Back in middleschool...

Do you remember that awkward stage of life known as middle school? Yes, that time in your life when you started developing a strange fascination for the opposite sex, which stood in complete contradiction to that earth shattering reality from elementary school that they all have cooties? A middle-schooler must wrestle with this inner controversy over the course of three years, until he/she finally discovers the truth regarding that strange species. Most of us make it out of these awkward years with a healthy appreciation for the opposite sex. We (hopefully) master the fine skill of relating to and interacting with that once cootie infested species.

As I learned yesterday, not everyone made it out of middle school mastering those skills…

Seeing as how there are no Starbucks in Costa Rica, I went to the next best thing: Taco Bell, to get some studying done after church. I picked a table, spread-out my books and note-cards, and tuned-out the rest of the world as I studied for my “Advanced Oral and Written Expression” midterm. After about an hour of this, I began to notice the two men sitting a few tables away from me - two ticos who looked to be my age. I picked-up on the fact that I was becoming a focal point at their table. I could feel them staring at me; however, since coming to Costa Rica, this is nothing new. I seem to have a big sign on my forehead that says: GRINGA (Spanish term for White American girl), because EVERYWHERE I go I attract unwanted attention (maybe it's the blond hair, blue eyes, pail skin, or my terrible accent... I don't know...). As this was nothing new, I ignored the stares. A few minutes later, I noticed both of them get up. One of them walked past me and out of Taco Bell. The other followed behind him and dropped a receipt on my notes as he said in English with his heavy Spanish accent: “Mi friend want me give this to you”. I waited until they had both left Taco Bell to fully examine the receipt and this is what I found: I felt like I was in middle school all over again. Back to those awkward years when you don’t have enough courage to talk to that special someone so you get your friend to do it for you! Needless to say, I won’t be calling Pablo!

Lately...

Since I last wrote, I took a weekend trip to Tortuguero, had a day off and thus went to the beach for a day, and… well, life has gotten much busier with school (I’ve had at least one test every week for the last few weeks….ugg)! Next week is midterms (that means I’m halfway through the semester! Can you believe it?!). I have two midterms, and two presentations to give! One of my presentations is about the U.S. dollar and it’s affect on the world economy… I had no idea how big of a topic that was until I just started looking up information today… needless to say, I’m already looking forward to next weekend! Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for a while… my schedule for this week has one theme: study, work, study, work, go to class. Then on Friday I am leaving for Panama for four days to renew my visa!

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! : )

Manuel Antonio

This past week one of my homework assignments was to keep a journal in Spanish every day for one week. This consisted of a lot of writing and thus, I haven’t wanted to do any more writing for my blog! I handed in my journal today, which means I’m now free to write for fun!! So here is a long over-due entry about Manuel Antonio, the beach that we went to this past weekend.

The first night started off with a little bit of an adventure… We arrived on Friday around 4:30. Our hotel was right on the beach! So of course the first thing that we did, was to check it out. It was incredible, as you can see from the pictures. Moriah and I decided to go for a nice walk along the shore and to explore the town while we waited for dinner. We walked as far as we could go and enjoyed the beauty of the water, the sand, the forest along the shore and the rock formations. Then we walked through the town and looked in some of the tourist shops. About forty minutes later we could tell that the sun was getting ready to set, so we headed back to the hotel. We walked along the shore, looking for the hotel, but we couldn’t find it. About ten minutes later, the sun was completely set and everything was dark. As we continued to walk, the lights from the town and the hotels along the shore began to diminish. There was no one on the beach, and we were starting to get a little worried. We continued to walk, but still found nothing that looked familiar. Along the shoreline was a tropical forest and anyone could easily hide him or herself along the brush in the dark and pop out at us. After almost walking along the entire shore, we decided that it wasn’t safe and that we should go up to the road and try to find the hotel that way. We were getting more and more scared. We hadn’t even been there for a few hours and already we were lost. We didn’t know the name of the hotel, any numbers to call, and we were without a male – two American girls lost in a beach town at night is not a good combo! I started to pray out loud: Lord, please keep us safe and lead us to the hotel! We couldn’t ask anyone for direction, because then they would know that we were lost and could easily take advantage of us. We tried our best to pretend like we weren’t lost. It took us awhile to find the street, but we felt a lot better once we did! There were more light and more people. We passed a lot of sketchy, creepy men, but thankfully we didn’t have any problems. We remembered that our program director had told us that the hotel was next to a gay bar, and we remembered what the bar looked like, so this became our landmark. Manuel Antonio was very populated by homosexuals, so at least if we were going to get attacked it would be by a woman ; ) FINALLY we found the gay bar and our hotel! What a relief! However, our relief didn’t last too long as we quickly realized that the gate was locked and we had no way of getting in. We called out for someone to come help us, but no one came. We talked through our options and decided that the only solution was to climb the fence. So that’s what we did! Moriah and I helped each other get up and over the fence and finally we were safe and sound inside the hotel! At dinner we recounted this story to our program director and she told us that about twenty feet away from the gate was another gate into the hotel that was unlocked.......... will I ever outgrow my blond moments???

