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.

June 29 - July 1

6/29/2012 at 8:25pm

This is going to be a short update, sorry.  I'm just too tired.  Basically, all of the data, even that which probably won't be analyzed, is now digitized.  I finished it all around 3pm today.  I wanted to leave right away but everyone was chilling, so I bid my time and walked home with Matthew, parting ways because I wanted to stop in at some stores.  When I came home, basically I just ate dinner (including some agua dulce with lemon for a drink and cajeta for dessert), showered, watched a show called Tome Chichi with Andrea and mamá, and now am sitting on my bed writing this.  I'm really boring and don't have much else to say.  Court nearly gave me a heart attack on Facebook today because for a split second I thought she was going to tell me she was engaged.  And my high school buddies from Arizona left today, which was kind of sad.  Other than that, I argued with Gabriel over what movie(s) we may or may not watch on Sunday if we end up hanging out.  Just a normal day.

6/30/2012 at 5:30pm

Male quetzal through a scope!

Hummingbirds in Galeria Colibrí.

I haven't even gone to the church yet and already it's been such a full day!  Abby came over for breakfast at around 6:15am and then we left with Ryan to walk to Curi Cancha.  We met up with Jon along the way as well.  Maurecio took the four of us all over Curi Cancha and up to the hummingbird garden Galeria Colibrí and back through Curi Cancha.  We walked a looot but all in all it was so worth it, because we were able to see quetzals!


We saw both the male and the female, and wow are they pretty, and wow were we ever so lucky to see them!   We also saw a couple of bellbirds, some cool bugs, claw marks on a tree from a puma, and tons of hummingbirds.  It was really cool because at the hummingbird garden they've grown super accustomed to having tourists around so you can get really close to them.  On our way back through we had the opportunity to climb a strangler fig tree.  I didn't, but Abby and Ryan did and it was super entertaining to watch.  It was really cool being able to see so much in Curi Cancha today.

Strangler fig tree!

After eating a bit of food leftover from yesterday at MVI, Abby, Ryan, and I left and walked to the Supercompro to get ice cream, and we got some delicious pineapple-vanilla swirled ice cream that was fantastic.  After, we went home and I had some maduros, bread, and coffee with my parents and a tía, and papí began telling me about a coffee sheller/roaster/grinder he wants to buy for his finca to be able to show on tours as well as sell good coffee for cheap to the community.  He also told me how political it can be when it comes to getting things like permits and passports and licenses here, and how if someone simply pays a lot of money they can procure something a lot more quickly and without any questions asked.  It's a problem for people who don't have money, and it's also a safety issue for driving because sometimes the kids' parents simply pay for the license and the kids don't know how to really drive.  After chatting, I showered and now am looking forward to what the rest of tonight will bring.

7/1/2012 at 9:50pm

Today was amazing.  Not only did I receive so many blessings last night and not only was my heart filled last night with love and enchantment for the kids and God and everyone, not only so much last night in church and afterward hanging out and walking around with Gabriel, but also this morning.  It was the same message as last night but I actually took good notes this time thankfully.  But best of all I got to pray for and with Abby as a sister while everyone else prayed with their own families and it was so amazing.  I just felt the Spirit so clearly and we both began getting overwhelmed and crying but in all of it there was so much beauty, and every word I prayed I truly meant.  I love Abby dearly and I couldn't imagine myself with anyone else here in Costa Rica replacing her.  I am way blessed to know her and have her and call her my friend and I pray the best things for her.

It's so cute!!! I love you, little sloth!

After, Gabriel came over for an awesome lunch and then we left tot walk to the Institute to explore, and I SAW A SLOTH!!!  Well, we saw a sloth.  I could have died of happiness.  It was way cute.  I don't even know what else to say.  Anyway...

I'm pretty sure Gaby could be considered my best Tico friend.

