Saturday, March 27, 2010
Panama...
Just a quick note. I'm going to Panama this week so my next blog won't be until next weekend or so. Please pray for safe travels 17 hour bus ride today...10 hour bus ride Tuesday....8 hour bus ride at the end of the week. Please also pray for protection of our apartment. There have been many robberies this week and we just want to pray for a special covering. Finally...that we would get the rest that we need. I'm convinced that we are going to sleep the whole 17 hours due to all the craziness. So....that is all! I hope everyone has a fabulous Semana Santa (holy week)!
Monday, March 22, 2010
In pain...
Pain is a good word to describe how I'm feeling on this rainy day during sunny season in Costa Rica. :) Here is the semi-entertaining story:
Last week was insane. Tons of meetings, late nights, buying tickets and getting ready for a trip over the weekend and then this coming weekend's trip to Panama, Bible study, basketball practice, etc. By Friday I was absolutely exhausted. I was fine all day until after lunch when I started coming down with flu-like symptoms. Yuck. It was like I had food poisoning or something. Whatever it was did me pretty dirty and I spent a good amount of time in the baño. The only problem was that Kate and I were supposed to leave at 2:30 to go visit our friends who live out on a Pacific side surfer beach called Dominical. Not willing to give up my weekend at the beach for a lame stomach issue, I set out between trips to the toilet to the pharmacy here. They sell pills individually, so I bought my three immodium pills and went on my way. I packed some barf bags, downed the pills and told Kate that we were leaving. LOL it definitely could have went worse for me. I didn't get sick the whole trip. I was glad...and I'm pretty sure the whole bus was as well. I was so exhausted that I slept the whole time. We arrived and went to bed and I awoke feeling much better in the morning.
On Saturday, I was still feeling pretty odd...but decided to partake in the festivities with our friends. Now these guys are pretty nuts. They do ministry with the surfers there and pretty much do crazy stuff all the time. Our day consisted of riding on a jet ski...being pulled on an tube by the jetski at 100 mph, swimming through caves and surfing. The tubing was so fun. I did a couple of serious face plants straight into the water. I got thrown into the air by the waves several times and did quite a few belly smacks into the ocean. Once that was over we went through some caves and went body surfing through them as the tide came in a rushed through. lol its all fun and games until you run into a cave wall....however, extremely funny. After that we took a break and ate...only to return to the ocean afterwards to surf for a couple of hours. I learned how to at least get up on the board but I'm still not good (which is driving me nuts), but I did stand up once (of course before getting absolutely trashed by the tide afterwards). I was getting thrown all over the place and the tide was pretty intense. It was great. We ate again and went home and I passed out. On Sunday morning....I couldn't move. Here is my full body assessment: cuts all over my hands and feet from running into cave walls, bruises on my legs from banging them against the surfboard and other people's bodies as I was thrown off the tube, both elbows black and blue from all activities, bruised and ropeburned chin from hitting it on the rope while tubing, back pain from getting knocked on the ocean floor while surfing, bruises on my hips and chest from surfing without a rash guard, unable to turn my neck or lift my arms from doing face plants into the water after getting thrown, weak arms from holding on for dear life during all activities, and still a weird stomach. Outrageous. We drug ourselves back into school today absolutely physically exhausted. Then we find out we have to go to a funeral because a teacher's sister had died. I have never been to a CR funeral before...but it pretty similar to what we have. After that, we were emotionally exhausted as well. I'm sure you can imagine that I most definitely passed out on the car ride back to school and I was completely unproductive for the rest of the day. lol but I feel like this weekend was well lived :)
Last week was insane. Tons of meetings, late nights, buying tickets and getting ready for a trip over the weekend and then this coming weekend's trip to Panama, Bible study, basketball practice, etc. By Friday I was absolutely exhausted. I was fine all day until after lunch when I started coming down with flu-like symptoms. Yuck. It was like I had food poisoning or something. Whatever it was did me pretty dirty and I spent a good amount of time in the baño. The only problem was that Kate and I were supposed to leave at 2:30 to go visit our friends who live out on a Pacific side surfer beach called Dominical. Not willing to give up my weekend at the beach for a lame stomach issue, I set out between trips to the toilet to the pharmacy here. They sell pills individually, so I bought my three immodium pills and went on my way. I packed some barf bags, downed the pills and told Kate that we were leaving. LOL it definitely could have went worse for me. I didn't get sick the whole trip. I was glad...and I'm pretty sure the whole bus was as well. I was so exhausted that I slept the whole time. We arrived and went to bed and I awoke feeling much better in the morning.
