Blog change

So...overseas internet is a little difficult to come by sometimes, so I've decided to only make updates to my world race blog for right now. I will resume this one afterwards. Its just become too difficult to upload pictures twice. So for the next nine months...please stick to this blog:

http://triciawegman.theworldrace.org/

Thanks!!!!

Philippines Summary

This past month has gone by so fast. I can't believe that we are leaving for Malaysia tonight. I thought that I would just do a list of my favorite things in random order about the Philippines to end the month:
1. Bathing and washing clothes in a creek all month.
2. Sunsets on the beach.
3. Blue starfish found while we were snorkeling.
4. Ladies' day and washing the feet of women in the village.

5. Singing Celine Dion and Shakira on karaoke (they love their karaoke here).
6. Worshipping and teaching about a spirit of worship among the villagers.
7. Meeting the mayor of the island and telling him he was a cool guy (I am so awkward).
8. Getting to know the beautiful people on my team better. I am so blessed by them.
9. Becoming more spiritually sensitive and becoming dependant on God.
10. Playing basketball with the locals and hearing them yell Treesha!
11. Random dance parties on the beach with the locals.
12. Fried pork rolls.
13. Chasing rats out of the kitchen.
14. Deforesting the rainforest.
15. Declaring God's victory over an oppressed area.
16. Mastering the art of making squid for dinner.
17. Watching Nikki eat a worm to raise support.
18. Loving on the women here.
19. Speaking in a southern accent and talking about good ol' 'Merica. (This happens on a daily basis).
20. Bringing refreshment and encouragement to a small village in the Philippines that I didn't know even existed until a month ago.
This month has been amazing and I can't wait to see what God will do as we go into Malaysia. I will try harder to do more blogs as we have internet and keep you more updated. Thanks for reading!

Warfare

Just a quick update from the last blog. The night after I had the weird dream and the high fever I went to sleep feeling really great. I woke up at the same time again though freezing and feeling so oppressed and heavy. After praying and worshipping to get rid of whatever was going on in the room, I was able to get up, get my fleece and go back to bed. I spiked another high fever and started feeling creeped out. I just started praying and proclaiming the victory in Jesus Christ. I finally fell asleep and woke up fairly sick again. Fast forward to last night. I was feeling substantially better last night, but I was preparing myself to be sick again. Before going to bed, we started worshiping and ended up singing at the top of our lungs for an hour. We were inviting the Spirit of God to be in that place and wow did He come. I went to bed last night and slept so amazingly well. No oppressive feelings, no fever, nothing. I feel great today and church went amazing. We felt burdened for the church's worship. We taught the kids some sign language to the song "The Stand." They got up front and were just worshipping with their hands raised. It was great. Then, the rest of the church got up and was learning the motions and putting their hands up. I was brought to tears standing up there. Watching restoration and freedom is a beautiful thing. Even if we have done all of this to just excite one person to worship with excitement....or just one kid to become a true worshipper, this whole month was worth it :). And to think that Satan was trying to discourage me from seeing that by using a nightmare and a fever. I am so thankful that the One who is in me is greater than he who is in this world. How great to know that freedom is there and available...we just have to reach for it; how freeing to know that victory is already won for us...we just have to live in it!
I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all

I'll stand, my heart Lord to you surrendered. All I have is yours!

Treeeshaa!

HIII! This week has been a crazy busy week...but so good! I titled this one with my name because that is about all I hear in the village we are in. As a ministry, we are having a basketball tournament here. My team is awesome and we've been doing really well. Girls don't play bball with boys here...so me playing has been really funny. Because of that, many of the villagers have learned my name and are saying "Treesha!" whenever we're walking around. It's been so fun to use bball as a ministry. Here is a picture of my awesome team. Yesterday they brought me a jersey to wear :)
We've also been working with people, starting relationships and deforesting the rainforest. lol the pastor here wants us to clear out some of the rainforest to use as a soccer field. It's been ridiculous. The red death ants here are crazy. It's looking good now, but I somewhat feel guilty about deforestation :). We've also had some amazing times at the beach, especially in worship. Our team is so burdened by our need to worship the Lord passionately and God has been confirming that to us amazingly. One last thing I would love for you to pray for is my team and our squad in general. Satan has been attacking many people with sickness in order to slow down our ministry. This is strong on my heart because it affected me last night. My team and I were experiencing an amazing revelation from God about worship and how we were going to stir things up here, especially with the women. We prayed we would have some direction in how to do that. I went to bed feeling fine and started having nightmares regarding the things here and all I could hear was discouragement from the devil. I woke up absolutely freezing and proceeded to develop a really high fever (my guess was around 102 degrees or higher). The oppression in the room was so great and I could just hear the enemy speaking lies into me that we weren't good enough, that we had no power, that we couldn't bring change to a people in bondage. I woke up Carmen and we just started praying. The oppression went away so that we were able to sleep. This morning I was still running a high fever (around 101). Our team just started bringing it to prayer and declaring victory over this oppression and sickness. Amazingly, my fever has dropped substantially. I'm not feeling 100%, but I'm mainly tired, and I'm not running a high fever. God is good. The more we declare our victory, the better I feel. God is just blowing me away with His power in the Spirit. It's been awesome. So please pray that we have the victory over spirits of oppression, doubt, fear, sickness, and discouragement. Tonight we are having a ladies night where we will wash feet, paint nails and give massages to the women of the village. We are also praying about another ministry with the women, so we would truly appreciate you holding us up in prayer. We are working hard to spread life here and we know the enemy has come to steal, kill, and destroy....but He who is within us is greater!!

