Well, my time left here has become short enough that there isn´t enough of it to do all the things I want to do and see all the people I want to see. Realizing that it was not long ago that my time here seemed to stretch out before me like an eternal rainy Saturday, I know that God has been good. Tomorrow I leave Lili and Melvin´s house to spend 2 days with Anita and Adrian (Anita is a Peruvian missionary who works at Capilla, and they live about 30 minutes away.), and Thursday I will move in with Katia and Victor Hugo, my last family. I will miss Lili, Melvin, and Yaritza. I will not miss my mousy friends.
The three days I spent at the beach were great - I came back relaxed and with new perspective on the things I have been seeing and experiencing in my houses, in church, in the streets, etc. I went with a good friend from abroad who is here working with Young Life, as well as the two other Americans she works with. They have shared some similar experiences, so it was great to be able to talk about those and process a bit of what we´re learning.
Funniest part of the week: talent show at the church. So. Hilarious. Just try to imagine a wonderful, 5-hour mixture of interpretive dance, miming, flag twirling, and prophetic singing.
Sad to report that I did not go to Harry Potter. I found out that it was in English, which of course made me want to go more, but realized I would have to sneak out of Tirrases at night by myself (not the wisest of night activities) in order to see it, because a lot of people here are not bug HP fans, to say the least. New viewing date: earliest showing August 13th (that is an open invitation.)
Please pray...
-for Joana and José and their children Francela, Emerson, and Josua, one of the families that is new to the church in Concepcion. They are out of work and don´t have much food, which has driven Joana and the kids to God, but José away from Him. Due to the stress, the parents are on the brink of separating, and the kids are suffering a lot as a result.
-that the service day that we are having in Concepsion this Sunday (cleaning up trash, planting trees) will be received well by the community.
-that I will begin to be able to process what I am learning while still being present and available here.
Hope all is well with everyone... much love from down south!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Vamos a la Playa!
I´m going to the beach tomorrow for three whole days of hot water in a real shower, speaking English with good friends, and no mice in my room, ants in my food, or cockroaches in the bathroom. It sounds a lot like Heaven....
This week has been full of exciting events, some of which have already been reported. I´ve still been in Concepsión a lot, and am getting to know the people there almost better than the people at Capilla. I went to a youth vigil at Capilla Saturday night and gave a talk at about 2 am. If you are thinking that something seems not wrong about that statement, you are absolutely right. 1. I don´t NOT sleep. Ever. 2. I don´t speak Spanish early in the morning or late at night. Personal rule. When I´m tired, my Spanish skills are the first to go. BUT, by the grace of God, I hopefully gave my first and last 2 am Spanish devotional. Also, yesterday I went to a 5-hour baby shower for the grandson of Doña Julia. That was definitely one of those surreal, ¨wait, is this really my life?¨ moments, but I really enjoyed it.
My new family is so great. In the house are Lili and Melvin and their 7-year-old daughter Yaritza as well as Lili´s dad Guillermo, who is recovering from a stroke. (sidenote: conversations with an old, only-half-there, Costa Rican man about ¨Groomer Has It¨, hit new Animal Planet series about psycho dog groomers, is something I wish all of yall could have the opportunity to experience. Not many things could be funnier.) They treat me like an actual queen, which sometimes makes me feel guilty, but I´ve decided to live it up.
Hope no one has melted from the heat up there... I am enjoying eternal spring here with sunny days in the mid-seventies!
Prayer Requests:
-For safety on the beach trip.
-Denis, my friend who´s wife left him a little over a week ago. He has basically dropped off the face of the Earth after his wife left, and no one knows what´s going on or where he is.
-The land where they hold services on Sundays in Concepcion is also where they want to build a church. The owner has refused to sell it once in the past, but Mauro is going back to talk to her again this week to see if she will sell. Pray that that meeting will go well and that they will be able to purchase the land, the first step in building a church.
