Lately

I've been here over 5 months now and sometimes it feels like longer and sometimes like it has been only a brief time.  I try to make this blog about my journey and the adventure that God has me on, and I would be lying to say that every day is full of excitement and sunshine.  Sometimes it resembles more closely the rain that is literally falling from the sky as I type this.  I guess in order to keep it real, I thought I would name some of the things and people that I have been missing lately.

Dad and Mom, Peter Toni and Baby Kate, and Aaron

My grandparents, especially Grandpa Roger who is with Jesus

Visalia and all the friends that are there

Neighborhood Church, especially the youth group students

California in general and friends spread out from San Diego up to Manteca

Target, WinCo, Healthy Japan and Chipotle

My Mazda

Malaga School and my "family" there

I knew coming here that I was leaving all of these special people and places behind, and I am so thankful for the Internet as a way to keep in communication quite easily most days, but that doesn't mean that I don't wish some days I had my girlfriends to go to dinner with or could go over and hold my niece.  I'd ask that you'd pray for me in this, that I would continue to feel the Lord's peace and contentment on a daily basis.  And also that I would continue to grow and strenghten the relationships that I'm building here, with my fellow SI teammates and with the kids that I work with in Los Guido.  I also pray that God would bring new friends into my life that I could spend time with and invest in as well.

On the flipside, we had an SI family dinner at my house last night and had a great time together!  I am thankful for what a fun and godly group of people they are.  Here are a few pictures from our "stripes" themed party.

The Least of These

Today was a difficult day for me emotionally.  Some days it hits me more than others, and today was one of those days.  I would like to share my journal entry from the morning and some of the other related thoughts I had today.

 

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

This verse comes to mind as I sit up here on my window sill and watch a man digging through trash and bags of clothes that my neighbors have discarded on this trash pick up day.  What has happened in his life that brought him to this place, to be a trash digger?  It makes me sad, and yet I am reminded that he is your child as much as I am your child.  My kids at the tutoring center may or may not come from similar homes- I've seen where some of them live and it is hard to take in- but they are your children just like me.  I wonder if this mans feels valued by you, knows your love for him?  What could I do for him that wouldn't be something that would just make me feel better?  I don't have an answer for that.  

I am grateful for my chance to be here for this chapter of my life, to invest in some of the children that the world may overlook or forget about.  Desamparados, the city where I live, literally means "the forgotten ones" in Spanish.  That is not true though, they are not forgotten, and you, Lord, know that more than anyone else.  Jesus, give me your eyes to see your children as you do and to know you love them just as you love me.

I was further reminded of this as I saw a mom with an infant on the bus today.  No fancy baby toys or stroller or anything at all really, but just the love she had for her newborn child.  The man that I saw with the prosthetic leg as I got off the bus.  I could easily look at him and feel bad for him, but he was smiling and appeared to be loving the sun shining and talking with his friends.  And then there's my friend from Los Guido who is 15 and in 5th grade for the third time.  What do I have in common with this young woman and how can I show her that she is valued and precious?  I'm thankful that I am going to be here for the next few years so that I will have time to invest in her and continue to remind her every time I see her that God loves her and I do too.  

It is not easy seeing people who seem to be "forgotten" by society or social norms or what have you, but Jesus loves them so very much.  I'm thankful that he showed me a little glimpse of that today.

Two worlds collide

Since I moved here in March, everyone (with the exception of two of our summer interns) have been new friends and co-workers to get to know.  That means having to start from the beginning when it comes to sharing about myself and learning about them.  I've been able to keep in touch okay with friends and family from home, but it's just not the same as having loved ones here in the same place with me.

This past short term team that was here was the high schoolers from my home church, Neighborhood Church, in Visalia, along with three of my dear friends as leaders of the team.  What a crazy feeling to see all these familiar faces at the airport when I went to meet them!  The team was made up of 29 of them, with 11 of the students being my senior girls that I've known, loved, mentored, and lived life with since they were seventh graders.  Needless to say, it was a very special time to have them here with me for two weeks.

