Thank you very much!

Rock on!

Thank you Abel and Vivian for opening your home and giving our girls pool privileges.

Trish, thanks for all of your help in getting our girls down to Atlanta!

We love you all!

Kevin y Katelena

Naked Guy

well if that doesn't get your attention it sure got ours.

 

Interesting some of the things you deal with on hotel property.  Our architect guy is a crazy guy and got out of control on Friday morning.  After a night of “boracho” drinking he hit the property totally smashed.  The workers start at 6 am prompt and by 7 they were worried about where he was, I hit the restaurant around 7:30 am and I asked why they were not wording on our new tree house?  What a shock I got when they told me that the guy just had come out of  the bushes bare naked in a delirium not knowing where he was.  They walked him back to his room and quickly shut the door.   But by that time at least 20 people had to see this disgusting thing.  I was so mad because we have made a business relationship with this guy that I borrowed one of the carpenters hammers and went marching up to his room and used it to pound on his door to wake him up.  (they are sturdy wood doors).  I told the workers I was gong to use it on his head!  All the residents had to vacate the hotel as there was a wedding and we needed all the rooms for their family, so getting him out of his room was an all day process.  I have keys to all the rooms just didn’t have the courage to open his door , no idea what I would find.  In the afternoon got his attention and yelled thru the door come to the door dressed I need to talk to you.  Well I fired at him in Katalena style, and he was mortified because he really didn’t remember doing that, I told him I have 20 witnesses to the fact.  So now I am thinking how to be a help to this guy and not just a nag.  I am doing research now on alcoholism any advice would be appreciated.  I have found many scriptures for him, but need to have a bit of tact now.

We went to another Hotel the Catalina just up the street.  It was helpful to see the competition..and how they do things different.  It was nice to get away from the hotel for a while.  Kevin is re reading his talk for today, we are sitting in McDonalds near the kingdom hall.  They have free Internet and the best fried chicken!  Better than Kentucky fried or Popeye's.  Wow.  We invited our little brother Alan from the Spanish congregation to go in service with us today, he was so sweet he had his presentation all prepared and written and we practiced together in the car on the way.  I so appreciate the friends trying this foreign language and realize just how much help we received in our congregation in Spanish.  That one on one is priceless. 

So Hope you all are doing great and read this blog with a sense of humor!

(Marlene I haven't forgot your request for the picture of the display table but each time I look at it it looks dumb so I keep rearranging it…I will try the next blog to get Kevin to put it in)

And Guess What ….The girls are coming to visit us!  They got our of their lease and are coming down here early  as of October 1st.  Their job at Nelson was only giving them one day a week and you cannot pay rent utilities and gas let alone food on that.  So they are Selling the furniture cheep if you are interested, give them a call.  This is how they are buying their tickets here.  We will worry about the tickets back later.  The longer they stay here , I hope they decide to stay!.  But no pressure mind you!  They are leaving a few things with Abel and Vivian… You know them our other family left behind in Kentucky.  Little by little I hope they too will have the circumstances to be here with me.  I miss them too.  So who else do I miss…hmm by name … ok here I go being sentimental…All of my favorites..that includes you.

your silly friend or family member Katalena

PS… The girls need a ride to Atlanta Georgia, for the airport ....one way there.  They are not old enough to rent a car (too expensive too) but will pay for the gas down there...let them know if you can do this...

much love and appreciation

Legal Proceedings

Hello All!  Thanks for the email and input on the blog.  On Monday we went to the attorneys office with the owner of the hotel and the architect and started the proceedings for legality in Costa Rica.  The Lawyer was a woman and was so sweet and funny.  We all had a hard time keeping our eyes on hers as she recently had  breast implants and basically left nothing to the imagination. (Smile)  She knows her business with the law for Costa Rica and united states and is a friend of the owner so she is working hard and fast for us.  We let one of our elders know that we are obeying the law and showed him the receipt for deposit (30.00) a person that goes to immigration.  We now use this as documentation that we are in process!  What a relief. 

It was goody night at the book study on Tuesday night cause we had the service overseer come visit.  It was one of the most quality programs I have ever heard.  The brother looks 10 years old but he presented the information for Regular Pioneering and extending yourself in service so beautifully.  He let us know it was a branch outline that was provided just for that purpose!  Wow!  So we accidentally picked up some fresh bread around the corner from the sisters house so we had something to offer.  No one can get a hold of us these days even in Costa Rica!  Sorry guys but everything is still taking forever. 

