From Larry and Robin Sweeney, serving in Costa Rica for the past two years....

We'll be here (Costa Rica) until December, when we'll close up the rental house and return to the Port Angeles permanently. (Well, we think permanently, but you never know what God has planned next!) These two years we've been in Costa Rica so far have been wonderful and challenging, but God is faithful and has guided us the whole time.

When we began this adventure, it was with a clear message from God saying GO!!! We didn't know for how long, and prayed that he would let us know when time came to bring this to a close. We've both been feeling for a couple of months that we're getting to the end of it, so in mid December we'll be saying 'goodbye for now' to all our Costa Rican friends, and 'hello again' to our U.S. friends. It's good to have several months to adjust to the coming change, both for us and for our friends here.

I'm sorry we haven't sent you updates over the past several months.  
We had about thirty students a week from February to July, and expect to start classes again next week with most of the same students. Our students range from first grade to high school, university students, and adults. With the elementary and secondary students we follow up what they are learning in school. We practice vocabulary and short conversations with the younger students, and with the high schoolers we add answering their questions about grammar, vocabulary, etc., and help with homework questions. With university students and adults, Larry works a half hour with literature readings (think Jr. Great Books, for those who are familiar with that) and questions that range from knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, and synthesis to evaluation. These questions make the students think (in English) about how to express their ideas, and widen their thinking about the stories. Robin works a half hour with grammar skills, using a series of leveled texts that are available here and fit the students' needs.  We always end the lessons with homemade cookies, juice, and more conversation.

When we came back to Costa Rica in February, we brought with us about a hundred glass communion cups from First Baptist Port Angeles that were donated to the Santo Tomás church. They were no longer used in Port Angeles, and a few Santo Tomás ladies had told Robin that they hoped to acquire enough to serve everyone when the sanctuary is dedicated, probably in a year or so. They had been using sturdy plastic communion cups, but they have gotten scratched and turned cloudy. The first Sunday we were here in February they showed the boxes of cups to the congregation and thanked the Port Angeles church. They celebrate communion the last Sunday of each month, so the last Sunday in February they used the new cups for the first time. We were honored to be asked to serve communion that day, and did so representing the whole church in Port Angeles. Included with this update are a couple of photos from that day, the first with Pastor Betty starting the communion service. (We couldn't take photos later because we were serving the communion.)

We thank all of you for your love, support and prayers for us. 
Without those things we couldn't be here doing what we're doing.

Thank you and God bless you!
Larry and Robin Sweeney