Following two days of fantastic ministry, church going, and incredible worship Sunday night, I rose early this morning on the floor of my awesome mentor's room in the midst of the aftermath of a girls slumber party. The night consisted of a buffet of candy and snack food, laughing, movies, and a unifying activity. Needless to say the weekend rocked, but it's today that really iced the cake. Starting with a bus ride we headed out toward San Francisco to hike a very tall mountain up to the cross. From the bus window I could see the mountain looming in front of us all with a tiny speck of what slightly resembled a cross on the top. My mind flashed back to riding the top of a rickety pick up truck, surrounded by luggage, and staring up to the top of Mt Grenier to a tiny speck of blue that was pointed out as the church. The same thought kept repeating itself in my mind, “I'm supposed to WALK all the way up there?!” Yeah. And just like it was in Haiti the hike was rough. I sweat like crazy, my muscles were burning, I lost my breath often, and occasionally took a break to allow myself to be amazed at the view spread out before me in every direction. On one side was mountainous terrain, the other was open out to the city of San Jose, and ahead of me, just up up and more up. Eventually I arrived at the first cross. Holy cow was the view cool from up there. You could see all of San Jose and the surrounding areas. I could see downtown with all the tall buildings, the national futbol stadium, and more city as far as the eye could reach. Then I would look to the other side and see the other mountain with squares of field and different patches of color surrounding tiny houses. It brought back memories of standing on Grenier and looking over to Gremoth.. totally cool. And looking up to the cross was amazing in itself. It was tall and covered in lights in order to be seen from the city when night fell. It was breathtaking just to stand up and look out, and then turn around and look up to the cross remembering all that Christ has done since the beginning of the world: created all this beauty, humbled himself to join us in our humanity, died on a cross, so that we could have life – full, abundant, eternal – life through him. Praise be to the name of our Lord and Saviour! But the hike didn't stop there. We weren't done yet. We took about a million pictures at that cross and enjoyed a break, but soon were continuing up once again. This part of the hike was way more rocky and covered by trees. It was shaded and somewhat wet from some water source above most of the way to the second cross. This portion was shorter so I was soon finding myself emerging into a clearing where I could see a cross about four times as big as the first one. This one didn't have quite the view as the first as it was set into the woods more. But what was super cool about this one, was that it was in the clouds. Another flashback to Haiti. I watched the clouds roll over and encompass us in whiteish gray mist. I could see my breath when I huffed, and as the cloud passed over I could see less and less of the scenery and then more and more as it disappeared once more. This cross was where we stopped for lunch. Taking a seat and pulling out my sandwich was a wonderful feeling after hiking for so long. But just as I swallowed my last bite, someone yelled from down the other side a little ways that the best view he had ever seen in his life was a mere 300 yards down the other side. So over I went. Hiking down felt nice and suddenly I found myself on a sort of land bridge between two mountains. Wow was he right. On the right was a valley between mountains that had a river at the bottom. I couldn't see it, but I could hear the water, including a waterfall at one end. Then on the left was out over the city just like at the first cross, but there was a wider view from this vantage point. It was absolutely breathtaking. Derick, one of my fellow Indiana gappers, fittingly commented, “So I just had a crazy thought, if this is what earth is like, what's heaven gonna be like!?” After more photo ops the hike back started. Back up to the second cross, to go back down to the second cross, to go back down all the way to the bottom. The whole day worship songs were playing over in my mind.. I know, who would have thought Hannah Starrett would have music in her head.. ;) God is mighty and powerful and so crazy cool. I loved everything about being in his creation today and praising him for it as I hiked up to a cross where I was reminded all that he did for me. Incredible. Words can't even describe it all.. my continuous prayer is still that God would take me and use me for his work and glory. In Haiti I saw his hand and was changed, now in Costa Rica I see his hand and beg him to change me.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Humans Flying Is No Myth
We, as students in Costa Rica, get to occasionally reap the benefits of living in another country. This past Monday we were able to go zip-lining through the mountain rain forest of CR, and it was incredible!! We got up early and headed out on a bus that was "coach," but was more like an airplane set up than bus seats.. I slept most of the way. When we got there, all the guides were waiting for us and one was dressed up like a chicken. We had to do the chicken dance as our initiation and it was NOT the chicken dance I'm used to. It was in Spanish of course and very.. different. Then we signed our waivers and got helmets and headed up the mountain. On the way up we had to do some team challenge type things, do an Indian dance around a teepee, and sit in the river as punishment for losing. Needless to say, wet jeans plus tight equipment wasn't the most comfortable way to hike the rest of the way up. There were 5 lines