Goodbye already!? When my team and I first arrived in Costa Rica, time seemed to move so slow. I never thought the first week would end. And here we are now, just two days away from heading to Nicaragua to start our second month of the race.
Our first month on the race has been quite an adjustment. We are all in a new country, with new people, doing this new life together. There are new feelings of abandonment like we have never experienced before and new feelings of homesickness. Of course will all of that, there have been new frustrations as I’m sure you guys can imagine. But there has also been new friendship’s created therefore more new memories.
For the last three weeks, we have been teaching English in a school here in Los Guido. The friendships we have made with the teachers and the students have been such a beautiful thing. While I always knew that goodbyes would be a huge part of this trip, I didn’t think they would be so quick to come.
This is teacher Cindy. She teaches English in the Los Guido school. Christen and I were assigned to her on our first day of school. For the last three weeks I have really gotten to know Cindy. On the first week of knowing her, she asked Christen and I if we would like to go to the mall with her. The second week, she took us to some beautiful waterfalls. And last week she spent the weekend with us in Manuel Antonio. It has been so fun connecting with Cindy and sharing in friendship over these last three weeks. We have spent so much time together, I will really miss this new friend.
This is my favorite buddy Kevin. He is an adorable, joyful ball of silliness. Definitely one of those kids that has made an impression on me.
The picture on the right with Christen in it, is Leslie. He is another sweet and wonderful kid who we have connected with here.
A teammate of mine ran into a couple of these girls the other day on the bus. We have yet to see any white people other than Mark and Meg in Los Guido so this was a big deal. Through the brief encounter on the bus, my teammate found out that one of the girls wants to go on the World Race, so the other night she and her friends came over for dinner. We learned that these ladies are all here finishing their Spanish degree’s from the States. They have to spend 4 months overseas continuing to learn Spanish so they have been living with host families and working with ministries similar to what we have been doing. We had a wonderful evening exchanging stories and creating friendships with these sweet souls. While these girls are here for school, God has seemingly placed on all of their hearts the desire to do missions. We ended the night with a group prayer and sent them on their way. I love how coincidences are just God’s way of staying anonymous. I have no doubt that running into and connecting with these girls on our last week here was no accident.
I feel so blessed to have been able to partner with Christian Light Foundation this month. Mark and Meg are such
wonderful people that have dedicated their lives to Los Guido in order to follow the call that Jesus has placed on them. We would often walk into our food storage room to find sweets made by Meg for us. Mark and Meg have been put in a sticky situation with another individual who is trying to take their property and ministry site. They have a huge court date next month. Friends, please pray for the situation as the judge has not been in their favor. Los Guido would be an even darker place without these two. I have been inspired by their compassion, sacrifice, and love for the people here.
They also have some fun pictures on their ministries Facebook site of the fear factor event that took place last weekend, if anyone is interested in checking those out!
I can’t even describe how proud of these women I am. I think for being a team of females, we handled living in Los Guido quite nicely. We had some scary moments, but never doubted our trust in the Lord to keep us safe. Being locked in our compound by 6pm everyday without wifi, was the biggest blessing we could have asked for; we were forced to be intentional and I think that’s a great dynamic to create this early on. While there is no perfect team out there, this team is perfect for me. We have handled our hiccups with grace and delicacy. We encourage each other to be intentional with the Lord. We constantly laugh together. We respectfully call each other out when we see an opportunity for growth in them. We give each other support and room to talk about their feelings. Community takes work and effort, but these are the kinds of friendship’s I’ve longed for for years. This is real, authentic, christian community.
I have a couple of prayer requests for you guys. Please pray for continued safety. We are entering Nicaragua during their election time so that is a big deal. Please continue to pray for health. This has been a challenging month for some of my teammates with their health. Our families health back home. Some of us have heard about sickness in our immediate families and hearing news like that with being so far away is not easy, so please continue to pray for our families while we are gone. Please pray for peace and contentment in our hearts regarding leaving our new friends behind in Cost Rica. I need more funds to continue on my race so I need specific prayer in that regard; just God’s continuous provision for me in this trip. Lastly, please pray that the Lord would start working in Nicaragua. That He would be there now making the way for my team and I to enter the country and continue blessing those around us. I appreciate you all so much and all the prayers that go out for us. I can’t stress that enough.
Another thank you to my donors! I have been blessed this month because of you, but more importantly — I have been able to bless others. You have given me the opportunity to love on kids from abusive homes. You have given me the opportunity to grow in ways that I couldn’t have in the comforts of my home. You have given me the opportunity to pour into teachers and adults here who have desperately needed it! You have given others the opportunity to see and know the Lord through my story and encouragement. I can see all of your faces even right now as I write this, I appreciate and love you all!
My next hello will be from Nicaragua!
