The Frantz family does Costa Rica

Last year at Christmas time, my family members and I (mainly my siblings) were throwing out the idea of having an all-Frantz family vacation in Costa Rica.  Obviously I was all about this idea because that meant that my family would come to visit me in this beautiful country AND I would get some vacation time off work!  Mom and Dad had been here to visit me the past two Septembers, Peter and Toni had been here for vacation before I lived here, and Courtney had been an intern with us at SI my first summer...but to have them all here at the same time would be so different and such a treat.  Fast forward to this past spring, and the decision was made that November 2014 was for sure going to be a Frantz family vacation in Costa Rica!!

A lot of preparation was done on my family's part because they were the ones traveling here and I kind of just sat back and gave advice about what type of clothes to pack, etc.  To be honest, I was a bit nervous about spending an entire week together in a house with no escaping one another.  I am blessed to have a family that all knows and loves the Lord and enjoys spending time with one another, but I am not naive and know that sometimes too much time together can cause conflict and personality clashes.  As a rule, we are not quiet, super chill people either, and so the potential to butt heads was great.  But I am so happy to say that we had an absolutely WONDERFUL week together with no real feelings getting hurt or conflicts to deal with.  I think that the Lord blessed us with sweet times together, and I was able to be refreshed and encouraged by each member of my family at different moments.  Of course, one of the highlights was spending the week with my niece Kate, who was born only two weeks before I made the move to Costa Rica.  She is such a fun, smart, friendly and beautiful 2 1/2 year old (of course, I'm biased) and it was such a joy to hang out with her so much.  

What did we do while we were all together?  We got sun burnt on the beach, boogie boarded, zip lined, went deep sea fishing, played games, cooked, went out for good eats, prayed, laughed, trekked through the rain forest, and just hung out.  And a highlight for me was having them all come to the Tutoring Center for library time on Friday and get to see where I work and who I work with.  My Tico students were so excited to meet my family that they always hear about, and it was such a blessing to see them interacting.  You can only share with people so much through words and pictures, but to have loved ones visit the community where you live and work is invaluable.  My students will be talking about playing four-square, making paper airplanes, and playing Uno with my family for many weeks to come.  

Here are some picture highlights of our time spent together:

Brothers, sister in law Courtney and me, ready to go deep sea fishing!

Aaron with the most awesome catch of the day, a 90lbs sail fish!

Dad and his kids

Aunt Tara and Kate having a serious talk on the beach

Introducing my family to my kids and co-workers at the Centro

Peter, Toni, Kate and me outside my home

Enjoying the beauty of Manuel Antonio National Park

Balance

Our staff went on a retreat last weekend and it was a great time of playing together, worshiping together, eating together, and being encouraged together.  We had an excellent speaker who has worked for many years in Latin America with World Vision and understands very much what community development and working with "the poor" looks like.  I appreciated very much that instead of speaking in lofty terms and about things that weren't super relate able, he talked to us about this idea of balance in life basing it on the book of Ecclesiastes.  This is not a book of the Bible that I have spent much time studying, besides the famous "A time for..." chapter.  Our speaker talked about the cynical words that the author of Ecclesiastes shares about the reality of life- it's "meaningless" and all that matters is to enjoy your toil and food and drink, etc.  But without this being an excuse to check out of this life and just do whatever you want, he was challenging us more to invest and work hard and love well the people of our communities and in our lives, but also not become hardened and cynical and miss out on the opportunities to enjoy the simple things in life. 

I was thinking about this idea of balance and the things that I see that make me want to harden my heart some and on the other end, the things that provide me encouragement and remind me that there is goodness in the world.  And that goodness can only come from Christ.  Seeing a line of cars stopped and waiting while an older gentleman with a cane and his younger family member cross the road together.  The woman who gives up her seat on the bus to a young mother and baby when the bus is full.  The fifth grade girl who quotes our lesson about "loving her neighbor" when I asked the group what their plans were for the rest of the day.  My supervisor and his wife inviting me to have dinner with their family when they have very busy lives between their own work and family lives here.  Receiving a gift of papaya from my watchy man Oscar when I know he doesn't have any too much money to buy things for others.  A Tico co-worker and his wife pulling me aside during the retreat to encourage me and affirm that they know it must be hard to live so far away from family and friends and that the Lord surely is and will continue to bless me for it. 