Now we have to get out of this little Internet cafe and go back to the Hotel and back to work.

Love you all , Katalena

Service in English on Sunday

We did allot this week went to Cafe Brit for a tour that was awesome and I recommend it highly and then we also used the quads  big motorcycles with four wheels and went almost to the top of volcano barva we were in the clouds it was awesome and I had my own motorcycle! ya hoo!  But today we went in service and started our time in the restaurant with a lovely couple from Florida who asked us to briefly explain how we as J>W’s are different than Catholics….. briefly?  wow did a genesis to Revelation in 5 minutes and they loved it …and then got to talk to a woman from San Diego and she accepted the literature , but reaffirmed that she was not going to be converted… no problem just  a start of a friend ship.

and now I am typing like a fiend without spell checking cause it is raining and the coffee shop we are at is closing and waiting for us to finish…but wanted you to know we are alive and well, and not any skinnier, but love you all very much and keep the emails coming as we get to read one or two before it goes down.

adios katalena

NATHAN

NATHAN B.   BE A GOOD BOY!

LOVE MAMA HAANPAA

Our new adventure in a land of continuing adventures…

 

Well… it finally happened – a disgruntled, former employee in the restaurant at the hotel as she was leaving said she was going to call immigration and have everyone one at the hotel deported or thrown in jail. That included the owner of the place –Alex too! She made good on that threat and low and behold Kathleen and I were having lunch in the restaurant Friday and these two guys come driving up. They come in and come right up to us and ask for Kathleen by name –she was almost going to ask him if he was there for a job- Ha Ha – I am glad she did not do that! Anyway he has his slick little patented move of flashing his badge and told us to come with him to show him our passports. So on our way to our room we find the owner and the tree house architect – the immigration guy wanted to see everyone’s passport. His first big surprise was that the owner is in fact a Costa Rican citizen. Then he wanted to know all about what we were doing and working and on, and on. Very nerve racking – I can tell you! To the best of our knowledge and checking we were convinced that what we are doing is completely legal. And after Alex got grilled for about 15 minutes – he was telling him what we were doing here and the immigration guy was satisfied that what we are doing was OK – but it sure makes you feel like a criminal anyway – it almost ruined our whole day! After though we still felt a bit uneasy about certain aspects of our arrangement. So, today we had a chat with Alex again and we are now in the process of meeting with this guru Lawyer in this country who knows all the ins and outs of what we need to do so that we do not need to worry about those immigration guys anymore – and we would not have to leave every 3 months too. So we will be working on that this week.

News and weather at 6:00 for all that are interested (J and T)

You just got the news. Here is the weather.

This time of year here at the Hotel, which is up the mountain about 20 Kilometers from Volcan Poas, the weather stays in the 70’s almost every day. Yes it is very humid most of the time. In the evenings it may drop into the mid 60’s. It rains almost every day too. Normally around 2 or 3 in the afternoon – but it may come a bit earlier or later. A few days it has rained all day with wind.

It is considerably different however on the coast. While we were there it was sunny most of the time and very warm, in the 90’s and very humid. Actually, it was quite strange to see the evening fog roll in and yet it was still very warm. We are so used to the Pacific coast of the States that it is always cold and chilly when the fog rolled in. This time of year you learn to bring your umbrella EVERY WHERE you go. Because when it rains – it RAINS! You will be saturated in mere moments without an umbrella.

One other thing. If anyone is interested and can get a little group together- it is very possible we can get you an excellent deal on awesome Cost Rica coffee from Cafe Britt. It is what we drink here at the Hotel and I love it. They have all kinds of different types as well. Here is the deal.

If you order 20 items from them they will include shipping to the States for $99.00. If you order 20 bags of coffee which are 12oz. each that is 15lbs of coffee! At that price it is about $6.60 a pound – a very good price. But if anyone is truly interested I will find out if we can get it for even less –since the Hotel does a lot of business with them and we will likely get and even better deal. So if interested, Just let me know and I will try to get the discounted rate.

Until the next chapter…

More pictures

 

The Internet stayed up long enough and I finally took the time to organize some more pictures. So, now you can go over to the website www.palan.net and look at the pictures.

