When I signed up for the world race, I knew that in no way was it going to be a year long vacation traveling the world… I understood that the majority of my time would be spent working hard. I knew there’d be a lot of hard physical labor, and I also knew there’d be a lot of emotional difficulties as well. Our first month in Guatemala was physically straining, but the atmosphere was light and joyful. Costa Rica has been more of a strain on the soul. The poverty and crime in Carpio along with the stories of the girls and the children just engulfs the heart in heaviness. Our mission this year is to be a light in situations such as this one… BUT, that doesn’t mean we don’t allow ourselves to have a little bit of fun every now and then.
Which is why we took a couple of days to head to THE BEACH!!! J
We spent 2 nights in a place called Manuel Antonio, and it was like right out of a magazine. Tropical beaches, national parks, awesome seafood dinners, and a hotel with a HOT shower!! There did happen to be a couple of friendly sand crabs in our room, but they didn’t bother us too much. The first night we arrived at about 10 pm to our hotel and headed right out to a restaurant that was built inside of an old airplane. Saweeeeeet!!
The next day we slept in, ate a good breakfast, and then rented some jet skiis in the afternoon for a couple of hours. I was the lucky one who got to sit behind Elizabeth who, mind you, has never ridden one before, let alone driven one. As we all took off on our jet skiis, I watched the others race away ahead of us while Elizabeth and I putzed along at a pace of 12 mph… and I am willing to bet it’s almost worse to go slow on those things in the waves!! I must admit though, we haven’t laughed that hard in a while. Later that night we ate fresh seafood, and went and talked on the beach for hours under the stars, just learning more about one another and listening to one another’s hopes and dreams.
Our last morning there, Sage, Tim and I decided to get baptized. For me it was the first time in my life – and what better place to do it then the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica J It was a big step for me… I have been saying for years that I wanted to get baptized but never felt completely ready or able to let go of certain things from the past… but over the past few weeks it’s been on my heart and I finally felt that it was the right time.
We are back in Carpio now… refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to take on the last week and a half with a different spirit then we had before. I can’t wait to see what is in store for us our last days here! J
