The Pace of life is picking up...

Hello Friends,

At 1:00 AM on Wednesday morning I was rudely woken up to someone shaking my bed. As would be expected after being woken up just three hours after falling asleep, I was rather perturbed. After the intial annoyance subsided I realized that no one else was in the room and not just my bed was shaking, my desk was shaking, as well as my night stand, in fact the entire house was shaking. I soon realized, after my grogginess wore away, that what I was feeling was an earthquake. I had never experienced an earthquake before and didn't know what to do. Should I get up, run panicking through the house waking everyone up? Should I wake Ana up and see what to do? Should I just stay in bed, it's not that bad after all? As these questions ran through my mind I heard the door of Christian and Ana's room open and the padding of feet in the hallway. When the footsteps were not panicking and the made their way around the house and evenutally returned to their room, I breathed again and knew that it was fine to stay in bed. So I did and enjoyed the rocking sensation.

Later in the morning, when my alarm clock rudely woke me up, I remembered the exciting events of the night, but I could not figure out if I had been dreaming, if it really happened or if I was just plain crazy. I spent the first couple hours wondering unable to ask Juanita because of my limited vocabulary. Finally I went to help Orlando and Ericka organize the Global Teams office and I was able to ask Ericka. I learned that no I was not crazy or dreaming, it really did happen. So there it is, living through an earthquake now joins my list of adventures and "firsts." I did some research on the earthquake: it occured on the border of Panama and Costa Rica. It was a 6.2 earthquake, however, no damage or landslides were caused, Praise God!!!!!!

I am working on getting a volunteering job working with children during the week. Right now I'm really only busy on Saturdays and Sundays, and I would like something to do for a few hours a day. There are a couple of opportunities that I'm looking into. I'm praying that God will guide me where he wants me. I'm excited about being able to do this and I'm hoping that this will be a way to meet some peers, which would be really great!

On November 30 I will be moving in with my next family. They don't speak English, so it will be an adventure (I'm not too worried about it, I have a dictionary, that should be sufficient... right...?) The family is very nice and very funny (from what I can tell at Church). They live in San Jose, so I will be able to get places a little bit easier. They have three children as well: Steven (18), Stephanie (16- I will be sharing a room with her), and Freddy (11 or 12). Life will change drastically, but I'm okay with that. I'm sad to leave this house because this family is so amazing and has been so welcoming, but I think that the change will be positive.

I'm not totally sure, but, I think my internet access is going to greatly diminish starting November 30. I'm fairly certain my next house does not have internet, which means that i'll have to use internet cafes.

Next week I will be touring the city with Fernando. He is a 20 year old at the church who knows the city/busses/streets/etc. really well. He has offered to show me around, how to get places, seeing the important things etc. This should be great. He speaks basic English, I speak basic Spanish so Orlando wants us to help eachother.

Friday I had a blast going to the Theatre with Ana. The show was with two very famous men (both of whom I met after). It was in Spanish but I was able to follow it because of facial expressions, the physical humour, and Ana's little translations here and there. The play was advice for men about how to deal with women. One scene had them acting out questions that women normally ask and I found it very funny that the "dangerous" questions are worldwide (for example: Honey, do you think I'm fat? or Honey, what are you thinking about?)

My adventures have also continued with clothing. Beyond learning how to wash and dry my clothes I need to learn how to keep holes out of them. In the month that I have been here I have managed to rip holes in two pairs of pants (2/3 of what I brought). Luckily we were able to make it to a store and I now have new jeans (well new to me, it was a second hand store) hopefully I can keep holes out of this pair!

All in all the next few weeks will be rather busy: preparing to move, moving, starting to volunteer! But, even as the pace of life picks up I'm glad to see that God is working in all of this and that there is still going to be plenty of time to rest. I am hoping that I will continue to get full nights of sleep and that I will no longer be so rudely awoken.

I hope that you are doing well and that no one is shaking your bed at night! :-D Much love to you!

So it's been a month!

Four weeks ago today I set foot in this country for the first time. It's so bizarre that it has been that long. I don't have any fabulous anecdotes for this email, but I do want to express my gratitude for many things.

I am thankful for your prayers, love, and support. There is no way that I could be here now without those and I can't tell you how much I appreciate each and every one of you and the role you play in my life.