I just wanted to add this note too. I think some may have gotten the impression that I was being very negative in the last post. I really was not trying to be overly negative. I was trying to paint a picture of reality here that is often not reported anyplace that I looked when researching coming here. It certainly is not meant to discourage anyone from coming. It’s just that I think it is better to be honest and upfront so you can look at things objectively.

In all reality it is a telling picture of what man has done to Jehovah’s beautiful creation. It helps us appreciate that even in this so called paradise – and in many ways it is – we need desperately God’s Kingdom to cure the ails even here. It may be the very reason that the English field is growing here. People move here thinking that it is their paradise. But they soon realize that problems still exist and their hearts are perhaps motivated like never before when they lived in their more affluent homeland.

We are very happy to hear some of the good reports from the old congregation. I know Brad did well with his responsibilities conducting and his outgoing talks and I know Jehovah will continue to bless and use him to the full if he lets him.

We do thank everyone that has left comments – We cannot express enough what it means to read them and feel connected still to people we know and love.

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of… Kevin and Kathleen in Costa Rica –the adventure continues!

New Addresses

We just got back from our little sojourn to the West Coast of Costa Rica. We went from Puntarenas to Jaco to Estrallido Este and down to Quepos in 3 days! I know it sounds like a lot of traveling but it was really not that bad. Things seem farther away than they really are here. Travel can sometimes be very slow because of the roads, traffic, etc. But distance is not that great. Less than one tank of fuel – so that gives you an idea that it is not too far to travel. Costa Rica is a land of many contrasts. On one hand you have the stunningly beautiful scenery – the rocky coast lines, the black sand beaches that stretch on and on, the warm ocean water that is a delight to swim in, the coastal mountains filled with jungles and beautiful creatures –like 4 Scarlet Macaws we saw flying above us! On the other hand you have the austere poverty that most of the locals live in. And the trash and filth and litter that they throw all over the place that shows their utter lack of pride and decency of where they live. Some parts of the coastline where we were is trying to lure the big money people here with elaborate and very ritzy developments – but like one that we drove down to – the road was unbelievably bad you could hardly drive it at all – to all of the trash and garbage all over the place – this country has a ways to go to clean up its act and put its best foot forward. It may never happen in this system. There does not seem to be a whole lot of interest in the locals to change any of that. There is a profound sense of laziness here among many of the locals. They do not want to work hard – or at all if they are not constantly watched and babysat. This unfortunately can effect even the friends. Some of those that we have hired here at the hotel have proved themselves less than hard workers. Many have not apparent pride in what they do either. It really is disappointing in many ways and could be discouraging if you let it get to you. I don’t know –maybe that is the case in most third world countries – it is just that what you read and hear about this place is that they claim not to be third world. Believe me, this is a third world country!

We certainly do not want to paint a dismal picture – we are having a great time. This place is awesome. Every time we walk down the road to our hotel room and see the million dollar view of the valley below– we are very thankful we are here and have this tremendous opportunity. Our congregation too is a joy. It is very encouraging and enjoyable to be with so many friends that have and are learning the English language so that they can help out where there is a greater need. English is a very big need in this country and it is growing all the time. It is not that they do not need Spanish too. They do – especially in other parts of the country. But overall- the need seems to be about the same as English in the USA. There is always a big need for pioneers, and brothers willing to work hard and help out. Part of our fun is relying on Jehovah to meet the new challenges living here brings on. Our jobs are great and provide us what we need for our means of maintenance – we are just having to learn to be more productive in other avenues of preaching – and be diligent. It is not easy not having your own source of transportation. No assignment will ever be perfect in this system. We will always have to find and keep finding the positive joys that we have just by being alive and able to serve Jehovah to the best of our abilities.

We got to visit the Kingdom Hall in Quepos where they have 3 Spanish congregations and 1 small English. There was a Sister their cleaning the hall from one of the Spanish congregation that we were able to meet and talk to. The English congregation has only 18 publishers –which I believe 14 or 16 are all Regular Pioneers. They just had their Pioneer School and almost all of them got to go again –so the congregation was effectively shut down. The Spanish congregation she is in has 125 publishers. The opportunity to return to Pioneer School occurs much sooner here as the time of service is based on this branch and the Pioneer’s here in Costa Rica. It looks very favorable that we may be able to go again next year as our time of service is very high for this country –(working on our 7th year). Very exciting prospect indeed!

