Adventures in Costa Rica!

ok so remember in kindergarten when they taught you the pillars of how to treat people or whatever they were? fairness, caring, respect, responsiblity, trustworthiness and citizenship? we had a movie when i was kid all about it. and everyone was always trying to teach me to share and be nice and not say mean things and not whine and not complain etc etc. i feel like my time here this summer has been just like that. god is teaching me things week by week, step by step. so far, i have a better understanding for patience, humility and living in the moment. through different kinds of people and different kinds of group dynamics, i have learned these things. i have a new appreciation for different kinds of people and different kinds of cultures. there are so many cultures and so many different kinds of people just in the US alone. trust me…i think i have come in contact with them all. ha. not really, but a lot. which has been really interesting
the lord gives and the lord takes away. and you have to thank him for both. for without the dark, how would you know it was light, for without sadness, how would you know it was happiness that you were feeling? i think that is one of the most important points of the bible. there are a lot of important points, but that is a good one to remember always. i thought in such a place like this, how could i feel sadness, how could i feel anything but pure joy? but this is the real world too. the lord knows that i look at costa rica very lovingly, almost too lovingly. he wants me to know that my life is my life no matter where i am or what i do or who im with. everyone i know, i still know, everyone i love i still love. and they are living their lives completely independent of mine. nothing stops bc i am in “paradise” for a couple of months. my life is my life. and it is really pretty beautiful. i think about everyone i love back in the states and my heart swells. i think about everyone i love her, and my heart swells. i think about everyone i have met just briefly this summer and my heart is filled with joy.
ive learned some really great new skills recently. last week, i learned how to make balloon animals. yup. i know how to make a sword, a flower and a dog. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? pretty dang awesome. gosh if i learned ANYTHING of worth while being here, its that for sure.
im not feeling so good today. i think i have a little sinus infection. i will be fine. im not dying, i just need some rest and some medicine. under control. but it still sucks. at least its an off day and not a work day like yesterday. that was awful. ok everyone. i dont have much else to say right now. i hope all is well on the homefront.
dios te bendiga.

so i know i just wrote a blog like 2 days ago, but the last 2 days have been so funny that i just have to write about it. so we came back from puerto viejo yesterday at like 9 am. we get to the seminary, its totally full so the other interns and i just hang out in the main casa. i have plans to meet one of my best friends, the one allie klein, in downtown san jose in front of the teatro nacional at one. so i sit and read…until about 12 45 when i brave the costa rican bus system, all alone. so i walk the few blocks from the seminary to the bus stop and hang out there to wait for a bus that says san jose centro, that will take me to downtown san jose. so i wait. and i wait. and i wait. and i decide, ok clearly im doing something wrong. so i ask a young man on the street, which way is downtown. he points to the other side of the street and says i should wait there. exasperated, i cross the street. then i wait a bit longer. at this point, its 1:15. im late. i ask another man, which bus will take me to san jose centro? he points to the one right in front of me that says NOTHING about san jose centro, its sign says something different. i trust him, pay the driver my 200 colonnes and sit down. so im riding, kind of nervous as to where im going to end up. mind you, i have been to downtown san jose one time, with other people that knew the city. so i start to recognize things and realize, whoa i made it! so i get off and i start walking in the direction i think the teatro is. so then i ask a man and he points the other way. frustrated again, i walk the way i had come for about 5 blocks until i hit the main drag of the city, which i recognized. i recognize the teatro and i walk towards it, no sign of allie. i get a little closer, and i see her. i almost ran through the plaza, through all the people and the pidgeons. i walk up to her and we freak out and laugh for literally 5 minutes about how this could not possibly be real life, what are we doing in downtown san jose, costa rica. so funny. (allie is studying abroad with her school about 30 minutes away in a town call san joaquin…complete coincidence that we ended up in the same country, at the same time, so close). so then we walk back to the seminary, which is really not that far, only like 2 miles or so. we get there, we hang out, we catch up, laugh some more about how this could not be real life. then the ends and thats that.
oh yea. so i mentioned the seminary is full right? so me and rachel, one of the other interns, are currently sleeping in the professors office. yup. in their office. its a large room, where they all office, but were just on one end, near the kitchen area. its pretty funny. life of a traveling missionary i suppose. anyways, so today…oh today. we started today off by one of the professors coming into his office (normal) at 6:45am. i pretended to be asleep. i mean what was i supposed to do, say buenes dias!, im just in your office sleeping….so awkward! so then we had to wake up, i mean it was loud, breakfast was at 7. so we got up, went to eat, came back, he was still there…working at his desk. so i sat on my bed and read a book. so funny. today we went up to the land (the childrens home) and did some work with a team with some other missionaries who work with my boss. our boss, ray, told us we didnt really have to work, that we were more there for observation…what happened? we got put to work…digging a trench…that had to be 5 feet deep. yup…5 feet. so i dug a trench all morning.  until lunch. then we went to vbs, to a place way up the mountain about 45 minutes. this drive is kind of treacherous, the roads are narrow and the drop offs a bit unprotected with a jungle abyss below. scary. so were rounding a corner and what do we see…a choco…a wreck, between a huge buss and a dump truck. they had both tried to round the corner together and got stuck together there at an angle. no one was hurt, the cars werent even hurt. it was just a trap. we in our car could get by, but the team on their bus couldnt…so we were stuck there…on the mountain…waiting for the cops to show up. in costa rica, you cant move a muscle until the polica show up. or youre in big trouble. so they couldnt even move out of the way. we couldnt go back down the mountain, bc we were already too far up and about 15 minutes from where we were going. so they decided to cargo the people in the two cars we had, the other missionary, will and one of the interns, the head intern, allie. they did this twice and brought the pastor with his van. we just left our bus and the driver down there until the cops came and the wreck cleared. so we get to vbs, its all fun and games, but still no sign of the bus…which means the wreck was still not clear. so finally, they give up on the bus and start the drop off pick up process again. this time, they take the pastors van and the two cars and take the whole time, mines us, the interns, will’s wife and sister and brother-in-law, whos team it is. we stay up there until about 6ish. stuck. cold. its raining. then they show up again. thank goodness, time to go back. we pile in allies car to leave. about 3/4 down the mountain, her brakes start to just kind of not work so well. so we pull over and let them cool off. then headed on our way. we got back to the seminary at about 7:15. tired. dirty. hungry. it was just a day. let me tell you. theres a saying here. a llorar y a reir. you can choose. to cry or to laugh. today, and most days, i choose to laugh. im livin the dream..however challenging it may be, however my will may be tested, i am living the dream. i choose to laugh.

