Last Few Days…

Today was our last Sunday here in Costa Rica. Karen and I were assigned to speak at the last minute to cover for one of the assigned speakers. It went well, all things considered, but was quite emotional. I can't believe we've been here for almost a year, and that in just a few short days we'll be going home. We are going to miss our friends here, but we are also going to be very happy to see our old friends in Utah. We really wanted the branch here to be made a ward, but that is going to have wait a while until more members can be found. Continue reading Last Few Days…

Marcelina’s House – Days 9, 10

I've been running around getting ready to move back to the US, so I haven't been able to help out on the house. However, Wilfrido has been able to finish all the walls and put the wooden rafters up. We are now ready to start work on the metal beams that will hold the roof up. Unfortunately, today is too wet to be working with the welding equipment that is needed.

I had an interesting discussion with Wilfrido where he said that when we are trying to do the will of the Lord we are blessed. He mentioned how he has been without work for the last couple of weeks and has some property that he really needs to sell. Once we started building the home for Marcelina, he was contacted by another Tico who knows Marcelina and wanted to help. If Wilfrido hadn't started this project, he probably never would have met this gentleman. However, once they got to know each other, they began talking and one thing led to another, and now this person is going to buy Wilfrido's property which is a huge blessing for him. Continue reading Marcelina’s House – Days 9, 10

Marcelina’s House – Days 7,8

I wasn't able to help with construction on Thursday, but Wilfrido and Alfredo did a fantastic job. They erected another side wall and one interior wall, as well as hung the fiber board along the inside of the first wall.

Today we installed the electrical boxes and conduits, hung some more fiber board along the interior, and I suspect they will have finished erecting all the exterior walls. I had to leave around noon, but they were still going strong when I left. Continue reading Marcelina’s House – Days 7,8

Marcelina’s House – days 3-5

After a long break, we were finally able to get back to construction. It was decided that it would be much better if the house was a little bigger so that there could be a little more space in the bedrooms. Elder Ampuero and Elder Marsh came and helped for a few hours. Gerardo, Wilfrido and I worked until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. We dug a trench along one side of the concrete slab to protect the house from sliding down the hill. When then made the rebar framework to go in the concrete footings and up through the cement blocks. We mixed the concrete by hand, and poured the footing. This was on Thursday.

On Friday we went into San Jose to do some shopping and to show the car to someone who might buy it. This left Wilfrido alone to work on the house. He did an amazing job and got the cement block walls put in all by himself.

On Saturday Wilfrido took Harley (his son) and Jonathan (a friend) with him, and they mixed and poured the rest of the concrete floor for the house.

We are now ready to start building the walls. Continue reading Marcelina’s House – days 3-5