and they were all a blast!! The first one was pretty normal, but it went over a gorge between the two mountains.. super cool!! And you could see an amazing view of San Jose from where we were flying. Pretty cool. There was one line where they allowed us to go upside down. We got hooked up to the line, grabbed our gear with our hands, and held the cable with our feet. Then once we were past the platform we could let go and hang our hands down so we were flying upside down across a huge mountain gorge... what a rush!!! That was my favorite part by far. It was sooo cool!!! Then the last one was the highest and fastest, and we got to jump off a platform as our speed start which was really cool. Little did we know that those who went in front of us would be waiting at the end with water bottles ready to soak us.. That was quite the surprise, and my whole right side was completely soaked.. they had mercy on some people, but I was toast. It was still awesome and I then got to enjoy watching everyone else get the same loving treatment :) Then at the very end there was a free-fall swing type deal that was offered to us for ten bucks.. yeah I did it. Too cool. They hooked me up with a bunch of ropes and cams and the like and said, “Ok jump!” … so I jumped.. I flew through the air and then swung back and flew again.. it was awesome! It's crazy what we do for adrenaline rushes ;) We had brought sandwiches for lunch and were given some water and time to just chill, then I slept on the bus ride home as we headed back to the villa for the rest of our free day. It was a good one to be sure :)
This Place I Call Home
So I haven't been able to blog much lately, not only because we don't have internet as much as before, but also because there is so much going on down here that I can barely find time to sleep. But unlike what some people may think, this is not even a good thing it's a great thing. Classes have been keeping me busy studying, learning, improving in the language, and remaining disciplined in school work as I am not quite done with my career as a student.. maybe in 5 years I'll be able to say "No more homework!!" However, as of right now, I live homework in the evenings - projects, pages of busy work that more or less burns the concept into your brain, conversations, Bible reading, study topics, and lots of extra reading. I love it all. This is the best year of school I've had so far.
Then outside of class of course comes ministry. This is not merely talking about Coronado, which is a huge part of my ministry, or even my church El Alto, but includes a discipleship group that I have been leading. We are studying the book "Calm My Anxious Heart" which is a study on finding contentment in God through every situation specifically for women. It's been eye-opening, hard-core challenging, and really encouraging at the same time. I love what I have been learning and with every chapter I find more reason to thank my God for exactly where he put me and what he has called me to do. But as you praise God with me because of this study, please also remember me in your prayers. It is difficult sometimes to lead a group like this because it takes time to prepare for it, sometimes it's difficult to lead discussion, and contentment will always be a major challenge for especially girls. So please pray for me.
In other areas of ministry a little update.. Coronado has been awesome. We handed out the kids' books last Saturday (just in case I haven't mentioned it yet we're starting an AWANA like club for the kids in Coronado every Saturday) so those who could recite John 3:16 got to start their first lesson in the book. They will be memorizing Scriptures and getting points for bringing their Bible (which we provided last week as well), their hats, friends, and of course for just coming. It's really cool to see how excited the kids are. However, it has been smaller the past few weeks, so we are going to arrive a little early and go out into the neighborhoods and invite the kids. Hopefully this will draw a bigger crowd. Overall it's really exciting :) And for those of you at home Bethany is a wonder-woman when it comes to running and planning for this every week. Keep praying for her!!
El Alto, the church I attend, does not have a youth group which means it's up to us to start one. As of right now there are two youth other than us GAPpers who show up for the Saturday "youth group." So this week, we're having a cook-out at the Gordly's house to try to draw in more young people. JR, one of my classmates, is giving his testimony, and I am bringing my guitar to provide some relief from the CD recording of an organ played every Sunday ;) I'm pretty excited about it and we should have a good turnout. Yet another area of prayer.
On the fun side of life, our leadership came up with an idea to kind of off-set the lack of internet with time to have group unity by playing group games or some crazy youth group-like activity. I am one of the two students in charge of planning these activities for every other Friday night or so. We've thought of games that are super fun in the dark (since it gets dark at like 6 here) like Capture the Flag and such. I'm pretty excited about it. This week we're making a scavenger hunt, and it's going to be unlike any scavenger hunt anyone has ever played before. It's already crazy cool and we're not even done. And on Mondays we have our weekly game of Ultimate Frisbee, or depending on amount of rain, Uliti-Mud Frisbee ;) We have tons of fun here.. especially in Club Lucas (my room)!! We have by far the most laughs late at night, deep chats, roomie jokes, random fun, and everything that comes with living together. Oh and the lady that cleans here tells us every week that we have by far the cleanest room. Every week. Yeah.
