One Month in Costa Rica

Me with five of the girls that I get to spend to spend every Saturday with, unfortunately we were facing the sun. :-)

Hi everyone!

First off, I apologize for taking so long to post my second update! I've gotten so caught up in life here that I've slacked on keeping you all up to date. I'm trying to improve, but if you have any questions or specific areas of curiosity, feel free to comment or email and I will try to answer them in the next post.

I can’t believe I have been here in Costa Rica for a month now! The time has flown by so fast, and each day I am more and more grateful to be here.

So here's a glimpse of what a typical week looks like! It tends to go by fairly quickly as we are in Bible and Spanish classes for most of the day Tuesday-Friday. On Saturday we have an all-day ministry (I mentioned in my last post)  and Sunday we have morning and evening church. Monday is our Sabbath and time to be able to relax, go to town, and catch up on sleep.

I love how God works. Leading up to leaving the states, I struggled with having to say good bye-for nine months-to everyone at home. But God is faithful, and He used those moments to really challenge me in where I was finding my comfort and security. Did I really trust God enough to follow Him when He called? My prayer was that I could say "yes" with both my mind and my heart. As I surrendered, He worked.

Now that I’m here, I realize yet again how there was no need to fear. Each Saturday, I fall more in love with the kids that we visit...And as I get to know their story, I get even more excited to have this opportunity to love on them and be a part of sharing a life transforming story.

My Spanish classes have been going really well also! People are so great about listening and trying to give us more "Spanish speaking practice'. The kids at our ministry only speak a couple of English words, if any, so it is really fun to pull in what we've learned to communicate with them. When I came, we were all evaluated on our Spanish skills and placed into four different classes. I was put in the second one. The teachers are fantastic and I’ve been working hard, trying to practice as much as I can. This last week they bumped me up to class three. It is such a blessing to be able to learn this way, and I get even more excited about the opportunities speaking Spanish will open up.

A Few Prayer Requests

• I’ve been reading through Mark and have fallen more in love with Jesus’ life. His loving character demonstrated through His words and actions continues to challenge me in how I am seeking to love God and love others. My prayer is that He would keep working in my heart, drawing me closer to Him and showing me how I can share His tremendous love more with others. I would love prayer for wisdom in that area.

• Pray that God would provide a floor and roof for a new Church plant in our ministry. Praise God we have already found a place, and we know that He can provide a way for us to get the floor and roof up too.

• Pray for all of us students, that we would be open to God working in our hearts and eager to reach out to the people that He has placed in our life.

• I’d also love prayer concerning decisions for the future. The director of the Gap program here asked me to pray about interning for the program next year. Week before last we had a teacher from the DR. He is a church planter out in the boonies with his wife who is a nurse and runs a clinic. He asked if I would consider coming to intern in their village. The doors keep opening. I’m so excited to be able to be used by God and am willing to follow wherever He leads me, I’d just love prayer for clear direction in what step to take next.

I wish I had more time to share with you what has been going on here. But for now I better sign off. Thank you all so much for your prayer, support, and encouragement. You have no idea how much it means to me and I thank God for all of you!

Till next time, Hosanna