Showering in a creek :)

"Ang Dios ay mabuti" means "God is good" in Tagalog, the primary language in the Philippines. As I sit next to my friend, Baby Jane (who is teaching me to speak Tagalog, here on the island of Mindoro, I am reminded again that God is good. It is so wonderful to see beautiful women around the world living life and serving Christ. We are sitting around the table cooking, sharing stories, and laughing. We have been told that relationships are what matters in ministry with the Filipinos and we are learning that every day. (Isn't that what all ministry is about?) What I love is that we are just living life with Pastor Al, Ate (sister) Marina, Ate Helen, Ate Judith, Lola (who I call abuela which means grandma in Spanish), and Jo Jo. They are a beautiful people with such a strong heart for the Lord and a pure love for serving His people. We are up in the rainforest on this island staying in the local pastor's house. This involves, my team (6), Cody's team (7), Pastor Al's family (3), and the assortment of others coming in and out of the house at all times. Which means 16 people plus 13 massive backpacks are squished all around this extremely humble house. Yet we are experiencing life with them. The running water is not working right now, so flushing the toilet with pails of water is amusing...especially after I was having the runs all day yesterday. Yuck J. Today we went and washed our clothes and showered in a nearby creek and seriously, it's the cleanest I've felt in the last week. We are also having the opportunity to talk with the women who work with making the bracelets to earn a living. Rather than selling themselves or their children into prostitution, they make bracelets. I'm so excited about all we are learning. More to come on that soon and more pictures :)
Best story I have so far is the following. Yesterday I was talking with Abuela and she asked me if I spoke Tagalog. I actually am doing well in learning some words because many words are the same in Spanish (Spain settled the Philippines). So often times I will guess a word and it will be right! Anyway, so yesterday when she asked if I spoke Tagalog, I answered "Mi poquito" thinking that "poquito" would mean "little" as it does in Spanish. I was wrong. In their language, poquito is the term used for sexual orientation. All of them started laughing immediately and I laughed unknowingly until one lady shouted in English, "Tricia you were just talking about your boyfriend, do you realize you just told everyone you are a lesbian?" Oops. J

Launch week!

I’ve made it through my first week of the World Race J. It’s been a whirlwind week. We arrived on Monday morning with the other leaders and settled in. Highlights about the flight: Starbucks in Hong Kong, fish soup for breakfast on the plane, and somehow missing all of Sunday due to time changes. This week has been great. The rest of our teams arrived and we have been staying with some amazing missionaries that work with a small, poor squatter village here outside of Manila. It’s been amazing to hang out with the people, learn about how the trip works, and seeing God work. The Spirit has been moving amazingly here. Prophecy has never really been on my radar, but I did it this week and it rocked my life. I’ve learned it’s not about saying weird futuristic things, but speaking life and truth over people…and seeing those things being fulfilled. This mission is all about declaring truth and life over people and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. If you had told me a week ago that I would be trying to raise a lady from the dead like I did yesterday, I would have laughed pretty hard. It didn’t seem all that funny yesterday though when I was touching the feet of a dead woman and praying over her and her three small children with 40 other racers. No I haven’t gone crazy, but this mission expects amazing things to happen and as a result, they have seen amazing results. Marisol didn’t wake up and walk yesterday, but we’re still praying for her and really learning about challenging our faith and the power of our God. Besides that, my team of women is amazing, the Philippines is beautiful (in fact, it reminds me so much of Costa Rica), and I can already see the amazing work God is doing in us. Did you know they have free karaoke in the malls here?? Celine Dion and I busted it out the other day! Tomorrow morning we will be leaving on a 6 hour trip and going to Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines to begin our next three weeks of ministry. We will be working with a ministry called Threads of Hope that teaches women how to make bracelets and sell them in order to support their families. We will also be working with the church there and the community children. We are so excited because many of my girls actually sold these bracelets to help raise funds and awareness for the World Race. So that’s what’s going on. I should have internet where we are going, so we’ll keep you posted! Thanks for your prayers! Much love!