Gaby and I walked a lot, then back to his and my house, then to Cañitas for an errand, then to downtown Santa Elena, then back to my house.  We just talked a lot and enjoyed each others' company on this cold, windy day.  It was great though because we got to listen to music together like Skillet and Jesús Adrián Romero, and we talked sports a little (he's a ligista, not saprista, so we're all good...bahahaha!) and talked about God and discussed impactful things in our lives and our favorite things.  Basically, I have an awesome friendship in this guy and and he's always going to be special to me, and I'll definitely miss him when I have to leave. I'm going to miss my family here too; even though I totally relished the silence when they all left this morning for la misa, I love them all dearly and will sorely miss them when July 24 rolls around.

June 25 - June 28

6/25/2012 at 9:10pm

After the long walk to MVI this morning with Abby and Ryan at my sides, I spent a relatively uneventful day working more on the graphs and data for ASADA since I was able to talk to Marlene and get exactly which homes were which and what was a finca or a hotel.  Hopefully now I have accurate data and graphs constructed; all I really am still considering is inputting data from 2009 as well (as I did with the only months of 2008) just to have it all digitized.  While at the Institute I also got to meet some new people who come to work at the library, and I also talked to Justin about helping him tomorrow and Evelyn about meeting with her on Thursday.  Justin also wants to take a look at my data next week.

Just a lovely, sunny day.  This is actually from June 26.

I left early today, probably around 3pm, to walk a nice, calm walk to Gabriel's house since we decided we wanted to toss the Frisbee around.  It was super fun being able to teach someone who isn't 11 years old and has athletic ability all the different throws I know, and he even was able to come up with one that I'm not sure how he did it.  Eventually we parted ways so he could go to his drum lesson and I could shower, eat, and then go to the church for the youth group.  I helped a little with set-up and just hung out and socialized before the reunión de jóvenes began.  We played a fun game that Gaby concocted with passing a balloon and then a game that helped me learn peoples' names a little more, thankfully.  We had powerful worship time followed by a talk that Gaby gave on Daniel 1:8 and being committed to the things of God and being in the world but not being of the world.  We prayed and then all went home.

6/26/2012 at 7:55pm

Today was so interesting.  After waking up a little later than I wanted to due to excessive tiredness, I hung out with Abby until Ryan arrived and we all walked to MVI.  The walk has gotten so much easier.  Then, I read the Bible a bit and enjoyed the lovely sunshine that, unbeknownst to me, would later turn into a ton of rain.  I added a couple of last charts to my data and wrote up a preliminary report in Spanish of my thoughts and observations of the data.  As all of this happened, I helped my sister Courtney figure out her first semester freshman year schedule and I chatted with Brittany (my other sister) about Costa Rica, all over Facebook.  I breaked for coffee and lunch alone as Abby and Ryan were doing their own thing, which was relaxing in a way but as also unnerving because I'm so used to conversing with others over lunch.  Later, I procured three pieces of cake...two from John (tico) and one from Jenny via Abby, who decided to also get me coffee, which was way too nice of her and Ryan.  I always like to do stuff like that for others, and so to be served by my friends like that was so weird and humbling, even.  While in the library with them I also downloaded a ton of music, including the loco song (which is possibly the happiest song I've ever heard, and the catchiest, and is my new favorite song).





I also over Facebook chatted music with Jon (chino) and Brian, talked with with my mom about me maybe graduating a semester early, and had a great conversation with Gabriel.

A species of fruit bat with a white back stripe.

Later, I met some fun high school students from Arizona and we chatted and I danced meringue with one of the girls before Jenny came and we all went over to the bat museum.  It was so cool and I learned so much!  Like, for example, how many bats in the United States are dying because of White-Nose Fungus and how the mass deaths of baths has led to increased mosquito populations and diseases transmitted by them because they're not being eaten by the bats.  We couldn't go mist-netting today because of the rain, but Jenny said Thursday we'll probably go.  I hope I'm back in time for the church service that evening!

When I came home I played with Auri, ate dinner, and chatted with Luis about my studies and about music and roller coasters and learning new words, then he and I studied together and we had a laugh attack where I couldn't pronounce the word "quincuagésimo" and so said the word "quin-" like six or seven times in a row, stutter-style.  We laughed so hard that his stomach hurt and I was crying tears of laughter.  Those are moments I absolutely love with Luis.  He was being pretty cool tonight.  We played soccer indoors for a bit and then went off our separate ways to chill out for the night.

