I'm about to get my plant on...

Soo I know it has been forever since I’ve updated this thing. We have done so much stuff and I just feel like I’ve been so busy. Not to mention I’m still trying to adjust to everything… the good and the bad. But just a warning, this is going to be a long update.

Monday, we spent the day at Seminary with the other Methodist pastors around the area. Surprisingly, it was actually extremely interesting. We spent about 6 hours in the class and I got the chance to finish another one of my bracelets while listening to the American speakers talk and Ray translating into Spanish. It was fun to listen to the English, think about what I would have said in Spanish, and then hear Ray do that. ALSO, I got a surprise when I was sitting there, got tapped on my shoulder, turned around and Edgar was there! It was good to see him since I’ve been missing Los Guido and the Ponce’s and all that.

Tuesday we worked with one of Will and Ella Faircloth’s groups from Alabama for the day. We worked on the Children’s Home in Coronado and it was a TON of fun. It was definitely a different experience mixing concrete inside of a mixer rather than doing on it on the ground. It was definitely nice to have that thing but did not mean that there wasn’t a lot of lifting and manual labor going on. Javier, one of the bus drivers, was working with us too which was a lot of fun. I have to say that that’s probably the hardest I have ever working making concrete, and it made it even better to have Javi around and to get to hang out with some of the group and finally translate for my first time.

Wednesday we had to wake up REALLY early (like 4:15?) and go to the seminary to pick up the guys. We then drove about 3 hours to this place called Siquirres to pick up some people that were going to hike with us. It ended up being the six interns, Javier, Pastor Jose and his son Josue, Juan and his son David, and one more lady (who was 62 year old but kicked our butts in hiking!) We drove about 2 more hours and then made it to the part where we could no longer drive. We got out of the car and hiked for about 2 hours up and down HUGE hills. I definitely did NOT think I was going to be able to make it, but somehow I did and it wasn’t so bad! Every time we hit a huge hill, I would pray that whole way up that God would just give me the strength to keep going. And He did! Once we made it to Talamanca (the village of Cabecar Indians) we ate lunch and then set up for Bible school. Let me tell you, this was the hardest Bible Study I’ve ever done! We were told before we went that the kids were shy and stuff but I guess we didn’t really grasp just how shy they were until we were in front of them trying to get them to interact with us. Overall, though, it was a goooooood good time. I am so happy that we went there and that I got to spend some time with those precious children. (A little more difficult to communicate though since they speak a mixture of Spanish and their native Cabecar language.) God blessed us by allowing us to have somebody take us back down the mountain in a car. It was a lot of fun being with Brittany and David and Juan and little David in the back of the truck. It brought back good memories of riding in the back of the trucks in Honduras.  The other group wasn’t so lucky though since their truck broke down after about 5 minutes and then had to hike the rest of the way down. After that, it was 2 hours back to Siquirres to drop of the Ticans and then another hour or so to Guapiles to be with a group for the next day.

Thursday we went with another group from Alabama to this Boys/ Girls Ranch called Amor en la Calle (Love in the Streets). It’s a place that takes in kids from the streets and loves on them, teaches them not only school subjects but skills, and just shows them that they are worth so much more than they have been living. It was an amazing experience. I stayed for a while with a group of Alabamans to help them translate and talk to some of the Ticans. Then I went and watched some of the ladies teach some of the youth girls how to sew. THEN Alli and I went to the bakery they have there and we spent a few hours decorating cupcakes. It was a lot of fun! After lunch I spent most of my time talked to a few of the youth girls, playing games and just laughing a lot. It was so much fun just getting to hang out with those girls and practice my Spanish and all that.

Friday we headed back to San Pedro, hung out at the seminary for a while, went to the mall, hung out at Alli’s for a while and showered and just rested before going out to eat and to see a movie. We ended up seeing the Prince of Persia (in English with Spanish subtitles) and it was actually pretty good!

Saturday me, Brittany, David, and Matt got on the public bus to go to Puerto Viejo and wait for our first groups to come. Now, we have those 2 groups here. I’ll be working with Matt and Chris this week with a group from Chattanooga, Tennessee and we will be working on the church in La Guardia. Ray said it will be a lot of tiling, ceiling stuff… and I can’t remember what else.

If you guys could be praying for me that would be amazing. On Thursday Chris and Alli and Brittany are headed back to San Pedro because Chris and Brittany have to head back to the US for a wedding which means that only Matt and I will be left with our group here. Which is fine EXCEPT that means that I have to translate the church service on Thursday! I have no clue how I’m going to do it or if I’m going to be able to do it, but I just keep reminding myself that God will provide me with the words I need. The way things look, I will have to translate this Thursday, next Sunday, and next Thursday for sure. After that, we’ll see who is with me and whether I have to keep doing it.

Hopefully I’ll be able to update some more this week. I just find that when I come back from working and such, I just feel like doing nothing. Not that writing in here is too hard, but on those days where I’m all hot and sweaty and sore, typing a bunch seems like a lot of work too haha.

Love you all and miss you!