Saturday was spent on the beach, soaking up the sun! I faithfully applied and reapplied sun block and successfully avoided sunburn! The only thing that I burnt were my eyelids… I never thought to put any there! Sunday morning we woke-up early and went to the Monte Verde national park. It was like an animal and nature reserve that you had to pay to enter. Inside was a jungle that we hiked through and eventually found an incredible beach! We were really excited to discover a monkey playing on a tree at the beach. At first we thought he was really cute, but after a little while we discovered that his “cuteness” was just a cover-up for his expert robbing skills! He was determined that we had bananas in our bags and he was not going to give-up easy. He carefully watched us and the minute that we looked away, he leaped from the tree onto our bags and started throwing everything out that wasn’t food! On his first attempt, I saw him before he was able to take the bag up to his tree and ran over to get him out of our stuff. Defeated, he ran back to his tree, but he was visibly angry! His angry face and his attempts to poop on us evidenced this! A little while later a woman walked by the tree with a backpack on and he leaped onto her back and tried to open it up! He provided quite the entertainment!

We saw many other animals in the park such as a hanging sloth, huge rodent looking animals, ginormous lizards, and beach raccoons. I was sad when we had to leave and wished I could have spent more time there! Around noon we packed-up our bags and headed back to San Jose. This trip marked the end of our group excursions… meaning that from now on I’ll have to do my own planning and pay for any traveling ☹ But I’m thankful for the incredible trips that we have had!





I would write more about what has been going on this week, but sadly I have to go finish studying for a huge grammar test tomorrow (ewe yuck! I hate grammar!). I'm posting lots of pictures in this entry since I can't post them on facebook! More to come soon! Tengan buenas suenas!

Facebook Fast October

Yes, I know that some of you may laugh when you read that I will be fasting from facebook for the entire month of October. I have attempted such acts in the past and have usually caved after a few weeks, days, and sometimes even hours. How many times did Thomas Edison try and fail before he invented the light bulb? Something like 1,000, right? There is hope.

Here is the plan: No facebook for the entire month of October. I’m not going to be strictly legalistic about this. Facebook is my only way of communicating with my friends from Costa Rica. I will still use it to communicate with my friends from this summer and from ISA, when necessary. I will also be receiving email updates when someone writes on my wall or sends me a message. So without getting on facebook, I’ll be able to read those and decided if they are life shatteringly important. If they are, then I will contact that person. If they aren’t, then I will not respond until November. I will not be using facebook to post pictures, to browse other peoples pictures, to facebook stalk people, update my status, write on peoples walls etc. This is going to be very good for me…. Haha!