So that's a quick update of what has been going on here in San Jose. Keep the prayers coming, you guys are the best!! Shoot me an email anytime to let me know what you're up to in the States. God is moving here in Costa Rica, and I'm so blessed to be a part of it. Praise his majestic name!
Then outside of class of course comes ministry. This is not merely talking about Coronado, which is a huge part of my ministry, or even my church El Alto, but includes a discipleship group that I have been leading. We are studying the book "Calm My Anxious Heart" which is a study on finding contentment in God through every situation specifically for women. It's been eye-opening, hard-core challenging, and really encouraging at the same time. I love what I have been learning and with every chapter I find more reason to thank my God for exactly where he put me and what he has called me to do. But as you praise God with me because of this study, please also remember me in your prayers. It is difficult sometimes to lead a group like this because it takes time to prepare for it, sometimes it's difficult to lead discussion, and contentment will always be a major challenge for especially girls. So please pray for me.
In other areas of ministry a little update.. Coronado has been awesome. We handed out the kids' books last Saturday (just in case I haven't mentioned it yet we're starting an AWANA like club for the kids in Coronado every Saturday) so those who could recite John 3:16 got to start their first lesson in the book. They will be memorizing Scriptures and getting points for bringing their Bible (which we provided last week as well), their hats, friends, and of course for just coming. It's really cool to see how excited the kids are. However, it has been smaller the past few weeks, so we are going to arrive a little early and go out into the neighborhoods and invite the kids. Hopefully this will draw a bigger crowd. Overall it's really exciting :) And for those of you at home Bethany is a wonder-woman when it comes to running and planning for this every week. Keep praying for her!!
El Alto, the church I attend, does not have a youth group which means it's up to us to start one. As of right now there are two youth other than us GAPpers who show up for the Saturday "youth group." So this week, we're having a cook-out at the Gordly's house to try to draw in more young people. JR, one of my classmates, is giving his testimony, and I am bringing my guitar to provide some relief from the CD recording of an organ played every Sunday ;) I'm pretty excited about it and we should have a good turnout. Yet another area of prayer.
On the fun side of life, our leadership came up with an idea to kind of off-set the lack of internet with time to have group unity by playing group games or some crazy youth group-like activity. I am one of the two students in charge of planning these activities for every other Friday night or so. We've thought of games that are super fun in the dark (since it gets dark at like 6 here) like Capture the Flag and such. I'm pretty excited about it. This week we're making a scavenger hunt, and it's going to be unlike any scavenger hunt anyone has ever played before. It's already crazy cool and we're not even done. And on Mondays we have our weekly game of Ultimate Frisbee, or depending on amount of rain, Uliti-Mud Frisbee ;) We have tons of fun here.. especially in Club Lucas (my room)!! We have by far the most laughs late at night, deep chats, roomie jokes, random fun, and everything that comes with living together. Oh and the lady that cleans here tells us every week that we have by far the cleanest room. Every week. Yeah.
So that's a quick update of what has been going on here in San Jose. Keep the prayers coming, you guys are the best!! Shoot me an email anytime to let me know what you're up to in the States. God is moving here in Costa Rica, and I'm so blessed to be a part of it. Praise his majestic name!
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Radical Call of a Radical God
Wow. This post has been the hardest to write by far. I don't even know why, because it's definitely been the one that I'm most excited about. It did turn out very long, so bear with me :)
Starting off I'll just summarize the week a little. We had class like usual, lots of it, and learned a bunch. For our Bible class we're doing two different studies: Chronology of the Bible with Andy, and Ephesians with Noel. Both are phenomenal! I'm really looking forward to learning some crazy cool stuff from both of these very wise men who desire nothing more than to teach us all they know from God's Word. It's amazing how much God has blessed this group with leadership. I'm really humbled and challenged every day by just their example of living. I'm even in Spanish class with 3 of our leaders, and just watching them work hard and study just as much as I do while simultaneously balancing all their responsibilities AND families.. wow. They rock!
