Let's take a Walk

 This is my house...you are going to to walk with me to school today.

 This is the street I live on. It is a good neighborhood.

 Once we get to the end of street we turn left and this is the road we walk on for about 1 minute.

Then we turn left and we walk for quite a while down this hilly road. At the bottom of this road there is usually a guard who helps protect the neighborhood.

This is parque el cope where many of the students study and bring their kids. It is one of nicer parks in the area. We cross through the basketball court on my way to school.

Once we cross a busy intersection we arrive at the bottom gate and follow the rest of the gringos into school.

Once we enter through the gate we have to walk through Sojourn Academy, which is the school for the missionary and teacher's kids. This walkway is covered because of the rain and on the left you can see the gym, where I play volleyball on Tuesday nights with other students.

This is one hallway of classrooms, which is really a small building of classrooms. If you cross the covered walkway you would find a similar building with classrooms and an office.

Well this is my first class of the day, Phonetics. This is my teacher Gabriela, she is fabulous. I really enjoy this class. We alternate every day who gets to sit in the hot seat, which is the desk directly in front of her desk.

Well thank you for walking with me to school today. Adios.

Lending a Hand in Valle del Sol

This past Saturday will be hard for me to put into words but just hang with me as I try. I have a love for children and God's people that is deep in my heart. This is why it is so hard for me to describe my feelings and thoughts from this past Saturday.

Well, let me start by telling you where I went. On Tuesday, Steve a organizer and director of various ministries came and spoke at chapel about different ministries that needed volunteers. One of the ministries really touched my heart. He talked about having an opportunity to work with kids from a poor area in San Jose. Then he described the children and they really touched my heart because they reminded me of my Junior Quest kids. I immediately signed up that day to help and on Saturday I was working with the kids, but the Lord touched my heart in ways I didn't plan.

I have seen poverty before but I am not sure why I didn't expect it to affect me so much again. Seeing pain and suffering is never easy and my heart immediately broke for those who are suffering in Valle del Sol. When we first pulled up I expected the area to be rough from the things people had warned me about but I didn't expect everything to be so evident. 

The houses in the area are not like where I live. The houses there where made with whatever they could find some scrap wood for siding and a few pieces of tin for a roof. Waste flowed down the sides of the road and if you looked inside one of the one room houses you could find as many as 10 people living inside.

I walked around with Horacion's wife going door to door inviting the children to come to the church, which is also one room about the size of an average American living room with a small patio attached. Behind the patio there is a small patch of land but it is covered in garbage and animal waste.

But beyond all of those things what I saw was hurting people. I saw families who immigrated from other countries and who have nothing. I saw mothers and fathers struggling to provide for their children. I saw children longing to play and have fun. I saw God in those little faces as they sang worship songs and listened to their Bible lessons. They were longing for something more. They are longing for love, a love that I know can only come from our Heavenly Father.

We had so much fun playing games and coloring. The ministry doesn't have much maybe a few books, some candy, a cd player, a worship cd, some papers that the director wrote the lyrics on, and some chairs and a few benches. But the kids don't care they just want to learn and play. Here education is important so the children just soak up everything they are taught. That is why it is so important that they are taught the right things.

I was there for only one day but I fell in love. These kids are so precious and I just want to reach out to them with God's wisdom and guidance leading the way. The kids range from 2 to 13 and there are about 50 of them, but there are so many more in the community. There are so many families that want help and that are trying to better their lives the best way they know how.

I have seen some things there that I have never seen in my life up close and it scared me. It scared me not for my safety but for the safety of the children and their lives. I am just really struck with compassion and love for these children. There is a need there and I know God can use me in some way to help that is why I am planning on going back every Saturday. Today, the director/organizer asked me if I would get more involved by helping out with some more things and going to some meetings, and there is nothing else that I would love to do more. I can't wait for next Saturday to come.

This one goes out to my Mom...

I have alot to say but I am going to dedicate this post to the most amazing woman I know, my mom.

Mom,
I love you! I have so much to be thankful for in life but the one thing I am most thankful for is for having you as my mother. Whether I am up or I am down you always have the right words to say. Although, they may not always be the words I want to hear but that is why I love you.

You are always encouraging me to be the woman of God that you know I can be. Thank you for quoting scripture to me and for singing to me when I needed it most. Thank you so much for teaching me to serve others. You are one of my greatest examples of a servant's heart. You always give your all to those in need. Some of the memories that I treasure most are staying up all night with you. Whether we were mailing letters, taking food to a shelter, delivering food to families in need, grocery shopping, or just talking til late in the night. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

You are my best friend. You know me better than anyone and your love for me is evident. Thank you for dedicating your life to me. The Lord knows I would be lost without you. You have helped me so much over the years. Thank you! You are my number one supporter and encourager. You are also the best Key Club mom I know ;-) I love you!