These are the moments that I want to hold on to when seeking the balance between the work and the difficulties and the simple joys and encouragements in life.  I'd like to challenge you to think of what you need to do to find that balance in your lives as well.  Thankfully, we are not left to do it on our own, but have the Holy Spirit living in us to guide and direct us.  But we need to listen to Him, and obey.  I'm speaking to the choir here.  :)

Here are some pics of what's being going on during this fall (and slower without North American students!) season here at SI Costa Rica:

Making cupcakes for a "Frozen" themed party for a ten year old friend

Beginning readers at the Centro

Of course we continue to bake delicious things at girls' club!

3rd graders making a map of the world all on their own.  Maybe not exactly proportional but a great job still.

15 de setiembre parade with my little blondie Tica friend

 

Hats, sombreros, beanies, gorras, fedoras...whatever you call them, I wear A LOT of them!

The other day I somehow got to thinking about the different "hats" that I wear as a staff member for SI Costa Rica.  When I taught first grade in California, I also wore a lot of hats, including being an educator of young minds, a nurse, a police officer in the classroom, a counselor, etc.  But working for a small, cross/multi-cultural and bilingual missions organization requires that I do different things at different times, sometimes at the same time.  It's quite difficult to explain to someone for the first time what it is exactly that we as SI do or more specifically, what I actually do.  I thought it would be fun to try and put into words some of the different hats/roles that I have.

Taxi driver- sometimes I drive around my non-licensed co-workers, our interns, our semester students, outreach members, take people to and from the airport, etc.  My Suzuki has gotten a lot of good use over the last 2 years of ownership!

Arts and crafts instructor- Wednesday and Thursday afternoons we have an art hour with the kids, and I always try to come up with different techniques using different materials that we are able to find here that won't be too expensive or complicated but also not too boring.  

Home-Ec teacher- Our girls' club on Fridays often has either a cooking or baking lesson as part of the agenda, or else we do a sewing or collage or decorative project to make their living space bright and also be connected to the Bible lesson.

Jump-rope turner, Jenga player, Uno champion...These are a few of the activities that I participate in when we have recreo or break time during our Tutoring Sessions.

In-House English language expert- Ok, maybe "expert" is not the right word, but being the only native English speaking working full-time at the Centro means a lot of my tutoring revolves about pronunciation, reading, and writing in English.

Costa Rican Tour Guide- Our short term teams, interns, and semester students all have day trips as part of their program or outreach experience here, and I certainly don't mind a free trip to the beach or flying across the rainforest via ziplines.

Bible teacher- Several times a week we intentionally open the Bibles with our students, and get to share about God's message of love for them.  These past months we have been going through the Fruit of the Spirit with our girls' club.  What a privilege to share with them the Word of the Lord!

Translator (of both languages and culture)- working with English speakers that come from the US and my Spanish speaking students requires A LOT of translating back and forth so that they can understand each other.  And a lot of times the translating is more than just the words they say, but the WHY based on their culture, family, background, etc. 

Accountant- I don't know why I ended up being the money manager for our site (my co-worker is a math guy by trade...) but I'm in charge of keeping receipts and making purchases for us and our needs and projects.  

Disciplinarian/Counselor- Working with 1st-6th graders in a small house means there are going to be interpersonal issues, and that requires Jose and I the fun job of disciplining and sometimes counseling to get to the deeper issues of why this behavior is occurring.

And of course, a Loving Educator- the core of my job is helping to support and challenge my students to do their best in school by reinforcing and practicing with them the skills that they are working on in their classrooms.  Seeing them successfully pass their tests and move on to each new grade level is a HUGE fruit of our labor at the Tutoring Center.

There are potentially some parts of the job that I am forgetting, but there are 11 of the different aspects of what it is I do and participate in on a regular basis.  Please keep me and the Tutoring Center in your prayers as sometimes wearing so many hats can mean that I can get a little crazy and feel all over the place!  But what a rewarding place to be, working with kiddos and young people and wanting to see each and every one of them come to know our God on a deep and personal level.  :)

Beauty all around

Costa Rica is a gorgeous country.  The rest of the world considers it to be a tropical and rain forest paradise, and I have been fortunate to be able to experience much of it's beauty in the almost 2 1/2 years that I have been living here.  I would like to say that I appreciate the "naturaleza" that I'm surrounded with on a daily basis and it doesn't get old seeing fantastically green coffee mountains on my drive to work, but that just isn't true.  Whatever our "normal" is, we seem to get used to and don't always see the beauty in it.  But there are those days where I'm driving into Los Guido to the Tutoring Center and am just in awe at how gorgeous the mountains are that surround this impoverished community that has grown so dear to my heart.  And on those days I'm thankful for the reminder that God is the creator of the Earth and is so creative in how He has expressed His glory in physical and visible ways. 
These are pics recently taken quite close to home:

A particularly gorgeous sunset, taken as I was getting gas in downtown Desamparados

A view from my bosses property, which is 10 minutes from my home

These past few months I have had the opportunity to be outdoors and experience some of the magnificent creation more than I normally do.  Some friends from Visalia were here studying Spanish and we had two unique adventures that I was so blessed to be able to see some new parts of the country.  As much as I feel like I have adapted to being more of a "city girl," there is something about being outdoors and experiencing God there that has no comparison.  May I never cease to be amazed and reminded of the magnificent God of creation!
 Below are a few pics from my time in the Arenal Volcano area and also on the Pacuare River.

