Livin' out of a suitcase (on the road again!)

I feel like I need to explain myself and why I'm doing all this traveling in the month of March.  The assumption is that "missionaries" such as myself don't have a lot of money and we all know that traveling to other countries is not cheap.  And yet, in the month of March, I will have been to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and California.  Well, I DON'T have a lot of money, but do have a pretty cool job that involves trips sometimes and also have some generous parents who want to celebrate birthdays and Easter with me there.

The Nicaragua trip was really great and served a few purposes- it allowed the Fresno Pacific semester students to renew their tourists visas, it gave us a chance to serve with SI-Nicaragua, and it allowed me to get to know these college students better on this mini missions trip/spiritual retreat.  While I was in Nicaragua, Jose was manning the Tutoring Center, so studying went on without me there.:) We had a fantastic time and I was so blessed to be able to spend time with the SI-Nicaragua staff that I had met last year at my 3-week conference in Colorado.  And we were so fortunate to have wonderful weather and not the dreaded heat we had been warned about.  Below are some photos from our time in Nicaragua:

The entire FPU group with "The Potter".  He did a wonderful job of transforming a lump of clay into a beautiful piece of art, talking about how God does the same thing with each of His children.

Kneading the clay to be ready to shape it

Spinning the pot while reading in the Bible about the Potter and the clay

Beautiful finished pieces

View of Granada, Nicaragua and Lake Nicaragua

Not great lighting but some of the girls on top of the bell tower in Granada

Lake Nicaragua and a volcano in the background

Having dinner together

Tomorrow evening I fly to Antigua, Guatemala for the weekend.  When I went to California over Christmas, I had a horrible time getting home, which resulted in a voucher from Taca Airlines for a future flight.  When I got the invitation to go to our friend Nick's wedding in Guatemala, I decided I would cash in that voucher and go!  I'm really looking forward to seeing another part of Central America and celebrate this wedding with some of my friends from Costa Rica and also friends in Guatemala.  Another cool thing is that we have a sister SI site in Guatemala so I am going to be staying with some staff members there.  

And on Palm Sunday, I will be flying to California!  My parents decided that since my 30th birthday will be in May and right in the middle of our busy team season, they wanted to fly me home to celebrate it early over Semana Santa (Easter Vacation) because I have that time off.  We will also get to celebrate my niece's birthday and Easter all together.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and some of my dear friends again very soon!

Traveling is exhausting but always worth it and I'm thankful for my own March Madness and all that it has included (and has in store for the next few weeks!)

Everyone's got a story to tell

This week has been quite trying for me.  My wonderful work partner, Jose, got married last Saturday and has been on his honeymoon this week, which means I've been at the Tutoring Center on my own.  I realized how much I appreciate having someone else there to bounce ideas off of, share in the responsibilities (and discipline), and also to help me explain myself when I'm not able to find the words to use in Spanish.  I also made the mistake of allowing too many kids in during our tutoring sessions because I have a hard time turning kids away.  The truth is, I cannot manage 12 students who are all working on different homework/practices in Spanish and need to have things explained to them and work revised.  I am not Wonder Woman.  That being said, I also learned this week that the Lord supplies my needs when I breathe out those short "Help me," or "Jesus!" prayers, such as I did this week.  

In spite of a crazy week, I feel like God is teaching me more about His people and His heart through some of the stories that people shared with me or that I was a part of this week.  At church this week we were reading about Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis, but looking more intently at Abraham's servant and the emphasis he placed on a daily, ongoing relationship with the God of Abraham as demonstrated by the way he prayed to the Lord about everything.  One of the high school boys from the community where I work was sharing with me that his "normal" is that his father moved out when he was young and that his mother has had a string of boyfriends since then.  When I asked him if it is hard for him to see his mom with men that aren't his father, he responded that it is just the way it is here and he doesn't think of it as anything strange.  Wednesday night we had an evening discussing poverty and what the Bible has to say about it with our semester students.  It's challenging and also encouraging to know a bit of God's heart on this subject and as Christians we have quite a responsibility to care for the body of Christ.  And there was the conversation we had in girls' club on Friday about sexual purity, wanting to make different choices than their mothers and family members before them, and other similar topics.  Such wisdom from these young girls, and I just want to take them all home and protect them from this sinful world.  

