her old washer behind my house! No more going to other people's houses for laundry! The Medranos had very generously been letting me use their washer when I wasn't able to use my landlady's in her house.

It's been overcast and rumbly for the past couple of days... it's been raining in Nicoya and other areas, but so far we've had nothing except for a little lightning at night. We're all hoping for rain soon. In other news, the Kingdom Hall has a fancy new sound system that Chad Luellen got for free through a company he used to work for in exchange for giving them feedback on it. It makes it much easier to sing the songs, especially in Spanish where everyone sings in a different key and at their own pace. 

Laura admiring the gift Keysha made for her-a collage with all of her friends in it.

I asked Bill if he wanted to mark his cup.

Mexican food Tico style! Sarah's Bible student Lydia made delicious tortillas. Sarah did a great job planning and organizing the party, which took place at the Luellens', and Megan did the decorations.

Sandy kept taking naps on the dance floor.

Joel bustin' moves.

The Cooks asked Lou and me to do a country dance with them, so we did a two-step and incorporated some line dancing from the new Footloose, set to the song Fake ID. It was a lot of fun. Photo © Sarah Cook

Macarena

I have a video of everyone dancing Gangnam Style as well... I'll upload it next time in honor of Judah. We all wished he had been there.

Last weekend was the English special assembly, so Tait, Keysha, Bill, Sam, Lou, Tori and I all drove out to San José together. On the way out of town, we stopped to do some calls.

The boys took turns sitting in the way back... it's not really conducive to sleeping comfortably.

Stuck in traffic on the main thoroughfare through Central America. Keysha always manages to stay cheerful, though. 

We arrived just as the traffic was clearing up so we didn't have to wait that long, thankfully. There had been an accident with a couple of semis up ahead.

Road trip pastimes: catching up on Yearbook reading, looking out the window, playing word games.

The windows in the backseat had been stuck shut for a long time, and Tait had finally gotten them to stick open for this trip... and then we ran into rain in the mountains. Despite getting soaked, we were all really excited about the rain.

Tait kept driving keyless while Sam used the keys to make an electric circuit to get the window to roll up again.

The condo we stayed at. Cool, comfortable, and dust-free! It was a nice break from the heat of Guanacaste.

That night, Keysha, Tori and I went out to the car to get some stuff, but when we got back Tait was sound asleep because he was coming down with a cold and couldn't hear us knocking. The keys were inside and the night gateman didn't have extras, so he watched as I used the car keys to unscrew the window screen and pried one of the glass panels loose, and Keysha reached through the opening to unlock the door from the inside. I felt like I was living up to my mother and both grandfathers' legacy of MacGyvering everything.

When putting the panel back, I discovered why it had been the only one to come loose so easily... someone had gotten in the same way before. We probably weren't the first ones to lock ourselves out with no keys, or at least we hoped that was the reason.

Making lunch for everyone the next morning. Keysha whipped up some delicious curry chicken sandwiches.

Paulina showing off her mustache--much more luxuriant than Lou or Sam's.

We went out afterward to go see Oblivion at the IMAX... going to the capital is exciting because they have malls and movie theaters and feels very American.

Jaz was wondering why we were laughing at her as Lou kept sticking a paper umbrella in her hair.

Mmm barbecue wings.

New washer! Fill from faucet to wash, drain, refill to rinse, drain, put a few clothes in the wringer compartment, hang up to dry. I had to attach the hose myself... I didn't have a screwdriver so I used my house keys to tighten the clamp. They really are handy little things.

Bonus: Some of Lou's pictures I'm in so that you have proof that I'm actually here.

"Rachel, put down the chicken and smile!" "I'm telling you, it's more natural with food."

I'm not in it, but I just think this is a really cool photo. Kevin witnessing to kids climbing a mango tree.

A guy who has a pizza place down by the beach rents boards for $3/day. I rented a nine-foot board to practice on and it was almost twice as tall as I am.

Sarah and I had a talk-- it started with me sitting in the audience and her onstage talking into her cell phone doing phone witnessing. She set up a date to come visit me at my house, and then I came onstage and we continued the talk from there. Everyone loved the creativity.

We walked to the beach one night for pizza and croc hunting. It was a full moon and dead fish were washed up due to red tide, so we picked up a needle fish and threw it to the crocs in the estuary.

Taking pictures while witnessing in Carrillo.

Drive Darling is a song by Boy