Why am I doing this you may ask? Well, there are many reasons. I’ve been tossing this decision around since I got here and have been praying about it the last few weeks. I’m a facebook addict, as we all know. Being in Costa Rica doesn’t help my addiction. The Lord has been showing me that there are some areas in my life that I haven’t fully surrendered to Him. Although I obeyed in coming to Costa Rica, I’m not fully here. A big part of me is still at home. He’s been whispering to me that it’s time to give Him my all. It’s time to really be here where He has placed me. He confirmed this for me this morning.

This is my fourth month here. The excitement and newness of this experience for the most part is over. Without even knowing it, I think I’ve been just “gettin’ through”. I haven’t been loving people the way that Christ loves them. I haven’t been taking advantage of every opportunity and I haven’t been proactive. I already have friends here. I’m already really close to my host family from this summer. Subconsciously, I didn’t see the need. And thus, I’ve just been here, but not fully.

I love my new host mom, but sometimes it’s hard to talk to her. She likes to watch sop operas and doesn’t spend as much time with us as Cecy and Willy spent with me this summer. It’s not that she’s not social; it just takes a lot more of my effort to get to know her. God has been giving Moriah and I more bonding moments with her recently, but I know that I could be doing a better job at initiating this. She knows how much I love my family and my life back in the U.S. (I get pretty excited when I talk about them ☺). Yesterday I had her proof read my essay for me. I talked about her in the paper, about how thankful I am for her and how blessed I am to have such wonderful, loving ticos in my life. In the last paragraph I talked about the challenges of living here and how some days can be really frustrating and other days I can be homesick. This was a small part of the paper that I didn’t think too much about; however, she did.

This morning, I came-out of my room and she was waiting for me. Her voice was full of concern and she asked me if I was happy here. She asked me if I am having a hard time being here and if I miss my family. Her concern caught me by surprise and I assured her that I love it here and that I’m very happy and very thankful to live with her. She seemed very relieved. This didn’t sit very well with me for the rest of the morning. I hated that she needed assurance that I was happy here. As I was praying about this the rest of the morning, I felt strongly that this was a wake-up call from the Lord. He has me here for a reason and it’s not about me. Every day he presents me with opportunities - opportunities to love people, to care, and to be His hands and feet. I need to live purposely every day. And I haven’t been. Later on today, we had our second Bible study. We studied Ephesians chapter two. Verse ten really stuck out to me:

“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

We are God’s workmanship! We were created to do good works for Him. And he has already prepared things for us to do for him. Not in the future, but now!

Fasting from facebook will help me to live every day purposefully because it will take away a huge distraction. Honestly, I really do get homesick. It’s hard not to see everyone’s pictures on facebook and to see what they are doing lately and to feel some sadness and to wish that I were there and not here - or to just miss them. Talking on Skype or emailing usually doesn’t make me feel that way. It’s mainly just facebook. My family and friends are an incredible gift from God! Being separated from something you love makes you appreciate it so much more. That’s how I feel about all of the relationships in my life. I am so incredibly thankful for each and every person in my life. I’m so thankful for my extraordinary family. My family loves each other like few other families I know. I don’t say that with pride, but with gratitude. Because of many life circumstances (Homeschooling, moving, trails we have been through, and our love for the Lord) we are united on a very deep level. Being away from them as well as the amazing women that I call friends, has given me a deeper love for all of them. However, any gift can become a crutch if we love it more than the giver. And thus, I need God to teach me how to appropriately cherish the gifts He has given me while loving Him the most and serving Him without hindrance. My time here is the perfect teaching ground for this. God is the only one who will always be with me no matter where I go, my entire life. I want to truly learn and know that He is enough – to be completely satisfied in HIM alone. I think that not being on facebook everyday and constantly seeing what is going on at home and at Western is going to be very helpful in this.

Let’s be honest, for the most part, facebook is a waste of time. I want to spend my time more wisely. I want to spend more time praying, studying the Word, loving people, being involved here, learning Spanish, updating my blog, reading, running, the list goes on! So that’s what I’m going to do! I’m going to be here – 100%. I’ve only got 11 more weeks. I’ll never have this time back, and I’m not going to waste it.