6/27/2012 at 9:10pm

Fran holding the stunned hummingbird.

So today was interesting.  I know I say that about every day and all, but for realsies.  So, I had an amazing breakfast this morning of gallo pinto that I mixed my cottage cheese into, fried plantains (maduros), and a bowl of chopped banana and mango.  At the Institute, just about an hour after we arrived, Fran came walking by with a hummingbird that had crashed into a window.  I got to hold it before giving it over to Abby.  It was so cool!  It was sad that it crashed into the window but still so cool.  Then I read my Bible for a while before Justin asked me to help him make copies.  Initial thoughts: Sure!  I love to serve, and copies are easy.  I'm a good little intern.  I got this.

So 70 copies of a roughly 35-page packet later, all bound into folders, all taking a grand total of nearly four hours to complete and at least three whole packages of paper...

I am not complaining in the slightest though.  I was glad for the opportunity to serve and help with a cheerful heart.  I was sad I couldn't go to Jenny's workshop, but I am happy I could help Justin nonetheless.  And then when the high schoolers from Arizona came, we got to ride back into town with all of them!  It's fun talking to all of them.

Jannelle's lovely house on the outskirts of Los Llanos.

We (Abby, Ryan, and I) got picked up from Vitosi around 5:15pm and went to Jannelle's and Rick's place in Los Llanos for dinner.  And let me tell you, she's living on one of the most beautiful properties in one of the prettiest houses I've ever been to here in Costa Rica.  We had delicious mango salsa before the library helpers arrived, then we all socialized and had a delicious dinner and dessert that was pretty non-tico when it comes to food traditions.  It was yummy.  Then we all rode back to our homes and, amidst laughs and hugs, bid farewell to our hosts and friends.  I am very grateful for the role that Jannelle, her husband, and their daughter Natalia have played in the Groner Foundation and this program that Abby, Ryan, and I are now currently on!

6/28/2012

I definitely did not get everything done I wanted to today.  I decided that digitizing all of the data that still wouldn't be used for the ASADA analysis would be a good idea and a help to them.  I still have nine months of that to do, which I hope to get done all tomorrow.  Besides that, Abby, Ryan, and I helped Jenny make a delicious cheesecake and we went to CASEM for lunch before that.  Then I went to Evelyn's meeting for the summer camp only to discover a) I am going to be one of six or so youth leaders, and b) this camp will take up an entire week, a commitment I hadn't initially expected.  At first I began minorly freaking out internally because I was concerned about the other programming I would end up missing that Abby and Ryan will get to do, but I eventually realized that this is such a fantastic opportunity and something I am thrilled about.  I'll end up giving up a weekend, which could be used for church and family and friends, but I trust God so much in this.

Scorpion in the kitchen! Each floor tile is about one-by-one
foot, so as you can see he's not that big, but not small.

I had to leave the meeting to go help set up mist nets, then we came back, made/ate dinner, and went back out in the dark to go catch bats!  It's a lot of waiting around, but in between bats I had a ball catching insects, from crickets to walking sticks.  Oh, and earlier in the kitchen I saw my first scorpion.  So cool!  He was less intimidating than I expected; we just kicked him out the door outside.  We caught three different kinds of bats while mist-netting: insect, fruit, and nectar.  It was really neat.  And then coming back I found this ginormous cricket/grashopper thing on the step going up to some of the offices.  My camera was beyond dead at that point, haha, so I don't have a picture, but Abby does!

Funny leaf insect pretending to be a leaf and some twigs.

Earlier this morning I also had a really cool conversation with Abby's host dad Pastor Josúe about if I ever decide I want to come back that he's got connections and can help me do a job search while I'm finishing my graduate school degree.  It pays to network, I guess!

June 22 - June 24

6/22/2012 at 9:45pm

Basically my day went like this:

1. Wake up not really sure of exactly what time Abby and Ryan want to leave.  Eat an amazingly near-perfect breakfast of gallo pinto with natilla, maduros (plantains all fried up), and black coffee.  Leave the house with a lunch, having the strange feeling that for some reason I won't need it due to the architect students' symposium today.
2. Walk to Abby's homestay and be obnoxiously cheery for 6:45am.  Bug her to no end to remind Yerlin (her mamá) in Spanish that she won't be home for dinner since we'll be having Cooking With Jenny time.

