Our Little Santa Cruz Branch

This is the small building that we meet in. They are planning on expanding it sometime within the year hopefully.The first picture is actually the chapel, but this was after the meeting so all the chairs were taken down. There are 2 classrooms and the Branch President's office and then the bathrooms. That's it. The primary met outside today for part of it and the girls said that there was a family of monkeys in the trees across the street that were picking mangoes and eating them, so they thought that was really fun to see.
Sweet Elder Martinez is being transferred this Wednesday. It was sad to say goodbye to him. He really has a great spirit about him and we will miss him. At least we get Elder O'Dell for awhile longer.
I really missed my friend Mirna today at church to help translate for me. It feels so frustrating to not understand much at all. I hope that the speed at which we are learning will start to pick up soon. I will be subbing everyday at school again this week and so I know I will learn at least a few new words. I told one of the 2nd graders last week that I wanted her to be my spanish teacher. She took me VERY seriously and at the end of the day handed me a paper that she had written about 10 words on for me in spanish and told me to write them all 3 times each and that she would be giving me a test on Monday! WOW! I better be studying. I don't want to disappoint her! What a cutie.
Another Gringo family has moved into the Branch as well. They have a similar story to ours, just wanting the adventure for their family and they really want to learn Spanish. The husband served a mission in Argentina so he already speaks the language but his wife and kids are wanting to learn as well. They have five kids and the oldest is only 10, so they have their hands full. They seem like great people. We had them over tonight for cookies and had fun getting to know them better. I am sure they will become good friends. Their names are Zach and Kristy. They are going to watch Lora and Emma this Saturday while Lane, Abe and I go on a temple trip with the branch. Next time we can switch with them and they can go. The temple is in San Jose which is about 4 hours away, so it will be a long day but I am so anxious to go. I have missed the temple so much since leaving home. Makes me so appreciate that we were only 45 minutes away before.
My thoughts have been on Ometepe today. My emotions are so close to the surface when I think about our experience there. I wish that we could pick up this house that we are in now and just put it on the island. I wanted it to work for us there so badly. I can't help but feel that we abandoned those people there and that is just haunting me. I know that we felt so good about going there and so it is still confusing to me that we had to leave. I am praying for an answer about that even still. I am happy here, but my heart is still there on Ometepe and I think about Leyla and her family constantly. I hope that I can find ways to really interact with the local Tico people here like I want to. It is important to me to feel like I am making a difference. I don't just want this to be a "vacation". That was not our purpose in leaving the states. I pray for guidance everyday that we can find ways to make this the experience that we want it to be for our family.