Please don’t misunderstand me; I still want to keep in touch with all of you wonderful people at home. My contact with you all will be more purposeful if I’m not keeping in touch through facebook. Instead of a little post on your wall, I’ll have to actually talk to you through Skype or email.

Please help me to succeed in this by keeping in touch with me through Skype and email.

Skype name: abbeyfeinn Email: thatgabbyabbey@gmail.com

Let the facebook withdrawal begin!

My first REAL Spanish essay!

I know that 99% of the people who read my blog will not be able to understand this... but for the 1% who do speak Spanish, and for something new, I am going to post my first "real" Spanish essay! I say my first real essay, because of course I've written plenty of things in Spanish, but it's never been an official three page essay (double spaced of course... so it's really not that long!). I felt like the completion of this first essay was a pretty large mile-stone in my Spanish career. It is about my experience thus far in Costa Rica using the past tense. In the beginning it talks about a few of the culture shocks, such as gates on all of the windows and doors, and getting used to drawing constant attention and people staring at me EVERY WHERE I GO. Then I talk about my favorite part of Costa Rica: the people. And finally, it closes by sharing a few of the things that I have learned through this experience. I have a much deeper understanding of what it means to be foreign. I know what it is like to live in a country that is not your own and this will forever change the way that I treat foreigners. I have also learned on a much deeper level that all people are the same. We may have different skin, a completely different culture, different ways of looking at the world, and of course a different language. However, deep down inside, we all have the same needs and desires. These experiences, life lessons, and the people who have become very near and dear to my heart have changed my life and way of thinking in a lot of ways. And thus, despite it's many challenges, I am very thankful for this opportunity. That's basically the essay in a nut-shell! So here it is:


Mi Experiencia en Costa Rica
Por Abigail Feinn

Según St. Augustine, “El mundo es un libro y ellos que no viajan solo leen una pagina”. Yo he estado en Costa Rica durante tres meses y creo que esta cita es verdad. Mis experiencias en Costa Rica han cambiado mi manera a pensar, y mi vida. Han abierto mis ojos en muchos aspectos. Estoy muy agradecida por esta oportunidad.

Yo llegué a Costa Rica el 13 de Junio y todavía puedo recordar este día como si fuera ayer. Antes de este día, yo nunca había vivido o visitado un país latinoamericano. Cada cosa era nueva para mí. Cuando llegué en al aeropuerto, mi mundo cambió. ¡Cada cosa era en español! ¡Cada persona estaba hablando español! ¡Yo nunca había necesitado hablar español fuera de mis clases de español! ¿Si no sabía como decir, “reclamo de equipaje”, como pudiera encontrar mis maletas? Yo le pregunté a un empleado: “donde está…… el baggage Claim?” ¡Yo lo encontré y “reclamo de equipaje” era mi primera frase nueva! A fuera del aeropuerto, yo conocí mi familia Tica. Cuando ellos estaban manejando a su casa, yo estaba mirando a fuera de la ventana. Todas las casas, edificios, tiendas, calles, parques, plantas, y personas eran diferentes de lo que yo estaba acostumbrada.

Finalmente, nosotros llegamos a su barrio. Todas las casas tenían rejas en las ventanas y puertas. ¡Yo pensé que el bario no estaba seguro y era una mala parte de la ciudad, porque en mi ciudad en los Estados Unidos, solo las cárceles tienen rejas! Ahora yo sé que este es parte de la cultura aquí, es normal tener rejas. Hubo muchas otras cosas como de lo que yo he estado acostumbrada.