When I think about all the conversations I have with students from age 6 all the way to age 26+, it's no wonder I feel mentally and emotionally exhausted sometimes!  Working with people is hard and always will be hard because of the investment it requires.  But it is worth it.  It is so exciting to see those "light bulbs" click on or to hear that person open up to you who hadn't done so before.  And just like being a teacher in the States, I know that my time with each "student" that I work with is limited, and at the end of the day, they go to their home and I am not there to have influence.  It broke my heart to know where some of my Malaga students were going home to in Fowler, CA, and it breaks my heart knowing what goes on or who isn't going to eat that night in Los Guido, Costa Rica.  But that is why I want to love them and show them Jesus when I can, when I have them.  That's my responsibility and I have to trust that God is bigger than me and Students International and can and will work in their hearts and lives as well.  He doesn't need us at all.  He could do it all on His own, as one of my FPU friends said on Wednesday night.  But He asks us to join in.  Thank you, Lord.  Thank you that you want us/me, even though we are broken people.

Cailah, Emily, and our favorite little guy Joab at Jose's wedding

The happy couple

The ladies of SI-Costa Rica: Cailah, Emily, Tracey, Cindy and Tara

The rooster that kept wandering around during the reception.  We said it looked like he had feather Ugs on his legs. :)

Wanna know what I've been doing with my time?!

Rather than write out a regular post, I'm gonna highlight what my past week looked like.  It was pretty packed!

Monday: Staff meeting in the morning with all of our SI-Costa Rica staff.  Prayer time, worship, discussion of the "lost" parables that Jesus speaks about, and then our business meeting.  Lunch with Cailah and intern friend Emily.  Chat with a friend in California and then prep time for the week.  Dance class at the gym, dinner, and then bedtime!

Tuesday: Met up with the semester students before work to show them how to walk to the bus stop and then rode the bus to Los Guido and the tutoring center together.  Sports site and Tutoring Center site all together for lunch.  Rode bus home with them all.  Went out to dinner with some new friends I met at church (yippee!) and had a wonderful time.

Wednesday: Normal day at the tutoring center, I taught an art lesson using heart stencils, crayons, and watercolors.  Took semester students home in my car today.  Came home, cleaned up our house a bit and made brownies.  Made some really yummy pad Thai for dinner.  :)  Semester students came over after dinner for Bible study and hang out time.  Drove two rounds of students home around 9:00 and then called it a day.

Thursday: Before work prayer time with my co-worker ladies.  A blessing to be able to do that together.  Drove semester students to work with me.  Pipe exploded during "recess" time and our intern William had to go buy glue to fix it.  Art time again in the afternoon.  I stayed at the Centro and did last minute planning for my English class.  5-6:15pm class with nine 18ish year old boys.  They joked with me a lot so I think we are making some headway in our friendships.  Watched some tv after dinner and went to bed.  EXHAUSTING day!

Friday: Girls' club at the Centro, we made muffins and talked about Esther and where true beauty comes from.  Every seat in the Centro full during lunch with Sports, Micro finance and Tutoring all together.  Small group there for library time and got to love on some sweet little boys.  Had one of my English students call me and ask if we can study next week during lunch time for an English test he is going to have at school.  Crashed for a few hours after work, dance class at the gym, watched (and sang along to) The Phantom of the Opera with Cailah.

Saturday: Planned on sleeping in but my body thought otherwise.  Pretty relaxing day including going to the Farmer's Market, writing a blog post :), catching up with some friends in the States, and maybe going to a $5 movie tonight.