Stephanie, Melanie, and I SO excited because Arenal was perfectly clear and visible!

Rio Pacuare

 

World Cup Madness

Before I moved to Costa Rica, I liked soccer just fine, but I wouldn't say I followed it or would consider it my favorite sport to watch.  My Frantz family members are very faithful Dodger baseball fans, and so I know a bit of what it's like to be obsessed at times with a sport and a team.  I was in Ecuador in 2006 for the World Cup and was able to experience a bit of the craziness that is a Latin American country when their country wins a World Cup game.  But NONE of my prior life experiences have prepared me for the mayhem and celebration that has been going on here in Costa Rica during this 2014 World Cup!

A little bit of history- as a small country in Central America (we have a population of about 4.5 million and can only boast of 19,700 square miles in land size), we typically are not a World Cup powerhouse or team to be feared.  In 1990 the Costa Rica "Sele" made it to second round of the World Cup tournament, but did not make it past that.  So the fact that Costa Rica made it to the top 8 this year is just HUGE.  I could go on and on about how cool it is that they made it as far as they did, but I figure if you care that much, you either a) already know all about what I would share with you or b) could Google search it and find out from someone who knows a whole lot more than me.  

Soccer is so very important to Latinos and, well, most of the rest of the world outside of the US.  And I do have some friends from the States who follow soccer and love to watch and/or play it, but I would not say that is the majority of the country's stance.  There are too many other sports to follow to give as much importance to soccer as the rest of the world does.  That being said, my students at the Tutoring Center, my neighbors, my Tico friends of staff with me, and most of the people I talk to LOVE soccer with all their hearts.  And it has been so fun to see the people come together to celebrate their country being represented on this world stage the past month and do so well.  It gives my kids in Los Guido hope that they too can fulfill their dreams and do something different than maybe the rest of the world might tell them they will become.  The rest of the world didn't think that Costa Rica had a chance to make it out of the first round of the tournament, and they made it to the final 8.   As cheesy as it sounds, I had tears in my eyes yesterday when the Costa Rica team took a knee together during the overtime penalty shots round, showing their solidarity together and support for one another.  Sure, at the end of the day it's just a game, but I think it has come to mean much more for Costa Ricans as a people this past month.  And I'm so glad to have been able to be here to be a part of it!

Here are some pictures taken over the past weeks as we watched and celebrated Costa Rica's wins together with friends and ministry partners:

Watching the first Costa Rica game at a local pizza place with intern friends

Our watch party celebrating after the first win!!

Watching Costa Rica vs Greece at our SI office with our team members here from the States

Celebrating in the streets of Desamparados after defeating Greece

Cheering on Costa Rica with some of my Tutoring Center kids on a Friday morning game

GOAL!!!!!!  Kids from the Tutoring Center watching and cheering together.

Making signs to support the Sele and decorate the garage for the watch party together

Community, a fluid concept...

What is community?  I remember that this particular word was thrown out a lot when I was a student at Fresno Pacific University.  We talked a lot about wanting to have community, to do life in community, to be a community, etc.  When I left Visalia, CA for Costa Rica, I was leaving behind several communities: the Malaga School community where I had worked for 5 1/2 years, the Neighborhood Church community where I had worshipped and served, my friendship group and our shared community there, and my Frantz family community.  

Now that I live in Desamparados and work in Los Guido, I am again part of several communities.  My Students International friends and co-workers are my main community here.  We work together, worship together, pray together, eat together, go to movies together, have those hard conversations together, etc.  One of the difficult but also wonderful things about the SI community is that we are almost always having people enter and exit our community; staying for a time to minister and grow together, and then, most of the time, returning to where they came from.  I have met wonderful friends from all over the US and even from other countries because of the time that they have been a part of the SI Costa Rica community.  I think most of the time I view this ever changing community as exciting and a great learning experience, but sometimes it takes a toll on the heart.  It is HARD to say hello and then goodbye to people you have grown to love.  