Reckless abandon...

As I come down to the last couple of days before my trip, I want to make sure I document how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking. Besides doing my "before leaving for overseas rituals" of eating all of my beloved American foods in ridiculous quantities, enjoying long, hot showers, getting joy out of flushing toilet paper, and trying to see every person I've ever known before I leave for a year, I'm doing pretty well. I expected to be an emotional roller-coaster with yet another transition coming and to be nervous with anticipation over a new chapter in life. While I have experienced some of that over the last few weeks, I have right one basic feeling about what is coming: Peace.
I know that is the Holy Spirit in me, confirming His path in my life. There is no other explanation. If I didn't have that peace from Christ, I would think that living in 11 different countries in 11 months with just a tent in a backpack was crazy...but right now, it makes the most sense in the world. "Reckless Abandon" because that is a phrase that Oswald Chambers preached throughout his ministry and it characterized full surrender to Christ. Being what appeared to be "reckless" in the eyes of others to be abandoned to God's perfect will. There is no fear in this because God's will is formed from His perfect love (1 John 4:18). Chambers writes,
"In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as Himself without any
calculation. The consequences of abandonment never enter into our outlook
because our life is taken up with Him."
That is how I want to live. Whether I'm living in a tent in Uganda or an apartment in Costa Rica, or a house in Ohio. God asks us each to fulfill a purpose in a different way. It just requires an attitude of willingness. So I'm just excited. Excited about new cutlures, new experiences, new foods, new ministry, and most of all new insights that will teach me about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for those of you that will be following me on my journey. I will be posting stories, pictures, and comments about life around the world and how God is working. I'm sure there will also be a great assortment of ridiculous situations I get myself into over the next year, and I will most definitely relay those to you all :). I will be praying that as I abandon myself to Christ, that you would be doing the same wherever you are- making a difference where God has you. Love to live and live to love :)

Spiritually skeptical (part 2)

Once again God has been humbling me and proving me wrong with my spiritual skeptivity (is that a word?). Now I know that God isn't always going to be giving us an answer or telling us exactly which direction to turn when we want to hear it. There is something beautiful about the wait and receiving an answer or gift after having to wait for it. I am a firm believe that God doesn't like to do things early...he's never late by His standards...but always shows up just in time (whether that matches up with our time table or not). I have been trying to experiment with these things though... like taking the Spirit at His word, learning to identify when He's speaking to me, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, we were at a ladies worship night at our church and we had an amazing time of worship. While we were praising, I had that funny feeling like the Spirit was speaking to me. I thought it was just me...but when you hear it over and over again you start to wonder. I felt like He was saying that someone specific that was there needed to know that God thought they were beautiful. I was like well duh, all women need to be told that they are beautiful. That's my life goal...to teach women about Christ by working through the one basic principle that the Creator of the universe thinks we are precious in His sight. I pushed that thought back down. It came back. Then I feel in my spirit: "say it." I say no. Again, the Spirit is prompting me, "say it." Nope. Sorry. No way do I want to speak up in front of these women and tell them that the voices in my head are telling me to say something. Of course I used that excuse that I want to be one of those Christians that is cool, someone that others want to be like...not one of those Christians that are proclaiming stuff in the middle of services lol. So my mom is up there talking and I'm sitting there with my hands covering my mouth to prevent any word slippage. oh I'm starting to sweat now. lol I can feel it coming. All of the sudden, without any warning, my hand slips up. Before I can bring it down, she sees me and calls my name. FAIL. lol so I start talking and I just start saying what I felt like the Spirit was telling me. "Someone here needs to know that God thinks you are beautiful. That He loves you. That He desires you and wants to make you whole..." I said everything and sat back just shaking from being overwhelmed with the Spirit and from embarassment. We prayed and then like any good churchgoers, went to eat some dessert. I wasn't out there for two minutes before a new visitor to the church came up to me in tears and fell into my arms saying that she was the one that needed to hear that. She said she had felt something say to her that she needed to pay attention because God had something to say to her. She had been struggling with self-worth for years as the result of many struggles and she finally heard that freeing message that every woman wants to hear, "I [the LORD] think you are beautiful. I created you and you are precious in my sight."

