July 2 - July 5

7/2/2012 at 7:50pm

I am sooo tired.  Today was the first day of the camp over at MVI that I'm helping lead.  I was outside practically the whole day, playing games and sprinting around as if my life were at stake.  I was even too tired to want to go to la reunión de jóvenes tonight, and I really wanted to go, too.  Everything just hurts, haha: my neck, my legs, my feet, my shoulders, my face (sunburn!).  But actually, my heart for sure doesn't hurt.  It's full to bursting with love for the other leaders and care for all those kids.  Today was mostly just a day to have fun with them, but I hope tomorrow that we get to really know them and connect with them more.  After today's events with the camp, I just sat for like an hour doing my blog and trying to rest before the walk home.  But I had the best food for dinner, haha!  It was a piece of buffalo chicken with rice, plantains, cauliflower, beans, and a squash-cheese mixture, and mango juice to drink.  Most of all, right now I'm just so thankful to God for all that I have been blessed with here in Monteverde.  And I am also so grateful to the Grace Groner Foundation and everyone involved in the process for this program for allowing me to come here to not only serve but also to enjoy myself and have an amazing time.

7/3/2012 at 8:40pm

Aylin acting like a pollo for a game of charades.

Aylin and Kimberly washing the clinic walls.

Day two of the campamento is done!  I now know at least 17 of the 32 kids' names, which is good...I hope.  Today we (at least my small group of 17) went to the clínica in Santa Elena to wash the outer walls since they were all covered in dirt (as tends to happen around Costa Rica, and probably elsewhere), and then we went over to Guillermo Vargas's finca to help him with various things, and my small-small group of eight plus three


Canadian girls who were present for community service hours all dug holes for fence posts and also planted some trees to act as a windbreak.  In between, we played various dinámicas, like rabbit-in-a-cage, jugamos en el bosque, and ninja.  Tomorrow we go to Los Llanos for the charlas on drugs/tobacco/alcohol and sexuality I think, so hopefuly it's a little more of a down day.  Abby, Ryan, and Jon also want to get pizza that evening because of the Fourth of July.  We'll see what happens.  I hung out with Abby a bit this evening, which was a good way to end a crazy day.  But boy am I sunburnt from being outside all day yesterday and today...

Oh, on an off-note, while playing jugamos en el bosque we lost a Canadian names Chris and like five of us leaders had to go look for him.  Completely normal, right?  Turns out he was hiding in a cafetal, which I explained in the beginning in English were off-limits.  Go figure.  Silly boy.  But definitely something to laugh about!

7/4/2012 at 8:45pm

Standing on top of a mountain brought some great
photo opportunities.

I am so exhausted.  We took the kids to La Calandria today and did a 2-3 hour hike up to a hill/mountain/thing.  It was so beautiful though once we did get up there.  I only wish we could have spent all day there, because the kids were totally spent when we finally piled into the microbuses to go back and none of them wanted to sit through a lecture on drugs/alcohol/tobacco at the Institute.  We all thought and had been informed that it would be mostly dinámicas and would be engaging, but it wasn't, so the kids were super restless the whole time.  Thank goodness, though, we had some amazing small-small group time and I actually felt like it was really good for my 8 or 9 girls to have that time to chat and express themselves even if it was kind of hard with mixed ages and to also have them trust our confidentiality.  I pray that next time when we discuss sexuality they will be more willing to trust.  Besides this, I went out for pizza and ice cream with Abby, Ryan, Jon, and Matthew as a Fourth of July celebration.

7/5/2012 at 9:30pm

I cried out to God tonight, "Lord, why have You sent me here again, besides the fact that I enjoy it here?  What do You want me to do here specifically?  Why, where, what, how?"  And He answered me in prayer, "Serve.  Receive all I have to give, and then pour yourself out."  Oh, Lord, that I would proclaim Your name from the highest mountains because of all You've blessed me with!  I am far beyond blessed in so many ways that I ask myself how there could be room for more, and You have shown me that only by giving will there be room to receive healthily.  May all I have be Yours forever.

Pati with a really cool butterfly.

This morning I went with my small mixed group café con pan to Curi Cancha with Pati (this amazing woman who did that documentary on water a couple of weeks back who is an entomologist and who I had been wanting to learn from for the longest time here) and I had a blast, as did the kids actually, being entomologists with her.  Maybe I need to switch professions.  Haha!  Not seriously, because I know I couldn't bring myself to do all she does (I'll touch only the bugs I like, thank you), but I love it as a hobby.  She taught us how to properly handle butterflies, too, in a manner that prevents them from damaging their wings and knocking too much dust off.  It was so super cool!

A male bee!  It's metallic!  They don't sting.

Later, Alisa, Josette, Danny, Jerson, and I sat with Seidy while Kim talked us through the activity we're going to do with our small groups tomorrow, about goals and setting goals.  I'm hoping and praying that the girls find the space safe and that they open up to sharing their dreams, and that they come to know through this activity how precious their dreams are and how sacred even.  Dreams are priceless.  There's some quote somewhere that says something like don't ever rob anyone of his/her dream, because a person without a dream is poor indeed, and also sometimes a dream is all someone has.

Eventually through a random series of events that involved a flag-burning of the other team, a water fight ensued and I was soaked by Felipe and Genesis.  However, thankfully my papí drove up and we (Abby, Ryan, and I) got a ride home, yay!  And I also got to talk to the people from Denmark who were on their way to Bajo del Tigre for my papí in a sort of tour guide manner.  It was fun!  So when I got home, I showered and ate and then went to church to worship and learn and experience fellowship.  Grevin (not Greg; I think this is his real name now) had some great wisdom for me, too.  I am so thankful.