Ministry this week was awesome. This week at Coronado I was able to teach some English in Spanish which was really cool. Challenging in some ways, but definitely cool! Then I went to be with the kids :) I'm in charge of ten older kids (12-14 year olds) and this week we were helping them memorize John 3:16. They have to recite it next week in order to be officially initiated into the Coronado Bible Club. My kids learned it pretty fast. I was very proud. We had the verse written out on a big poster paper and we would read it together, then I would cover a couple words, we'd read it again, cover more, and so on. Eventually they all knew the whole thing. It was an awesome day. I believe that two more kids responded to the message and decided to live for Christ as an heir of the Kingdom!! Praise the Lord!! Please keep praying for the ministry in Coronado. Then later I got to lead some songs at my church's youth group Saturday night. There was also a missionary speaker who gave the message. He instantly became one of my heroes. He translated for himself. Yes. English-Spanish/Spanish-English. And never lost his train of thought. INCREDIBLE!!! He just started preaching and would occasionally start a thought in English and then when he finished translate into Spanish, but then continue to the next thought in Spanish and translate later into English. Holy cow. What brain power!!?!?! That's what I want to be able to do. Be so fluent that I don't even have to work, it just comes naturally either way. Then Sunday I got to visit Bethany's church and see her house. From there we skyped home and got to be on the big screen at BGBC. That was too cool!! It's amazing to be in a different country and be able to talk to your family who is behind you in prayer and love and be able to tell them how amazing God is and what he is doing here.
Ok this is the part that I really wanted to focus on, even though it's slightly out of chronological order. On Thursday we watched the End of the Spear as our Bible class, which is a missionary movie about Jim Elliot's son Steve and his follow up with the tribe his father contacted. It's incredibly moving and wonderfully made. It makes me cry. But even though I've seen it before, for a certain reason it particularly touched me this time. I've felt that God's desire for my life is going to be outside the United States. (I mentioned this in part of my Haiti blog) I feel so passionate and driven when I get to work in other countries. But I have never specifically felt like I would do missions work. For some reason the picture in my head was always LIVE in a different country, but just have a normal job there. Nothing through a missions organization or anything just living location and missions through my work or something. But as I was watching this movie, the part when the natives are begging Steve to live with them and he pleads that he can't because he has a life and family in the States.. but then he decides that he can give that up and he moves to live with the tribe, it hit me hard. It was like "Hannah, could you do that? Could you move away and rely completely on God to provide everything? Could you really trust him with your life and well-being?" And for the first time in good faith I could say yes. I could. And I feel strongly that I will. It's what I want to do! When we were skyping, Pastor Kenny pointed out that our church's goal is to raise up missionaries from our very own congregation. Well, Pastor, I want to be one. I want to be a missionary raised in the care of Battle Ground Bible Church, and with them behind me and my Lord Jesus before me, dedicate my life fully to his service with no turning back! What that exactly looks like or where I'll end up who knows but God. But here I am telling him to send me. It's a radical decision to follow God, but I've always loved doing the radical.. I mean, I'm in Costa Rica!! So I say bring it on. I'm still going to study linguistics next year and be a language master so that I can reach as many people as possible :) and, yes Pastor Kenny, I might even get to translate the Bible!! So I'm super excited to see where he sends me and what he gives me to do.. I'm banking on the promise that he has a plan to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future. Starting now, this is my life in reaction to the radical call of God.
Starting off I'll just summarize the week a little. We had class like usual, lots of it, and learned a bunch. For our Bible class we're doing two different studies: Chronology of the Bible with Andy, and Ephesians with Noel. Both are phenomenal! I'm really looking forward to learning some crazy cool stuff from both of these very wise men who desire nothing more than to teach us all they know from God's Word. It's amazing how much God has blessed this group with leadership. I'm really humbled and challenged every day by just their example of living. I'm even in Spanish class with 3 of our leaders, and just watching them work hard and study just as much as I do while simultaneously balancing all their responsibilities AND families.. wow. They rock!