Know that no matter where I am in life, whether I am near or far your words of wisdom are always with me. You are always in my heart. I love you so much! Happy Mother's Day!

Obedience

"I cannot claim to be living by faith unless I'm living in obedience." (Love has a price tag,  pg 55). This word obedience makes some people turn their heads because for some being obedient is not something they like to do. Some people say, "I just want live my life" or "I live by faith knowing that everything will work itself out".

Well, sorry to burst your bubble but not everything is going to work itself out. Your bills won't some day come alive and pay themselves. Your kids won't some day wake up and say, "I am going to listen to everything my parents say". Sorry that dream won't come true by itself.

If we claim to live by faith then we need to be living in obedience. This means you are going to have to make an effort. "Even the miracles Jesus performed were contingent on somebody's obedience, on somebody's doing some little thing such as filling up a water pots, stretching out a hand, giving up a lunch" (pg 55). You see we do need to make an effort and work, but the work we do needs to be transformed. We need to be obedient to God by putting our worldly desires behind us. We can't expect God to do everything for us.

The truth is He doesn't even need us, but He wants us because He loves us. Wasn't dying on the cross enough for us? God's grace is enough so lets live out our faith by being obedient.

I firmly believe that people turn away from God and the church, not only because of their sin, but because of our sin. Because many of us are still living in disobedience. We can't claim to be living by faith unless we are living in obedience to God.

New Student Fiesta!

Today we had a fiesta!
Here are some pictures of what we did...

To begin the fiesta we played a trivia game. Who knows Costa Rica's day of independence?

Then we were serenaded by our teachers. They were great!

We also had door prizes...my friend Sarah won one!

To surprise the students we had a piñata! Alli was the first one to try =D

Pam went up and gave it all she got. Although, the guy controlling the height of the piñata kept moving it.

Of course, it was the guys who broke it! In Costa Rica they fill the piñatas with candy and peanuts.

Then as Gabby said, "Fetch!" Candy and peanuts went everywhere! It was fun!

This my friend Sarah, another student at ILE, and me

  Now we are offially ready for the weekend!

Bring on the Rain...

The rainy season has begun! Today it has consistently rained on and off, but mostly on. I love ran even though the temperature has dropped. The rain echoes off the tin roofs and the sound is great. Imagine sitting in your car and hearing the rain hitting the roof that is almost exactly what it sounds like.

School has been going good. I have been studying alot today. I have alot of verbos to learn. I do at least 3 hours of homework a night because I really want to do well in my classes. It is such a blessing to be here and I feel so motivated to learn because of God, all of my supporters, and the children and families I hope to work with in the future. This Saturday I am going to begin working with a children's ministry that is very much like the one I worked with in college. I am so excited to begin working with children =D

School.....

Today, I officially started my classes. I am very excited for this coming semester and I am looking forward to being back in school. I actually really like school and I am looking forward to starting a new routine and learning new things. For the first two weeks of school in class we will be going over basic spanish and refreshing our memories on the spanish that some of us already know. My favorite class so far is my phonetic class because we get to speak in Spanish for the whole class period, of course our teacher is correcting our poor Spanish.

All of my teachers are Ticas (Costa Rican woman) and they are very sweet. They all see their teaching as a way of ministering to others and using it to glorify Christ. All of the classes are for about one hour or more. My school day is set-up like this....I wake up at 6:10 or 6:00am get ready for school (which of course includes a shower every day because all of the ticos smell very nice all the time, a little to nice if you know what I mean), eat breakfast at 7:00am (which Mami sets out for us, cereal, bananas, or sometimes some bread and pico de gayo), then at 7:10am I walk 15 minutes to school, and start classes at 7:30am which go until 12:00pm with a 45 minute break between 9:30 and 10:15am. You would be surprised at how tired you are by 9:30am and hungry even though you already ate breakfast. Drinking water is also very important here because as the weather man on tv says it is ´´Hot, Hot, Hot¨ almost every day. It hasn´t rained in two days and I am so looking forward to the raining season. Mami also loves the rainy season because it cools down and the flowers really start to bloom and everything gets greener.

I just finished my first homework assignment, does anyone what to know the alfabeto in spanish? I can tell you now, this is something I practiced in the states but here the pronunciations are different. Like how you learned to say I in the states is different here, Costa Ricans pronounce it Jo not yo even though it is still spelled yo. There is your Spanish lesson for the day. I am learning much more but one thing at a time.

Today was a good day. Also, thank you prayer warriors I was able to sleep through the night last night so much so that I slept through my alarm. Please continue to pray that I stay sleeping well, it es muy importante. Gracias!