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.

Back-tracking

Whew... I just sent the Advent group on their way back to Alabama and am spending the day and night in a hotel in San Jose to catch my breath. Best part: not the comfortable bed, TV, room service, Americans, or even hot water, but the FREE INTERNET! So, now that I can catch you all up for real, might as well start from the beginning.

I finally arrived here in Tirrases on Saturday, June 13th. The family that I was staying with is really amazing - the parents are Pedro and Cynthia, and they have three daughters, Paola (12), Joselin(9), and Jenanni(1.5). Their house is small but clean, and close to the church, which was very good. The girls were so excited for me to be there, so they kept me entertained for the first few days. But, to be honest, those first few days were difficult. There were times when I was so happy to be there, but there were times when I didn't know how I was going to handle cold showers and living in a house the size of my room for the summer. The hardest thing was that I didn't know anyone, and couldn't go anywhere alone, so I was basically under house arrest. There were times when I found myself wondering what in the world I was doing there. But I started to get more involved with some activities at the church, especially with the kids, and towards the end of the week I started doing a lot with Pastor John and Raquel to get ready for the Advent group, so I stayed pretty busy. Things definitely got better every day, but I was still really looking forward to seeing people I knew!

So, the group got here on Monday, June 22nd. In the mornings, we worked on building a new playground and did some other random work around the church. Wednesday afternoon, we went to visit Concepsion, which is the town in which Capilla has planted a small house church. Being there sort of restored my purpose and reminded me why I had come in the first place. This town is so very depressed by poverty and so many drugs, and very few people have heard the good news of the Gospel. The kids were amazing to watch as they went door to door talking to people about Jesus. I got to know Mauro, the pastor who lives in Tirrases but works in Concepsion, and a few teenagers who are part of the church there. I hope to continue to work with them throughout the summer. That night, Cameron and I went with Mauro to another town close to Concepsion called Carmen. There, the small church of Cocepsion has planted an even smaller church. There is one family of believers who have donated the use of their house, and there are a few people who come to the meetings who are either interested in Christianity or are new believers. While we were there, one man became a Christian, he being the fourth to accept Christ during one of those meetings.

Thursday afternoon, Don John and I led the group around San Jose for a nice little break in the middle of the week, and that night we went to the service at Capilla. Friday, we played a huge game of soccer with tons of people from the church, and later played with the kids for a while. Saturday was spent relaxing on a beautiful beach on the Pacific coast (photos to come...) and de-briefing a little. Sunday morning we were back in Concepsion for the outdoor service they hold in an empty lot. Cameron preached and I translated... something I was convinced I could not do. I'll let you know soon how many people now believe God hates them as a result of my translation skills. Yesterday afternoon and this morning were filled with tearful goodbyes on all parts, but it is so clear that these students were such a blessing to the community, even more than the community was to them.

Tomorrow I'll be back to "normal life" in Tirrases. I'm moving into a new house tomorrow when I get back - I believe it is with an older woman who is maybe living alone (clearly I'm not exactly sure). I am really excited to get to know another family and neighborhood. I'm also excited about getting to know better the people I have met - both in Tirrases and Concepsion.

Some prayer requests:
-My first family, Cynthia and Pedro: they are both without work, save the income Cynthia makes from painting a few people's nails a week, and over the past week they seemed to be becoming a little desperate. Pray that Pedro will find work, and that they Lord will provide for them.
-That the works started during the Advent group's work both in Tirrases and Concepsion will be carried forth into fruition.
-That I will continue to be safe during my time here, and that I will even be protected from having to worry about my safety.
-That I will continue to seek God's purpose for me here.

I miss you all and send so much love from down south!!

Costa Rica Update 6.20.09

Hello dear friends! Sorry for the lack of real updates, but I´ve been having a bit of trouble getting to internet cafes. Things are going well - the first few days have been a little bit up and down, but getting better every day. I am so excited to have the EYC group here on Monday, and will certainly give a long and full update after they leave the following Monday. For now, here are some prayer requests:

-for the EYC trip: for safety, and that each student is pushed into a new understanding of God´s love and grace.
-That I continue to make connections with people here in Tirrases and that God continues to reveal his purpose for me here.
-That God will continue to develop my language skills so that I will be better equipped to do His work.