El comienzo de algo hermoso

Estoy en Costa Rica un otro vez! Finalmente! Este es el comienzo de algo hermoso... (I’m in Costa Rica again! Finally! This is the beginning of something beautiful... )

Before I fill you in on all the details of this new adventure in Costa Rica, I must first get you caught up to speed and briefly tell you how CRAZY this week has been!

This has been one of those weeks that has stretched my faith and shown me first hand that the Lord provides!

Without going into too much detail, late on Tuesday afternoon, I received test results from some blood work indicating that I had some severe thyroid problems that needed immediate treatment. The bad news: the treatment involves monthly visits and blood work from an endocrinologist to find the exact dosage of some pretty powerful medicine needed to get my thyroid back to a healthy production rate…. And I was leaving for Costa Rica in a day and a half. Problem! This threw us into a panic and mom and I played a lot of phone tag with several doctors and did some praying! The whole ordeal was very complicated and stressful, but the Lord really helped us out in an incredible way. My family doctor, not my endocrinologist, ended-up agreeing to prescribe me medicine to get my levels back to normal and also agreeing to work with a doctor in Costa Rica to check my blood levels every month and be in charge of making sure that the medicine wasn’t too strong (the side affects can be pretty severe) yet was sufficient (the consequences of it not working are also severe!). This is truly a miracle because this is definitely not her expertise (she’s a super sweet lady who has been our doctor for quite some time… and she’s also a strong believer!)


The same day that all of that was going on (the day before I left!), the hard drive on my computer crashed! Really?! Of all the days for all of this to be going on, it had to be the day before I left?! This problem had me running all over town to try to find someone who had the right hard drive on stock (we couldn’t wait for anyone to ship it!) and who could also install it that day. Once again, the Lord’s provision is astounding! I found a little hole-in-the-wall computer repair shop, which had the right hard-drive, and they were even able to install it for me within a half hour of arriving at their store! Thank you LORD!!! AND, I had just backed my computer up the week before so I didn’t lose anything! PRAISE THE LORD!

Although both of these situations were quite serious and incredibly stressful, and I really did question God: Really?? The day before I leave, God? REALLY?! Now I can see His hand all over the whole week and see how all of that was actually a blessing in disguise. What if all of that had happened the day after I left!? That would have been ten times worse! I left out a lot of detail, but literally every step that we took those two days was taken in prayer and each step God showed-up with provision that only He could provide! Thank you Lord for those tough days that show us more of your power, grow our faith, and draw us closer to you! (now, when will He teach me to learn all those things in the good days?! Why does it always have to come through bad situations?)

Well all of those issues set me back on completing my list of things to do before I left including packing and thus, I was up pretty late the night before I left. Leaving was not fun. Livy woke-up as I was leaving and came down to say goodbye. That was hard. Dad prayed for me and she started crying. I truly hate having to break her heart like this…. All the time. As dad pointed out, for the older kids in my family, we are always going away, but for her, she just experiences everyone leaving. I wish I could change that. I said goodbye to Mom and Dad and we headed on our way. The ride to the airport was surreal. The grass was green and the air was hot. As we passed by everything that was familiar and comfortable, the sinking feeling set in: I was really on my way to Costa Rica again. Only this time is going to count for so much more. The pressure was officially on. This trip is the real deal - where the going gets tough. The next time I’d be in Louisville there might be snow on the ground, and Christmas decorations will be up!

Dad dropped me off, we said our goodbyes, and I was on my own. Once I got onto the plane, a peace came over me and I had no anxiety about what was to come and was no longer sad. I was ready and excited for what God had in store, and to begin this new adventure. I was able to spend a lot of time with the Lord on the trip to Costa Rica. I did some praying, and Bible study. This time of reflection and prayer helped to put my heart in the right place and my focus on Christ. I’m looking at this semester in several different aspects:

1) I see this as a mission field. For once in my life, I’m really alone and without my comforting “Christian bubble”. As far as I know, there are no other like-minded Christians doing this program (so far…). It’s not like GSP where I was blessed with lots of Christian friends and was able to be a part of Christian worship and Bible studies every week. It’s not like college where I have an incredible ministry known as CRU to be a part of and wonderful like-minded friends in my life who are like sisters and continually encourage and strengthen me in my faith. And it’s certainly not like the missionary school I went to this summer with spiritual giants in language training, chapel twice a week, and passionate Christian teachers! Although all of those situations have mission opportunities, there is always someone who needs Jesus or even encouragement, I’ve always been surrounded by support whether through like minded friends our mentors, church, bible studies etc. Here, all of that is gone, but I’m excited about it. I’m going to be surrounded by wonderful intelligent students who need Christ! I just want everyone to fall in love with Him! Since arriving here, that passion for them to know Christ has been growing inside of me and I’m praying that God will use me in their lives for this purpose.