Ministry this week was awesome. This week at Coronado I was able to teach some English in Spanish which was really cool. Challenging in some ways, but definitely cool! Then I went to be with the kids :) I'm in charge of ten older kids (12-14 year olds) and this week we were helping them memorize John 3:16. They have to recite it next week in order to be officially initiated into the Coronado Bible Club. My kids learned it pretty fast. I was very proud. We had the verse written out on a big poster paper and we would read it together, then I would cover a couple words, we'd read it again, cover more, and so on. Eventually they all knew the whole thing. It was an awesome day. I believe that two more kids responded to the message and decided to live for Christ as an heir of the Kingdom!! Praise the Lord!! Please keep praying for the ministry in Coronado. Then later I got to lead some songs at my church's youth group Saturday night. There was also a missionary speaker who gave the message. He instantly became one of my heroes. He translated for himself. Yes. English-Spanish/Spanish-English. And never lost his train of thought. INCREDIBLE!!! He just started preaching and would occasionally start a thought in English and then when he finished translate into Spanish, but then continue to the next thought in Spanish and translate later into English. Holy cow. What brain power!!?!?! That's what I want to be able to do. Be so fluent that I don't even have to work, it just comes naturally either way. Then Sunday I got to visit Bethany's church and see her house. From there we skyped home and got to be on the big screen at BGBC. That was too cool!! It's amazing to be in a different country and be able to talk to your family who is behind you in prayer and love and be able to tell them how amazing God is and what he is doing here.
Ok this is the part that I really wanted to focus on, even though it's slightly out of chronological order. On Thursday we watched the End of the Spear as our Bible class, which is a missionary movie about Jim Elliot's son Steve and his follow up with the tribe his father contacted. It's incredibly moving and wonderfully made. It makes me cry. But even though I've seen it before, for a certain reason it particularly touched me this time. I've felt that God's desire for my life is going to be outside the United States. (I mentioned this in part of my Haiti blog) I feel so passionate and driven when I get to work in other countries. But I have never specifically felt like I would do missions work. For some reason the picture in my head was always LIVE in a different country, but just have a normal job there. Nothing through a missions organization or anything just living location and missions through my work or something. But as I was watching this movie, the part when the natives are begging Steve to live with them and he pleads that he can't because he has a life and family in the States.. but then he decides that he can give that up and he moves to live with the tribe, it hit me hard. It was like "Hannah, could you do that? Could you move away and rely completely on God to provide everything? Could you really trust him with your life and well-being?" And for the first time in good faith I could say yes. I could. And I feel strongly that I will. It's what I want to do! When we were skyping, Pastor Kenny pointed out that our church's goal is to raise up missionaries from our very own congregation. Well, Pastor, I want to be one. I want to be a missionary raised in the care of Battle Ground Bible Church, and with them behind me and my Lord Jesus before me, dedicate my life fully to his service with no turning back! What that exactly looks like or where I'll end up who knows but God. But here I am telling him to send me. It's a radical decision to follow God, but I've always loved doing the radical.. I mean, I'm in Costa Rica!! So I say bring it on. I'm still going to study linguistics next year and be a language master so that I can reach as many people as possible :) and, yes Pastor Kenny, I might even get to translate the Bible!! So I'm super excited to see where he sends me and what he gives me to do.. I'm banking on the promise that he has a plan to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future. Starting now, this is my life in reaction to the radical call of God.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
The Weak-End
Once upon a time there was a girl who had a dream. This dream was of depth with God, knowledge, opportunity, and a life far away. Of course this dream was filled with pictures and plans of what the future would bring. And like most dreams, when matched with reality one of the pictures paled. Expectations would say reality always pales in comparison to the dream. Yet in the case that I bring before you, the opposite is beyond true. My dream has quickly paled in comparison to my reality. I sit here in the evening cool of San Jose, surrounded by the coolest people on earth, preparing for a Bible study tonight, and knowing that the language I have a strong passion for is slowly becoming second nature in my mind. What more could I ask for? How blessed am I to even be here! God is good, all the time.