Not all weeks look like that, but it's not all that abnormal.  Makes me realize my need to depend on the Lord for my strength everyday and take one day at a time.  And after walking to the bus stop and taking the bus to work on Tuesday, I was reminded again how thankful I am for the car that I have.  Pray for me as my mind sometimes is spinning in what I need to be planning for and focusing on at the moment.  I like the business but also want to take care of myself.

Here are some pictures of an excursion I went on last Saturday with the semester students to the Volcano Irazu and the beautiful Orosi Valley lookout:

 

Weeks like this...

This was the first week back working with the kids in Los Guido at the Tutoring Center.  They aren't in school yet ("summer vacation" ends and school begins the 6th of February) so we have been doing fun workshop type activities with them.  I've appreciated this time to be able to be more relational with the kids, just enjoying them as individuals and allowing them to express some of their creativity through art.  My week has been filled with more than just doing art with the kids at the Centro, and I feel like I've been reminded numerous times recently that I am here for a reason and that our presence in the community is making a difference.

There's the 15 girls that came to girls' club today to read God's Word and pray together, to catch up on life, and to make yummy popcorn balls.  There's the 8 teenage boys that came to the meeting about English class and are looking forward to getting started in a few weeks.  (That's double the number of boys I had in my class in the fall!)  There's the 6th grade girl who sometimes acts like she likes me, sometimes the opposite, who came to our workshops this week and told me that she wants to come and study with us this school year.  There's my sixteen year old friend who dropped out of school after having to repeat 5th grade several times and has been pretty discouraged with what she was going to do in life who now has a plan to enroll in beauty school and is excited about it.  And there's the group of 14 college students from Fresno Pacific University who were in my living room on Wednesday night for "family night" and are eager to dive into Spanish and joining us at our ministry sites.  

My job duties are more diverse than I had forseen myself being a part of when I signed on with SI-Costa Rica, but I think that every single part of what I'm doing stems from a different passion that I have and God wants to use me in.  Teaching English is something I've been trained to do, albeit, with 1st graders.  Youth ministry and working with a girls' small group is a big part of my heart.  Working with children on reading, writing, math, science, etc, is where my vocational experience lies.  And student life and interacting with college students is something I want to learn more about and am excited about being a part of.  Please pray for me as there are a lot of different areas I'm involved in and want to serve each group well. 

Jam-packed, fun-filled California visit

As I am sitting in the LAX airport waiting to return to Costa Rica, I have some time to reflect on the last three weeks that I've spent with friends and family in California.  (Thank you, LAX, for your free wifi!)  Since I had not returned to California since I moved to Costa Rica in March, I wasn't sure how the visit was going to be.  Would I feel really strange seeing familiar people and places but knowing that I don't live there anymore?  Will I be able to really connect with people or will it all feel very rushed and more surface level?  I had been praying before I left about not having extremely high expectations about my visits with people in the sense that I would take what I could get and not be disappointed if our chats were shorter than I would have preferred.  

In less than three weeks, I spent time in Huntington Beach, San Diego, Merced, Shafter, Visalia, and Pismo Beach.  I hardly ate a meal on my own but enjoyed so many delicious delicacies I had been craving for the past few months.  (Costa Rica is great for a lot of reasons, but in my opinion, not for it's fantastic cuisine).  It was as though my brain flipped a switch and I was suddenly in "California mode."  I realize I have not been gone that long all things considered, but I was still wondering how driving here and speaking only English would go.  I was so blessed with every dear friend and family member that I was able to love on and catch up with.  A lot of the questions were the same- "what's your favorite thing about Costa Rica?  What do you do, exactly?  How long do you think you are going to be there?  When is your next trip home?"  And what a blessing to hear that people actually read my blog and feel like that's been a good way for them to keep up with me! :)

I would ask that you would pray for me as I go back because I anticipate that transition to be a bit of a challenge.  These past few weeks have been full of all the people I love in California, and my life in Costa Rica contains much less of a community of people.  I pray that I will continue to invest in the community that I have there, in my students, and that I also will be brave and step out of my comfort zone a bit in order to make more friends in Costa Rica. 