I am thankful for health and safety. I have only been sick once (a slight cold I caught from the lovely chicitas i live with). I have also had several near accidents while driving and I'm thankful that they have all been NEAR accidents and not accidents.

I am thankful for The Sarah Mac Band, Dog Named David, She&Him, Jason Mraz, Hillsong, Marion McPartland, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and other fabulous artists who have allowed me to listen to something familiar when I have time by myself.

I am thankful for time to rest. I have had lots of time in the past few weeks to just be. It's a wonderful thing that I don't allow myself to do very often. In the US things tend to get pretty hectic running around (are you agreeing with me right now?). Breathing and just being are two fantastic things!

I am thankful for the responses I have gotten to my emails. The little updates from you help me to feel like I'm still connected to what's going on, even if it is only a glimpse here or there.

I am thankful for good books to read.

I am thankful for St. Peter's (my Church back home). I am thankful that they pray for me each week. I am thankful that Sermons are posted every week; it's nice to hear sermons in English. I am currently trying to live in freedom and not fear (Fr. John Wallace -- www.saint-peters.net).

I am thankful for Global Teams -- for giving me the opportunity to be here. I am thankful for Orlando for finding me something to do and for making me feel at home.

I am thankful for Ana, Christian, Tamara, Camila, Fabiola, and Juanita. For letting me be apart of their family for a month and Ana faithfully teaching me Spanish daily.

I am so thankful for the ways that God has stretched me in this last month. In the words of my mother: I "feel like [I'm] in a green house - with lots of growing going on."

There are so many other things that I am thankful for. I know that the rest of the evening will be spent thinking "oh, I should have said _____." or "shoot, I forgot to thank so and so." But there is no reason to dwell on that, especially since it's time for "cafe y pan" (coffee and bread). Oh! I'm thankful for really, really, really, really, good coffee! :-D

I hope that you are doing well! I also hope that you are enjoying the decreasing temperatures as I enjoy the increasing temperatures!

Teaching and Offending

A lot has happened in the past four days since my last update. From getting asked out by one of Ana's co-workers to offending people to sleeping through my alarm this morning it's been busy here. So I will go day by day.

Friday: I went to work with Ana. It was a really long boring day. I forgot my book. I worked on lesson plans/ studied my Spanish for 7 hours. During the last 30 minutes everyone had gone home except Ana, Llehudy (pronounced kind of like "Jody" -- Ana's brother-in-law), Alonso (one of Ana's co-workers), and me. Llehudy was out of the room and Alonso turned to me and said something very quickly in Spanish. The only word I caught was "Fiesta." Ana started laughing and shaking her head telling me to say "no." So I said "Something about a party?" Through the laughter and confusion of tenses I realized that he was asking me to go to a party with him. I declined and he quickly dropped the subject. During the rest of the time they talked very rapidly in Spanish and I went back to being bored. It was all very funny.

After those exciting 7 hours, Ana and I went to worship practice. It was really fun, they actually had me singing into the microphone (in Spanish...). They were going around having everyone try to lead one of the songs and I figured they would just skip over me because my Spanish pronunciation is not fabulous. But no, I had to sing it. I think it went pretty well. I stumbled over a few words but for the most part I was able to sing it. I will be helping to lead worship for the next 3 weeks. I'm really excited about it! :-D

Saturday:
Saturday was a busy day full of all kinds of mixed and confusing emotions. I taught my first classes. They went really well. I have 5 students in the younger class and 3 in the older class. The younger students were very engaged the whole time and really enjoyed the class. My lesson plan fit their age well and I was not struggling for material or running out of time. I think they had fun, and they enjoyed my stickers. The older kids were a different story. It took them awhile to warm up to the idea of the class but once i was able to act silly they were willing to be silly as well. They knew some English, but no conversational. They knew numbers and colors mostly. They learn very quickly. The lesson plan I had was finished in 20 minutes. Luckily I was able to improvise and add to my lessons and go on into future weeks. Now I know that I need to make 2 separate plans. A few observations: The older kids have a harder time pronouncing words and their words have very thick accents. The younger kids however have very little accent. I think this is because the younger kids are coming in with no English at all and the older kids have a little that they have learned at school or from their parents. My kids here are very well behaved. I was amazed that they were willing to sit there engaged for an hour, well "sit" is the wrong verb. I'm using Total Physical Response for teaching verbs so at times they were to "Stand Up" "Sit down" "Raise your hand' "Put your hand down" etc.

