Semana Santa

This week is what Latin America calls Semana Santa.  It is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, and there are lots of activities going on around Desamparados (and the entire country) relating to the death and resurrection of Christ.  Yesterday (Good Friday) I went downtown to see some of the processions that were going on around the big Catholic church.  There were tons of people there, watching or participating in the "parade" with the giant Mary statue and some other statues of people we weren't quite sure who they were.  Perhaps Peter since it seemed like he was holding a ring of keys.  There was also a statue of Jesus holding the cross on his back.  There were children walking in the parade that looked like Roman soldiers, people waving bags of incense, young girls dressed in long flowy outfits, and many people carrying the statues on their shoulders.  It was interesting to see how serious everyone was in the procession, and it made me kind of sad at the same time. Below is a picture of my friend Rebecca and I at the procession enjoying copas, which are sickeningly sweet snow cones.  Refreshing on a hot morning. 

The thing about Semana Santa is that many businesses are shut down around here, as well as most people make a mass exodus for the beach, their relatives' home, etc.  My host family took off for the second half of the week, and to be honest, I've really enjoyed the quiet house to myself!  I've been realizing that it is a really big deal to go from being pretty independent with my own car, room, bathroom, schedule, cooking for myself, doing my own laundry, etc.  Here I have none of those things, besides my own room, and that's been difficult!  My value of having independent time has been challenged to say the least.  

This morning I went out exploring with my friend (and future roommate) Cailah and her brother.  There is a mountain behind her house that is full of coffee plants, bamboo forests, and many other types of flora and fauna.  It was a really fun adventure that we went on and I look forward to returning to the "jungle" behind my future home.  Here are some photos from our morning:

Coffee plants growing

Looking out over Los Guido and the valley

Cailah and me (with lots of sunscreen and bug spray!)

Walking through the bamboo forest, with my trusty water bottle of course!

Cailah swinging from a long, sturdy vine.

A day in the life of a language school student...

Hello friends, I was just thinking that you might be interested to hear what a day in the life of Tara the language student looks like!  To be honest, I don't feel very much like a "missionary" right now, but as my friend Stephanie reminded me the other day, language school is a very important part of the job of a missionary.  If I can't speak Spanish effectively, I won't be able to do my job.  So saying, that's what I've been trying to view this time of language school as-  job training for the future.  Is it super fun, full of adventures, and rewarding on a daily basis?  No.  It's actually been pretty challenging, and in ways that are different than what I had anticipated.  

So a normal day goes like this: I wake up around 6:45 and take a shower in the bathroom that I share with the five members of my host family.  Usually my host mom or dad has made coffee and some sort of sand which for me to have for breakfast.  Today I had bread with spaghetti sauce and meatballs, along with a slice of cheese inside.  I leave the house around 7:50 to walk to the language school.  From 8-9:45 I have class with Jorge, which is a conversation and composition class.  There is a break from 9:45-10:15, which is when I am able to sit outside on the patio and soak up the sun while enjoying some quiet time with the Lord.  Then from 10:15-12 I have grammar class with Roberto.  This is the class that is presenting me with the most challenges.  Does anyone (besides my friends who teach English) really like grammar?  I didn't think so.  My walk from the language school back to my home is one of my favorite times of the day because the clouds usually are large and fluffy in contrast to the bright blue sky.  (Now I realize I moved here during the non-rainy season so we'll see how the scenery changes in the next few months.)

Lunch is served shortly after I get back to the house and depending of how I feel, I will sometimes take a nap in the early afternoon.  Then it's homework time.  My professors usually are pretty generous in giving me plenty to work on.  Today, for example, I have about 10 sentences to write using reflexive verbs and 4 pages of grammar exercises to complete.  Hooray!!  Thankfully I have a host family who LOVE to help with any questions I have, and I am very appreciate of their help.  After homework time, it's either time to enjoy cafecita with my family (which consists of coffee or agua dulce, and some delicious bread treat) or go to the gym.  The gym is a lot different than at home, and one of the differences is a really nice one I think.  There are personal trainers here who wear shirts that say "instructor" on them.  These young men walk around the gym and offer their advice and expertise to anyone who looks like they might need it.  Like me, apparently.  Hopefully I will end up learning how to hold the dumb bells correctly and do my tricep dips effectively.

The evening is time for hanging out with my family, enjoying dinner together, and watching "Combate" together, which is a pretty entertaining reality show filmed here in Costa Rica.  I really enjoy the time of laughing and being silly with the girls in the family, as you can see here in these pictures we took on my computer.  

I'm thankful for being placed with a family that loves each other and having me here too.  There have been lonely times already since I've been here...I mean, I left a really wonderful group of girlfriends and a top notch family in California.  But I expect that those days will happen.  And days of laughing with my host family and feeling like I actually AM LEARNING Spanish will come too.  You gotta take the positive with the challenging.  Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.  :)

Jesus heals the deaf and mute man

I realize this is a strange title for a blog that´s mainly about my adventures.  This past week I started language school, and since I´m the ONLY (that´s right, just me) student at the school, I have a 30 minute break every day, all to myself.  Rather than sit around bored, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful patio and sunshine there and spend some time with the Lord everyday. Today I was reading in Mark 7 about when Jesus healed the deaf and mute man, and I thought I´d share some things I took away from the passage.  I usually like to write in my journal as though I´m praying/talking to Jesus, which is why I say "you" in my writing...

Several things about this story are indicative of your character and are exemplary for us. 1) You took the needy man aside and focused on just him. You don´t just lump us (as humans) all together, heal us, love us, teach us, etc. all at once and in the same way. You want to minister to us apart from others, to let us know we are each different and special to you. 