Something that is kind of strange to say but that encouraged me while I've been talking to friends and family is the realization that everyone has challenges in their lives and I'm glad to know that I am not alone in that.  Sometimes I can get in this mindset that "so and so" has it all together and that life is so much easier/happier/whatever for them.  That is simply not true.  And I was reminded that a life without Christ is a life that is dark and hard and without hope.  So the grass is NOT greener on the other side, and these are the challenges that I have in my life.  My friend has her own.  But we are not alone, we have the Lord.  And we have family and friends who love us and want to walk alongside us through the trials and joys.  Thank you to all of you who do that for me.

Here are some highlight photos from my CA tour (don't have any photos from Visalia uploaded, sorry!):

The most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas officially arrived in Los Guido on Thanksgiving day actually, when I saw a man dressed in a Santa outfit on my way home from work.  It was not your typical Santa getup, but it was, in fact, blue.

There have been a lot of events that we had done to end out the 2012 year and our ministry sites on a celebratory note.  School is (almost) out for the next month and a half or so, as the schools here are on the opposite schedule of those in the States and have their long break now and their two-week break in July.  It's been such a blessing to hear student after student come and let us know that they will be passing to the next grade when the next school year begins in February.  Moments to rejoice with them as I think back to all the times we have studied together over the past months.

As a fundraiser for some of the needs that we have at the Tutoring Center and in our other ministry sites, our staff of SI-Costa Rica has put together a catalog with our "wish list."  It is extremely helpful for us at the Tutoring Center to have the textbooks that the kids use in school but maybe cannot afford to own themselves, and this is a way that you could help us have a complete set for each grade level we work with.  Please check out this link if you would be interested in helping our ministry site or another of our other sites out this Christmas season!http://tinyurl.com/SICRGiftCatalog 

Here's a quick look at some of the happenings in my corner of the world as we anticipate Christmas and the closing of our ministry sites for a few weeks:

Graham cracker houses made in girls' club

Day trip with intern friend Karissa and some Tico friends to beautiful Orosi

Dinner at my house with English class students

Coffee filter angels

Mixing up cookie dough batter

Last day trip to the beach of 2012

Couldn't resist a gorgeous sunset picture

Our tutoring center kiddos at our end of the year cafecito

Playing Bingo with the kids outside the Centro

Thanks

I try at least once a week to list Joys/Blessings/Things I'm Thankful for in my journal.  It is something that was suggested to us at the training in Colorado last January and it is a really good practice for me to continue to focus on those little (or big!) blessings.  Facebook has exploded as of late with "thankful" status updates, and this is a very welcome change from posts about the Giants winning the World Series (Boo!) or anti-Obama (or Romney) posts that were over-abundant for a while.  Lately I've been really looking forward to my California visit in a month and it's been more of a challenge to stay engaged here in Costa Rica.  It's been over 8 months since I've seen my family and friends, and I'm really eager to see them!  But focusing on the good things here and now is a way for me to continue to take one day at a time and love on the kids here.

An excerpt of my blessings/thanks as of late:

• Getting a video of my healthy, happy, overachiever little niece Kate Annmarie who brings so much joy to my family
• Friends Karissa, Karis and Emily who are here to serve with us for a while- they have been a blessing to my heart and an answer to prayer for friends during this season
• Wednesday 1/2 priced movies at the local theater (can't beat $3 new released movies!)
• Encouraging visit from fellow SI friends Lowell and Cheryl, serving in Nicaragua
• My car and all the freedom and convenience that it brings
• Good communication and teamwork with my co-worker Jose
• Kids who LOVE to read at the Tutoring Center
• Fun English class students who want to continue learning from me
• "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

If you are in need of some encouragement during a challenging season of life, I'd encourage you to take some time to write out some blessings and things you are thankful for, no matter how small.  :)

As a first grade teacher at heart, this brings me much joy.  :)