After teaching I went to lunch with Ericka, Orlando, Ligia, and Ericka's family. While there I had my first cultural insensitivity moment. Alberto (Ericka's husband who is fluent in English) and I were talking about life here. I mentioned something about a difference in "America" and he said "You mean the United States." I ended up saying it 3 times on Saturday. I felt so horrible. Ericka and I had a long conversation about it, after I said "America" to her twice. Each time I felt awful about it. It's an example in my mind of how selfish the United States is. Don't get me wrong, I feel very blessed to have been born in the United States. The opportunities there are amazing, and I'm learning to appreciate them more, especially education (more on that in a minute.) However, the word "America" applies to many more countries then just the US. I spent all day Saturday trying to figure out another word for my nationality, but we are Americans. That word seems silly to me because Ericka is an American to, Orlando is an American too, Fabiola is an American too. They are all Central Americans, but Americans nonetheless. I guess there is no point in getting angry about it. I can't change that I'm called an American, but I can be more careful and change from referring to "America" to referring to "The States."

I went to another birthday party, nothing very eventful happened. I sat with Ericka and Alberto and it was really nice to have long conversations in non-broken English! I went back to the house with them because Ana and Christian were going to visit a friend. To tell this story I need to describe the roads here to you.

On the way back to Alajuela from San Jose we travel on 3 different kinds of roads. The first is a highway. It's 3 lanes and pretty straight where everyone drives very fast and cuts each other off, very nearly getting into accidents. Second, two lane roads full of pot holes and curves. These are just as scary because people pass each other and drive into each other's lanes to miss pot holes. Third, there are one and a half lane roads. These roads are just wide enough for two cars to pass each other if each car drives on the very edge of the road (these are also very curvy and are driven on very fast with many pedestrians and bicycles).

We were driving on the 3rd type of road about 30 feet from the driveway when a car approached us from the other direction. The other car decided to stay in the middle of the road, thus running us off the road. I didn't see what was happening because I was playing the Bubblegum hand game with Christina (Ericka's daughter who speaks some English -- I taught her the Bubblegum Game from my Elementary school days). Suddenly, the car crunched very loudly and bumped abruptly and stopped, tilting slightly to the right. Orlando came with his truck and they tried to pull it out of the ditch, but the rope broke. Orlando drove Ligia, Ericka, Christina, Samuel (Ericka's 3 year old) and me to the house. Eventually they got the car out, because it wasn't there on Sunday morning. It certainly was an exciting turn of events.

Sunday:

I received my first snail-mail! :) That was exciting. Worship was awesome. I went to 2 different services on Sunday and really enjoyed the musical worship during both of them. God has done some really cool work in my heart this weekend, in spite of the enemy trying to discourage me. God is good and I'm glad that we live in the knowledge that the end will be His victory over all.

2 foods I have discovered I do not like here: a certain type of cheese and mayonnaise covered tomatoes. My favorite snack: Saltine crackers with butter and cream cheese and galletas dulce (sweet crackers-- cookies basically).

I hope and pray that you have an amazing day full of yummy food, time to rest, and a reminder of how much God loves you! :)

Laughs and Prayers

I had my first "OH MY GOSH I WISH I KNEW THE LANGUAGE, AHHHH" moment on Saturday. After we had registration for the class (I have 4 students that I know of, more may have signed up on Sunday) I went to a birthday party for a little girl named Juliana. She goes to the church and turned 7 years old. The birthday party took place at a theme park (slightly smaller then Wild Adventures, but a similar idea) and the first part was in a large room with a clown in charge of the festivities.