Some of the architect students about to present.

3. Leave4 with Abby and Ryan and walk the crazy hills all the way to the Institute, surprising myself at the fact that it's beginning to get easier.  At this point, since I woke up with the song "Tú Estás Aquí" stuck in my head, I'm humming/singing the entire way there, probably much to the dismay of my compañeros.
4. Arrive at the Institute and claim my preferred rocker.  Put lunch in the fridge and begin blogging/emailing people while watching all the handsomely-dressed architect students practice their presentations last-minute. Drink more coffee.
5. Watch the architect students present a midterm's worth of research in a formal presentation, split half and half.  (Congrats, by the way, to all of you; you were great!)  Eat yummy carrot cake and cupcake things and drink more coffee during the break in between presentations.  Nearly fall over from caffeine-induced dizziness (truth).
6. Realize that since I had been attending presentations, I would be offered free lunch.  Combine the cheese and egg from my mamá's lunch with the arroz con pollo and salad and juice.  Help Ariel and Thomas translate their speech they wanted to give before giving Anibal an iPad as an appreciation gift.  Meet Cristian, a nice nursing student, while doing dishes, and have a good conversation.  Take another cup of coffee into the next lectures.

The best chocolate cake of my life!

7.  Only half-pay attention to the lectures as I am uninterested in the guest speakers' architectural speeches and am also finishing adding graphs to my Excel files.  Realize that outliers make things look super crazy.  Also Facebook chat with Mike, Gaby, and Jon (who is sitting next to me and should be paying attention since he's an architect student).
8.  Have amazing laughs with Abby and Ryan and Jenny while making chocolate cake.  Heat up leftover arroz con pollo and beans and make lettuce-tomato-avocado salad to have with it.  Eat way too much cake.  Way.  Too.  Much.  Cake.  Take home a container full of cake as leftovers, maybe for Luis.  Or mamá or papí.

Walking from the Bat House at night.

9.  Have an awesome, somewhat scary, completely overwhelming night walk to the Bat Jungle house where we watched Patricia's documentary premiere.  Believe it to be one of the most artistic and cool documentaries I have ever seen.  Have a random black Labrador retriever puppy jump into my lap as I'm about to leave and apologetically relocate the dog to the floor.
10.  Walk all the way back to Santa Elena, and eventually my house, in the dark (besides streetlights and a flashlight now and again).  Fall in love with God and His creation all over again as I gaze at the amazing star-filled sky.  Enjoy the unrushed pace and the jokes we (Abby, Ryan, and I) tell and the fresh weather.  Become overwhelmed by the fact that there's no one I'd rather have with me on this trip than those two.  I love you guys.

I'm sorry, but if you're a spider nearly the size of my suitcase
wheel, you and I cannot share a room together.

BONUS 11. Take a picture of the huge spider that is crawling around my room before smacking the daylights out of it.  Hope that it was the first and the last time I'll see one indoors, especially in my room.

Tomorrow, Abby, Ryan, and I are eating breakfast with Abby's family and then going to el Mirador.  I hope to play Frisbee with Luis after, and then go to church.  Today, though, I've just been extremely grateful for the friends and people I've come to know through my time here, and I praise God for the immense beauty He created through nature.

6/23/2012 at 10:45am

While watching the first Lion King movie, this stuck out to me: There's a huge difference between who you are and who you used to be.  Also, the past hurts even though it's in the past, but you can either run from it or learn from it.
Mufasa: "Remember who you are, Simba."
Simba: "I'm not who I used to be!"
Mufasa: "Remember who you are!"
It reminds me that who I am is different from who I used to be, good or bad.  God declares that who I am is  not the child who kept going the wrong way, who made this mistake, who created that mess, etc.; He declares that who I am is His child, a princess in His kingdom, whom He loves!

9:30pm

Hanging out in Vitosi with Jon.

