Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Holy Week - the week before Easter) is a big deal around here! Most schools have the whole week off and professionals usually get at least Thursday and Friday off. The Catholic church practices many traditions throughout the week including pilgrimages, prayer and scripture reading gatherings, putting crosses with purple sashes on front porches, and even an occasional burning of dummies that portray Judas Iscariot the trader. It's quite an experience! Despite the fun and crazy traditions, Easter week is such an incredible time to look back and reflect upon the miracle of Jesus' resurrection! He is risen!!!

At the office here, we got Thursday and Friday off of work, so the interns and I decided to take advantage! Josh's girlfriend was in town for the week and really wanted to visit Tuis, the small town where we had language school. So we all decided to take the trip!

Unfortunately, the whole country pretty much shuts down at the end of the week, so finding bus transportation to the other side of the country was a bit of a challenge. There were no buses leaving our small city, but we discovered that there would be a few buses passing through from the next town on their way to San Jose. We decided to take advantage of this opportunity and planned to be waiting at the bus stop in town by 620am. We figured that the 6am bus wouldn't arrive to Atenas until about 640am... but due to the light traffic during the early holiday morning, the bus drove through at 625am... leaving us behind because I was in a taxi behind the bus and Brad had yet to arrive! It was a tragic event, but we kept our optimism as we hoped and prayed for another opportunity. Two other buses flew past us... as we were obviously not displaying the proper bus-seeking posture. But about 15 minutes later a nearly empty bus heading to San Jose had mercy on us!

Once in San Jose we immediately took a taxi across town to buy tickets for the bus to Turrialba. The station was packed, but we successfully bought tickets for the 9am bus and headed across the street to grab some breakfast! We arrived to Turrialba at 1040am and decided to hang out in the city for a little while and try our luck at catching the last bus out of town at 1pm. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do much in the city, because almost everything was already closed down for the holiday! We did however find a little cafe to get a snack and took some silly pictures in the park! Around 1230 we got in line for the bus... and good thing too because there were so many people trying to get on the same bus, and if we missed the bus... we didn't really know what we would do! Anyways, we caught the bus and ended up cramming everyone into the bus! It was a good thing that we were toward the front of the line so that we got a seat because we had our large backpacks with us too!

It felt really good to be back in Tuis... yet a bit surreal at the same time! Steph and I stayed with Samia and Freddy (Steph's host family during language school) and Brad and Josh (& Jennie) stayed with their respective host families. I didn't stay with my previous host family because they had some family in town for the holiday and Steph and I thought it would be more fun to be together! Also, staying with Samia and Freddy is awesome because they live right by the soccer field and Samia is an awesome cook!

The weekend was really chill. We just hang out, ate lots of delicious food, playing soccer, walked around, visited friends, watched some movies, enjoyed life! On Friday night, the mission had a small church service with worship and communion which was awesome! Saturday morning Samia invited some guys over for breakfast and we ate like royalty and then we all went on a gorgeous hike!

But the highlight of the weekend was Sunday! For the Easter service, the mission held a baptism service in the park! They had planned on doing the baptisms in a pool at the park... but when they arrived on Sunday morning it was empty and there wasn't enough time to fill it! So instead, the guys made a path down to the river and created a little pit in the river in which to do the baptisms. The service was so gorgeous! All of the church members gathered around to witness several people publicly proclaim their faith in Christ! Everyone sang this beautiful hymn throughout the whole thing and some young girls dressed in white threw colorful flowers over each person as they were dunked into the river. So cool! It was especially cool because our own Brad (one of the interns here) got baptised too!

Unfortunately, right after the baptism service we had to hit the road and head back to Atenas. After 3 buses, one taxi, and about 4 hours later we were back! We had an incredible time and it was great to get away for a few days and visit friends!

Surfs Up!

On Saturday, Steph and I caught the bus to Jaco beach. Steph is a huge fan of the beach... and has been obsessed with the ocean and surfing since her semester at University of Hawaii. So, in order to satisfy her thirst she decided to rent a surf board for a couple hours. She went out and played on the waves while I sat and read my book. But then... she really wanted to share her passion with me and convinced me to give it a try. Now I love sports and adventure and everything, but to be honest, the ocean freaks me out a little bit! I got a couple minutes of instruction on the sand and then we hit the water. Steph rode a couple waves to give me a little visual example and then it was my turn. Steph helped me get the board out to a good location and then when a good wave started to form she would tell me to hop on. Then I would do as we had practiced.... paddle and SNAP (stand up quickly... but a little 'legally blonde' reference for those of you who caught it). On my first attempt I was too far forward and definitly nose dived, causing me to shallow a huge gulp of sea water! Mmmmm... Despite the salty discouragement I decided to give it another try. After a couple tries I was able to stand up and ride the wave toward the shore! So cool! Unfortunately, the waves started gaining force and proved to be too violent for my beginner skills, so we returned the board and headed off to satisfy our hungry bellies. Thanks for the lesson Steph!

Orphan Love

Last Thursday Steph and I had the opportunity to volunteer for the whole day at the local orphanage. The usual staff got the day off to have some personal time, so we stepped up to help carry the burden of their absence.

The orphanage has 2 different houses, one of mostly girls, and the other of mostly boys. Steph and I were split up and I got sent to work in the girls' house. There were about 15 kids in the house ranging in age from 1 month to about 12 years old, but the majority were between 2 and 5 years old. As soon as I walked into the house, I could feel the love! The women that I was helping fill in for were so grateful and showered me with hugs and kisses. Also, a young girl named Priscilla immediately attached herself to me and fought for my love and attention for the entire day.

The day was jam-packed with fun and excitement! The day began with a morning devotional which consisted of meeting in an outdoor pavilion and crying out to the Lord in prayer... every child had the opportunity to pray! Then we gathered up all of the excited kids and took them to the small pool on the campus. I didn't have a swimsuit, but that didn't stop the kids from trying their best to soak me from head to toe! I borrowed some shorts and a t-shirt from one of the staff so that I could jump in without reservation and pool it up with the little ones. What a blast!

After the pool we headed back to the house for lunch followed by nap time! It was pretty nice to get a little break from the crazy kids! During nap time I should have opted to nap myself, but instead I got to spend time with one of the adorable baby girls. I haven't spent much time around babies in my life, so they always kind of intimidate me... but I really enjoyed my time with this little one. I must of held her for over an hour... rocking her, humming to her, getting her to smile and giggle, and just starring at her and marveling at her beauty and innocence. What an incredible miracle from God!

It wasn't long until the rest of the kids woke up from their naps and the chaos continued! We mostly just ran around outside until the beloved staff women returned to resume their duties. At the end of the day I was completely exhausted!

Growing up I was never convinced that I ever wanted to have children of my own... mostly because I was afraid I would screw them up or they would hate me or because this world is too messed up and broken to bring innocent children into. But... during the last couple months I've spent a ton of time with young kids... and it's actually having the opposite effect that I expected! Now I am actually warming up to the idea of having children of my own someday!

Videos from Chirripo

Here is a little video to supplement my blog about Chirripo. This was taken just as we were arriving at the village after a long day of hiking!

Language School

The other interns and I just returned from two weeks at language school. We went to a small school in a really small town called Tuis, both of which were incredibly charming. Two young guys started the school about 5 years ago. The 2 guys, Hector and Daniel, met each other at a church in San Jose about 10 years ago. They played together in the worship band and discovered that they shared the same dream of using their talents to reach the nations. Anyways… to make a long story short, the guys have realized their dream and now direct the language school as well as a ministry to disabled indigenous people from the area. It’s incredible to see how the Lord has blessed the town and the world through their ministry!

I lived about a 20-minute walk outside of town with an older couple and their daughter. My host parents, Don Mecho and Dona Macha, were incredible and really made me feel like family. Dona Macha and I spent some good quality time together discussing life, showing each other pictures of our families, and habitually watching really cheesy Mexican soap operas! I really enjoyed my time with them... even though I always disappointed Macha when I couldn't finish the giant meals that she fed me. I think food is her love language!

We had Spanish classes for about 25 hours per week, and then we also had a couple cooking classes, and time to hang out with the indigenous residents. The four interns were split up into two different classes… Steph and Brad and then me and Josh. Josh and I had class in the tree house classroom with our professor Henry. We spent our time together discussing tough life topics, discussing the bible, learning crazy grammar rules, and reading some really great literature! I really enjoyed all of our class time... but I'm really frustrated at this point in my language learning journey! The learning curve has really flattened out and I feel like it takes so long to see any improvement! Oh well... I'll just keep plugging away!

On Friday, we broke early from classes to have a little graduation ceremony for the four of us. Each of us were presented a certificate by our respective professors which said some really sweet words about us. Then each of us was expected to demonstrate our newly refined language skills by giving a little speech! It was a little scary, but we all survived because everyone really felt like family!

To finish off the week, we headed to the nearest large town (Turrialba) to meet up with a rafting company. We spent all day on Saturday rafting down the Pacuare river! So fun... We drove about 45 minutes to the river drop off, rafted for about 2 hours (through a few class 4 rapids), stopped off on the side of the river and had a delicious freshly-prepared meal, rafted for another couple hours, swam through this beautiful peaceful cliff-wall section of river, and the hopped back in the van and headed back to the city! A wonderful way to cap off our time away at language school!

The next day we headed back 'home' via 3 different buses. It was really sad to leave because Tuis has really become a home to us! I think all of us will be heading back there soon to be with our new friends and family!

Trek to Chirripo

At our language school, the same guys that run the school also head up a very cool ministry (Voz que Clama) to the indigenous population near Tuis. On the same site as the school building, the ministry owns a house in which 7 physically and/or mentally handicapped indigenous people live. Also, once a month, the ministry takes a trip to the near-by indigenous region of Chirripo. This region encompasses a large area and many small villages. Voz que Clama has been building a relationship with one particular village called Mandarin Quiche.

So... when we arrived at language school we learned about this awesome ministry and that they were taking a trip to the village during one of the weekends that we were in town. So we were given the option of partaking in this incredible experience. After praying about it with the team, adjusting our class schedule, and rescheduling our rafting trip, we decided to go for it! Unfortunately, we came very unprepared for such a venture and had to rely on our new local friends for some necessary items.

At 6am on Friday we met up at the school. There was a total of 26 people in the group... 2 ministry leaders, 5 random gringos, 18 men/women/youth from the mission church, and 1 Canadian film-maker. We all piled into an old-school SUV and a large truck for a 2.5 hour trip up a bumpy dirt road to the start of our trek at Alto Quetzal. Our journey had several purposes... including using a GPS unit to map the trail and a potential helicopter pad and bringing in wood in order to build a new house in the village. So, we bought several wooden boards and brought them along with us on our grooling hike. Each guy and each two girls were responsible for carrying one large board. The hike started out tough... 2 hours of very steep downhill, and then about 3 hours of hiking along the river, followed by an adventurous zip-line trip over the river, and about 30 more minutes of hiking to our final destination! The trek was challenging... especially with the heavy boards... but were all made it in one piece!

Once we arrived at the small village... we threw down our cargo, unpacked our sleeping bags, and busted out our lunch. After eating lunch and resting for a little while we took a 10 minute walk to the village in which we were planning to build the house. At this village we delivered the building supplies, meet a large group of gringos from California that were spending the week constructing a new church for the village, and then all met together for a short church service in the native tongue of Cabeica. After the service, the gringo group set up a small battery-powered DVD player and popped-in 'The 10 Commandments". The whole situation was somewhat humorous... especially with Moses' cheesy dubbed voice! After the movie... or just the short portion that we watched... we headed back to the other village to get some shut-eye. I ate some graham crackers for 'dinner', brushed my teeth, and slipped into my sleeping bag. Unfortunately, several factors (hard concrete floor, HOT temperature, and several incredibly talented snorers) lead to a long, sleepless night.

The next morning we woke up... or stopped attempting to sleep... and prepared a delicious breakfast of fried cheesy tortilla sticks and sugary coffee! Then we headed back to the other village to continue construction on the small house that the ministry had previously started. Since the team was so large... and the house was so small... instead of getting in the way of construction, the girls hung out with the local kids. We brought some crayons which we used to draw cute doodles on the old church benches... and then we washed everyone's hair with apple-scented shampoo and french-braided the girls' clean hair. It was a little difficult because there were A LOT of kids and a few of them definitely had little creatures living in their hair... but they were all SO beautiful and an absolute joy to be around!

About 11am we headed back to the sleeping village, ate lunch, and packed up our bags for the return trip. Around noon we hit the road. We headed back to toward the river... crossed one-by-one on the zip-line... and then continued the journey along the river. The return trip seemed much easier at first since we didn't have the awkward boards to carry... but then we hit the CRAZY ascent back to Alto Quetzal. I tried to keep my spirits up and stay motivated to the end... but the hike was intense. It seemed like the uphill trend would NEVER end! But little by little we got closer to our goal, reaching the top by about 5pm. Once everyone had arrived we piled back into the truck and began the long ride back toward Tuis. I really wanted to sleep... but unfortunately.... due to an old tail-bone injury I was unable to sit down during the bumpy trip... and sleeping while standing up... while having to maintain a firm grip turned out to be quite impossible!

We all arrived safely back to Tuis! Despite the difficult trek, everyone really seemed thankful for the opportunity to travel to an unknown land and love God's children. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to participate in such an awesome opportunity!