Once again... I am a believer. :)

Hephzibah

I know I've mentioned before that my all-girls team name is Hephzibah, but I wanted to explain that a little better. Unless you spend some time the last few chapters of Isaiah, you may not have heard of this word. And while I'm no super scholar in the Old Testament, I have been hanging out recently in these hopeful chapters tucked away in the old faithful prophet's discourse. The Hebrew word "Hephzibah" is found in Isaiah 62:3. Some background- Isaiah is speaking metaphorically about Israel returning to the Lord and God's restoration taking place. He uses the beautiful metaphor of God accepting Israel back in as a bridegroom rejoicing over his new bride. The chapter speaks of God's restoration and His bestowing His people with a new name. The verse says,
"No longer will they [the nations] call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate,
but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will
take delight in you, and your land will be married."

When you look up Hephzibah you will see that it means "my delight is in her" and that Buelah means "married." The chapter continues on this subject, refering to this Hephzibah as a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, a Holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, Sought After, and the City No Longer Deserted. Oh how I love that "sought after" part. Those last couple chapters in Isaiah talk all about these life giving promises, describe a beautiful wedding, and God's perfectly amazing restoration.
Another verse caught my eye in Zephaniah 3:17 which says,
"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

That's one of those verses I want to just tatoo all over my body or have someone yell at me everytime I begin to doubt Him. What else do you need? 1. He's with me. 2. He's mighty to save. 3. He takes delight in me. 4. He loves me. 5. He rejoices over me. That's some serious love. I don't know about all you people out there, but no matter how amazing the people around you are or how dreamy your significant other is...they just can't compete. God is the only one that can deliver on those 5 aforementioned promises.
always. completely. forever.

Fight for me...

Thanks for all of the responses about my last post. So many were so blown away by God showing up like that. It became apparent to me that we are all hungry for experiences like that. From new believers in Christ to seasoned saints, from conservatives to liberals, from atheists to missionaries- we're all looking for something to believe in. Something that gives meaning to life and substance to monotony. Throughout the pages of history, people have been searching for this God the Bible talks about. This God that delivers. This God that fights for us. Am I the only one that wants someone to fight for me? I doubt it. Oh God, you are mighty to save ....fight for me. God is speaking to me through a song I heard at camp by Johnathan David Helser called "God of the Angel Armies." One line I just love- "God of the Angel Armies- you fight for us." I teared up thinking about it. That blows me away. God loves me so much to fight for me. He's been fighting for me. He's been pursuing me. That's beautiful. I can't wait to experience more of this. I can't wait to taste more of His all-satisfying love.
If you have time, read Isaiah 35.I love verses 3-4: "Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution He will come to save you.'" That gets me excited. I want my King speaking those words into my fearful heart. I want my King to be coming with some divine retribution...I don't think I'm exactly positive about what retribution is completely lol but I want some of that divine stuff if it's going to be my Savior saving me from the evil in this world. Isaiah 35 goes on to talk about God producing streams in the desert- bring good out of bad, something out of nothing. He says that we the redeemed will walk this road and everlasting joy will crown our heads. How overwhelming! God can deliver for you, He can give you something to believe in. Sometimes things can get so low but if you listen, can't you can hear Him say, I am mighty to save... I WILL FIGHT FOR YOU.

Spiritually skeptical

So I'm coming off one of those spiritual highs you get when you're at a camp, rocking out with other people that are passionate about Christ. Training camp for my trip was pretty wild. Basically there were a bunch of us camping out in the backwoods near Atlanta, Georgia. Camp was amazing. We stayed in our tents, ate foods from each country, worshiped pretty much the whole time, and developed relationships. It was amazing. I learned so much. I was given a team of six girls (the only all girls team on my squad!) that I will be traveling with for the next year. They are already rocking my life :). There is so much to tell, I don't want this to be too long, so I'll tell you the most notable thing that happened at camp. It's crazy. You can be skeptical, I was too (ps. I'm not anymore).