Today was such a lazy day for me.  I got up and went to Abby's with Ryan, and we were going to go to the Mirador but Pastor Josúe had to go to a wedding, so we all ate the amazing banana pancakes and fried eggs and watermelon that Yerlin had for us and then we watched the last half of Toy Story 3 and the full first Lion King movie.  After that, I walked over to the church because the door was open and I wanted to see if anyone was inside, and it was Greg (I think that's his name), Martín, and Josúe doing a Bible study, and we all talked a while and Greg said nice things about me that touched my heart, and the they all prayed with me for my family in the United States.  What amazing things God does with those who are open and available like those guys!

Santa Elena at night. Beautiful.

After, Abby, Ryan, and I walked around town for a while and ran into Jon as well while down there.  Then eventually I made my way back home only to discover I was the only one home.  I ate some leftover rice and spaghetti, walked into my room, and passed out on my bed.  I faintly remember Andrea asking me if I was cold when she walked in at some point.  All I know is I slept for like three hours, then got up and ate some soup and coffee, showered, then after my family came home I went to church with Abby.  It was a powerful, passionate service with a message about being religious versus having a relationship with God, and going to church or being Christian because it's "in" or a friend does it versus hearing Jesus for oneself and having that personal relationship with Him.  I wanted so badly for every person in that room to get it and really understand what it means.

Tomorrow I go again, hopefully with my familia as well!

6/24/2012 at 9:10pm

I did Kimberly's hair.  It was fun!

I arrived a little early to church today porque Abby didn't answer when I first knocked, only when I went back for her later.  We had a great service where I was able to pray over the people most important to me: my family, my familia tica, and my friends (especially Abby and Ryan).  After church I went back home, had lunch, and played with Kimberly (María's sister) a bit more before going to the thrift store in the school with mamá and Elida (her sister).  There, I met and talked a while with a man named Maurecio who encouraged me and spoke some advice/wisdom about enjoying one's youth and not taking life too seriously too soon, especially with respect to marriage.  After, I went back home and all of a sudden a ton of people were in the house, so I had a snack with all of them and Gabriel also stopped by for a bit.  We walked just over to his house and then I went back home where Andrea practically begged me to let her straighten my hair.  It took a while, but now it's straight.  I had dinner, then because it was such a gorgeous night that I couldn't afford to waste I went out, grabbed Gaby, and we went to the centro in Santa Elena for ice cream and were crazy kids and explored and walked all around the town a bit.  We eventually stopped to rest and were able to see a satellite and a bright shooting star, which he said he usually doesn't ever get to see in Monteverde (more often in Caño Negro).  I am so grateful to God for such a wonderful evening spent with great company.

June 18 - June 21

6/18/2012 at 9:00pm

Papí grinding up coffee beans for our amazing coffee!

I really didn't want to wake up this morning, haha, I was sooo tired!  This morning with the last of the PowerPoint translation was also really rough; I wanted to sleep sooo bad.  But I began waking up around lunch with all of the laughs of Ryan failing the cracker challenge epically, and also from playing Frisbee with Alex and Ryan.  After lunch, I worked some more and it started raining sooo hard all of a sudden for no reason!  I took a video but yeah it was like a flood.  Eventually while working the song "Todo Se Lo Debo a El" came on and Erick heard and he asked me if I was Christian, and I said yes, and as it turns out so is he, and that made me happy because it was like discovering I had another brother, which it was...a brother in Christ.  It was a really cool moment.

Abby, Ryan, and I went to a lecture about women in Costa Rica and CASEM, one of the ways women can get employment making things like clothes and souvenirs and art.  Ryan made quite the entrance, knocking a chair down loudly, but it was super funny.  He's awesome and I feel bad for the random things that sometimes happen to him, but they always make me laugh.  There was this amazing vegan chocolate cake that Jenny made as a snack after the charla and oh my goodness it was amazing.  After, we walked partway back home and luckily ran into Coco along the way as he was driving for a tour, and we got him to drive us home.  I showered, ate, helped Luis study, and then we went to la reunión de jóvenes.