For the first half of the party I just observed. I had no idea what the clown was saying, except for a few words (applause, keys, shoes, kids), but I still enjoyed laughing at the kids running around and laughing with Ana that I recognized a few words. At one point I noticed that several women (a few of them women I know from the church) were in the middle of the room about to participate in a game. Suddenly I found myself being dragged into the middle by Tamara (my 9 year old "little sister"). So there I was, with about 50 people watching me, about to play a game and I had NO idea what I was supposed to do. Then I realized that I would have to go first, doing whatever it was that we were doing. I made eye contact with Rebekah (Ana's sister-in-law) and mouthed "no entiendo!! (I don't understand!!)" She quickly came to my rescue and pantomimed dancing and made a circle motion. I soon figured out that we were about to play musical hula hoops (similar to musical chairs except that you jump into a hula hoop instead of sitting in a chair.)

I looked at my table and I saw Ana, Christian, Orlando, Ligia, and about 5 other friends of mine just pointing and laughing at me. It was great fun. I was able to laugh at myself too, my only other option was freaking out and I prefer to laugh. For those of you who want to know: I came in 4th out of 6, fairly pitiful I know but I put up a good fight!

After that we went to the park. It was a lot of fun. I didn't have a wristband or tickets, so I didn't think that I would be able to ride any of the rides. Chino and Rebekah (Orlando's oldest son and his wife) and a few others were going to walk around and ride a few rides. Christian gave me 3 tickets and Rebekah grabbed my hand and we went off (I had no idea what was going on, I was just given tickets and the pulled away, no one told me what we were doing). We ended up going to the roller coaster. It was fun. Then we walked around some more and they were able to talk the workers into letting me ride another ride without tickets, that was amusing. It ended up being a really fun night. I didn't know what was being said, but some how everyone made me feel very included. The love that these people have for each other is quite extraordinary, they really, genuinely care about one another. It's awesome!

Nothing very exciting has happened this week. I miss my church a lot. It's hard sitting in church for an hour long sermon and having no clue what's going on. Christian did his best to translate but Orlando preaches so quickly he could only translate about half of it (which created some interesting theological points haha). The worshis is very cool. I can follow pretty easily because the words are projected and it tends to be pretty easy to translate. I love that we sing for 45 minutes!

On Wednesday I had a neat experience. There is a prophet in the Church who only knows a few words in English (hello, how are you? fine thanks... that's about it). While he was praying over people he came to me. At first he said a few things in Spanish that I didn't understand, but then he started speaking to me in perfect English. He told me that I needed to realize that God hadn't really brought me to Costa Rica to teach English. Yes, that's what I would be doing but there were other opportunities for people to learn English. God had really brought me here to learn about the Holy Spirit. To really feel the Holy Spirit in my heart and not just think it in my head. At the time I didn't know that he spoke very little English. Christian told me that later. I thought it was very cool.

When I told my dad about this he asked me if it connected with my heart. This is what I told him: "I know that I believe in the Holy Spirit in my heart, or else I don't think I'd be here, but I know that there is always more to learn and honestly out of the 3 parts of the trinity I think that the Holy Spirit is probably the least focused on." It will be interesting and cool to watch this prophecy manifest itself!

I did my second load of laundry this week. It did not go as well as the first week because I tried to do it when no one else was home and did not realize that you had to punch the top of the washer to get it to start (a key detail I missed in the directions). Now I know and next time will be better.

A few neat things in the future:

1. My visa issues have been worked out and I will be going to Nicaragua in January. When I was in Kenya I met a man named Max. He was this very funny man from Orlando's church who was a missionary in Pakistan. I didn't realize that he was back in Costa Rica and it was a very pleasant surprise to re-meet him at Church on Sunday. He has a supporter who lives in Nicaragua and so I will be traveling with Max, Deborah (his wife), and their new baby girl (she's only 8 days old now!) to visit his supporters. This will get me out of the country for the needed amount of days to renew my visa.

2. Fernando a man from the church has been kind enough to agree to teach me the bus roots and San Jose. He is going to make sure I know how to get around and also be someone else I can practice my Spanish with, he speaks English.

3. I start teaching on Saturday. I'm not sure how many kids I have currently but I know it's less then 10 total. This is good because I'll be able to teach them more English and they will have a more 1 on 1 setting.

Books I've read/ finished reading/ am currently reading here:

1. I finally left the shire in "The Fellowship of the Ring" and finished that one. *Spoiler Alert* I am now at Isengard talking to Treebeard and the Hobbits finally reconnected with Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn (YAY) in "The Two Towers." I'm hoping to finish the series by the end of the month.