On Saturday, I was still feeling pretty odd...but decided to partake in the festivities with our friends. Now these guys are pretty nuts. They do ministry with the surfers there and pretty much do crazy stuff all the time. Our day consisted of riding on a jet ski...being pulled on an tube by the jetski at 100 mph, swimming through caves and surfing. The tubing was so fun. I did a couple of serious face plants straight into the water. I got thrown into the air by the waves several times and did quite a few belly smacks into the ocean. Once that was over we went through some caves and went body surfing through them as the tide came in a rushed through. lol its all fun and games until you run into a cave wall....however, extremely funny. After that we took a break and ate...only to return to the ocean afterwards to surf for a couple of hours. I learned how to at least get up on the board but I'm still not good (which is driving me nuts), but I did stand up once (of course before getting absolutely trashed by the tide afterwards). I was getting thrown all over the place and the tide was pretty intense. It was great. We ate again and went home and I passed out. On Sunday morning....I couldn't move. Here is my full body assessment: cuts all over my hands and feet from running into cave walls, bruises on my legs from banging them against the surfboard and other people's bodies as I was thrown off the tube, both elbows black and blue from all activities, bruised and ropeburned chin from hitting it on the rope while tubing, back pain from getting knocked on the ocean floor while surfing, bruises on my hips and chest from surfing without a rash guard, unable to turn my neck or lift my arms from doing face plants into the water after getting thrown, weak arms from holding on for dear life during all activities, and still a weird stomach. Outrageous. We drug ourselves back into school today absolutely physically exhausted. Then we find out we have to go to a funeral because a teacher's sister had died. I have never been to a CR funeral before...but it pretty similar to what we have. After that, we were emotionally exhausted as well. I'm sure you can imagine that I most definitely passed out on the car ride back to school and I was completely unproductive for the rest of the day. lol but I feel like this weekend was well lived :)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Ch ch ch changes....
Sooooo.....God brought some more unexpected my way. My heart is a little torn as I write this blog, even though I've known about these changes for about a month now. I have just started tell people what is going on...so here it goes.
In November and December, I really started feeling a stirring in my heart from the Lord. I started praying about whether God wanted me to stay in CR for another year or if it was time to move on. Through a lot of prayer, deliberation, and seeking counsel, I had peace about an opportunity called the World Race that was put in front of me. The opportunity came up and my heart immediately focused in on that. I wasn't going to apply, but I received a series of confirmations from the Lord that I needed to apply. So on a Tuesday night I applied. I had my telephone interview on Wednesday less than 24 hours later. I told the lady that interviewed me that if she had any doubts about me to please reject my application. I wanted to be REALLY sure. She told me I would probably find out in a week because they still had to do a background check, check my application and possibly my sources, and pray about it. 24 hours later I got a message on Skype. I returned the call the next day and found out I was accepted. If I had answered the phone the first time...this would have all transpired in less than 48 hours. How cool is that? I was so surprised and so excited. Soooo...after all that and surrendering it all to Christ for more confirmation, I am positive that this is what God has for me. It's all pretty crazy. Basically, I will live in 11 countries (India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Romania, Ukraine, and three countries we don't know about until we pray for God's leading), in 11 months, doing 11 different ministries. I leave September 1, 2010.
I'm so excited and thrilled to be able to do this. I can't wait to serve in other countries and know other cultures. I can't wait to only live with 40 pounds of belongings (including my bedding and tent) in a backpack for 11 months. I'm so excited to work with ministries that deal with sex trafficking, orphans, teaching English, and much more. I can't wait to grow closer to God and see what He is doing around the world. I'm sad too though. I'm sad to leave friends here that I have grown to love. I'm sad to leave a country I've fallen in with. I'm sad that the countries I'm going to aren't Spanish speaking countries. I'm nervous about culture shock 11 times over. I'm nervous about raising the $14, 300 of support in such little time. There are so many different emotions I have, but I know God is with me, He is my provider and He is my peace.
Well this is getting long...but there it is. Once again, life is going to change. I didn't expect it, but I love this adventure I'm on with my Creator. The blog will definitely continue here as well as another blog I will be required to keep on my homepage on the World Race Website (I will pretty much be posting the same things on both blogs so that you can just check one (if you want). There you can find more information about my trip, about how the support is coming and more information about how you can help me with support. I really appreciate your prayers right now as I finish up my last 3 1/2 months here, raise support, and prepare for transition. Thanks for reading!