Alright, now to dive into the craziness I call life here in CR. This week we began our regular schedule of Spanish classes: 4 hours every morning. But instead of having our regular schedule of Bible classes in the afternoon, we went to the Timothy and Barnabas conference that SCORE puts on every year. Which means instead of having 2 hours of Bible, we had close to 8. Wow. Talk about brain dead by the time it hits 10 o'clock. But no, the fun doesn't stop there. In the evening I would still read the daily Bible reading with my friends and THEN I would head to my room at lock-up. As I drag myself into my bed and grab my journal, before I let my head flop down on the pillow I decide that I'm not crazy enough yet.. so I set my alarm for 5:45 am. WHAT?!? Yes. I get up to run at 6 in the morning. True Starrett flows through my veins. Although the morning is early and painful, it's definitely my favorite part of the day. The reason I get up so early is to be absolutely sure I have as much time as I want with the First Love of my heart before the day actually starts. By running, I'm awake. By eating breakfast, I'm not distracted. Which leaves my heart and mind in the perfect state to come before the Lord of the universe, fall at his feet, and enjoy his presence while requesting his help in a week as physically, mentally, and spiritually straining as this one.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Un Sabor de Mi Pais
I'm in school again. Back to the books, the homework, the projects, the late nights, the early mornings, the classmates, the teachers, and the endless compilation of new memories in the process of learning. This past week we were taught from the book of James 2-3 hours every day by Dr. George Theis. He did a phenomenal job. I loved every second of it, and can't even begin to divulge how much I learned. In order to share some of it I'll just give the chapter titles that we used in covering each portion of the book. Chapter 1: Trials Can Be Fun. Chapter 2: Dead Faith and Partiality - No Can Do. Chapter 3: The Wrong Use of the Tongue is Ugly. Chapter 4: The Beginning of War. Chapter 5: Prayer Will Keep You Alive. It was so cool to be lead nearly verse by verse through this extremely practical letter written to fellow Christians all over the world. And as I'm studying currently far away from my hometown, in a foreign environment, with discomforts, schedule changes, random problems, and all the tiny things that remind me how far from home I really am, it was an incredible challenge for me to "count it all joy." Quickly it became my motto to "count it all joy" and to not complain or grumble when I had a cold shower in the morning or I couldn't connect to the internet. I have like a whole new list of things that I really need to work on now.. like I didn't have enough already. It's awesome though. I love seeing how great God is through how imperfect I am and how much I rely on his strength to survive. He is my all.
Then of course we've been having Spanish for 3-4 hours a day. And it's been crazy. By the time I leave class I'm involuntarily thinking in Spanish. It's so cool to see how I can't help it, it just comes out!! I'm learning!! My class isn't challenging for me yet, because I had an incredible high school Spanish teacher who covered pretty much everything there is to know about the Spanish language. (I love you Mrs Peacock!!) But it's been really really good for me to practice talking to everyone in Spanish. I talk to the kitchen ladies all the time and I talk to Adolpho, the security/upkeeper of the villa. It's been good practice, and that's what challenges me. Plus my Spanish teacher here doesn't speak very good English at all. So occasionally in class I'll have to translate for her, which is also perfect practice because that's what we'll be doing second semester. I love how everything is working out and we're getting into a routine down here. It's my new home and it's finally feeling like that. I don't feel like I'm visiting anymore. I'm living. And I can't say enough how amazing my group is. The friends I've already made are incredible and my leaders don't want anything more than to pour their all into us and teach us how to become more like Christ. It's so cool :)
Other than chill at the villa, have class, go to church, and sleep, I've been running every morning, occasionally going to the store or San Jose to shop, or playing basketball up the road. It's been super cool just hanging out, being able to do whatever when we're not in class, and enjoy the atmosphere of another country. Another thing that's super cool is our leaders have laid out a plan for us to be able to read the whole Bible by the time we graduate. I'm really excited because I've only read through the whole Bible one other time and it was by myself. This time I've been reading it with two other girls, Lauren and Katelyn, every night. It's so awesome because we meet and we read, but we also mention everything that stands out to us and usually get into some pretty cool discussions. It's WAY more beneficial to read big chunks of Scripture together with someone because when I read it alone I tend to get distracted and just read words. But when I'm with other people I'm not only digging myself for something cool, I'm also getting to hear what's touching their hearts at the same time. I love it. And I love them!!
Anyway just to give you a flavor of Costa Rica here are 10 things you need to know before you live here:
