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 :).

what we do...

I don't have too much to blog about...just normal stuff. A lot of people ask what we do for fun around here...so I included some everyday life pics. The following pictures are of one of my best friends here, Albin, and I taking tango lessons at an international festival downtown...no one else with us would do it...so we rocked it :)

We're basically just doing school and hanging out with friends, with about 1,000 other commitments scattered in throughout the week :). 49 days left of school. I can't believe it. I only have around 2 1/2 months left in Costa Rica...oh how I have mixed feelings on that one. Here is us eating family dinner on Easter...we were supposed to have more people...but some couldn't come...so we were left over with tons of corn casserole. This was a new food experience for the Ticos considering corn casserole doesn't frequently make in on their menu :) I told them its not Easter without corn casserole in the Wegman family.

I've almost completed our discipleship class with my Spanish church. We've been studying the names of God and it has been fascinating. This week is the last week and we're supposed to have our final exam...except they did it as a surprise last week. Do you know how hard it is to have a pop exam studying Hebrew names of God in your second language? lol ugh. actually...it wasn't that bad, I only forgot one thing- but afterwards I was like drained :). This week we will have a party instead so I guess that makes it okay! Let's see...what else...I hit the $2,000 mark on raising my support for the World Race!! Only $12,000 more to go :) Thank you so much to all who have donated thus far!!! The student I mentor, Eden, is an amazing photographer and she does photo shoots of us :) This one is in from of the National museum in CR.Here is Chrissy and me with our students on pajama day...my personal favorite :)

Birthday party for Eddie :) All gluten free...even the cake!!!

Crossing the Jordan

I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but I always question how the Israelites doubted God so much. I mean, how could they doubt God's sovereignty and provision after all of the miraculous signs He did and all the ways He always provided for them? I mean...they pretty much had face to face interaction with him through Moses. And then it hits me, I am the same way. I may not have face to face interaction...but I have a personal relationship with Christ and He lives within me. That's a pretty big deal. Plus, I too have seen God's work through the ages...in the Bible, in the lives of others, and especially His faithfulness in my life...yet I still doubt. I always say to myself that next time I will be sure to take God at His word and just surrender what is going on immediately...but that just doesn't work out for me. All that to say, God's been throwing me some curveballs...things that I just don't expect and things that are different than what I would have planned in my timing. It finally hit me again last night that I wasn't doing the immediate surrender that I had promised myself I would do last time I didn't trust God to provide. I started reading the Bible and I was brought to Joshua 3 (titled "Crossing the Jordan"). It says "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which was to go, since you have never been this way before...Then Joshua told the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.'" It was one of those times that just profoundly spoke to me. God's like, "if I'm moving- then go! All you have to do is follow me. Leave your position and follow!" It's not about me knowing the way, but about me just following and knowing the way because God is guiding me on a path I've never been on before. It even goes as far to say that along the way we must consecrate ourselves because God is going to do something amazing! I was reading in Spanish and I just love the translation: it's almost like... leave your place...leave where you've been just hanging out and follow me. Spanish has more verb forms than English and they have many tenses that express uncertainty in sentences like this....but in this particular verse...there is no tense that expresses uncertainty. It just says "YOU WILL KNOW which way to go." I love that. There is no uncertainty in God's way and He will guide us and do amazing things. I thought that was an amazing reminder :)

Panamá

We're back from Panamá! Last week was Semana Santa and we went down to Panama because we've never been there. I only spent less than $250 for a week in another foreign country...how great is that?? Rather than give you a long boring post...I'll give you the main highlights, rather, the missions that we went on.

Day 1: Surviving the 17 hour bus ride to Panama City. I took a carsickness pill and passed out. I slept for 15 of the 17 hours. Kate got food poisoning and threw up for half of the trip.

Day 2: Kate getting better. I go to church with the family we're staying with. I have to get up and speak in church in Spanish. I give a shout out to those from Ohio...apparently no one is from Ohio :) Then some lady comes and prays/screams 10 minutes of blessings over me. It's 100 degrees and she is all up on me. Her lips keep touching my ears and I'm drenched in sweat. I can't help but laugh. She prays that I am strong like the buffalo (see a previous blog)...I die laughing.

Day 3: We all go to Casco Viejo )the old part of Panama city...it's absolutely beautiful. The new city is beautiful and super advanced...I can't believe how different it is. The roads even have names and people follow them (what???). Then we go to some Artisans markets and Albrook mall. It's huge. Bigger than anything we even have in Ohio. Everything is much cheaper in Panama. I eat Dairy Queen!!!!

Here are some locals swimming in the fountain in their underwear :)

Day 4: We went to the Panama Canal. So cool. The history was so interesting. I think the reason that Panama is so advanced is because the Americans were there for so long. We saw a boat pass through the locks. For those of you from Cincinnati...it's kinda like driving down River Road down on I50 and getting a few glimpses of the river and instead of seeing a barge, seeing a huge cruise ship or ocean tanker. It's pretty crazy. Then we went to the mall again and I ate Dairy Queen!!! Then we left on a random bus to Bocas del Toro which are islands on the Carribbean. We watch Marley and Me in Spanish on the ghetto bus and cry our eyes out while flying through the backcountry of Panama.

Day 5: We arrive 10 hours later at the islands really early in the morning. We take a land taxi and a water taxi and arrive at a hostel that has given away our reservations. So we sit and fall asleep on their couch because we're exhausted. We get another water taxi to another island to another hostel. They have a place but need to clean the twelve person room. 12 hours later, the room is cleaned. It was disgusting. The guys in before us were drunks and absolutely trashed the place. It was awful, but we were stuck on the island. Soooo we sucked it up and made it through.

Day 6: We're feeling more rested and the room is cleaned a little more. We meet some cool people from all over the world and go to the beach. The sun still hasn't shown...it's been raining. We hike to some random beautiful beach. I almost get sucked up in quick sand as I search the forest for a good place to go to the bathroom LOL

Day 7: The new friends we made invited us to go snorkeling with them. It was beautiful. Clear water, cool fish and corral. We saw dolphins! It's still rainy and gross out. I touch some fire corral on accident and get corral poisoning (who even knew that this was possible). My arm was burning and red and puffy. I survived :). We got back to the hostel and the sun came out for 2 hours...yesss!!! We got burnt lol.

Day 8: We leave in the morning. We didn't have return tickets so we were just going to beg for rides, try to catch a bus...hitch hike if needed (not really...well...). We take two water taxis and one taxi. Thankfully the land taxi guy was super helpful and got us a place a bus going back to CR. lol standing room only on this 6 hour busride, but some how we got a seat. We get the super ghetto border crossing. Walk our own butts across this awful bridge into Costa Rica. They didn't check our bags or anything, just gave us a stamp lol. 5 hours later, gracias a Dios, we got back to San Jose. God was definitely taking care of us :).
So basically, it was great...but probably the weirdest, longest trip ever. We're home safe and really thankful. I'm glad we made it. Thanks for your prayers.