(I forgot to add:  When I first got home, Luis and I tossed a Frisbee and ran around the block with Olge [sp?] for a bit, which was super fun and a pleasantly welcome form of exercise before showering and eating).

Mamá frying up some plantains, my favorite!

At the reunión de jóvenes, I had to keep an eye on Luis to make sure he didn't run off.  Worship time was super blessed and I felt my heart ready to burst at certain points.  We played some games, one of which Gabriel led (a sort of repeat-after-me game about a fat watermelon) and he other that someone (who looks like his sister but probably isn't) led and it was a charades game.  I enjoyed seeing them lead because it was really cool seeing the gifts/talents that God blessed them with at work in the service.  Then we had a talk from one of the people who serves a lot over at the church about having short roots versus being rooted in God and building a house on shifting sands versus building a house on a rock.  There was also a cute video to go with it.  The service ended with people coming to Christ or becoming reconciled, including my new friends Nimsi and Marlet (her cousin), and it filled me with such joy to have those two especially there, and I love them so much.  I am glad Saray asked me to pray over them even though I really didn't know what to do or what to say very well, and I kept switching from Spanish to English and back.  I was so grateful to God though for that opportunity and was filled with such joy to do it.  Little Jimena and Emma came and said hi to me and they were just sooo cute, and before I knew it I realized I would be late for taking Luis home if I stayed longer.  He said he really liked the church and is glad he went, because of being able to reconnect with old friends.  It just makes me happy that he is happy and is learning about God.  We got along really well today and for that I am so grateful, and I look forward to the certain craziness tomorrow will no doubt bring!

6/19/2012 at 8:10pm

I don't know why I'm so tired.  It could be a combination of diet, sleep (or lack thereof), physical exertion from walking up hills all day, or mental exertion (but probably not because I didn't have much work today).  It's in fact especially strange because though I did extra walking today by going on a tour that Rafa and John were offering to a few people from the States, and though I did go to the cultural shock charla (also known as storytime with Evelyn), the only work I had to do was some proofreading of the Traveler's Philanthropy stuff and making sure I got folders of data on paper and on a flash drive ready for me to start on tomorrow.  Other than that, my afternoon was a welcome lull where I had the pleasure of connecting with some people (like my mom and sister) via Facebook, though I've been trying to stay off of it.

Luis whining about his social studies homework and exam.
Love him, but he's definitely 11!

Abby, Ryan, and I stopped at the Supercompro for ice cream and talked a little to the woman working there who makes really pretty drinks, and then we went to Vitosi to get their string for their plots.  I came home, ate, suffered through Luis's whining again, and eventually made my way out to hang out with Abby at a pick-up soccer game at the gimnasio.  It was loud and echo-y and I was tired, but nevertheless it was a good way to end today.

Tomorrow will be a full day because not only do I start working with data but I also will be attending some conference lectures held at MVI about topics like tourism, social justice, and education, all of which I'm pumped about.  Then Thursday will be more of that, too, plus I'm going to the church in the evening to do more in-depth study of the bible.  My biggest prayer right now is for my work to honor God and that I would keep Him my first love above all else, that every word and movement would be for Him.

6/20/2012 at 6:35pm

Today was one of my most work-intensive days so far, and I still have so much to do.  I'll probably go earlier tomorrow to get it done...maybe.  We'll see.  I also have all day Friday.  So maybe I'll just work really hard again tomorrow.

A hummingbird got stuck in the atrium where we usually eat!

Basically after I got to my Spanish class, I sat through that (including reading my short story out loud to the class, much to my dismay because I don't really like reading my stories out loud because of interpretative reasons) and then grabbed the folders of data from Marlene and began inputting it all right away.  I've gotten through six months of 2010 only, and I still need to do the rest of 2010, 2009, and 2008 if there's workable data for those months, plus I need to look at 2011 and 2012 to check them, then copy them all over to Excel.  I stopped for a half-hour lunch and then I did a small bit during the conference today, which was actually really interesting and worth my time as Jenny and Fran's talks were really informative.  Someone also asked me if I spoke English today.  That was possibly the highlight of my day right there, being mistaken for a Tica by a tourist.  During the conference, too, I got to talk to Mike, Steven, and Gabriel via Facebook chat while I took notes and I caught up with them a bit.  Then I came home with Abby and Ryan (going part of the way with Jenny, yay!) and ate dinner with the lights off half of the time from a random out-of-the-blue power outage.  It was interesting because I really couldn't see, like at all, and yeah.  It was fun though.