I guess I've just been thinking a lot lately about this interesting sort of "forced" community that I am a part of here and how unique and (sometimes) challenging of a situation it can be to have a small group of us that are constant and full-time and a much larger group that is coming and going.  It is a comfort and a source of strength to know that we have a God that is constant, that is full-time, that is here in Costa Rica and in Visalia and everywhere else, and knows the things that bring joy and pain to our hearts.  And I guess it's okay that even after two years of living here and being a part of this ever changing and growing community, it isn't always easy.  

Thanks for your prayers as I continue on this journey of allowing the Lord to be enough and the supplier of my needs rather than seeking that from others.  
Here are some pics of some of the awesome members of Tara's SI Costa Rica Community:

Having frozen yogurt with some dear British friends from church

Kids at the Centro enjoying our newly donated laptops!

One of the sweet little first graders that I work with regularly

My birthday dinner with these wonderful ladies and co-workers

Girls' club field trip to a local park

Let the pictures speak for themselves

I realized that I haven't posted any pictures on my blog in several months, so rather than be super wordy today, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  These are some of the highlights of the past few months. :)

4-6 graders with our fun high school ladies from Mississippi

Jose and me, along with Fresno Pacific semester students Francisco, Marina, and Alex

Awesome team members from Bethel University

Making silly photo booth accessories with Friday girls' club

Reading a bilingual book with one of my former English students

 

In Christ Alone

There in the ground, His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again

This hymn is so powerful and every time moves me to tears.  I think it's the truth of the statement and the reality that this event actually happened.  Jesus DID die for us, and on the third day, He rose again.  We did nothing to deserve it, nothing we could do would ever be good enough to earn it.  As good of a Christian and Jesus follower I may think I am being, I still will fall short every time.

Every Easter Sunday of my life, with the exception of my first year in Costa Rica, I have celebrated Jesus' death and resurrection with my family in Shafter.  This year it turned out that I needed to travel on this special day in order to be back for work in time, and it feels strange to be among strangers in an airport.  But it's amazing how God can speak to you whenever and wherever if you are available to listen.  So while I'd prefer to either be in Desamparados or Shafter rather than Phoenix this Easter morning, I am thankful that the truth of this song and of His redeeming love is unchanging.

Loving people is risky

March is a month that traditionally is quite full for SI-Costa Rica.  It is when we have spring break short term teams come and spend 9 days with us.  We had the SI Board members come for meetings and spend time encouraging and getting to know us as staff members.  We have semester students working as interns in our ministry sites.  And we have all the regular, everyday life and job stuff and needing to fit in a little "me" time on top of that.  Needless to say, March is exciting and fun and full of blessings, but also quite exhausting. 

In addition to all that, my heart feels burdened for needs in my community and needs in students that I have come to know.  There have been attempted suicides and awful parenting choices and children going hungry.  School is cancelled quite regularly for some of my students and that is a type of educational poverty that they are living with.  Short term students come with bagage of their own, whether that be choices that they have made in the past or difficult home situations.  It makes me wonder, "can I really make a difference?  Is what I'm trying to do worth it?"  And then I have to step back and think that it's NOT about me.  I wish I could feed all the children of Los Guido, but I can't.  And even if I could, that would only solve one part of the problem.  We talk a lot about poverty with our teams and as a staff, and have come to the conclusion that it is very complex.  There IS no easy solution. 

So what is one supposed to do?  That question in itself seems to be a very "northamerican" kind of mentality, thinking that if I just "do" more, a solution can be found.  And there are actions that the Lord requires of us and would like to see us do.  But I also want to continue to learn more about "being" who Jesus wants me to be.  To allow the Holy Spirit to live and work and shine in me.  We were talking in our staff meeting on Monday that we are to be the light of the world, but I can only shine that light that the Source of the light has allowed me to shine. 

That's where I'm at right now.  Probably have more questions than answers.  And the longer I work in Los Guido at the Tutoring Center and work with hurting Costa Rican kiddos and hurting North American teens and adults, the more questions come.  Loving people is hard and can be risky.  But I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit within me.  I'm thankful for Jesus and his grace.  And I'm thankful for the Mighty God that I serve.  Those things I am sure of. 

First day of school in February?!

All my life, January and February have been some of the coldest months of the year.  And this 2013-2014 winter season has heard the words "winter vortex" and similar phrases thrown around by those who live in the U.S.  But, on the contrary, these months are the summer months here in Costa Rica, and the months when the children are on vacation from school.  They end their school year at the beginning of December, and come back to school today, the 10th of February.  So what have we been doing in the Tutoring Center, you might ask, while the children have been on vacation?  