In November and December, I really started feeling a stirring in my heart from the Lord. I started praying about whether God wanted me to stay in CR for another year or if it was time to move on. Through a lot of prayer, deliberation, and seeking counsel, I had peace about an opportunity called the World Race that was put in front of me. The opportunity came up and my heart immediately focused in on that. I wasn't going to apply, but I received a series of confirmations from the Lord that I needed to apply. So on a Tuesday night I applied. I had my telephone interview on Wednesday less than 24 hours later. I told the lady that interviewed me that if she had any doubts about me to please reject my application. I wanted to be REALLY sure. She told me I would probably find out in a week because they still had to do a background check, check my application and possibly my sources, and pray about it. 24 hours later I got a message on Skype. I returned the call the next day and found out I was accepted. If I had answered the phone the first time...this would have all transpired in less than 48 hours. How cool is that? I was so surprised and so excited. Soooo...after all that and surrendering it all to Christ for more confirmation, I am positive that this is what God has for me. It's all pretty crazy. Basically, I will live in 11 countries (India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Romania, Ukraine, and three countries we don't know about until we pray for God's leading), in 11 months, doing 11 different ministries. I leave September 1, 2010.
I'm so excited and thrilled to be able to do this. I can't wait to serve in other countries and know other cultures. I can't wait to only live with 40 pounds of belongings (including my bedding and tent) in a backpack for 11 months. I'm so excited to work with ministries that deal with sex trafficking, orphans, teaching English, and much more. I can't wait to grow closer to God and see what He is doing around the world. I'm sad too though. I'm sad to leave friends here that I have grown to love. I'm sad to leave a country I've fallen in with. I'm sad that the countries I'm going to aren't Spanish speaking countries. I'm nervous about culture shock 11 times over. I'm nervous about raising the $14, 300 of support in such little time. There are so many different emotions I have, but I know God is with me, He is my provider and He is my peace.
Well this is getting long...but there it is. Once again, life is going to change. I didn't expect it, but I love this adventure I'm on with my Creator. The blog will definitely continue here as well as another blog I will be required to keep on my homepage on the World Race Website (I will pretty much be posting the same things on both blogs so that you can just check one (if you want). There you can find more information about my trip, about how the support is coming and more information about how you can help me with support. I really appreciate your prayers right now as I finish up my last 3 1/2 months here, raise support, and prepare for transition. Thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
My job :)
This week has been great. I honestly can't believe that it is already March 7. I feel like life is just flying by. One of the most exciting things about this week was working with one of my students. Without giving too many details about him...just know that he struggles with interacting with people and doesn't communicate. 
I've been working so hard with him and on Friday we broke out a camera and a video camera and he totally started interacting with us (Eden and I). It was wonderful. I've included some of the pictures. Other highlights of the week....we had a party here at our apartment. Here is a picture of me and some of our Tico friends. I'm not sure what Albin is doing :)
It's just been a good weekend with friends. We had a 4.4 earthquake that night too. Thankfully there it was short and not very strong...so no damage was done. I did spend some time on the phone yesterday trying to figure out why we haven't been able to connect to the internet. What they do here is throw a bill into your mailbox or in our case, they just roll it up and throw it as far through our barred garage as they can. So we got our internet bill and it said it had been paid. You must take your bill to the bank or grocery store to pay it. I went just in case to see if I needed to pay it. The bill wasn't in the system, so I didn't pay it. Anyway, so the internet goes out and I call. I explain to the lady all that happened and she just matter-of-factly says, "you didn't pay." I know this, and I try to explain. She says, "But still you didn't pay. How do you figure to have internet if you don't pay your bills?" Ugh. I tried to blame it on the grocery store. Apparently that doesn't work. Now she probably thinks I'm a dumb gringa that doesn't pay her bills. Fail. 
And the last thing, I just thought this was cute. Today in church we sang a song about a buffalo. LOL Kate wasn't there...so I didn't have anyone to laugh about it with. To Costa Ricans a buffalo signifies strength and power...so they use that illustration a lot. I don't even think there are buffalo here. Anyway the whole song was like "You will make me like the buufffalllloo" (obviously in Spanish). It was really dramatic and drawn out and I was laughing hysterically. My Tico friend just kept looking at me but I couldn't explain how I couldn't imagine singing about how I want to be like a buffalo at my church at home (mostly because I don't want to be compared to a large, hairy animal). hehe I'm going to recommend it though when I get home. Thanks for reading :)
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