Team Hephzibah (which means "my delight is in her" (Isaiah 62:4)

Amy, Carmen, Kelly, Jennilee, me and Nikki

The last day of camp, we were told to get with our teams and pray that God would show us how to minister to the community that day. We had 5 hours to do whatever we wanted and go wherever. We were just supposed to listen to the Holy Spirit. I was pretty skeptical. Not that He isn't powerful and capable, I just couldn't imagine Him telling us specifically what to do. I finally just relinquished my criticism and led our team in prayer, praying that God would come through and direct us. I was so nervous!! After about 5 min. of silence, one girl spoke up about us needing to do something about kids. Another spoke up that is was a specific child and his mother. Another said we needed to go to the grocery store. More silence, I'm a little creeped out. Then my spirit inside of me said, "there are two kids." What?!? Another girl said it was a blonde four year old boy in a blue striped shirt. Yet another girl felt the verse about Christ feeding the 5,000 on her heart. And then we heard "Go." So we started driving, just following what we felt like our hearts were saying. We ended up at a grocery store. After creeping around looking for these people, we decided to stop and pray bc we didn't see anyone. We prayed and then found some pretty Biblical looking loaves of bread (lol and they were 2x1 on sale, talk about being multiplied). We then went to get some food for ourselves. I went into another aisle and just started praying and as I was, one of the girls gasped and pointed as a young mother with two young blonde boys (one in a blue striped shirt) passed by. It was insane. We ended up talking to her and her sons (who of course were 4 years old) and bought her groceries. She was going through a rough move and a bad divorce and were just able to bless her day. It was crazy!!! The whole day was like this too. We would get lost and end up at trailer park where we talked to the people and fed them with our loaves of break and sandwich supplies. Opportunities just kept opening up as the Spirit led us. It was incredible. How awesome that within the first half hour of listening to Him, he turned 6 skeptics into 6 believers in the power of the Holy Spirit? The fact that He used all of us to form what we needed to do... I can't even tell you how much my faith was encouraged. If this is what God can do with 5 hours of us being open to Him, I can't wait to see what He does with 11 months...or better yet, the rest of our lives. :)

More summer

I know it's been a while since I posted last... but I haven't had too many good stories recently. Life has been good though. I've been resting and getting better-so that is most excellent. I've also had the opportunity to see some of my best friends. I went to a wedding (caught the bouquet again lol) and I was able to stay with Rachel for a night at a super ghetto Econo Lodge. That was interesting :) I've enjoyed church in English again and eating as much as possible all the time. I am starting to prepare for my next adventure in life. I agonized for days over which tent, backpack, sleeping bag etc. to buy for my mission trip. I stared at that purchase button for a good two hours before I convinced myself that I needed to pay money for these things. ugh that put a dent in the old bank account. But I figure I'm going to live in it for a year, so it's slightly important. I'm sure you can imagine my dilemma :). This week I leave for a training camp. I am all over the place about it...mainly because I'm still getting over mono and I'm really tired. Plus, I'm just nervous about starting something new. Meeting all new people, living in all new places, doing all new things...that's exhausting! I'm so excited, but I'm trying to be realistic too...11 months is a long time. My main concern: clean bathrooms. ;) I wouldn't refer to myself as high maintenance, HOWEVER, I sometimes have a complex about clean bathrooms. I can see this problem being my archnemesis over the next year. Stay posted for stories. I go to get my vaccinations tomorrow...that also should be a fun time. My favorite is the optional vaccination titled: Japanese Encephalitis. How can something be optional when not getting it could mean having a brain rotting disease? weird. We'll see how it goes. As for the long distance relationship with Albin- it's definitely not my favorite thing. I've become that quesosa (cheesy) girl that talks on skype for hours :). "They" say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and that being apart makes being together that much sweeter...but I'm wondering if "they" were apart for 13 months....lol and I'm only on day 22. In all things...I just have to keep reminding myself that God is so faithful :)

Summer so far...

I've been home for about a week and a half now and it has been great. I've slept a lot :). My first day I was able to see one of my best friends in the whole world, Brittany, and her family. She has a "new" baby (9 months) that I was able to see for the first time. I loved it! We also went camping for the fourth of July. There was a whole lot patriotism going on there. It was funny. Things I am thankful for this week:

1. Family and Friends (obviously)

2. It's not raining everyday

3. Cheeseburgers, Chipotle, LaRosas, Dairy Queen

4. Sleeping in.

5. Skype with video cameras

6. Flushing toilet paper

7. Being able to drive again

8. Running errands and speaking English :)

So it's been a good week. I am also really thankful to receive some news about my sickness. I've continued being sick here...mainly just so tired and sore with swollen lymph nodes. I just received some test results and I did test positive for mono which totally makes sense. I also am being tested for some weird liver counts, but they said that can sometimes be associated with having mono. I would definitely appreciate your prayers as I wait to find out the whole story. Please also continue to pray that this won't affect my ability to receive the necessary vaccinations for my trip and just my ability in general to prepare for it.

