You Can Take Henry Out of the Country, But …

I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made yesterday by not going for a walk early, so I was on the road by 6. The smell of wood smoke, the sound of gravel crunching under my feet, free-range chickens…. It reminds me of one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs, though I spin it quite differently from what he intended:

Down to the banana republics,
Down to the tropical sun
Go the expatriated Americans
Looking to find some fun.

Grano de Oro and the surrounding valley

The cute chick I met on my walk.

Paradise here it ain’t. Much of my gabfest with Timothy last night concerned the rise of hostility to Jesus in Europe and the USA and how the Matrix is making its way even to here. The Costa Rican church by and large is weak on biblical teaching, and many of the local Indians are transitioning from their traditional animism (“Who knows if we’ll be alive tomorrow?”) to the antihumanism of the dominant world culture (“Human life is no more important than animal life.”). The people in this particular valley has suffered much at the hands of members of “churches,” and while there is a faithful core of believers hungry for God and his word, there’s reason to believe that they will not be spared the persecution that is the cargo on the slow train comin’ round the bend. Meantime, the reputation of the church is not good, and the faithful have to work hard to improve it.

Bougainvillea and Sign for Cross Mountain, where the Jones house is

The Way of Holiness Church of God just below the Jones place on Cross Mountain

Copies, clothes, SIM cards, you name it on sale here

While Ruth worked on developing a desktop publisher template for the Gospel of Mark that David wants to print and distribute, David and I spent the day looking at his verbs. We didn’t reach any great conclusions, but we’ve got a definite plan on things to look into, so we’ll see how tomorrow goes.

David and I spent pretty much all day sitting next to each other. 

 David needed to take a drive out to the other end of the valley around sunset to pick up Timothy’s father-in-law and bring him here for a weekend Bible conference, so I got to see a bit more new territory.

This is four wheel drive country and has been for a long time. (Hooves are round, aren't they?)