2) It is going to be a sweet time with the Lord. I may be all-alone in the aspect of Christian support, but I’m never really alone as He is always with me. Is He enough? Truly? If all I have is my Bible and Jesus, is that enough for me to continue to grow in my faith? I’m going to find out! This will be a time of growth, I hope. Instead of being spiritually fed by other people and programs, I’ll have to come to the well of living water every day and be filled by Christ alone!

3.) This is going to be an experience of a lifetime! How many people get to live oversees for six months all by themselves before the age of twenty?! Instead of looking at this as: Holy Cow! 14 weeks until I go back to the U.S.?! I’m going to try my best to cherish each and every day and see it as a gift – because that’s what it is! I have the opportunity to make new friendships with the students here and with the ticos that I encounter such as my new host mom. I also have the opportunity to mentally mature and to learn more independence. I’m going to be traveling the countryside experiencing all kinds of new things and learning about the culture. This is truly an opportunity of a lifetime and I need to enjoy it to the fullest!

4) And finally, SPANISH!!! That is why I came here in the first place, right? This semester I will be studying nothing but Spanish, and speaking Spanish everywhere! I need to work my hardest to accomplish what I came here to do and learn as much Spanish as possible!

Well, having had that sweet time with the Lord and establishing my goals and purpose for this semester, I finally made it back to Costa Rica! Arriving this time was so different from my first trip in June. Instead of having uncertainty, I was confident. Surprisingly, being back in San José felt like being home! My home away from home! As we drove away from the airport, I looked upon the familiar landscape and felt so much peace and comfort. I’m back!

I was picked-up by Sadie, a woman who works for ISA and whom I met this summer when I came and toured the campus. She took me and a few other students to the university where our host mothers were waiting for us. My host mom is so sweet I love her! She is probably around 50-60 years old, but she is super cool! She has dark purple hair and purple eyebrows! How much cooler can you get than that?! She and her friend took me back to my new house. Our house is beautiful! I have my own room complete with a tv and a spacious closet! I spent the afternoon getting to know my host mom, and sometime around 10 my housemate, Moriah, arrived! I love Moriah! She is super sweet and we’ve spent a lot of time together these last few days. She is a junior from Colorado. Our rooms are right next to each other and we share a bathroom. It’s really nice to have a friend living with me, another gringa! We’ve been practicing our Spanish by passing the time together watching Spanish tv, haha!

The food has been GREAT! My host mom said she loves to cook healthy food without much fat or grease and likes to keep food as natural as possible! PERFECT! I filled out a survey about the types of foods that I don’t eat before coming here (which I think I was palced at her house, because the program director knows that she cooks healthy food and the type of food that I said that I liked on the survey). She’s going to make us vegetarian food with chicken and no other meats! Could this get any better? She also has a banana, lime, mango, and guacamole tree in her back yard so we’ve been enjoying her homemade produce! I can tell that I’m going to love this! ☺

Today we (Moriah, and our two neighbors from our program, Justin and Daniel, and I) journeyed to San Francisco de dos rios (which is where I lived this summer) to visit my friends from the institute. It took us an hour and a half to get there because we had to take two busses! SAD! I was hoping that it was going to be a lot closer than that! It was still worth it though! I loved getting to see Shannon, Melissa, and Abby again! It was fun to catch-up and spend a few hours together! We went to the mall for lunch and then walked around the shops. On the way back, Daniel, Justin, Moriah, and I accidentally took the wrong bus and ended up pretty far from our neighborhood! After riding the bus for thirty minutes and not recognizing anything Moriah finally said something and we quickly realized whathad happened. Luckily we were able to take a taxi back to our houses! I guess the best way to learn your way around an area is to get lost because now we definitely know which bus to take and which bus to NOT take!

Tomorrow we have our last orientation and then , finally, classes start on Monday! Tomorrow we will find out which classes we are in and receive our class schedules! I can’t wait to find out! I’ll know a lot more about what this semester will be like once I find out which classes I am taking!

Well chicos, that’s all I’ve got for now! Thanks for your prayers guys! I can feel it! More to come later! Much love from Costa Rica! PURA VIDA!