1. You can't flush the toilet paper. That's what the trash cans are for.
2. It's a 50-50 chance getting a warm shower in the morning.
3. Dead animals, such as dogs, lying in rigamortis on the side of the road could be there for days.
4. When they say it's gonna rain every day, it's gonna rain every day.
5. Running on sidewalks is hazardous to your health, but walking on the street is suicidal.
6. Lizards are friends found on your pillow, and slugs are your shower buddies.
7. Right as you skype dial your mother, the internet will crash.. because it's raining.
8. When people whistle, honk, or yell, don't wave. You're just a gringo.
9. Don't stand in the door of the bus while paying. A sensor is counting you and an alarm will go off.
10. Rice and beans rice and beans rice and beans....
Hope you all got a flavor of mi vida loca!! God bless, I miss you all!! :)
Then of course we've been having Spanish for 3-4 hours a day. And it's been crazy. By the time I leave class I'm involuntarily thinking in Spanish. It's so cool to see how I can't help it, it just comes out!! I'm learning!! My class isn't challenging for me yet, because I had an incredible high school Spanish teacher who covered pretty much everything there is to know about the Spanish language. (I love you Mrs Peacock!!) But it's been really really good for me to practice talking to everyone in Spanish. I talk to the kitchen ladies all the time and I talk to Adolpho, the security/upkeeper of the villa. It's been good practice, and that's what challenges me. Plus my Spanish teacher here doesn't speak very good English at all. So occasionally in class I'll have to translate for her, which is also perfect practice because that's what we'll be doing second semester. I love how everything is working out and we're getting into a routine down here. It's my new home and it's finally feeling like that. I don't feel like I'm visiting anymore. I'm living. And I can't say enough how amazing my group is. The friends I've already made are incredible and my leaders don't want anything more than to pour their all into us and teach us how to become more like Christ. It's so cool :)
Other than chill at the villa, have class, go to church, and sleep, I've been running every morning, occasionally going to the store or San Jose to shop, or playing basketball up the road. It's been super cool just hanging out, being able to do whatever when we're not in class, and enjoy the atmosphere of another country. Another thing that's super cool is our leaders have laid out a plan for us to be able to read the whole Bible by the time we graduate. I'm really excited because I've only read through the whole Bible one other time and it was by myself. This time I've been reading it with two other girls, Lauren and Katelyn, every night. It's so awesome because we meet and we read, but we also mention everything that stands out to us and usually get into some pretty cool discussions. It's WAY more beneficial to read big chunks of Scripture together with someone because when I read it alone I tend to get distracted and just read words. But when I'm with other people I'm not only digging myself for something cool, I'm also getting to hear what's touching their hearts at the same time. I love it. And I love them!!
Anyway just to give you a flavor of Costa Rica here are 10 things you need to know before you live here:
1. You can't flush the toilet paper. That's what the trash cans are for.
2. It's a 50-50 chance getting a warm shower in the morning.
3. Dead animals, such as dogs, lying in rigamortis on the side of the road could be there for days.
4. When they say it's gonna rain every day, it's gonna rain every day.
5. Running on sidewalks is hazardous to your health, but walking on the street is suicidal.
6. Lizards are friends found on your pillow, and slugs are your shower buddies.
7. Right as you skype dial your mother, the internet will crash.. because it's raining.
8. When people whistle, honk, or yell, don't wave. You're just a gringo.
9. Don't stand in the door of the bus while paying. A sensor is counting you and an alarm will go off.
10. Rice and beans rice and beans rice and beans....
Hope you all got a flavor of mi vida loca!! God bless, I miss you all!! :)
Monday, September 20, 2010
From Sunday to Monday
The first week of experiencing church in Costa Rica was amazing as expected. God is so great, and even far from home I can gather together to praise his name! I went to El Alto which is a church only up the street from the villa making it really nice - no travel expenses or time to get there. We walked in and mingled for a little bit, then the service started. Of course music was first. It was mostly traditional hymns that I recognized from knowing them in English, but they gave me a song book so it was really easy to join in singing in Spanish. It was awesome! The sermon was actually given by a guest speaker and he was super cool!! He had a booming voice and spoke really clearly making it wonderful for me to translate in my mind. He preached on the story of Jesus calming the sea. And focused on the fact that Jesus is with us wherever we go. Even though the disciples doubted and there was a huge storm, he was still there, he even invited the disciples to go with him. So when in life we get hung up on doubts or fears or storms come, we need to remember that Jesus invited us to walk with him and he'll always be there with us. No matter what God is always by our side. So we need to live like it. Shine the light like Christ is right there with us, fearlessly. Anyway after the sermon, the pastor of the church gave a kind of history lesson about the independence of Central America. (see previous post about independence day) So we listened to the national anthems of all the different countries and learned about a few of the battles and such. It was interesting. Then we got to eat lunch at the church. They provided food from all the different countries, and we brought hot dogs to represent the US just because we were there. It was really interesting but all very good, and of course we got to mingle a ton which was great; I love the people.
After church we just hung out all afternoon and then had a birthday party for the September birthdays. We had a million noise makers and they were going off constantly for literally 20 minutes. It was CRAZY to say the least. Then we had a knock-your-socks-off worship service. It was totally unplanned. John (our slc - student life counselor - basically the group dad) gathered us together and said "Hey we're gonna praise God tonight so if you have any Scripture that speaks to you read it, if you have anything you'd like to say to God go for it. We'll just praise his name together for 30 minutes or 3 hours or whatever." So he said a short prayer and I kicked it off with Lord I Lift Your Name On High and it just rolled from there. Between every song someone read some Bible verses and prayed, and a few times we got into a time of prayer that lasted a while, and every time it died down I would start another song. Eventually John said one last prayer and we dispersed. But it was absolutely incredible!! We were all just feeding off of each other's passion and lifting the name of Jesus up. Wow, our God is AMAZING!!