This week has been full of exciting events, some of which have already been reported. I´ve still been in Concepsión a lot, and am getting to know the people there almost better than the people at Capilla. I went to a youth vigil at Capilla Saturday night and gave a talk at about 2 am. If you are thinking that something seems not wrong about that statement, you are absolutely right. 1. I don´t NOT sleep. Ever. 2. I don´t speak Spanish early in the morning or late at night. Personal rule. When I´m tired, my Spanish skills are the first to go. BUT, by the grace of God, I hopefully gave my first and last 2 am Spanish devotional. Also, yesterday I went to a 5-hour baby shower for the grandson of Doña Julia. That was definitely one of those surreal, ¨wait, is this really my life?¨ moments, but I really enjoyed it.
My new family is so great. In the house are Lili and Melvin and their 7-year-old daughter Yaritza as well as Lili´s dad Guillermo, who is recovering from a stroke. (sidenote: conversations with an old, only-half-there, Costa Rican man about ¨Groomer Has It¨, hit new Animal Planet series about psycho dog groomers, is something I wish all of yall could have the opportunity to experience. Not many things could be funnier.) They treat me like an actual queen, which sometimes makes me feel guilty, but I´ve decided to live it up.
Hope no one has melted from the heat up there... I am enjoying eternal spring here with sunny days in the mid-seventies!
Prayer Requests:
-For safety on the beach trip.
-Denis, my friend who´s wife left him a little over a week ago. He has basically dropped off the face of the Earth after his wife left, and no one knows what´s going on or where he is.
-The land where they hold services on Sundays in Concepcion is also where they want to build a church. The owner has refused to sell it once in the past, but Mauro is going back to talk to her again this week to see if she will sell. Pray that that meeting will go well and that they will be able to purchase the land, the first step in building a church.
Friday, July 17, 2009
mid-week happenings
1. Today I went to the beach with Flori and family. They brought the rice and beans, just in case you were worried that I would go a meal without them. And we saw a very large iguana, but don´t worry it was dead.
2. I moved houses Tuesday and my new housemates are hilarious. What is not so hilarious is the amount of mice in the house. Good news: I´ve only seen one in my bedroom.
2. I moved houses Tuesday and my new housemates are hilarious. What is not so hilarious is the amount of mice in the house. Good news: I´ve only seen one in my bedroom.
Monday, July 13, 2009
halfway there (oo-ooh)
Can´t belive I only have four weeks left! Can´t believe I have four weeks left.
God has blessed me this past week in so many ways. I have been able to really get involved in the church in Concepsion. Although I am still just observing and not doing anything exactly, I have built some strong relationships there and have been blessed by what I have seen there. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with some American friends who are here working with Young Life. It was so good to speak English, share stories, compare experiences, etc. Lastly, I spent some time talking with a (sort of) missionary couple from Capilla. Carlos has grown up in Tirrases and Capilla, but his wife Anita is a Peruvian missionary who has been working here at Capilla for the past five years. It was really encouraging to talk to someone with a half-in/half-out perspective on life in Tirrases as well as what it means to be a missionary.
As I´ve built stronger relationships and gotten more deeply involved in the church, I have seen more needs that I can´t meet. It is hard to be here and not really be able to do anything for all of my friends who are struggling to put food on the table. God has opened up a few small opportunities for me to help by simply providing a meal here and there, but the need still seems overwhelming and pushes me to trust in God´s provision not only for me but also for my friends here.
In light of that, I am asking for prayers for all of the members of the church without work. At the Thursday night service, all the men without work were called up and prayed over, and it pains me to see the fathers of so many of the kids who have befriended me without means of putting food on the table. Specifically, pray for Cynthia and Pedro, the first family I stayed with, who have been without work for about 4 months now. Also pray for Daniel, a teenager involved in the church in Concepsion, who had to drop out of school last week to look for work, and who now feels on the verge of insanity due to the pressure to provide for his family. Finally, pray for Denis, a man who, along with his family, took me in from the beginning and really made me feel welcome. Less than a week after losing his car (as a taxi driver, this means he also lost his job), his wife kicked him out of the house.