2. I started and finished the book "Captivating." A very well written book about what it means to be a women of God. It's pretty fantastic and I would recommend it for women (and men too if they want any insight into women and how we tick).

3. I'm currently reading "The Book of God." The man who wrote it has taken the Bible and written it as a novel. It's very interesting and so far pretty accurate. It by no means replaces the Bible, but it's interesting to see this man's interpretation of the emotions of the Old Testament. Jericho just fell.

4. I finished "The Great Divorce" by C. S. Lewis. And I highly highly highly recommend it!

I'd be interested in hearing what good books you've read lately, I think there are a few bookstores that have English books as well (which is good since I will be needing more soon). It's been neat to have so much time to read! Or, I would be interested in hearing your opinions of the above books!

Prayer Requests:

1. I'm pretty exhausted emotionally even though I'm well rested physically. I think this has been more trying then I've let myself believe thus far. My mom helped me realize that.

2. I'm a little bit nervous about teaching. I've never done anything like this before!

3. Please pray that I would pick up Spanish! I'm picking it up pretty quickly I think, but I still get embarrassed when I try to use it.

4. My extended family is going through quite a bit right now and could use all the prayer support we can get.

A few things I'm remembering:

1. I'm remembering to take my vitamins. (You can be so proud)

2. I'm remembering to drink lots of water. (Not from the tap, although it's actually relatively safe here)

3. I'm remembering not to flush toilet paper down the toilet, it goes in the trash can.

4. I'm remembering that "preguntar" means "to ask" not "pregnant". and that "embarazada" means "pregnant" not "embarrassed."

5. I'm remembering to tell the kids "cuidado" anytime they look like they are doing something dangerous (they don't understand it when I say "careful")

6. Most importantly (and the cheesiest) I'm remembering you! :) Everyone back home is in my thoughts and prayers. I miss you all and I love you all very much!

And with this I leave you to go take my dry clothes from off the line:

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore." Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14

Reflections on Week One

My first week here in Costa Rica is finished. It's hard to believe that I've already been here for a full week. It's been a fun week, full of many ups and downs and I've learned a ton. Here are just a few things:

I learned how to take a shower. I know that may seem silly but it took me a few times. They have hot water here but it's REALLY hot. You have to turn on the water, let it heat up (the first time I stuck my hand in it and it was really red when I pulled it out and started shaking; the water is hot.) Then you have to keep turning it cooler a little bit at a time. I pretty much keep it at the same temperature the whole time because a tiny turn can be the difference between comfortable and scalding. I also learned how to turn on the hot water, after taking a VERY cold shower on Thursday.

How to wash dishes without burning my hands. Again the water is hot, Juanita saw how hot it was and came over and kept saying "poor girl" (in Spanish) and helped make the water bearable!

How to do laundry. This is very exciting. I did my first load of laundry on Monday. They have a washer but no dryer. However, it's still not as simple as just throwing the clothes in the washing machine adding some detergent and then hanging them out to dry. I have to hook the hose up to the spicket and then the washer will fill with water. After the washer beeps I take the clothes out and hang them under the roof over night. In the morning they have to be moved to different lines in the actual sun (or else they just stay damp). However if it starts to rain they have to go back under the roof. Then I can fold them and put them away. It's not hard, but it's not as fast as at home.

I have learned to be comfortable and to be my self. It took me awhile because I felt awkward not knowing what was going on, but the family has made me feel very comfortable. Ana views herself as my surrogate mother and she is worried that other families are not going to treat me as well as she has. She's trying to make sure that I'm looked after.

I have learned that teaching English is going to be awesome. Erica and I are going to work on plans together. I will be teaching children (ages 7-12) and she will teach their parents or any adults who want to go. We think it will be neat for the parents and the children to practice together. Our plan is to work together on our plans and teach generally the same thing each week. I will teach from November 8 until February 28 with two weeks off for Christmas.

One of the most important things I have re-learned this week is that God always provides and in strange ways. Saturday and Sunday were hard days. I really wanted a hug. I think one of my love languages must be touch because I miss hugs the most. I was praying that God would provide someone to give me hug. On Sunday morning a woman at the church came up and gave me the usual kiss on the cheek, started to walk away, and then came back and gave me a huge embrace. I couldn't stop thanking God for it.