The rest of the night was just chill out and relax. Mondays are our day off so we all stayed up kinda late just talking and hanging out. Then the morning came. Free day. What to do... I slept in til 8 which was super nice. Did my devos in the morning and then went out for a run. It was a perfect day to run.. there was a breeze, the sun was shining, and the temperature was heavenly. When I got back to the villa I rested on the front porch eating fresh fruit for breakfast, and talked God with Lauren and John. It was a wonderful beginning to the day. Then a bunch of us walked up to the courts for some ballin. Now I'm not a basketball player, but I stood my ground and had a ton of fun! By the time we got back I was dripping in sweat and stunk like crazy. So I took a shower and got ready for the day. Lunch came next. After lunch we had an excursion planned for San Jose. We took the bus and then walked around the marketplace for a while. It was the first time going without a leader so we felt very independent walking around the capital city of another country alone. We're so grown up ;) While we were in town it rained. Now Costa Rican rain is not just rain. It's a downpour. We had rain jackets and umbrellas, and still got soaked! But we took our refuge in Pops, which is an ice cream place that I'm already addicted to. It's so good! The rain died down some and we walked back to the bus stop and rode/walked back to the villa. I changed into dry clothes and skyped Emily for her birthday!! Yay!! Then it was dinner time and after dinner it was time to chillax. They have a daily reading set up to be able to read the Bible by the time we go home, so I did that with two other girls and we discussed it as we went. It was so cool. Reading the Bible with other people and being able to discuss it is wonderful.. God is good. Now I'm just blogging enjoying the rest of the night. It's been a great day!
After church we just hung out all afternoon and then had a birthday party for the September birthdays. We had a million noise makers and they were going off constantly for literally 20 minutes. It was CRAZY to say the least. Then we had a knock-your-socks-off worship service. It was totally unplanned. John (our slc - student life counselor - basically the group dad) gathered us together and said "Hey we're gonna praise God tonight so if you have any Scripture that speaks to you read it, if you have anything you'd like to say to God go for it. We'll just praise his name together for 30 minutes or 3 hours or whatever." So he said a short prayer and I kicked it off with Lord I Lift Your Name On High and it just rolled from there. Between every song someone read some Bible verses and prayed, and a few times we got into a time of prayer that lasted a while, and every time it died down I would start another song. Eventually John said one last prayer and we dispersed. But it was absolutely incredible!! We were all just feeding off of each other's passion and lifting the name of Jesus up. Wow, our God is AMAZING!!
The rest of the night was just chill out and relax. Mondays are our day off so we all stayed up kinda late just talking and hanging out. Then the morning came. Free day. What to do... I slept in til 8 which was super nice. Did my devos in the morning and then went out for a run. It was a perfect day to run.. there was a breeze, the sun was shining, and the temperature was heavenly. When I got back to the villa I rested on the front porch eating fresh fruit for breakfast, and talked God with Lauren and John. It was a wonderful beginning to the day. Then a bunch of us walked up to the courts for some ballin. Now I'm not a basketball player, but I stood my ground and had a ton of fun! By the time we got back I was dripping in sweat and stunk like crazy. So I took a shower and got ready for the day. Lunch came next. After lunch we had an excursion planned for San Jose. We took the bus and then walked around the marketplace for a while. It was the first time going without a leader so we felt very independent walking around the capital city of another country alone. We're so grown up ;) While we were in town it rained. Now Costa Rican rain is not just rain. It's a downpour. We had rain jackets and umbrellas, and still got soaked! But we took our refuge in Pops, which is an ice cream place that I'm already addicted to. It's so good! The rain died down some and we walked back to the bus stop and rode/walked back to the villa. I changed into dry clothes and skyped Emily for her birthday!! Yay!! Then it was dinner time and after dinner it was time to chillax. They have a daily reading set up to be able to read the Bible by the time we go home, so I did that with two other girls and we discussed it as we went. It was so cool. Reading the Bible with other people and being able to discuss it is wonderful.. God is good. Now I'm just blogging enjoying the rest of the night. It's been a great day!
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