I am moving houses tomorrow morning, and I have every reason to assume it´s back to cold water and no cable TV, but I am really excited to get to know another family and neighborhood. I am also not going to miss Doña Julia´s insistance that I iron my t-shirt before I leave the house.
Hope all is well... miss you all!
P.S. I am debating whether I should risk ruining Harry Potter 6 by going to see it in spanish or hold out for when I get back (this would be the first time I have ever NOT seen the newest Harry Potter movie on its opening day.) Opinions appreciated.
God has blessed me this past week in so many ways. I have been able to really get involved in the church in Concepsion. Although I am still just observing and not doing anything exactly, I have built some strong relationships there and have been blessed by what I have seen there. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with some American friends who are here working with Young Life. It was so good to speak English, share stories, compare experiences, etc. Lastly, I spent some time talking with a (sort of) missionary couple from Capilla. Carlos has grown up in Tirrases and Capilla, but his wife Anita is a Peruvian missionary who has been working here at Capilla for the past five years. It was really encouraging to talk to someone with a half-in/half-out perspective on life in Tirrases as well as what it means to be a missionary.
As I´ve built stronger relationships and gotten more deeply involved in the church, I have seen more needs that I can´t meet. It is hard to be here and not really be able to do anything for all of my friends who are struggling to put food on the table. God has opened up a few small opportunities for me to help by simply providing a meal here and there, but the need still seems overwhelming and pushes me to trust in God´s provision not only for me but also for my friends here.
In light of that, I am asking for prayers for all of the members of the church without work. At the Thursday night service, all the men without work were called up and prayed over, and it pains me to see the fathers of so many of the kids who have befriended me without means of putting food on the table. Specifically, pray for Cynthia and Pedro, the first family I stayed with, who have been without work for about 4 months now. Also pray for Daniel, a teenager involved in the church in Concepsion, who had to drop out of school last week to look for work, and who now feels on the verge of insanity due to the pressure to provide for his family. Finally, pray for Denis, a man who, along with his family, took me in from the beginning and really made me feel welcome. Less than a week after losing his car (as a taxi driver, this means he also lost his job), his wife kicked him out of the house.
I am moving houses tomorrow morning, and I have every reason to assume it´s back to cold water and no cable TV, but I am really excited to get to know another family and neighborhood. I am also not going to miss Doña Julia´s insistance that I iron my t-shirt before I leave the house.
Hope all is well... miss you all!
P.S. I am debating whether I should risk ruining Harry Potter 6 by going to see it in spanish or hold out for when I get back (this would be the first time I have ever NOT seen the newest Harry Potter movie on its opening day.) Opinions appreciated.
Monday, July 6, 2009
In the thick of things.
I cant believe it´s already been a week since my last blog update... time is certainly beginning to fly! After returning from my 24-hour respite in San José, I moved houses. I am now living with Doña Julia, an older woman who lives in an apartment below her daughter´s house. She is very lonely, and absolutely loves having me in her house. She also clearly misses having her children around, as she is always insisting that I eat all that´s on my plate, take a nap, iron my shirt before leaving the house, not sit too closely to the TV, etc. By Tirrases standards, her apartment is extremely nice. It is in a quiet part of town, has all tile floors, warm-ish water, and cable TV in my room! It is a huge leap from the last house I stayed in, and is quite certainly spoiling me for the rest of my time here... but right now, I´m not complaining. I´ve gotten into a nice routine - my days have begun to look something like this:
-After waking up with the roosters about 5 and spending an hour or two trying to convince myself I can sleep through the noise, I begrudgingly get up and get ready for the day. I usually spend a lot of the morning reading or going to the internet cafe in Curridabat, a larger town nearby.
-Lunches and afternoons are usually spent with other families who have invited me to spend some time with them. There is one woman named Flori who (along with her family) has taken a liking to me and call me everyday to see if I am free to come over. I have been teaching her a little bit of English in exchange for the coffee and bread she gives me every day!