why yes, yes it is. thats what happens when you work outside every single day for a month i guess…but yes. i  now have a choco tan. and i am proud of it.
it has been hard for me to write this blog. it has been one month yesterday that i have been here. one month….one month? it doesnt feel like one month. and i have one more to go, give a few days. this time has just been incredible. the teams we have had the last few weeks have been amazing. starting with the team from rocksprings, their sweet and beautiful nature was comforting to me in a time of great struggle in my heart. the lord has been calling for me to give up my heart to him, and that was something i feared. until i didnt anymore. i lived last week with out fear, without control, with only love and peace. and it was an amazing team that i was here with. a team from fleming island florida. beautiful people. generous and giving people. people that love the lord and love to serve the lord. everyone who has come down has been that way. everyone is here for the same purpose, with the same love in mind and in heart. it is incredible the faithful people that have briskly walked in and out of my life the last few weeks. and this team we have now, that got here yesterday, is no different. they are all so lovely and i love them all.
i have really felt like a part of the community here in the last few weeks. the people of the church are just amazing and i love them dearly. my heart is filled with joy every time i go to church and i see their smiling faces greeting me with a hug and a kiss. they love me for me, they dont have to love me. i am not permanent, i dont live here, this is not my home. but my relationship with them is permanent. through our family in christ, through who we are in the body of christ, we are permanent, bc christ is permanent. and his love for us is permanent. and our love for each other is permanent. now that is beautiful. oh, que linda! this life.
last friday i went to the church with andrea to help with kids club. she gets the church kids together, plays with them, reads them a bible story, and just spends time with them. she and her husband are wonderful people. not only bc they do that and so much more, but bc i see straight love in them. but let me tell you. those kids are nuts. we were supposed to play futbol but it then there was a huge storm. one of the loudest storms i have ever been in. so we just sat on the church porch and played that hand slapping game? you know where you rest your hands on the other persons hands and they try to slap you before you get away? well…these kids are quick…me? not so much..my hands were a deep shade of rojo by the end of that. but whatever, it was fun none the less.
it has been a blessing that one of my friends, lilliana, and her daughter, jamilla, have allowed me into their lives and into their family. they are also incredible. im blessed to have them to spend time with, especially when meeting new people can become a bit overwhelming or tiresome. i mean they are all wonderful, but its nice to spend some time with familiar friends every once in a while. especially ones that are so kind and so gracious in their love and their friendship.
my word today is honored. i am just honored to have the opportunity to be a part of  the groups of americans that come down and a part of their lives. im honored to have the opportunity to be a part of the people of costa rica’s lives, specifically those here in puerto viejo. im honored that god is using me in such  way, that he is taking time to share some things with me and that he has restored my broken heart. for so long, i said “im not good enough, choose someone else lord” or “im broken, surely you dont want me”. but he has brought me here to give me the steps to mend my heart and restore my heart. and im honored that he is doing that.
its all just really great, i love everything about being here. im not even all the hot anymore. the humidity is killer. but at least its not scorching. to everyone i love, i am thinking of you always. dios le bendiga.

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