I wanted to give everyone some addresses that can be used to mail things to us. As the local Postal Service here is extremely unreliable and riddled with theft and fraud – I have opted for using this service that guarantees their service –gets everything through customs, etc. The one address is for letter type mail. The other is for larger packages. Just be aware please that it does cost to us to use these addresses. They charge a minimum of 1/2 Kilo for $5. Not too bad. Even 2 kilos which is pretty heavy is only around $15.

Another option it to use DHL and have the item shipped to their Heredia/Belen, Costa Rica Service Center. I don’t really know which is cheaper – but I know DHL will cost you something and the other addresses get charged to me. So either way – there are options to consider at least.

Letters and documents:

Haanpaa Kevin
SJO-29999
P.O. Box 025331
Miami, FL 33102-5331

Packages:

Haanpaa Kevin
SJO-29999
7979 NW 21st ST.
Doral, FL 33122-1616

When you use either one of these they ship the item to Heredia where we can pick it up.

The most economical method of contact is still either Skype or Email. Our Skype name is kevin.haanpaa email is khaanpaa@palan.net

So for a brief address update this turned into a rather lengthy little blog – so until the next chapter…

We are on our Anniversary vacation. so Where did we end up? Puntarenas north, and Jaco bay. This is on the Pacific coast. Kevin had planed a surprise for the Arenal Volcano but after meeting on Friday we both had a desire to see the sea and Kevin just started driving towards the west coast. We have the use of the bosses toyota truck and his GPS. it took only 2 hours and we were at puntareanas, it was dark and only the naughty people were out on the corners (ie prostitutes) so we went to the only hotel we could find( Yardarne ) 60.00 a night but guess what it was right on the beach! one step and you were on this incredible black sand and no people there to fight with. There was a fairy boat down the way where they have touristy things Kevin bought ray ban sun glasses 1500. colones! And cassie you will be jeolous but I got a ausie style hat for 4.00 dollars with a lizzard(Iguana) on it. We saw the most awsome group of iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks by the beach...away from us! This was Kevin and I first time ever swiming in the ocean! wonderfull waves that picked us up and deposited us where ever it wanted. I found out I pretty much float like a cork. NO yucky floating stuff or sea weed but black sand that is so fine its almost like mudd. And I wasnt afraid of Sharks! (Viviana) I never thought I could get past my phobia but I did! Kevin has been a charmer putting up with me and my changeble moods. We are now in Jaco bay where there is TOOOOOO many americans and touristy kinda like the old Sanfrancisco used to be. Lots of souviners here beautiful scarfs like the kindKelly White gave me but in bright colors with tucans and Igaunas or buterflys they want 20.00 for each so we pass it by and I am going to see if my boss can get a deal and buy and sell for us at the hotel. I love them. I want all my girlfriends and girls to have one. Kevin failed to pack a shirt for himself, has a hundred of everything else, but we were able to get him 2 for 24.oo with wild floral prints! One american stoped us and asked where we were from, we talked for a bit but he said that what drew him to talk to us was kevins Incredibles hat! Oh well we do stick out but thats ok.
Went to dinner last night. They try to get you on everything, I asked for a glass of water and he insisted on bottled as the water is not good to drink...bull pucky he just wanted the extra 2.oo charge, and I told him tap was fine, wouldnt give me it...oh well some things you just let pass. We here now on the internet at a coffee shop simular to starbucks that has free internet, and we are on the phone to the girls and telling them all our fun stuff, boy do I miss them, when we were at the beach I could just remember them as crazzy kids running at each wave. Oh well good memories. Dad I love you for emailing your first time keep trying to figure out this bloggy thing cause we really have only minutes sometimes to reply or note things for email. Love you all -Katalena

Well... not much else to add to that. We are thinking of continuing south towards Quepos we are just kind of going with what we want on this little trip. Even though we love our mountain Hotel home - there is nothing like the beach! It is nice that it only about a 2 hour drive from our place to get to the water! - Perhaps the next time we will get to the Carribean side -Port Limon.

We will have lots of pictures to post to the website when we get back - that is if the Internet is working yet!

Love to all - keep the comments coming they are our link to you!

Kevin