2) You physically touched a man that society ignored and/or didn´t know what o do with. Saying the words "you are healed" could haved worked, but you must have known that this man needed a physical touch. To be honest, it sounds pretty gross to stick your finger in a person´s ear and to put your own spit on your fingers and touch another person´s tongue with it. But you did not think it was below you. Who may need a physical touch today, that I could share your love with in this way?

 3) You looked up at heaven, recognizing where your authority and strength came from. Jesus is God´s son, and yet he recognized that he needed Father God in order to perform this miracle, to give this deaf man the healing he needed. I (Tara) cannot do ¨great things¨on my own. I need to follow the example of Jesus and look to heaven as the source of my power and strength. Easier said than done. But seriously, who am I to be able to do anything on my own?  I´m Tara, the young lady with her clumsy Spanish and a heart for people- that´s what I am, and I need you to strengthen me and provide for me in all the areas that I come up short. May I not be afraid to touch ears and tongues if that is what you desire me to do to show your love.

First paseo (or day trip) in Costa Rica!

Hola de Costa Rica!  I wanted to post a few pictures to show my host family and some of the beautiful places I got to see when they took me on a paseo last Sunday.  I have been blessed with a host family who really wants to make me feel included, feed me well :), and show me some of their beautiful country.  My brain is full of Spanish from all the wonderful conversations we have had already.  Por ejemplo, I have tried to explain about being on a jury and about I came to be a part of Students International, all in Spanish.  Needless to say, I am making a ton of mistakes, but also learning a lot about the language, culture, and comida tipica (common meals eaten by Costa Ricans).  Language school starts on Monday and I look forward to having a daily schedule and starting to learn in the classroom setting.

My host sisters and I

Host family minus dad

 

 

The whole family!

 

 

Dancing together at the ferria

Hello, Goodbye

(HELLO) I would like to introduce the newest addition to the clan: Kate Annmarie Frantz!  My brother and sister in law's baby was born on Saturday morning at 12:45am and I was so blessed to be able to be there for the big event.  Once again, the Lord's timing has just been amazing and it was so special to be able to attend my goodbye party thrown by my friends and then leave in time to get to the hospital before she arrived that same night.  Below are some pictures of her:

(GOODBYE)This past week I have said goodbye to so many people that I feel emotionally exhausted.  In my SPLICE program we talked about the importance of saying "good goodbyes" with the people in our lives.  Thursday night was a special time of prayer and gift giving with my ladies that I've been meeting with on a weekly basis.  I received a photo book filled with photos of adventures and life lived over the past six years.  They also gifted me with a beautiful green camel-back backpack to help keep me hydrated on future hikes and outdoor adventures.  :)  

Friday night we had an open house for friends and church members from Visalia and then an after party of thai food and Beatles rockband.  It was so fun to see friends from high school, college, youth group students, Costa Rica teammates from last summer, and other.  Saturday I met my niece as mentioned above and then had a dinner with my extended family.  They were so wonderful and blessed me with tri-tip, brownies, zweibok, and a time of prayer for me.  I am leaving knowing that I have a strong and supportive network of prayer and encouragement in the form of family.

Sunday was when I was prayed for on stage and also was celebrated at youth group.  My junior girls group was very sweet and blessed me with a delicious dinner and time of hanging out and saying goodbye together.  This group is a hard group to say goodbye to, but I know that I will be seeing a good chunk of them in July when the youth group comes to work with my staff and me in Costa Rica!

Being prayed for on stage at Neighborhood Church.

 

Grandpa

Jesus gave me a special gift, and that was that I was able to be in Shafter with my family when Grandpa Roger went to be with the Lord.  Thank you, Jesus, for I know it would have been just devastating for me to have already moved to Costa Rica and to miss saying goodbye.  We had his service today and was so blessed to see all of the people there to honor such a godly and wonderful man.  We will miss him a lot and are sad at our loss, but we have peace knowing that he is with his Heavenly Father forever.  Here are some pictures from the past few years of my sweet Grandpa:

Cheering on his favorite team!

At the MCC Sale, zweibok in hand.

The entire Frantz clan, Christmas 2011

Granner and Grandpa together, borrowed from Toni's blog. :)

LOVE

I was realizing the other day that I've been "off work" for almost two months now; however, there has hardly been a day that has gone by that I haven't been doing something of importance.  Ok, there maybe was a day where I caught up on "Once Upon A Time" episodes on ABC.com, but for the most part, I feel like I've been using my time wisely.  I've already talked about the first part of my training time in Colorado so I don't need to revisit that.  The final week was one of encouragement and commissioning for the most part.  My "growth group" that I was assigned to while at my training was a HUGE blessing to me.  Each of the other five ladies and I had one on one time where we got together to talk about some of the strengths that we saw in each other.  Granted, we had only known each other for three weeks, but we had some pretty intense conversations and time spent together.  I was so encouraged to have positive affirmations from these ladies, and a recurring theme that I heard was that I'm quite "brave" to be moving to Costa Rica as a single person.  It's so interesting to hear that because I shared with those of them who had children that I thought they were so brave, when they were saying the same thing to me!  Much love goes to Kassie, Jill, Sharon, Alicia and Jen from my growth group.  I learned so much and was so encouraged by these ladies.

Since returning to sunny California (well, maybe not sunny this week...) I have been able to spend time with some people I love and began to say my goodbyes.  I thought I would post some of the pictures below.

Visiting my good friend Alisa in San Diego.  She took me to the zoo for free! :)

She also drove me to the zoo on her scooter.  That was a first for me, and look, I'm still smiling!

A day/night away at Pismo with my dear co-workers from Malaga School.  Most of these ladies I have seen on a daily basis for the past five and a half years and I will miss them a lot.

Valentine's date with Rose (L) and Mackenzie, my future fellow staff members in Costa Rica.  They both live in Fresno so we got to hang out before I move.