Durante las próximas semanas, yo tenía la experiencia de muchas cosas nuevas. Cuando estaba a fuera de mi casa, a mí siempre me atrajo mucha atención. Al principio, yo pensé que eso era muy raro y me molestaba. Personas, especialmente hombres, siempre se me quedaban mirándome. También ellos me dijeron muchos piropos. En los Estados Unidos, esto nunca pasa. Ahora, yo sé que este es parte de la cultura igualmente. ¡También, yo tuve que acostumbrarme a los conductores! Ellos manejan tan rápido aquí y no ponen atención a las reglas. ¡Cruzar la calle es muy peligroso! ¡Parece que ellos manejan más rápido cuando una persona esta cruzando! ¡Ellos usan sus bocinas tan frecuentemente! Donde yo vivo, conductores casi nunca tocan la bocina y cuando una persona esta cruzando, ellos siempre reducen la velocidad para que las personas pasen.

Estos diferencias no son muy importantes, solo son partes de la cultura de lo que yo he tenido que acostumbrarme. Mi parte favorita sobre esta experiencia en Costa Rica es la gente. Cuando yo llegué a Costa Rica, yo pensé que sería simplemente alquilar una habitación de una familia local. Pero esto no fue así. ¡Mi familia Tica me adoptó en su familia! Ellos han sido una gran bendición en mi vida. Desde el primer día, ellos me han amado. Cada noche yo cenaba con ellos y me encantaba este tiempo. Nosotros siempre pasábamos mucho tiempo después de cenar hablábamos. Durante este tiempo, yo aprendí muchísimo español y nuestra relación mejoraba. ¡Cada fin de semana, yo iba con ellos a fiestas con su familia, la playa, el campo, o cualquier otro lugar! A mi me encantan ellos los tengo en mi corazón.

¡Ahora, yo vivo con otra familia Tica a través de ISA, una señora tan simpática! ¡Solo he vivido con ella durante tres semanas, pero a mi me encanta ella también! Ella es muy amable y acogedora. ¡El primer día que yo estaba en su casa, yo fui al mercado con ella y ella me compró una pulsera! Este es solo un ejemplo de su personaje dando. Hay otra chica gringa que vive con nosotros. ¡Es muy divertido vivir en una casa con solo mujeres! Entonces, todos de mis experiencias con ticos han sido increíbles. Los ticos son personas amables. Mi amistad con ellos han abierto mis ojos y mi corazón. Ellos han abierto mis ojos a la buena cultura de Costa Rica y mi amor a la gente y el país.

Vivir en otro país es un reto. Soy una extranjera aquí. No estoy fluida en el idioma, y este es un gran reto. Tengo pelo rubio, ojos azules, y piel blanca; soy gringa. No puedo parecer ser una Tica. La gente tiene una manera de vivir que es diferente de lo que estoy acostumbrada. Hay días que yo tengo frustración. Hay días que yo tengo nostalgia. Pero este reto ha sido tan bueno porque me lo he aprendido sobre la gente internacional. Yo sé como es vivir en otro país. Yo Sé como sentirse ser una extranjera. Cuando regresaré a los estados unidos, voy a ser una amiga para extranjeros porque tengo una nueva apreciación para ellos. Estoy agradecida por esta oportunidad a vivir y conocer ticos. He aprendido que todos las personas somos iguales. Tenemos diferencias en idioma, tradiciones, cultura, y muchos otros aspectos. Pero, en el fondo, todos somos lo mismo. Todos tenemos las mismas necesidades y los mismos deseos. Estoy tan agradecida con los ticos y por haber tenido esta experiencia en Costa Rica que ha cambiado mi vida.

Una fin de semana muy tranquila...

This has been a great weekend, although it didn’t begin like I expected it to. We were supposed to go to the beach and national park, Manual Antonio, with ISA on Friday. It was going to be our last “excursion” with this program (meaning that it would be the last time I would get to travel for free!!). Moriah and I got all of our stuff packed up for the weekend, and headed to the grocery store to buy some lunch food to take with us. On the way home, we started talking about April fools day and sharing our favorite joke stories. We walked into the gate, still having this conversation, to be met by Amira who told us that the trip was canceled. Having just been talking about jokes, we both completely thought that she was kidding. I decided to go along with it, and was pretending that I believed her. Moriah kept denying it and insisting that it wasn’t possible. Amira kept on assuring us that the trip was canceled and that she doesn’t tell jokes. We finally got on facebook and asked one of the other students if it was true, and discovered that it was indeed true, Amira wasn’t kidding! A large tormenta (storm) was expected to come across Costa Rica, which would have made it a crummy beach weekend. So the trip is rescheduled for next weekend.