One of the highlights for me was to have co-leader and dear friend Jessica and our senior girls over to my house here in Desamparados for dinner and games.  I have missed spending time with them and hearing about their lives, and so I cherished the laughs we shared that evening.  I tried to make the most of walks to the bus stop, riding on the bus, lunch breaks, trip to the beach, etc. to connect with my girls as well as with the other students from Neighborhood.  To be honest, at times it was difficult for me emotionally because I really wanted to have special, meaningful time with all of them, and this was hard amidst the business of working and after work responsibilities.  But, at the end of the day, I am so thankful that they were here and got to be a part of my new life in Costa Rica.  It was really hard to say goodbye (for the second time) but this time I know that it will be Christmas vacation in a few short months and I'll be able to see them again.

Here are some highlights of my time spent with loved ones from Visalia:

Stephanie, who wasn't on the Costa Rica team, but was on the Peru team, so I got to see her while she had a layover in Costa Rica! :)

Dear friends Jessica and Noel who got to work with me everyday in the Tutoring Center.

My two senior girls Alisha and Alexis who were with me at the tutoring center.

Trying coffee at culture night

The Tutoring Center crew taking a walk around Los Guido

Loving the tres leches cake with Britley and Arianna

I loved seeing my sweet little blond friend Cecelia Grace Haynes again!

Senior girls dinner at my house

Some of my girls and I enjoying the beach together

The girls in the morning before we headed out to ministry sites

The entire Neighborhood Church team and Students International staff

A revolving door

Yesterday I was chatting with a friend of mine about life here as an SI Costa Rica staff person.  Just as a reminder, there are two main part to my job here: working with and ministering to the children of Los Guido in the Tutoring Center, and working with the short term teams that come down to partner with us for two weeks at our ministry sites.  Yesterday the third team of the summer left, and I found myself feeling kind of sad and down in the afternoon after I said goodbye to them at the airport.  I was telling my friend later that I knew that this was what it was going to be like; meeting new people, investing in them, serving alongside them, and then saying goodbye to them a short time later.  I've done camp ministry in the past, been a teacher to six different groups of first graders, and obviously said "goodbye" to my entire family and group of friends to move here.  But the hellos and goodbyes are going to be a way of life for me here, and I don't know if that's ever going to get easier.  Right now during the summer season, there are a lot of people coming and going, kind of like a revolving door.  Come fall season, things will be a lot quieter and the kids at the tutoring center will probably be a bit disappointed for a while when it is only Jose and I showing up to work without our intern Rebekah and a group of "gringos."  

So what does that mean for me?  It means that I want to try and invest in the people that are here, now, as best as I can.  I want to not worry about the future or having to say goodbye to people the moment I meet them, because then I will never be able to learn to know them or learn from them.  I want to be thankful for the people that are here full time with me and will still be here at the end of summer.  And I want to be encouraged and energized by the teams that come for the short term because we are able to do special projects, field trips and work with more kids because they are here.  They really are an important part of our ministry.  I'd ask that you could pray for me, that my heart would not become calloused to the "revolving door" of people coming in and out of SI Costa Rica, but that I would be able to love and serve them, with the Lord's strength and love, as best I can.  And to know that it's ok to be a bit sad to say goodbye, that means that it was energy and investment well spent and that there was a lot of love there.

Here are some photos of friends I've gotten to know since being here, either just for a few weeks, a few months, or we are here together for the long haul:

L to R: Cailah, interns Chelsea, Courtney and Rebekah, me

Intern Courtney, also my brother Aaron's girlfriend :)

Matchy matchy roommates, I'm so thankful to have her as a friend!

Friend Rebecca in the middle there, she is here doing language school for a few months and has been an awesome chica to get to know and hang out with.

Caleb and Austin, the two guys that were at my site this past outreach.  I will miss them.

Team LG as we like to call ourselves.  The tutoring center crew from this last outreach.

My lovely intern Rebekah.  She is here for a few more weeks.  Love this girl.

15 dias de vacacciones

We are right in the middle of the two week "winter vacation" that the kiddos around here have off from school.  We also have a team here during these two weeks, so we have been able to do some fun activities with the kids that they wouldn't normally get to do during school days.  

This past Thursday we took 20 kids from Los Guido, along with 8 adults/team members, lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, brownies, bananas, balls of all types, and a first aid kit to a local park.  Los Guido is surrounded by beautiful green mountains, but the kids don't get out of their community very often, so this was a real treat for them.  We only had one bloody knee (glad we had the first aid kit!) and a few kids complain that they didn't like peanut butter, but all in all, it was a really fun day!  It was such a treat to get to enjoy the kids and their energy and joy in a different setting.  Below are some pictures from our day together:

See-sawing it up

Team member Sunshine and some of the girls

Sweet Jefferson and me

Fabian, team member Caleb and my lovely intern Bekah

Two regular kiddos Wayner and Jordany

Jose giving a "talk" to our kids

Team member Ben is enjoying himself

Captured this when Eliza grabbed my hand while we were sitting together.  Sweet girl. 