Much love!

Camping at Brown County!

Old chapter and new chapters...

It's funny that even when you know a big change is coming...you're still surprised when it actually comes. It's funny how when even you have time to prepare...you still feel so un-ready when the day you've prepared for comes. I remember the first time I went home to the U.S. for a friend's wedding after moving to CR and crying all the way back to CR on the plane...thinking about how long two years was going to be and how much I would miss people. Fast forward two years and I see myself in an opposite position. Crying all the way back to U.S. thinking about how short those two years went and how much I will miss the people in Costa Rica. I guess what Ecclesiastes says about God making everything beautiful in its time is true...when you give things time and wait on God, a beautiful transformation takes place-even when at first glance it seems uncomfortable, difficult, or even impossible. As I look back over the past two years at what God has brought me through and how He has made me grow- I see faithfulness. God is so faithful. He provided everything I needed in Costa Rica...and then some :). I learned Spanish, I was a successful teacher, I made friends, I learned how to cook, etc. Now my goal is to apply that learning and remember that God is going to provide in the future. I could not be more thankful for the people He blessed me with, the wisdom He gave to me and the love that He showed me over the last two years. As I wiped tears out of my eyes after saying good-bye to Albin and Kate, and looked over the mountains right before getting on the plane, I couldn't help feeling like I was leaving home again. I found myself asking if it was a blessing or a curse to have two homes. On the one hand, you are always going to be missing someone, but on the positive side, you have more people to love and more people to love you back. So through all the frustrating language problems and misunderstandings of culture and how things are done in different cultures, through all the different foods, new people, sickness, expensive plane tickets and missing of family, I've realized that living in CR for the past two years has changed me- I'm becoming more of who God has created me to become and I'm becoming a person who is learning what it means to surrender to God's plan. It's the most amazing adventure ever. And now, as I sit in Ohio with my dog by my side and take in all of the things that are "normal" again, I realized that I don't think normal will ever be normal again- for I have changed. And even though I change, normal changes, home changes- Christ remains the same. He is same yesterday, today and tomorrow and no matter where I go- He is my constant and He is teaching me the beauty of doing the different, following His adventure and embracing the unknown. That is truly the life worth living.

The good, the bad, and the ugly :)

The good: As many of you have probably seen on facebook or heard from other sources...I am in a relationship. It took me a long time to get to this point, but God is good. I have posted about him a couple of times on here and I have had lots of suspicious questions...but I supposed I should put to rest all rumors and officially announce it :). I have renounced my haterish ways, so that is a good thing :) I would post all the details...but the story is better in person and it's actually pretty great. So if you're really interested to hear it, let's talk BECAUSE I'm coming home in TWO WEEKS!! Crazy. Yah, it's complicated and not according to my plans...but as we've seen over the last two years, God's planning a better adventure than I ever would have planned for myself.

The bad: I'm still really sick. I haven't had to return to the hospital, but I've only seen a little improvement. I went to school today, sat the whole day, and haven't gotten out of bed but once since I've been home. Please pray that I heal so I'm not such a lamo for my last two weeks here. I don't ever remember a time being so sick for so long, so this is SO frustrating.

The ugly: I guess there really isn't anything ugly...but it made the post title a little more catchy ;). I guess if anything, you could definitely say that this sickness isn't the most becoming thing. I've definitely had better looking days :). But in all honesty, right now in my life God is making everything beautiful in His time.

Much love!