I have gotten used to bugs. There are ants, moths, and unidentifiable bugs around. They don't bother me, and I no longer care that there are ants in my room. I also learned that winter/rainy season (now) there are lots of frogs and that the scorpions will come out in the summer. Christian warned me to be very careful when I put on my shoes because "sometimes they will be in your shoes or clothes and it's very painful when they get you." Great...

Last I have learned how to eat things I don't like with a smile. Most of the food I've had has been amazing. There are only a couple of things I don't like. Tomatoes are the worst. They eat tomato slices with their salads. However, I discovered that if I cut it into small enough pieces and eat it with other things it's bearable. Other then that I can't get enough of the food here. As Erica says "it's dangerous" and as Orlando says "it's good, but it's a problem." :-D

May the Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

Monday, the beginning of the sunset from Erica's house.

Being Touristy and Enjoying Family!

The Internet is working at the house now! Yay! First, I'm sorry that I didn't do the blind copy on the last email. That must have been annoying to scroll through! :( I'll do my best to remember from now on. Second, for those of you who know Spanish, sorry if mine was wrong! I'm working on it! :-D I did my first "touristy" thing yesterday. After work Ana and I went to San Jose. We went to a museum where I was able to learn a little bit of Costa Rican culture. One exhibit was the history and connections between Costa Rican money and Ecuador(ian?) money. It was really interesting. The cool thing about spending time with Ana is that she helps me with useful everyday Spanish. As we walked around she taught me how to read dates (which included more numbers). Even though I don't remember everything that she teaches me a lot of it sticks. Already I'm understanding more in conversations and I'm able to add to conversations (a little bit!!). We rode a bus, which really was not as exciting as I'd hoped. We went to a bank to get out a little bit of money. Ana was appalled that Orlando had been waiting to let me get Colones (Costa Rican currency). She said that it was important for my independence. I really appreciate her a lot. We understand each other and have started talking to each other through looks, it's really neat to be able to communicate with broken Spanglish and facial expressions! After going to San Jose we rode the bus back to Alajuela. Alajuela is the town that I'm actually living in. It's hard to distinguish town from town. We live about 20 or 30 minutes from San Jose. All the towns are so close it's like one big one. We waited at a mall for Christian to pick us up and take us back to the house. While waiting Ana taught me the tenses for "Conocer" (to know). It's so nice that she is teaching me some grammar along with just conversational! When we got home I went up to Erica's house to talk about teaching English. She teaches English and gave me some fantastic resources. Teaching is a bigger deal then I imagined. My students are paying to come and many of them don't go to Church. This will be an evangelism tool as well as teaching English. I will be teaching about the Creator as I teach flowers and shapes etc. I'm not sure exactly how to do this, but I know that God doesn't call us beyond what we can do (through Him!) and that he will give me the words to say. I'm much more confident now that I know more about what I'll be doing. November 1 is going to be an enrollment day and then November 8 is when I'll actually start teaching. Later, Ana, Christian, and I went back to San Jose for worship practice. I'm not singing in their praise team yet, but on the way home Christian asked if I would be interested in leading worship with Ana and him in November. I'm SOOOOO excited about that. He is excited about letting me help pick songs and it may be a bilingual service. Both Christian and Ana are extremely talented. Ana has a gorgeous voice and Christian plays the keyboard well (he also has an amazing voice). We got home around 11 and ate Chinese food. It was really late and so I just went to bed exhausted! Saturdays are restful days around here. We got up and I played with the girls for a long time. We threw a ball around the house for awhile. Ana kept saying that she didn't know her daughters and that they were crazy. I told her that it made me feel at home because my family was crazy too. She laughed and said "yes, I remember that pictures." Fabiola was hilarious this morning. She likes to dance and especially likes to "break dance," where she goes on all fours and sticks her butt in the air. It may be the cutest thing ever! Fabiola acts just like I did when I was little. She is loud and in your face, they have stories about her that sound just like the stories about me. It's really fun! Today we had breakfast at Orlando and Ligia's house. It was really fun. I sat in the kitchen with Ligia, Ana, and Juanita. They talked and laughed a lot. I followed some of their conversation but not much. They talked about me and I have no idea what they said! :) We ate Gallo Pinto (rice and beans). The food here is AMAZING! I love all of it! I honestly have not eaten one thing I didn't like. At two I'm going with Orlando and Ligia to the Church. They have asked me to speak at a Global Teams meeting about my call from God and why I'm here. That should be good!