If I could explain what I like the least about my work it would be this: Numbers start looking really weird after staring at them for a couple of hours in a row, and since some things are out of order, one slip-up means going back and changing the whole column of 90+ numbers in a six-column set.  But what I like most is that I definitely feel like what I'm doing is a huge help for everyone who needs the data, even just digitized records, not to mention the analysis and tests I hope to run next week on the data.

Being here and serving this way has gotten me thinking already about hopefully coming back next summer for my senior thesis research.  I'm thinking about writing about sustainable tourism and international efforts towards that end, maybe looking as well at globalization and what steps Costa Rica has taken towards sustainable tourism since it relies so heavily on tourism in general, maybe even looking as well at the negative environmental, social, and political consequences as well as the positive.  I'm interested as well in culturally what effects tourism has had on people here.  No stealing my thesis idea, by the way!  Haha!  I should email my advisor about it.  I'm also excited that due to my work with ASADA, I'll have something to present at the spring Symposium at LFC.  It's super exciting.  Woohoo, praise God!  I am so incredibly thankful for this opportunity that the Grace Groner Foundation has granted me and I only hope that my service here shows that I am not here to vacation, that I care, that I love this place and am so happy to give back.

I pray, Lord, for You to give me discernment and courage, and that You would speak to me and lead me.  I pray that my ears would be open and my selfishness wouldn't get in the way of all You want.

7:43pm

It's going to be so painful to leave here, I already know it.  My Lord, You know.

6/21/2012 at 9:55pm

A green toucan hit the window today!
Poor thing!

Today was quite the full day.  So I did get all of the necessary data digitized; I have some pretty bad data from 2009 and 2008 that I could try inputting as well but for now I'm struggling with trying to look at the data visually and analyze it graphically.  Nothing looks significant.  I need to put myself in contact with Alberto again and see if he can get me some data on the storage tank readings for 2010-2012 because those would help a ton in my analysis.  I also need to know which meters correspond to hotels, fincas, houses, etc. and so on.

Later, Abby and I sat in on the conference again and I took more fun notes, and at the end they had some kids come out and do traditional Costa Rican dancing, and I really want to learn it now, haha!  During the talks as well I caught up with Mike, Katrina, Gabriel, and Chase via Facebook chat.  I need to stop using that site so much.  I said I wasn't going to use it while here but my work involves the computer so it's hard to avoid the Internet, and Facebook by proxy.

It downpoured when Abby, Ryan, and I left MVI today, but thankfully Pastor Josúe gave us all a ride from halfway to our homes.  Later I left to walk to the church when Saray and her husband offered me a ride, yay!  The service was great, not only fun and funny but also deep and Spirit-led and impacting.  I met more people, learned a lot, and was reminded of a lot today.

Sunlight streaming through trees.

One of the things Pastor Josúe said that wasn't really pertinent to his message but was a tangent and caused an "amen" to escape my lips was this: God initiates marriage, and it's important that each partner's love for God exceeds the love for the partner.  I agree 100% and have even said something similar to some people here and a little in the past when asked why I won't date so-and-so or why I'm currently single.  My future husband needs to be so enamored with God that it will always exceed his love for me, and his love for God shouldn't be motivated by wanting to get closer to me but rather by wanting to get closer to God.  That is attractive right there.  As for me, I have come to realize more and more recently how much growing I have yet to do, how often my intentions are less than pure and how often I neglect to seek God first.  But I want God to be my center and my first love not because of someone else, but because in reality God is the best there is, and so good, and He honestly has changed me in incredible ways and has given me the unthinkable: unconditional love and forgiveness.  There's no way I deserve it, not with all I've done.  But in His sight, I'm His daughter, a princess, and wholly blameless thanks to Jesus.