Jose and I have taken advantage of the time that the students have been off to have different educational workshops with them as well as spend some time on basic skills that many of them lack or need to improve upon.  We have spent time cooking together, doing science experiments, had a fun water day, held "elections" for a Tutoring Center president, and many other things.  One of my favorite days was this past week when we did a literary circle with our 4th-6th grade students.  It brings such joy to my heart to see the kids enjoy reading together, and being able to have comprehension discussions about what they have read.  We even had the students do an oral presentation with visual aids that they made about what we had read together.  I was so proud.  

This coming week will maybe be a bit slow at the Tutoring Center, as the kids are getting back into their school schedule and waking up early again.  But it has been fun to have 6 or so new students coming that weren't a part of our group last year, including one adorable little girl named Tara.  I am thankful for the time that we've had to invest in the kids before they went back to school.  It's important to us that they know we are here for them to help support them in their education, and we also want to continue to dig deeper into the Bible with them and their understanding of the God who loves them.  I look forward to this new school year together!

Here are some pics to highlight some of the fun that we have been having in January/February during the students' vacations:

Making helicopters from cardboard and pencils

Pan-flutes out of PVC pipes

Home made pretzels = yummy!

Two new first graders that are oh so cute

Water day with co-worker Diego in charge of games

They talked me into playing a game that involved shaving cream...

Playing Pictureka with our current semester students

Trying to convince the rest of the 4th-6th graders to vote for her for Tutoring Center president.  She won in the end. :)

The 5th and 6th graders that came to my house for a slumber party.  Lots of popcorn, marshmallows, giggles and screams, and little sleep.  But memories made.

  

Simple thanks

Pretty regularly, thought not as often as I would like, I sit down and reflect on simple things that I am thankful for.  I think that sometimes it is easy to pray to God for the things that we need or the areas that we are struggling in, and forget to have an attitude of thanksgiving throughout the year.  My heart and spirit are

always encouraged when I am able to take a step back and say thanks to the Lord for what He has done in and around me.  Here is my most recent prayer of thanks for some of those things:

Thank you for iced hazelnut coffee, for whispy white clouds, and for a living room full of laughter and friends.  Thanks for being able to bake with kids who don't always get to be "kids" at home, for heart to heart talks with co-workers at lunch, and for a bedroom with a beautiful view out the window.  Thank you for the way you created each and every one of us unique and gifted in so many different ways.  Thanks for books and music and nature that can all point us to you.  Thanks for the access to the Internet that allows me to have sweet time with my precious niece and to send silly pictures to my brothers and parents.  Thanks for my reliable car that gets me where I need to be, and for safety as I zip around this country of crazy roads and driving.  Thanks for the freedom to vote and to voice your opinion about politics and all that stuff that goes with it.  Thanks for friends who will call you out when you're being mean and who will encourage you when you're feeling down.  Thanks for hugs from little ones and for smiles and laughs.  Thank you for each and every day you give us on this Earth.  It is a gift and I pray that I will live it to the fullest.

I'm thankful for friends like Rose

Angry Bird pizza success with some of the older students

Science experiment with the younger students

My Costa Rica

 As I was riding the bus into San Jose this past week to go and pay our monthly rent, I was feeling a bit nostalgic about living in Costa Rica.  I had just spent an action packed 17 days in California, celebrating Christmas and spending time with dear friends and family, which was a wonderful time overall.  But I was ready to get back to my "normal" and my life here.  There are things I miss about California, one important one being Target.  Seriously, if Target made an appearance here, I think I might be able to stay forever.  ;)  But there are things that I have come to love about Costa Rica, specifically, my experience here in Desamparados, and I wanted to share a few of those here.

• Paying approximately fifty cents to ride the bus into San Jose from my home, which saves me the headache of one-way street driving and searching and paying for parking.
• Getting my oil changed by a nice gentleman who calls me "mi amor" and "mi reina."  He's not hitting on me and it's really only because he doesn't know my name- but if an oil change worker in CA called me "my queen" I think I might give him a dirty look.  It is just more acceptable and nice in Spanish.
• Greeting people and wishing them a happy new year days after the new year began.  I think the idea of greeting and saying goodbye to everyone who is in the room is a wonderful thing.
• My friendship with my "watchy-man" Oscar who guards the cars at the gym I attend.  I brought him some almonds and Dewar's candy and he told me that he had been wondering when I was coming back from my trip to California.  It's nice to be missed.  
• Costa Rican coffee just can't be beat.
• The beauty of the countryside...I am totally fine with the rainy season because of the gorgeous green that can be seen everywhere as a result.
• And my friends and SI family that is here.  I am so blessed by them.  

Beach time with these great friends and fellow SI staffers

Another beautiful sunset seen out my bedroom window