Public v. Private Health Care

Yesterday I witnessed first hand the differences between public and private health care. It made me wonder what our country is thinking. So I've continued being sick. I know I've blogged a couple of times about so reocurring problems I've had here, but it all came to a head yesterday. I had been so sick over the weekend and Monday and Tuesday that I became dehydrated yesterday. I left school and went to the local clinic to turn in some samples and get blood drawn but they only do that from 7-9 and since I got there at 9:20, I couldn't do it. I also wasn't able to see a doctor because I hadn't stood in line at 6 a.m. to get an appointment and now the doctor was filled the whole day. I went home so frustrated and even sicker from walking around. Some friends suggested I go to the public emergency room because I was dehydrated, so my Tico family took me over there. Ridiculous. We waited 1/2 in line to get in the building. I finally got in the door where two ladies took my blood pressure and asked me what was going on. She told me my pulse was really low and gave me a green card and told me to go wait in another line and then sit down. I got through that line and went and sat down with a million other people. I learned that everyone gets a green card unless you are a life-threatening emergency (red card) or high pain emergency (yellow card). You must wait in the order you come if you're a green card, unless more yellow or reds come. In summary, I waited at least two hours to be attended to. I was dying on that bench. Some older lady kept talking to me and finally went up to the window and said I needed to be taken care of. They told her there were 7 more people in front of me, so I waited. I finally got in. The doctor asked a couple of questions, felt around in my stomach and gave me papers and told me to go wait in another line. I waited in this line to get two injections in the bum (don't know what they were) for another half an hour. Then I was sent to another line for another half an hour to get medications. So five hours later, I got home still incredibly dehydrated, but with money in my pocket because it was free. Kate and Albin came home and put me in the car and took me to Clinica Biblica (a private hospital). Within twenty minutes of arriving, I was put in a bed, and hooked up to an IV. They took my samples and did a blood test, spent a good amount of time with me asking questions and poking around. I even got a blanket :). I was there for a long time, but just so they could run all of the tests. What a difference. Of course, the bill was pretty expensive (half my months paycheck expensive), but leaving feeling better and like I finally had some answers was feeling good. So I'm not sure, I mean, thankfully I had the money to pay the bill for the private care which was so much better. And going home sicker than I had been from the free clinic was a little frustrating. It was such an exhausting day. Basically, I don't have any parasites or bacterias, but my blood test came back a little funny. So, if I don't improve in a couple of days, we'll know its not just a virus or something and have to do further testing. I would appreciate your prayers for healing so that I don't have to do the awful clinic again nor the expensive private hopital. :/

Saying some goodbyes :(

I can't believe it is already June. We have already begun saying goodbye and that is difficult. We said good bye to one of our best friends here, Yoji, yesterday. Well, scratch that, we said goodbye like 17 times counting the amount of goodbye parties he's had. One last weekend, one Saturday, and one Monday. So this weekend, we did some fun things. On Friday night, we went up to a really high point in CR, near a volcano. From where we parked, we overlooked the whole city and had a "picnic." It was beautiful...until a big group of random guys looking for a good place to do drugs came around. No good. Then Saturday, we had an end of the year teacher's brunch and we had the surprise party for Yoji with his gringo friends. My favorite thing about this party had to be when Albin asked me to go find cheesepuffs at the grocery store. Unfortunately he didn't say cheesepuffs, but "chispa" (pronounced like cheespah) which means matches. lol oh the miscommunication. The house we were at had a fireplace...so like any good gringos, we lit it up and made smores (even though it was 70 degrees). When you don't often see fireplaces, you'll take it in any temperature. Sunday, I cut Kate's hair. Big deal. I was so nervous. Kate is much more fashionable...and has a very particular haircut. I can't believe she let me....but it worked out :). This week, I also said bye to Eden, the high school student I mentored this year. She has become such a dear friend to me...so that was hard. I will hopefully see her again in two years or so. Besides that, I'm just teaching and finishing things up here. Here are some pictures of me and my students. They are so sweet. We had a bracelet sale and a bake sale today and we made $200 for my trip :) hooray!

Amazing weekend...

I don't have much to say about this weekend...because I feel like the pictures are best. Friday was the High schoolers banquet, Saturday I went to a farm with Albin and his family (I learned how to cook with his mom and gma)....then to a going away party for Yoji (he's moving to the U.S. for seminary), and Sunday we hiked a volcano. So amazingly fun :)

Perfect faithfulness

1 month and 11 days left. It's crazy. Wes left us on Sunday...that was pretty sad. He was really fun to have around. I feel like we learned more about the species of men and how they function in life. It's frightening :) Everything here has been going well. As I spend more time teaching 5th grade, the more I enjoy it. Our fifth grade end of the year bucket list has been so fun. We've also been reading some interesting books and analyzing my favorite quotes :). Here is me and the girls :)

To be honest, I don't have too much to write about. I've just been doing a lot of thinking about life. I run a lot here and it's so neat to run through the city and around the mountains. If you go high enough you can overlook the whole city and I just absolutely love that. The sunsets and the ability to see how big life is makes me realize that the world is so much bigger than what is going on around me. I love knowing that God makes all of these things work together. Once again I have been focusing on Isaiah 25:1 "Oh Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago." I love that God's perfect faithfulness has been planning all these marvelous things. We are blessed.