I'm Here!

Hola, Amigos!
Como estan? Yo estoy seguro y feliz (I am safe and happy). The newest thing I have learned: Yo estoy lista (I am ready). Another really important phrase: Yo estoy llenga (i am full)!!!!
Okay, enough practice for now. I´m afraid that this email will be a book, there´s so much to tell!
Mom sent out an upadate saying that we had adventures in the airport on Tuesday. That is probably an understatement. I pretty much cried the entire time because I was so stressed and worried that I wouldn´t even be able to leave on Tuesday. But I finally got off and I couldn´t thank God enough that Mr. Priddy was there to help me through security. The poor guy sitting next to me on the airplane must have been wondering why I was so upset about going to Atlanta. :) After the initial craziness the rest of the trip went well. I got to Atlanta with plenty of time to eat breakfast (my last American meal was McDonald´s I thought it was fitting... no cinnabon, i was sad haha), talk with a woman going to Hawaii, call my mom, and read for awhile.
The trip to San José was nice, I slept a little bit and read, nothing really exciting to report. I flew over cuba, so now i can say that I´ve seen Cuba. About thirty minutes before landing in San José I was praying and I looked out of the window at the clouds. When I looked down I could see the shadow of the airplane and a rainbow encircling it. It was a cool reminder that God is with me even though this adventure is kinda scary.
Getting through customs and immigration was as easy as it could be with 3 rolling suitcases and a backpack (and only 2 hands). I found Orlando easily at the exit and we went to his house. On the way there he told me all about his family and grandchildren. I have now met most of them, but not everyone yet. They live about 10ish minutes from the airport and throughout the day I hear airplanes landing.
His property is beautiful. There are four houses on the land. The first belongs to Orlando´s mother-in-law, uncle, and sister-in-law. The second belongs to Orlando, Ligia and Erica (Orlando´s youngest daughter). Erica is married to Alberto and they have two children, Christina (9-she speaks a little English) and Samuel (2). Erica and Alberto speak English well.The third house is for Jody and his family (i have not met any of them except for Jody-- Orlando´s son). The last house belongs to my host family. Christian, Ana, Juanita, Tamara, Camila, and Fabiola. Christan is Orlando´s son (Jody´s twin) and he speaks English well. Ana is his wife we practice on each other, she teaches me Spanish, I teach her English. Juanita is Ana´s mother and is very sweet. Tamara is 9, she speaks a little bit of English. Camila is 5 and speaks no English except ¨Hello, Bye¨. Fabiola is 2 and barely speaks Spanish much less English. The children are all adorable and we communicate through smiles and laughter. On Wednesday I had a small conversation with Camila. She was absentmindedly playing with a butterfly so I sat down next to her and said:¨que es mariposa?¨ (trying to say: this is a butterfly?)¨si¨she responded with a huge smile. I then listed all of the colors on the butterfly. She really liked that I was trying!
I have my own room here, which is lovely. It is Tamara´s room normally. You can tell it belongs to a 9 year old. The main colors are purple and pink and disney princesses decorate the walls, along with a barbie poster and a high school musical 2 poster. Tamara and Camila have both drawn pictures for me that say I Love You. They are so precious, and make me feel very welcomed into the family!!
I have unpacked everything which makes it feel more like home. My closet is the top bunk and I sleep on the bottom. I have to keep everything out of reach of the 2 year old. She is very curious according to Ana. Christian keeps repeating that I should feel at home, and I´m getting there, but no where could ever replace the home I have left.
The weather here is strange. It rains a lot, and it is hot in the mornings and chilly in the afternoons. It´s winter time now and I´m comfortable in pants and a shrug. Summer should be interesting. It gets muy caliente (very hot) but there is less humidity so that should be nice.
I went to the church on Wednesday night. I didn´t understand any of the preaching except that Orlando was preaching on ¨the Great Comission¨ (Matthew 28:16-20). I did understand the worship time. We sang for about 45 minutes. I only knew 2 songs that they were singing (Lord I give you My Heart, Lord You are Good and You Mercy Endures forever) but easily followed the rest (the words were on a powerpoint, so I could sing along relatively easily!) It was really neat to worship God that way. He is the same God in any language!!! After, we went out for pizza. It was yummy. Orlando likes CiCi´s pizza. That was the only thing I understood at dinner, haha!
