The Cell Phone Blues

Dear Family and Friends,

We have a story to share this week...

Every country is different. Every place has its pros and cons. Life in Costa Rica is beautiful with the tropical rain forests, mountains and beaches, but there are a few drawbacks as well.

In the good 'ole USA and in most developed countries, having a cell phone is as easy as saving the money to buy it, purchasing the perfect plan for your needs and before walking out of the store, you are set to go. You can begin texting as you leave the building. Simple, right?

Not so simple here. Here people wait on average six months on the waiting list with the government to get a line. And of course, you can only get on the list if you are a resident of Costa Rica (we're still working on that...another long process for another blog). Then you must buy a phone and this little tiny card called a SIM card (never heard of that 'til I got here; it must be inside all phones, I don't know!).

So we arrive here and find that the Evangelism Ministry has this wonderful cell phone that can be used both in Costa Rica and Panama. What a blessing.



When David is gone I can reach him if there is an emergency, right? Not so fast. The beautiful phone (it really is neat with a camera and all) is missing an essential piece of equipment...the SIM card. Where did it go? I have no idea. Apparently it was lost in the moving process, maybe even flushed or burned...Not sure how it met it's untimely death, but the fact remains, it's gone to Cell phone chip heaven. Which unfortunately leaves David without a functioning phone. But good news, the SIM chip is cheap...only about $1.25. No big deal, right?

That was in January. Since then we have learned that only the person whose name is listed as the owner of the line can purchase the SIM card. Unfortunately we learned that just after the owner left the country for good. Ugh. So, this nice individual named Eric Buell formatted an official letter giving permission for our friend Ana Betsy to buy the cheap little chip. Eric signed it and somehow we managed to get our hands on the original. But another glitch. After driving to the local grocery store Mas Por Menos (More for Less- Yeah, right!), the phone company didn't like the signature on the letter, as it differed a bit from the copy of the passport signature. So, back to the letter writing. A few months later we receive letter #2, this time with a signature perfectly matching the passport. They couldn't possibly deny us our tiny chip, now. Oh, but there's more...

After another trip to Mas Por Menos, we were a bit irritated but not totally surprised when they now required an attorney to verify the signature. Ana Betsy kindly pointed out to the nice man who kept saying "No" that maybe he did not realize that it would cost 4 times the amount of the chip to have the signature verified, but to no avail. He simply did not care, not that we expected him to.

But finally, after more trips to Mas Por Menos than I care to mention, we received the tiny little chip that fits perfectly in the tiny little slot under the battery. (I won't go into how still then the phone didn't work and Ana Betsy had to call the company who had somehow forgot to activate the chip!) Finally David made his first call on the phone, calling me from upstairs while I was down. Yes, I could hear him through the phone and from upstairs, but it worked. He's pleased. I'm glad it's over. And the kids love to play with the camera. All is well.



David at his desk listening intently to someone's Spanish.

So that's our story for this week. The end of an 11 month saga has come. Praise the Lord!

In other news:
Joshua has been sick with a throat infection and a virus. We're thankful for a good medical clinic nearby where Joshua received care on Sunday morning. He was to have braces put on this Friday, but after missing 3 days of school already, we've postponed that appointment to January. We're hoping he can attend school tomorrow and get caught up in his classes.

Thanks for your prayers. God bless your week!

The Webbs