Besides being very occupied with school, life has been pretty sweet lately. Not being on facebook has been food for my soul. I don’t have oodles of free time as a result of this, but my time is spent differently. I’ve been doing my homework in a public location in my house and thus I’ve been spending a lot more time with the people in my life. And overall, I’ve really been here, not just physically, but mentally. My relationship with my host mom has slowly been deepening, and I’ve been having much more meaningful conversations with my host family and friends. I’ve also been running more, going to bed at a consistent time, waking up early, and even doing some fun things in the community like taking dance classes! (Yes, you read that correctly, I am taking dance lessons… two hours a week of “popular Latin-American dance”. This has been quite the experience and strangely, I’m really enjoying it! After about a month, I’m beginning to be able to shake my hips a little bit more like a Latino….haha)
God is doing some awesome things lately. I’ve always had a heart for missions and for evangelism, but I’ve never really actively expressed this outside of mission trips. For once in my life, I have more non-Christian friends than Christian friends. God has been teaching me so much through this. He has been showing me how to be His ambassador. It’s easy to feel pressure that I need to be “saving” everyone. But only God can open their eyes. This simple, but profound truth is very freeing. However, at the same time, I still have a job to do. I need to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I need to take advantage of every opportunity to talk about Him and to actively show His love to others. I don’t always do a good job of this. It’s been challenging at times. I’m realizing how important it is to follow the scripture that says:
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” – 1 Peter 3:15
I’m not always prepared to give an answer. I’ve specifically been challenged to memorize more scripture, particularly scripture pertaining to salvation. That way I will be able to share the truth through scripture. My prayer has been that God will help me to see people the way that he sees them, to love them the way that He loves them, and to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit and to obey Him. The coolest thing is that God has been opening up the door for many such opportunities. There are several people that He’s placed in my life who are searching for Christ, even if they don’t yet know it. I know that God is tugging on their hearts because usually they are the ones who begin the conversations about God. I don’t want to give any more details beyond that for the sake of their privacy. But please join me in praying for some ripe harvest. Pray that God will open their eyes spiritually and that they will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and begin a relationship with Him. : )
As exciting as it is to truly be on a mission field here in Costa Rica, it’s also very draining. I miss true Christian fellowship so much. Being the only girl here who doesn’t drink get’s rather old. This week God has convicted me of caring too much about what other people think. Here is the verse that He’s been impressing on my heart:
“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10
Wow, that’s been challenging. This week that verse has been popping into my head a lot. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the 18 Americans in my group. We’ve traveled somewhere almost every weekend and they will continue to travel every weekend for the rest of the semester. I really do love the people in my group. They have become good friends of mine, and I do enjoy spending time with them. However, without knowing it, I’ve felt a lot of pressure to have to hangout with them all the time and to have to do the things that they are doing. Although I love spending time with them, that’s not why I came here and it really does wear me down sometimes. Anytime that you hangout with the same group of people for extended amounts of time, they can start to press each other’s buttons. I’ve found myself getting inwardly frustrated with some of the people in my group and sometimes offended at things that they say. This verse has been freeing because I’ve realized that I don’t need to be the life of the party or even part of the party! Should I get offended if people think I’m a grandma and make somewhat rude comments about me every once and awhile? Nope. I’m trying to have an un-offendable spirit, as my mom would say, and to only care about what God thinks, and not what others think.
So with that being said, I decided to break away from everyone else and stay here in San José for the weekend! I’m one of the only ones in the group who didn’t go to the beach and I have absolutely no regrets. I just got back from spending the evening with my friends
Shannon and Melissa (two of my good friends from this summer). Spending time with them was truly a breath of fresh air! I had so much fun. One of their tico friends came along, so we spent the evening talking about missions, life, God, school, and the like – mainly in Spanish! My plan from now on is to do very little traveling, even if that does remove me from my group of friends somewhat, and instead to spend time with people here in San Jose. I love traveling... LOVE it. And I have thoroughly enjoyed the traveling that I have done. I've had so many adventures and amazing once-in-a-life-time opportunities. But I think I've done enough of that for now. I'm not saying that I won't be doing any more traveling, but I will be doing less. I want to get involved, spend more time with my friends from the institute, find more locals to get involved with, and most importantly, speak more Spanish! That is why I came here after all!After God convicted me of this early in the week, and I decided to make some changes in my outlook here as well as the way I spend my time, He blessed me with an incredible opportunity! When I was here this summer I met a missionary at the institute who gave me the number of one of his good friends here in San José, a woman who is a missionary nurse. I didn’t call her because I was about to go home and then I forgot to call her when I got here, until this week. Finally on Wednesday I called her and explained who I was and asked her if she would ever have any opportunities for me to volunteer or shadow her. She was so enthusiastic and kind! We talked for a while and she told me about some of the things that she does here. She does prenatal appointments once a week and is going to let me come to those and help her in any way I can! She is even moving her appointment days from Tuesdays to Fridays (my day off) so that I will be able to come! She also takes occasional trips to indigenous areas and said that if it ever fits with my schedule she would love for me to come on some of those! The crazy thing is that her daughter goes to school with and knows my best friend Ellie! She was so sweet that she even invited me to come over and have Thanksgiving with her family if I want to. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this! This is why I am here! I would rather be involved with this, over traveling to beaches in Costa Rica any day! For a while I’ve really wanted to do something medical to start getting my hands wet and to make sure that I’m on the right career path. So being able to volunteer with a missionary nurse and thus incorporate Jesus, medical stuff, and Spanish all in one... couldn’t be any more perfect! I’m not sure when I am going to start volunteering with her, she has to get back to me about some dates, but I will be sure to post updates when they come! God is so so so good. His blessings are never ending. : )
And thus, life is slowly changing for me here in Costa Rica. I have officially been here for a total of over three months… I’m settling in and making this my life, it’s becoming more and more like home – my home away from home. And it is Oh so sweet. : )
Here are some pictures of what I've been up to lately!
This was in Tortuguero on the beach.
Tortuguero is like an island off of the coast of Costa Rica which is famous for it's turtle breading. It is a protected area where turtles come for months every year to lay their eggs on the beach. Visitors to the park can try their luck at spotting a turtle laying her eggs or possibly seeing the eggs hatch and watching the little hatch-lings scurry to the water. Unfortunately, October is when the turtle seasons begins to end and thus we didn't end-up seeing any turtles... bummer! But we were able to go on an early morning canal tour and we saw lots of other cool animals in their natural habitats like monkeys, crocodiles, lizards, cool exotic birds, etc. Here is a picture of part of the canals. 
This is Justin and I on our way to Tortuguero. We took a bus part of the way there and then the last 1.5 hours was by boat! SWEET!
Here is a picture of some cute little girls who befriended us while we were there. The one in the middle was extremely friendly... haha!
So...early! Here is a picture of Lauren and I at 5:30a.m. This was the beginning of our canal tour. As they say here in spanish: fue vale la pena (it was worth the pain!)
This is my precious new Tico friend! She and I are displaying the new 20,000 colones bill (equivalent to about $40...). SO MUCH MONEY! : )
CHRISTMAS!!! All the stores here are beginning to bring out their Christmas products! This definitely seems early to me, but when you don't have Thanksgiving, why not prolong this wonderful season! : )
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