I met the 12 year old who will be helping me. She may be more of an extrovert than I am!! I spend most of the time quiet here (I know hard to believe!!!!!). I don´t know what´s going on in most conversations, and don´t know enough Spanish to add to them anyway. But I´ll get there!!
Yesterday I went for a walk by myself down to the river on the property. It was so nice. I didn´t know how far the path went, so I just went back to the house. Juanita mimed that we would all go for a walk. Juanita, Camila, Fabiola and I went and walked around the entire property. It was BEAUTIFUL! I loved every minute of it. They grow many things on the property, they have chickens and geese, and all kinds of things running around! It´s so neat. Fabiola reached up to hold my hand as we walked, that was VERY cool to me.
I have been struck so many times by the beauty that surrounds me here. Beautiful people with beautiful spirits, beautiful flowers (flor bonita), beautiful trees, beautiful landscapes hardly touched by human hands. God´s fingerprints are all over the place. I know that God is everywhere, but right now it´s impossible to miss him like it is so easy do at home. I think there are many reasons for this.
1. A lot of the time here He is the only one who understands me. If I get lonely He is all I have to talk to (except myself, but then I just look muy loco!).2. There´s plenty of time. I´m not rushing from function to function, place to place. I have time to breathe, to think, to pray. I´m journaling a lot which amazes me!3. God´s peace envelops this place. I have only experienced this Holy and amazing peace in a few places like my house, St. Peter´s (and a couple other churches), and a couple other places.4. Viewing God´s creation that has been cultivated and not perverted by human hands. Don´t get me wrong, I like technology and I´m pro innovation but not when it replaces everything God has created. Here it is impossible to have your eyes open and not see many things created by God.
I miss home, but not too much yet. I miss silly things like puns and Cheesy Bible jokes. :) They don´t get my puns here because they don´t know enough English, and I don´t get any of their jokes because I don´t speak Spanish. Pretty much I laugh at the silly things that Fabiola does and at my mistakes in speaking. I also miss being hugged. I get a kiss on the cheek as a greeting, but hugs are rare.
On learning Spanish: I think I´m picking it up. It´s hard to understand Ana and we often use our Spanish to English dictionaries. I am trying to think in Spanish because Orlando says that will help. I can say a few things and I´m trying to be very confident in what I know. The hardest part is verb conjugations and trying to figure out past and future for verbs without having it written out in front of me. I have found myself speaking with an accent in English and thinking with an accent too. That amuses me to no end!
I haven´t had too much culture shock (at least that I can recognize), except for yesterday. Orlando, Ligia, and I went to the mall to see a movie. We watched ¨The Contract¨ I still haven´t decided if I liked it or not, haha. We then walked around the mall (after I ate a Subway sandwich). The mall is HUGE (including a cinabon!!) and is 10000000000 times better then the malls in Tallahassee, and even better then anything I´ve seen in Jacksonville. Then we went to PriceSmart. I almost passed out I was so shocked at the fact that I had just walked into a Costco or Sam´s Club. It was Crazy. It looked just like either of those. Probably the biggest culture shock for me is how westernized the city is.
Well, I think that is about it for now. The internet is out at their house, but should be restored in 10ish days. Hopefully I will be able to get to an internet cafe again before then.
I love you all so much! It has not hit me yet that I will be here for siete meses (7 months). I know that it will eventually. But so far I´m really loving it. I will begin teaching in early Noviembre (November). Orlando wanted to give me time to get rest and be comfortable here, which is nice. I have started developing lesson plans and I hoping that they work out well.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! I´m praying for you as well. Please keep me updated with what´s going on in your life (including prayer requests). I need to stop myself now becuase I keep thinking of things and adding to the email. :-D
Adios!