-Almost every night, I have some sort of activity at the church. For example, this past week I went to an intercessory prayer meeting/Bible Study, a children´s dance practice, a worship service, a women´s meeting/prayer service, a youth service, and church in Concepsion.
After talking to Mauro, the pastor of the church plant in Concepsion, I am going to be going with him out there about 4 times a week. I want to describe a little bit of what this town is like: Unlike Tirrases, the streets in Conce are quiet and people are really only out and about on this one corner that is quite obviously where the drugs are bought and sold. You can feel the hopelessness the minute you step outside. Although the town is obviously poorer that Tirrases, the more noticeable difference is that everyone is just so very hopeless. Mauro has told me that two different churches have tried to set up shop their in the past 10 years or so, but that both felt it was a lost cause and left the people high-and-dry. Every week, Iglesia Biblica Monte de Dios meets under a tent set up in an empty lot on the side of a mountain overlooking all of San José with about 20-30 attendees. With microphones and loud speakers, Mauro quite literally shouts the hope of the gospel from the mountain-top. He is clearly in it for the long haul, and his vision for this place is amazing: he wants to buy this lot where they hold services and build a real, live church complete with a cafeteria to serve children breakfast and lunch. He also wants to build a soccer field and basketball court to give the people an escape from the world of drugs. Other people have also expressed their hope to see a home for the elderly and a drug rehab facility. I am praying that I will be able to be of real use to him there.
This week, please pray for the following:
-For the church and people in Conce, and for the time I will spend there.
-For Doña Julia, the woman with whom I am staying right now. She is very lonely, and clearly plagued by depression. However, she has begun to make some connections with women at the church since I´ve been in her house, and I pray that these relationships will build and give her some respite from her loneliness.
-That I will allow God to steer me towards His purpose for my time here.
-After waking up with the roosters about 5 and spending an hour or two trying to convince myself I can sleep through the noise, I begrudgingly get up and get ready for the day. I usually spend a lot of the morning reading or going to the internet cafe in Curridabat, a larger town nearby.
-Lunches and afternoons are usually spent with other families who have invited me to spend some time with them. There is one woman named Flori who (along with her family) has taken a liking to me and call me everyday to see if I am free to come over. I have been teaching her a little bit of English in exchange for the coffee and bread she gives me every day!
-Almost every night, I have some sort of activity at the church. For example, this past week I went to an intercessory prayer meeting/Bible Study, a children´s dance practice, a worship service, a women´s meeting/prayer service, a youth service, and church in Concepsion.
After talking to Mauro, the pastor of the church plant in Concepsion, I am going to be going with him out there about 4 times a week. I want to describe a little bit of what this town is like: Unlike Tirrases, the streets in Conce are quiet and people are really only out and about on this one corner that is quite obviously where the drugs are bought and sold. You can feel the hopelessness the minute you step outside. Although the town is obviously poorer that Tirrases, the more noticeable difference is that everyone is just so very hopeless. Mauro has told me that two different churches have tried to set up shop their in the past 10 years or so, but that both felt it was a lost cause and left the people high-and-dry. Every week, Iglesia Biblica Monte de Dios meets under a tent set up in an empty lot on the side of a mountain overlooking all of San José with about 20-30 attendees. With microphones and loud speakers, Mauro quite literally shouts the hope of the gospel from the mountain-top. He is clearly in it for the long haul, and his vision for this place is amazing: he wants to buy this lot where they hold services and build a real, live church complete with a cafeteria to serve children breakfast and lunch. He also wants to build a soccer field and basketball court to give the people an escape from the world of drugs. Other people have also expressed their hope to see a home for the elderly and a drug rehab facility. I am praying that I will be able to be of real use to him there.
This week, please pray for the following:
-For the church and people in Conce, and for the time I will spend there.
-For Doña Julia, the woman with whom I am staying right now. She is very lonely, and clearly plagued by depression. However, she has begun to make some connections with women at the church since I´ve been in her house, and I pray that these relationships will build and give her some respite from her loneliness.
-That I will allow God to steer me towards His purpose for my time here.
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