 This next week we are going to do some baking and decorating cookies with the kids, art, a visit to the Children's museum, and TBD on Friday.  I am looking forward to all of these extra curricular activities and am blessed by the awesome team members we have with us these two weeks from Hanford, CA and Oregon.  We couldn't do it without them!

And here are some fun pics with my fellow SI staffers:

Jose and me in a photo that is indicative of our friendship and work partnership :)

"Mug shots" we took on the 4th of July, "Free like a Boss."  Thought up by our interns, not quite sure where that came from but I went along with it.  :)

L to R Cailah (my roomie), interns Rebekah, Tyler, me, and Chelsea enjoying 4th of July colored flan.  I wanted to make something patriotic and they didn't have instant pudding at the store I went to so flan is what we had to go with.  Turned out ok.

 

Friday mornings at the tutoring center

Fridays are one of my favorite days of the week at the tutoring center.  The pace is different, our activities are different, and it's a time that I can be more relational with the students we are working with.  The past two Fridays have been very sweet times with our girls group in the morning.  Generally, we have been doing some sort of art or craft activity with the girls, a lesson from the Bible, a time of praying together, and some sort of delicious treat. 

Last week we were talking about the fruits of the spirit with our kids during our afternoons at the tutoring center, so we continued that theme with our girls group.  I had been doing some brainstorming with the team members that were working with me, and all of the girls agreed that they would share about one of the fruits of the spirit and how the Lord has been growing them in that area.  I was very blessed to hear these college girls share from their hearts with the girls of Los Guido, especially some of the struggles and journeys that they have been on recently.  I think sometimes my Los Guido girls can have this image that those of us from the States have it all figured out and that life is easier for us.  In reality, some of the struggles that we deal with and need to depend on the Lord for are the very same issues these girls go through.  Talking about love, joy, patience, faithfulness and self-control was a really sweet way for the team to share with the girls on a very real and personal level.  And it blesses my heart to see the college students using their Spanish to share with the girls too.

Making our coffee cake muffins (lead by some of the college students)

Girls group

The recipe for our coffee cake (in Spanish, of course!) The girls like to write the recipes we make down in their journals.

Finished products!

L to R, Intern Rebekah, four college students from Arizona, Jose and me

Yesterday was another girls group and this time the high schoolers that are here for two weeks with me shared with them about the passage in 1 Peter about inner beauty being of great value in the eyes of the Lord.  It was so interesting to hear the high schoolers from the US and the girls from Los Guido going back and forth about how they struggle with their self-image at times and the need to find their worth in the Lord.  We all are bombarded with false images from the media that makes us feel less than beautiful and of worth to the world.  We ended with a time of prayer in small groups, praying for one another in the way that we find our worth and value.

The end of our time yesterday morning was wrapped up with some delicious fruit salad and just hanging out together.  Two of the girls were asking those of us native English speakers to sing songs for them in English and then they sang songs in Spanish.  Their request for me- "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion.  For some reason, Ticos have a huge fascination with Titanic and Celine Dion, so their choice did not surprise me.  I obliged them in my best Celine impersonation, and I think it was really good for them to see my goofy side.  I think little by little, the girls of Los Guido are learning that I'm going to be here with them for a while, and it's been really rewarding to see how they are opening up to me (as well as to our team members who are here for two weeks with them).  Friday mornings are a LOT different than the rest of the week at the tutoring center, but they are an anticipated part of my work week here.  :)

Tara's fabulous home tour

By request, I have put together a collection of videos showcasing my lovely home here in Costa Rica. I am blessed to live in a place that is comfy, a (mostly) quiet neighborhood, and a very reasonable price for rent.  We do have the occasional gecko visitors and my feet are perpetually dirty because of the tile floors, but hey, if that's the worst of it, I'd say it's a pretty great place to live.  The filming isn't Hollywood or MTV Cribs quality, but I think you'll still get a good idea of where I live. :)