Wes

Last week was the LONGEST week everrrrr... I think it finally hit me that I was leaving in less than two months and everything cracked. It was bad...Kate can confirm that if needed. My mom and her friends left...4 of my students left which left me with only paperwork to do...etc. Thankfully, Wes, Kate's brother came to visit. He came in Friday and soon as we all got off of work, Kate, Wes, Albin and I took off for Manuel Antonio (a beautiful beach on the Pacific side). It was a great weekend. We stayed in a cute and cheap little place and hung out on the beach the whole time. Perfect weather, perfect star watching skies, great hike through the rainforest, monkeys, good food, and especially great company. It definitely broke the week of the blues. I love my friends :). Wes has been so fun to have here too. My favorite thing he's done so far was climb a bamboo tree to retrieve a huge branch (20 ft high) and have us take action photos of him throwing it like a javelin lol :) All for of us also had a belly flapping contest as well. Hilarious. I wish I had pictures of how awesome it was. Kate and Albin were on a team and Wes and I and judging was based on technique and form. The whole beach was watching us laughing. I think they weren't surprised about Americans acting like that...but the Tico with us. So funny. It was a good time. Wes has also come to school with us this week and it's been a blast. I've also taken over the 5th grade classroom for the rest of the year. It's been great so far as well. We've made a 5th grade bucket list...30 activities for the last 30 days of the year. We've had a lot good times there already. And that's what's up...I can't believe how fast life is going...

Thankful...

Today I am thankful for...

1. Sunshine
2. Eating cheese and chicken in one meal :)
3. The fact I'm learning how to be more direct in meetings.
4. My autistic student interacting with me.
5. My friends here.
6. My family and friends in the U.S.
7. I'm going to the beach this weekend.
8. Reaching $3, 300 on my fundraising for the world race...$11,000 to go.
9. when Spanish speakers stop and ask me for directions (one small victory in language learning)
10. That God is perfectfully faithful :)

Girls' visit :)

This weekend my mom came!!! Even more exciting was that she brought her 6 friends with her :) Minus their flight getting delayed at the beginning and getting in 7 hours late...everything was great! We had everyone over to our house for a super late dinner when they got in and they were able to meet some of my friends. On Sunday morning we had breakfast at their hotel and then took off for the beach. We stayed at this hotel in the middle of the rainforest on the Pacific side of the country. We ate a lot of food...slept a lot...hiked the rainforest...laughed a lot and laid by the pool...it was amazing. After the not-so-relaxing "vacation" Kate and I had in Panama...this was wonderful to actually relax and let some one else do the planning. We had a few run ins with the jungle raccoons, saw some scarlet macaws and tucans, and a little bit too much of European white legs lol. We also celebrated Denise's birthday!

Cultural experiences...

I have made a promise with myself to blog more but I just got on and realized it's been a while since I blogged last. Life is just so busy. I guess that never ends though so you just have to make time. School has been pretty crazy these days. Please pray for our school right now...without giving too many details...we just need prayer as we go through transition. I would really appreciate that. I also need prayer as I am preparing to leave Costa Rica. I am like a roller coaster of emotions about everything and just the thought of leaving, raising support, and getting ready to leave again for another year sounds so overwhelming. Thankfully God has everything under control. I am, however, so excited about this weekend!!!! My mom is coming down with some friends and we're going to the beach. How wonderful!!! I can't wait to see them and what goodies they bring! I also love showing others where we live and how life is here. I love Costa Rica so much and I love when my two very different worlds come together :)

For those of you that knew I was sick with some serious stomach issues and being super tired...I am finally feeling better. Thank you for your prayers. The Tico doctor tested me for parasites and bacteria and everything came back negative. I still felt terrible, so I talked to an American missionary doctor here and he gave me a prescription for anti-parasitic medication. lol it seriously changed my life. I feel SO much better. So that is a huge praise because I just kept getting sick, feeling exhausted and losing weight. SO happy.

Well I finished my Spanish Bible study on the Hebrew names of God. The pop exam that I spoke about in my last post didn't go too terribly. When I got the test back it said I received a 60%! I was so bummed. Then I checked the grading and realized that the math was done wrong and I got an 82%. I also received a 90% in the class! Here is a picture of my class...they're so sweet:

I also had the opportunity to learn how to make sushi. Kate, Albin, and I went to Yoji's (another good friend here) family party on Sunday. Yoji is Tico and Japanese so he was responsible for making the sushi. We learned how to do it and it was so fun. It tasted really good too. Then we played some basketball. I was on the random uncle's team and we were the champions. It was a great day :).