Tara Talk: Unplug. Just Be.

I've now been in Costa Rica for FOUR YEARS and have had the wonderful opportunity to do so many different things and encounter so many different people. Just like with any job, though, what I do at the Tutoring Center and the other programs that I participate in as a part of SI Costa Rica start to become normal and even routine at times. But the beginning of March I got to go with our ten semester students to Nicaragua and it was such a timely change of pace and overall fantastic experience.

Every semester program that we run here in Costa Rica has to leave the country for a bit and then return to be able to stay here legally for the four months. It's just the way the tourist visa thing works out. Anywho, it is convenient for us because we have a sister organization in Nicaragua and can travel there in about 10 hours via bus. I had told my director that I would be really interested in going to Nicaragua with the girls because I had only been once in 2013 and was ready to go back. So at 4 something in the morning we were picked up by a bus we had contracted to take us to the Tica Bus that would take us to Nicaragua, and we were off.

As the leader and the representative of SI Costa Rica who was going with the semester girls, I had to handle the money (not my favorite) and be the one to answer all their questions (and they had plenty), but we arrived safe and sound and quite sweaty. Something that is SUPER different about SI Costa Rica and SI Nicaragua is that we have our students and outreaches stay with local host families here, and in Nicaragua the short term teams stay on a base all together. This was really a bonus for myself and the 10 girls because it enabled us to have a lot of time to hang out together in the afternoons and evenings after going to the ministry sites during the days. AND we were spoiled and had the best food cooked for us every day by the women on staff at the base.

My role in going with the girls was to make sure we got to and from Nicaragua safely and legally, to love on them while there, and to learn from and encourage the SI staff that lives and works there. I think that God really taught me a lot that week, and not necessarily the things I would have expected to be taught. First of all, I formed some unlikely friendships because of my being willing to step out of my comfort zone and talk to people that I could have easily not engaged in conversation with. One specific example of that was one of the housekeeping staff at the SI base that I started a conversation with on Monday. I had come to Nicaragua with a pretty significant cold, and so I stayed back while the girls all went off to their different ministry sites. After sleeping most of the morning, I wanted to spend some alone time with God, so I took my Bible and journal outside of the room I was staying in to sit outside. That's when Rosa came up to our room and was going to come in and clean since she saw that I was out and about. We exchanged the polite "hola" greeting, and then I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me that I should talk to her. So, despite my cold and despite my nervousness to talk to a stranger in Spanish (I still have that fear sometimes, even after 4 years of daily speaking Spanish...) we ended up having a really wonderful conversation and I learned a lot about her and her about me. It was a really special time for me, and I would have totally missed out on that blessing and being able to encourage her that day if I would have just pretended I didn't speak Spanish and kept to myself. At the end of the week, I found myself quite emotional when I was saying goodbye and thank you to her for her service. The Lord certainly works in mysterious ways.

I saw other opportunities over that week when the Lord was leading me towards a certain conversation or topic with someone and I had to make a choice whether I was going to be obedient or not. I think sometimes it is just way easier to keep quiet or keep it at a surface level with our conversations with people. How often do we feel that tug at our hearts, that prodding to ask that question or to start that chat? We just get so busy and don't always have time for people like we should, or at least, that's what we tell ourselves. Something that was so special about being on the base in Nicaragua was that we didn't have cell or internet service, so we literally had no choice but to talk to each other and fellowship with one another. I sometimes really regret the way that technology seems to have taken over our lives and interrupts just "being" with each other.

There is so much more that I could share about Nicaragua. I was impressed and encouraged by what's going on at the Education, Women's Social Work, Agriculture and many other ministry sites there. We had a blast singing "Where's the Monkey?" when we went on a little boat trip on Lake Nicaragua. I was blessed to have coffee with Maggie and have her pour into me as she's done every time I've seen her over the past four years. And being encouraged by the mature spiritual conversations I participated in with these college students was such a gift. Let me encourage you, dear reader, to take time to "unplug" every once in a while so that you can invest in those around you, perhaps make a new friend, and be available to the leading of the Spirit. He is so faithful to teach us when we are paying attention.

Some pics to share from our time in Nicaragua: