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!

Off to Language School!

Tomorrow, bright and early, the rest of the interns and I head off to language school. We will be studying at the Christian Immersion Spanish Academy in a small town called Tuis. Tuis is located on the east side of San Jose, outside of Turrialba. I will be living with a host family (the Vargas) - an older married couple and their adult daughter who has Down's sydrome. I will be there for 2 weeks! The program looks very interesting. In addition to living with a family and attending spanish class everyday, I will also get to participate in Cooking classes, volunteer with the indigenous population, and take a rafting trip!

Please pray for me, Brad, Josh, and Steph during our time at language school. That we would be intentional and determined throughout our learning experience, that we would avoid spending too much time with eachother, and that we would be blessed with a divine power to speak and comprehend spanish!

A Day at the Beach!

Upon returning to Costa Rica, my team and I took the day off and headed to the nearest beach! Brad, Josh, Steph, and I caught the local bus out to Jaco Beach. The bus was packed so we were forced to stand and the drive took about two hours. But the landscape was beautiful and the drive was well worth it! We spent a few hours on the beach... soaking in the rays and enjoying the waves. Then we hit up a local taco bar for lunch. After lunch we paroozed the tourist shops and rented a boogie board for our last couple hours at the beach. We rode some waves, but then had to book it back to the bus station to catch the last bus back to town.

The day was great and the beach was gorgeous! But next time I think we'll all be a little more careful with our sunscreen application!

Enjoy the photos! Pura Vida...