Not at all expecting this twist of events, we were at a loss as to how to spend our now free weekend. We finally decided to find the mall on foot. After about thirty minutes of walking, we discovered that the mall wasn’t to bad of a walk! After spending a few hours browsing the stores, we headed home and had a “movie night” with “los chicos” (the two guys from ISA who live on the same street as us). Saturday was almost a repeat of Friday: we walked to the mall… except we didn’t go in; we went next door to Pequeño Mundo instead. I LOVE PEQUEÑO MUNDO!!! It’s a huge warehouse full of “stuff”, house items, clothes, food, random trinkets etc. It’s basically like the dollar store except the quality is “slightly” better. And it’s the cheapest place to buy things here. For example, we bought peanut butter (very important) for $1.50 as opposed to $5.00. And thus, this is why I love it : ] Saturday night we had another movie night after figuring out how to rent movies from the grocery store.

Tonight was definitely the highlight of the weekend. For the first time in a month, I was able to go to church! It was like a glass of water in the desert. The church was very different from what I expected it to be. It was very large, with a beautiful building and even a school. I was surprised when I walked in and saw a normal stage equipped with instruments and two huge projector screens – just like you would find at most churches in the U.S.! The service started soon after we arrived and a plethora of ages were in attendance. The service started off with forty minutes of worship. I understood all of the songs! One of the songs was about how someday every tongue, tribe, and nation will proclaim that Christ is Lord. It was so sweet to sing this in an assembly of people who are not from my country and in a different tongue. It was a little glimpse of what that day will be like! The announcements were given by means of a very flashy and well-done video. I was impressed. However, the best part of the service was the sermon. I understood 99% of what was said! This has never happened before! It was such a great feeling! I even caught the sermon jokes and laughed right along with everyone else! The preacher spoke very slowly and clearly which made him much easier to understand than any other Spanish speaking preacher that I have every heard. I followed along in my Spanish Bible and even took notes in Spanish… I can’t even express how satisfying and fun it was to go to church and actually be able to follow along, get something out of the service, while completely being immersed in Spanish! Definitely a gift from the Lord!

The sermon was about family. One of the points that I really liked was that God created family long before He ever created the church. It is a model for how He loves us, and if He has placed such a priority on family, shouldn’t we? The pastor encouraged parents to actively love their family. It’s important to not only tell people that you love them but to also show them that through your actions. He spoke about the importance of being a Godly model for your children and how God is our model. He closed the sermon by acknowledging that many parents don’t know how to love or be a good parent because they never had this modeled for them when they were growing up. He then encouraged the congregation by telling them that they can’t be a good parent or a Godly model apart from Christ, but that the power of Christ inside of them can conquer all generational sins and empower them to live the way that God created them to live.

In conclusion, although the weekend got off on a rough start, it ended on a great note! I’m thankful that I was able to have a nice relaxing weekend to catch-up on homework, explore San José a little bit, spend time with Moriah and Amira, and go to church! Now time to start another week : ]

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

“I have seen you in the sanctuary and behold your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:2-8

Today marks the completion of my third week here. I’ll be honest with you; I don’t always love it. I’ve been here for almost three months in total, and find myself often counting down how many more months, weeks, weekends, and days I have left until I get to go home and close the Costa Rica chapter of my life. The journey is tough and often lonely. Psalm 63 is my “study abroad Psalm”. I read it my first week here and God has impressed it upon my heart. The above quote is just a portion of the psalm. My soul keeps coming back to the question: Is God enough? Can I truly say of God: “your love is better than life”, or “My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods.” The answer isn’t always yes, but I earnestly want it to be.

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5-6

“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8

Day by day God is teaching me to find rest in Him. To pour out my heart to Him, and that His love actually is better than life. He IS enough. Everyone that I love, and the places and things that give me comfort, may be 1,946 miles away, but God is not even an inch away! He’s the only one in my life who I will never be separated from, how great is that! We can never escape His love and He is so faithful. It’s easy for me to start to create a “pity-party list” and start to resent being here… such as missing Thanksgiving, missing birthdays, missing fall, missing being part of my Bible study and not being involved in the lives of the new freshman at WKU, missing most of the holiday season, missing my family, being a semester behind in school, not getting to take classes with Hannah, not being able to pick apples or pumpkins, being the only girl here who doesn’t drink alcohol, missing-out on black Friday shopping… ok, I’ll stop now! However, that is a very dangerous road! Instead:

“… demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5

God is teaching me to do as Psalm 63 says, to praise Him, and to find satisfaction in Him alone. I have SO MUCH to be thankful for! Instead of keeping a pity-party list, I’m going to keep a gratitude list. When I’m tempted to throw a nice little “pity-party,” I’m going to instead choose to throw a “gratitude-party”. Listen to a few things that God has to say about being thankful:


Colossians 3:15-20
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Psalm 50:23
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

Hebrews 13:15
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

God commands us to be thankful! So here are a few things on my gratitude list:
1. I’m so thankful for Cecy and Willy. Although I can’t see them as often as I would like too, I’m SO thankful for the ability to go home every once and awhile - to my Costa Rican home.

2. Relationships from this summer. I’m so grateful for my missionary friends from this summer who are still here. Again, I don’t get to see them as often as I would like to, but the times that I do get to see them are so sweet.

3. Great professors! So far I really love my professors. Two of them even taught at the Institute for several years before teaching at ULACIT. Most of them seem to really care about teaching us to speak Spanish… not so much about making us prove ourselves.

4. A great Tico mom! Amira is wonderful. I’m so blessed to live with her. She is very sweet, funny, caring, and a great cook! (Although, she has stopped cooking vegetarian food… that only lasted about a week. And yes, we eat rice and brown tuna fish…. But at least she doesn’t add any ketchup! But still, I can’t complain! When else will I ever get to drink freshly squeezed lemonade from lemons that are homegrown!?)

5. Christian fellowship! God is SO GOOD! Much to my surprise He has placed several Christians in this program! We are from different backgrounds, but all share a love for Christ. Today we started a Bible study at school. We had 7 people come! We are studying Ephesians… this is such a praise!

6. Opportunities to travel. The past few weeks I’ve been able to go to some pretty awesome places for FREE (well, ok the cost was included in my tuition for this semester…)! It has been so fun! I’ve been able to experience new things in God’s creation such as a volcano, rain forests, jungles, waterfalls etc. And I have many more travel opportunities to come!

7. Do-able workload. I was pretty stressed about taking all Spanish classes… but again God is so good because so far it has not been very overwhelming! He has given me an understanding of the language that allows me to speak with confidence and understand what is said in class! Praise God!

8. Opportunities to share my faith. I’m praying for more opportunities, but so far He has given me several opportunities to share my faith and several people here that I can minister to!

9. God’s faithfulness

10. His love

11. His power. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us!

12. God’s Wisdom.

13. God’s unfailing and never-ending love!

I could keep listing things all night! Even though I may feel homesick from time to time, God has richly blessed me. RICHLY! I want to always dwell in His presence. I have a long ways to go, often times I'd rather just complain and have a self-centered focus, instead of a Christ-centered focus; Lord, teach me to be more satisfied in You than the richest things the world has to offer! As the psalm says, Lord may I: think of you through the watches of the night, always desiring you above everything else! We have everything that we need in Him. Friends, let’s let praise be always on our lips and live a life of gratitude as we seek God together and find satisfaction in HIM alone!

For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Psalm 107:9